Unmasking the Domestic Abuser in the Church

Does 1 Corinthians 3 Teach that an Abuser is a Christian?

1 Corinthians 3:12-15 ESV  Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—  (13)  each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.  (14)  If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.  (15)  If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

You may have heard of what is often called the “carnal Christian” teaching. Essentially it maintains that the Bible acknowledges that a genuine Christian may/can continue to walk in sin. To live in sin without repentance. Carnal – led by and characterized by the flesh.
This notion has often been used to excuse the sin of wicked people who parade as Christians, maintaining that we must not doubt that they are really saved. After all, does not the Apostle Paul say that “if wnyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire”?
You can see how this all would play into the schemes and to the benefit of the abuser who continues to abuse but insists that he is a Christian, and expects everyone else to believe his claim. And, it seems, most other Christians and pastors and churches buy into the thing! You may have heard it put into statements like this that parade as pious, holy thinking:

Now, you know, the Bible tells us that we can judge a person’s actions, but not their heart.”


So what does Paul mean? We know very well from mountains of other Scriptures that anyone who claims to love God, who calls themselves a Christian, and yet who does not obey the Lord and continues to “sin that grace may abound,” is a liar. Remember, we are not talking here about some kind of Christian perfectionism that claims a Christian can achieve perfect sinlessness in this life. That is a wrong-headed and unbliblical teaching. But what we mean here is the proposal that Paul’s words in 1 Cor 3 allow for a regenerate (born again) person to be characterized by a life of sin without repentance. Such an idea cannot be reconciled with Scriptures like:

Romans 8:3-5 ESV  For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,  (4)  in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  (5)  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 set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

What, then, do we do with “if anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire”?
The key to proper Bible interpretation (“cutting it straight” as Paul says to Timothy) always begins with read the context of the passage. After all, I bet that we could take some email or letter that any of us wrote, pull one sentence out of it so that it stands alone, and claim that you said something that you did not mean at all. So, what is the context of Paul’s statement here?

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 ESV  But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.  (2)  I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,  (3)  for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?

Way back at the very beginning of this letter, Paul addresses the Corinthian believers this way:

1 Corinthians 1:2 ESV  To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

This doesn’t mean that every single person in that church was necessarily a genuine Christian, but he is addressing them as who they claimed to be and as he believed at least most of them were – saints, those who call upon the Lord’s name, the church of God, sanctified in Christ.
He then goes on in the rest of chapter one and on into chapter two to admonish them. There was quarreling and factions. “I am of Cephas, I am of Apollos,” and so on. And then on through chapter 2 he teaches them that the wisdom and ways of God are in total opposition to the “wisdom” and ways of the world.
Now, check this out:

1 Corinthians 1:11-12 ESV  For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers.  (12)  What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.”
1 Corinthians 3:1-4 ESV  But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.  (2)  I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,  (3)  for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?  (4)  For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

Understand? At chapter 3, Paul is resuming the same subject he opened with in chapter one. In fact, he never left it off.  It is impossible to properly understand chapter 3 if we do not deal with it in this context.
Now –

1 Corinthians 3:9-10 ESV  For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.  (10)  According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.

What kind of person is Paul particularly addressing here? He is specifically speaking to people who are claiming to be preaching the gospel. Ministers. Pastors. Evangelists. To people who are setting out to build God’s church. To be the planters and waterers. And he is warning them that they must not do this work the way the world builds things. They must not use “superiority of speech” as their building tool –

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 ESV  And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.  (2)  For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.  (3)  And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,  (4)  and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,  (5)  so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Understand? False methods produce a false church. If the foundation of the gospel is askew, if it is put off angle, everything that is built upon it is going to be worthless. It will be the product of man’s “wisdom,” not the increase that only the Lord can give.
And thus:

1 Corinthians 3:10-15 ESV  According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.  (11)  For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
(12)  Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—  (13)  each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.  (14)  If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.
(15)  If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

This brings us to clarity, doesn’t it? Paul is not talking about a Christian continuing in unrepentant sin but who is still really saved, though he will have no reward. No. He is talking about and warning against Christians who employ the world’s thinking and methods to do Christ’s work. All that they “build,” will be torched on the Day when Christ comes with His reward for His people. Wood, hay, and straw don’t do very well in a furnace! Gold, silver, and precious stones do.
It does not take very long if we think about this to come up with plain examples of exactly what Paul is warning against. How many local churches today, pastors, evangelists, individual Christians – are using the world’s methods to build the church? Lots of them!! In fact, the thing seems to be the norm today. Genuine Christians, truly regenerate people, the new birth – cannot be pulled off by man or any of man’s gimmicks. 

John 1:12-13 ESV  But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,  (13)  who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

This is why I maintain that most Christians, aren’t. And it is why victims of abuse are so often (even typically) further oppressed by their churches while their abuser is embraced with welcoming arms! A false church, a counterfeit built upon a foundation that is not Christ, is inevitably going to love the world and embrace people who are of the world. And that includes abusers.

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10 Comments

  1. Free

    Thank you for breaking it down like this – it is almost as if you read the script of what I had gone through at the hands of those professing to not only be believers, but many leaders in the churches the abuser had charmed. To the point that when the abuser’s history was made known, the pastor who stood up against him was far out numbered by those who coddled and adored the abuser within the latest church he abused in!
    By the worlds standards his fake tears and false stories woo’d them – deploying the “love” that they state needs to be shown to such a “godly” loving man….. (yes…. the same scripture quoting, self-designated superior, deceitful, cruel, plotting, violent abuser).
    I will go back and study the verses you mentioned – really appreciate your building the outline as such…. it is as if you had read the abusers script – the individual ones and the bigger church body as a whole.

  2. Free

    Agree with the victims of abuse being further oppressed by the churches, while the abuser is all but group hugged as they support him over his loss (of the victim who fled) …. So here it is, here is Paul’s 1Corinthians3:17 reminder to the abuser and those that support them and turn on the victim, and to those victims and advocates that need the reassurance God has the last stand in the abuse epidemic “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.”

    • Jeff Crippen

      “Group hug.” Perfect term. Thank you for these comments. Great insights.

  3. Stormy Knight

    This carnal Christian theology is what Campus Crusade for Christ (now known as the Cru on college campuses) builds its entire evangelical campaign upon.
    This teaching allows abusers and fake new converts to be placed in volunteer ministry leadership positions without any real evidence of conversion.
    I was bullied and abused by members of the unpaid leadership team that professed Christ without any true evidence of conversion.
    The teaching of carnal Christians being truly saved allowed my abuser and his followers to continue their bullying and abuse essentially unchecked.
    This theology “that everyone who claims to be a Christian should be treated as a brother or sister in Christ” caused me to remain in the abuse longer than necessary.
    I was attempting to deal with my abuser and his allies as brothers and sisters in the lord. They were not that at all!!
    I suffered needlessly at the hands of a fake christian leader domestic abuser. I was further victimized by his flying monkeys on the leadership team. This teaching is insidious and has caused me personal harm and I’m sure has harmed others.
    It’s false teaching and I know this first hand. I hope my experience illustrates how bad the carnal Christian theology really is. Be warned—don’t let your kids join The Cru!!

    • Jeff Crippen

      Stormy – thank you for sharing your personal story in this regard. Yes, Campus Crusade has pushed this false teaching for years. They published bajillions of tracts that illustrated and taught it. And we all accepted it – after all, surely the bigwigs running the show knew more about the Bible than us, right? Totally wrong, but it took me years to sort it all out.

  4. Stormy Knight

    Thank you Pastor Crippen. Without your clear teaching I would still struggle to articulate what happened to me. You and yours are such a blessing to me. You’ve helped me see clearly. You’ve helped me so much. Thank you.🥰

  5. Sue

    “There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.”
    Ezekiel 22:25
    Dear Pastor Crippen and Friends, i recently heard this Scripture preached, the sermon was about people wresting the Word to manipulate other people.

  6. Looking for Answers

    I stumbled upon this site looking for “answers” and “direction” after being in an abusive marriage for the last (decades) years…
    In the early years it was very physically abusive and then it took a more covert turn to emotional and sexual abuse. I see it now and want to leave this environment and have expressed to my spouse that I no longer wish to be in a marriage with an abuser (he doesn’t believe abuse exists until physical and that I have culpability for his behavior). The blog posts and dissection of scripture contextually have been eye-opening. I have been told by my MIL who intro’d me to Christ when I met her at (X) years old (been with my husband since I was (X) yrs old and I am now (X) yrs old) that divorce is wrong even in abusive situations (she has chosen to stay in her abusive marriage with his stepfather). My duty is to remain, endure the suffering as a part of my walk with Christ, and patiently wait for him to be “transformed.”
    I have long been afraid of disappointing God and making him angry with me for leaving and or divorcing my spouse. I am working towards my exit now and gaining confidence in God’s grace and forgiveness.
    Thank you for the work you are doing.
    (Editor’s note: Some details removed/changed to protect identity. )

    • Jeff Crippen

      Thank you for sharing this. You are on your way to freedom. Apologies for the delay in approving your comment. It went to the spam folder as happens sometimes. I don’t know why. Thanks again.

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