By David Phillips
Flesh vs. Spirit #2
Throughout scripture, we are warned about many spiritual impossibilities. James 1:7 tells us that it is impossible to receive anything from God if we pray with doubt. Matthew 7:3-5 warns that it is impossible to correct someone else’s faults when we have big ones of our own in the way. In 1 Corinthians 3:3 Paul shows the impossibility of proper spiritual growth while harboring jealousy and strife in the local church. Revelation 3:15-16 warns of the impossibility of pleasing the Lord while characterized by lukewarmness. In the text we considered in Thoughts…Number 45, Paul calls our attention to another of those impossibilities. …the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:7-8). Before and until a person obeys the gospel of Christ, he or she is in the flesh, or living according to the flesh, having the mind set on the flesh. The end result of that life is [eternal, spiritual] death, vs.6. So the bottom line of Paul’s argument here in Romans 8:5-8 is that only those who obey the gospel have hope of eternal life, for only those who obey the gospel can be said to be living according to the Spirit (vs.5), only they are in the Spirit (vs.9), they alone are in Christ (vs.1).
So, if one is in Christ, in the Spirit, living according to the Spirit, surely they are out of reach of the flesh, and its deceptions, right? Oh, if only that were really true, but of course, it is not. Notice what Paul wrote to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 3:1: But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ (ESV). Notice he calls them brothers, and also acknowledges them as being in Christ. But they are conducting themselves as people of the flesh. Therefore we understand that all these terms Paul uses, mind set on the flesh…, in the flesh…, living according to the flesh…, people of the flesh… may describe those who are outside of Christ, or even those in Christ who have gone back to following the fleshly, worldly lusts instead of following the spiritual instruction of God’s Word.
Running hand in hand with Paul’s warnings about following the flesh in Romans 8, is John’s warning about loving the world, in 1 John 2:15-17. Do not love the world, or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life – is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
In Matthew 4, one of the specific temptations that Satan threw at Jesus is shown in verses 8-9. Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Interestingly, Jesus rebuffed that temptation with the fact that His love for worshiping and serving God the Father was far greater than any desire to possess the kingdoms of the world and all their glory. So should it be with us.
The pull of the world, the appeal of the flesh, can be very strong at times. Satan’s devices (2 Corinthians 2:11) are many and are always employed against us in the most crafty of ways. We must constantly be on our guard, ever diligent to strengthen ourselves and one another. We must stay busy with the right things, and as Jude advises in vs. 21, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.