Mr. Natural vs. Mr. Carnal

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:1

There is a clear distinction between natural and carnal people in Paul's letter to the Corinth church. 

“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:14 Since natural man lacks the Holy Spirit, they lack spiritual discernment, and therefore the things of God are foolishness to them.  Mr. Natural is fixated on the material, physical, temporal world for pleasure and satisfaction, and they may be hostile and antagonistic to God's wisdom as they consider it to be foolishness.

Mr. Carnal, on the other hand, is a believer, but whose life is oriented toward the flesh. In a sense, carnal Christians possess God's spirit, but the Spirit doesn't possess them. The life of Mr. Carnal is still governed by sinful urges and fleshly appetites, which is their lifestyle as if they don't know God.

Also, the key verse describes some carnal Christians who are not maturing in their faith, and Paul refers to them as "babies in Christ".  Because of their carnality, Paul identified the Corinthian church as unable to digest "solid food", He tells them in verse 2, “I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal.” Carnality is also evident in relationships with strife and division: “For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?” 1 Cor 3:3

Instead of acting carnally or being natural, we're called to be spiritual children influenced by the Holy Spirit. God holds us to a higher standard than mere men because we are divine partakers, let the Holy Spirit continue to sanctify us so we can move from carnality to spirituality.

Blessing prayer: May the Holy Spirit enable us to mature and consume solid food and crucify our natural and carnal minds so that we are alive in Christ as a new creation. In Jesus’ name, Amen