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The Carnal vs. Spirit-Filled Christian

The antithesis of the spirit-filled life is the carnal Christian who does not walk in the spirit but in the flesh (Eph 5:18). Although the Spirit fills the believer thereby providing strength to live righteously (1 Cor 6:11), the Father and Son are also important. The Son, through His sinless perfection (2 Cor 5:21), illuminates dark parts and hidden motives of a believer’s heart by means of the Word (2 Tim 3:16-17; cf. Jn 1:1). The Father is also present in the life of the believer and comforts him as a hen puts their chicks under their wing (Mt 23:37) and will never leave or forsake him (Heb 13:5-6). Thus, the entire Trinity is involved in the process of sanctifying the believer.

In the painting, the artist illustrates a light fixture symbolizing Christ being the light of the world (Jn 9:5). Although his original intent was to show Christ’s light exposing darkness, John 9:5 is used in a context to demonstrate Jesus came to bring life to those who couldn’t see spiritually. Thus, John 9:5 seems to be used in a justification sense whereas the artist used Christ being the light in a sanctification sense. But these two aspects of Christ being a light may not be incompatible with each other because after a person becomes a believer, they still retain a propensity to sin (Gal 5:13-17). But Christ’s sinless example should encourage believers to pursue Christ-likeness rather than living in darkness.

In the painting, the triune Father is symbolized as a paternal father who is having a casual cup of coffee with his son. The Father is wearing a white shirt symbolizing his perfection. He is seated in the middle of the table and offers his communion with both the Spirit-filled son and the disobedient (i.e. carnal) son. He is located inside the view of the water bottle, which can represent his perichoresis or mutual inter-penetration with the Spirit.

The Spirit is symbolized as the water bottle since he influences believers like alcohol influences people (Eph 5:18). The positioning of the bottle in the painting is at the first third of the painting, which is called the rule of thirds. This is an important aspect to painting because it causes a painting to seem balanced if certain key objects are arranged in line with the rule of thirds. So too is the Spirit crucial in sanctifying a believer. Thus, it is appropriate to have the Spirit positioned in one of the “rule of thirds” location on the canvas. By the way, the Son (i.e. light fixture) is also located at the upper rule of thirds location because the Son’s exposure of our sin by becoming a measurement upon which we can compare our righteous living to His perfect standard is also a crucial part of sanctification.

The spiritual man is located inside the view of the water bottle because he is living the Spirit-filled life. Thus, he is in communion with the Father and is doing well. He’s having a nice casual coffee-break with his dad. Things are going well. He’s also being illuminated by the light of Christ. There’s a nice warm feeling denoted by the son being under the rays of light coming out of the light fixture.

Contrary to the obedient son, the carnal son (i.e. who is the same son) is outside of the filling of the Spirit. He has his back turned toward the Father because he is living in rebellion. He is also away from the light and is thus living in darkness and rebellion. His elbow is still resting on the table denoting he is still saved and is still “at the table” with the father and can turn and commune with the father at any moment. But right now, he’s living the unsanctified life. His pride is keeping him from submitting to the Spirit’s filling and joining the table with the Father so that he can commune with the father and have a nice cup of coffee.

What’s not depicted in the painting is the observer who is peeking into this scene at your local coffee hangout. The viewer is witnessing the raw reality of living in a fallen world (Rom 5:12): sinful rebellion against the Father and Spirit-filled communion with the Father. The choice is the viewers: will they live a life that is Spirit-filled and seeking to become Christ-like whereby they fellowship with the Father or will they turn their back against the Father in prideful rebellion so that they can fulfill their desire to sin?

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cheong, Mok Chee. “Carnal Christians; do they exist?” Evangelical Times (volume unknown) (October 2007): 18.

Ryrie, Charles Caldwell. Balancing the Christian Life. 27th printing. Chicago: The Moody Bible Institute, 1969.

Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations. Revised by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, and University of Chicago Press Editorial Staff, 7th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.

Matt Rodriguez 23:16, 17 November 2009 (UTC)