I often hear, and certainly more recently, someone refer to a "so-called" Christian, who has evidently backslidden as a "carnal Christian". 

Is there such a thing as a "carnal Christian"?

Webster's New World Dictionary defines "carnal" as:  1) in or of the flesh; bodily; material; worldly; not spiritual. 2) sensual.

Some might argue that, based on Webster's definition, a Christian might be carnal.  But, how does God define someone who is carnal?

Romans 8:5-8
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.  For to be carnally minded id death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, not indeed can be.  So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

This is a pretty serious indictment that the Apostle Paul levels against the carnal mind.

Now for a few more definitions:

• Carnal - in the Greek, the word is 'sarx', which means 'of human nature, fleshly'
• Enmity - in the Greek, the word is 'echthra', which means 'hostile, an enemy, an adversary, a term used of Satan'
• Oxymoron - Webster's Dictionary defines this as 'a figure of speech in which opposite and contradictory terms are combined'.

So, the carnal, or fleshly, or human-nature mind is a hostile enemy, an adversary of God.

So, can there be "carnal Christians"?  This term, in and of itself, is an oxymoron.  There can be no such thing as a Christian who is an enemy of God.

To learn more of what God has to say, please listen to (link below):

The Enemy of God - Pastor Howard Fleury - Posted on 5/31/2007

http://biblestudies.aroadinthewilderness.org/2007/06/01/the-enemy-of-god----romans-818.aspx