Flesh vs Spirit

Flesh vs Spirit

I love it when several scriptures keep coming up in day to day conversation. Any time that happens, it can be assured that God is going to use those scriptures either to build you up, or for you to share with another to build them up in the body of Christ. I was studying the Corinthian epistles more or less on a whim and then Galatians 5 came up, all with the focus on walking in the flesh versus walking in the Spirit. So those are what I'm going to touch on today, but first let me preface a bit more on how this came about after considering these scriptures.

I was in the car on the way back to work from my lunch break and I heard a preacher on the radio speaking. He was discussing a sincere desire to get the message that people are saved by God's grace alone and that they cannot earn their own salvation through some work, which I thought was terrific since that's what the bible says. My countenance fell when he then talked about prophecy and how it is being fulfilled today. He spoke of Matthew 24 and how ethnos (the Greek word translated nation in English) will rise against ethnos and how that meant the different people groups or races of today. He also began speaking about how history seemed to be close to the battle mentioned in Ezekiel, which would be the Gog-Magog battle. I shook my head and prayed that he would earnestly seek the truth of what God's word says on those matters and that God would show it to him. I'll leave it up to the reader to search the scriptures on these things, but I will say there is NO prophecy being fulfilled today. Matthew 24 alludes to the tribulation period, and the Gog-Magog battle clearly happens after the Millennial reign as stated in Revelation 20:7-10.

So I began praying and asking God, "Why do preachers continue to preach the Word of God in this way?" We're supposed to come to the full knowledge of the truth like it says in 1 Timothy 2:4, right? I grew up in a church that would not preach anything past Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In fact, they made preaching God's word such a light affair and wouldn't put much emphasis on it as truth nor even tell anyone to study it. The next church I attended preached more from the bible, but still could not answer questions regarding law and grace or any differences between the two. After much earnest prayer, my family and I were led to a church that diligently sought the truth in the scriptures and let the Word of God say what the Word of God says. To this day I pray for all saints to come to that mindset, and ultimately the full knowledge of the truth. God says we should be united in this (Eph 4:1-6).

I then saw some comments on Facebook, which were then talked about in that evening's bible study. The comments were sarcastic, stating that we were under grace and not law, and that we need not worry about taking the Lord's name in vain among the other parts of the Law as given to Moses. Where do believers get the idea that it's okay to have a brash attitude toward God and yet rejoice that we are saved in His amazing grace? I also saw on Facebook that a former pastor of mine, who would use expletives at me when I tried to explain the truth of scripture to him, had un-friended me and posted several things with the words "blessed", "holy", "sacred", etc., and really none of the posts made sense. Why use those words so grossly out of context? What was he trying to show? All of these questions that I was asking in prayer were continually answered by what God showed me in 1 Corinthians and Galatians, and that is the struggle of the flesh versus the Spirit.

We have these truths in Romans:

Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God

Why have all sinned? Because Adam sinned and we are all born of Adam to begin with:

Romans 5:12 - Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned

For the believer in the gospel of God's grace, they receive life in the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ:

Romans 5:19 - For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

It is by faith alone in Jesus Christ's finished work on the cross that are we born of the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:8-9

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God

9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

1 Corinthians 15:1-4

1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 

3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures

1 Corinthians 12:13

13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

After being born of the Spirit, we have the Holy Spirit of God living inside of us:

Ephesians 1:13-14 

13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22

21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God;

22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

So then we see that there are two entities living in us as believers. That which is born of the flesh (in Adam), and that which is born of the Spirit (in Christ). Everyone starts spiritually dead in Adam. That was the result of the disobedience in the garden of Eden when God said that in the day Adam ate the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, that he will surely die. Everyone starts off dead to the Spirit and simply cannot do any work in the Spirit, which shouldn't be hard to see. Dead things don't work by definition. Another way to say it is the unbeliever cannot help but sin. And so we have that conclusion in Romans 3:23 that we are all sinners, which is pretty bad news since the sin earns us death (Rom 6:23a). That death is a separation from God in a place which is described as a lake of fire that is unquenchable, the worm does not die, and there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. But how excellent the good news is that we are made spiritually alive again in Christ (Rom 6:23b), who makes us alive in His Spirit, who then takes up residence inside our mortal body simply by faith. Observe this truth:

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Please note that the English in verse 20 may not be entirely accurate. The idea of the price there is the full value, like the proper weight in the balance when that was how value was determined back in that day. Anyway, the believer in the gospel of the grace of God has both the flesh and the Spirit living inside. For a more detailed explanation of this struggle, please see Romans chapter 7, but I'll focus on verses 21-25

21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Praise the Lord we have an outlet! We no longer have to obey the flesh which works a work unto sin and death. However, nowhere in the Word of God is it said that the flesh is annihilated. We even see there in verse 25 that there are the two entities, one to sever the law of God and one to serve the law of sin. Both the flesh and Spirit are present, and we have the free will every day to choose which one we allow to present itself. We are exhorted to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Galatians shows the implications of this contrast beautifully in chapter 5:13-26, noting especially verses 16-17.

13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. 

16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 

25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

I need to say something on verse 21 where it says that those who practice the works of the flesh will not inherit the kingdom of God. Students of the bible would note well who God is addressing in this letter to the Galatians. This is a letter to believers in the gospel of God's grace, but have fallen back to living under the law as given to Moses. Verse 21 is a reminder to those believers that the works of the flesh are done by the unbelievers and they have been made holy, or saints, by the gospel of God's grace. Saints should have no part in that because those works earn sin and death. This verse certainly does NOT say that the believer can lose salvation by practicing the works of the flesh. We have the amazing truth in Romans 8:38-39 that we can never lose salvation once we believe the gospel of God's grace.

Note in Galatians 5:25 the concept that we ought to walk in the Spirit. The Greek there should really say something like "SINCE we live by the Spirit, we SHOULD also walk in the Spirit." It doesn't say that a believer in God's grace will ALWAYS walk in the Spirit. There is no guarantee that we do so, because again, it is a choice of the will. God is saying here that when we know who we are in Christ by studying the scriptures, and ever since we know it, we should become living sacrifices unto God and only allow the Spirit to work within us (Rom 12:1).

Take a moment and examine yourself. Do you truly desire to walk in the Spirit in all things? Are there only fruits of the Spirit in your life or is there a little bit of bad fruit mixed in there? I would venture to say we all have a bit of the fruit of the flesh, but God's will is our sanctification (1 Thess 4:3-7) so if we allow Him to continue His work, God will take care of those things.

Now I say all of this to prove this point in 1 Corinthians 2. Those of us that have the Word of God at our fingertips ought to understand that the only way to come to the full knowledge of the truth is to first be born of the Spirit by faith in the gospel of God's grace, and then be willing to allow the Spirit to teach the truths in the Word of God. If there is any quenching of the Spirit, if there is desire to have head knowledge of the scriptures only for the purpose to glorify the self, if there is only a show of godliness but denying the power thereof, the understanding of the scriptures who do so becomes foolishness. There are two main factors that determine whether or not one can rightly divide the Word of Truth. The first is whether or not the believer is studying it, but the second is just as important, and that is letting God's Spirit tell you what He's talking about. Observe this, noting the italicized word "them", which is not in the original Greek, is referring to the things of God, or the wisdom of God in verse 9:

1 Corinthians 2:10-16

10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 

14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Did you see that in verse 16? We have the mind of Christ! We can come to the full knowledge of the truth if we let the mind of Christ tell us what He's talking about in His word. It's when people don't allow the Spirit to work the good work in them that we get heresies, false teachings, and messages that are for the itching ears which sound good but have no depth at all as indicated in verses 13-14. We have the same thing going on today with whitewashed sepulchres who appear to be godly on the outside yet are dead on the inside (Matthew 23:27-28).

As sad as this is, it should come as no surprise because we are told of God that this would happen in 2 Timothy 3:1-7

1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,

7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 

These are words given to us to describe the state of the church, the body of Christ in the last days. It is not some general concept that these things would be going on in the world, for it is a given that it would be like that with those outside of Christ who are under the bondage of sin. No, these words are concerning the church of believers in God's grace. Friends, please don't let yourself be lumped into that category of verses 6-7 and not come to the knowledge of the truth. Don't loosely pick and choose what you like in the bible and leave the rest for the theologians. God didn't say that His will was for the theologians to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, but that ALL be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. I exhort you, let God show you the knowledge of the truth by His Spirit and be set free from that bondage of ignorance!