What does Paul mean when he calls believers carnal in 1 Corinthians?
When Paul calls believers carnal in 1 Corinthians, he means saved people who have not come out of the fleshly experience and remain controlled by the Old Adam rather than the Holy Spirit. They are in Christ yet spiritually weak, like babes needing milk, still fleshly minded and lacking growth.
Les explains that the word carnal in this setting refers to believers who have not really come out of the fleshly experience and are still under the control of the Old Adam rather than the Holy Spirit. This differs from Romans 8, where Paul uses carnal of the unsaved individual, who is carnal because he is still of the flesh. Here, however, Paul is speaking of saved believers who are in Christ but still spiritually weak, so he speaks of them even as babes. He fed them with milk, an analogy to a newborn who cannot yet take solid food. Les notes that God expects growth from His children, but the Corinthians were still so steeped in the flesh, even though they were believers—born again and placed into the Body of Christ—yet still fleshly minded.