The Fight is On! Spirit Vs Flesh
“When all is said and done, the faith life is nothing if not an unending struggle of the Spirit with every available weapon against the flesh.” (pinterest.com)
Romans 7:18-25, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” In verse 23 in the phrase ‘law of sin’, the word ’law’ means a different law from which God has given (the impulse to sin inherent in human nature). ‘Sin’ means to miss the mark. We take note in these verses that Paul had the same struggle we all have. With our fleshly nature, we all have our own desires which war against God’s will.
Hebrews 4:15 (NIV), “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet he did not sin.” Jesus is our high priest, so even He was tempted to sin in every way, just as we are. However, He did not sin. He lived in His fleshly body with the Spirit of God in complete control. He would not allow the flesh to rule Him!
Thank God for sending the Holy Spirit to us, for once again - our blog post today informs us of a battle we all face which can only be won with the help of the Holy Spirit operating in our lives. 2 Corinthians 10:4 and 5, “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.”
Let’s begin by looking at the definitions of our two primary words we will see in our study today: flesh and spirit.
I do like the added insight we gain by looking at various sources for our definitions.
FLESH:
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance “ Greek word is sarx meaning: “body, human nature, materiality”
Helps Word-studies: “merely of human origin or empowerment, not always negative, we live in a body which is permitted godly pleasures. Reference to the ‘flesh’ is generally negative, referring to making decisions (actions) according to self, i.e. done apart from faith (independent from God’s inworking); flesh usually refers to unaided human effort.”
Thayer’s Greek Lexicon: “sensuous nature of man; animal nature without any suggestion of depravity; the animal nature with cravings that incite sin.”
Meriam-Webster Dictionary: ”the physical being of a person as distinguished from the soul.”
We see examples of the works of the flesh in the following scriptures. Galatians 5:19-21, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Colossians 3:5 and 6 (NIV), “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.”
SPIRIT:
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance: Greek word is pneuma meaning “wind, breath.”
Helps Word-studies: spirit, ”(human spirit or Spirit (Holy Spirit) depending on the context.”
Thayer’s Greek Lexicon: spirit - “the vital principles by which the body is animated (given life). The rational spirit, the power by which a human being feels, thinks, wills, decides; the rational part of man, the power of perceiving and grasping divine and eternal things and upon which the Spirit of God exerts His influence.”
Prayerfully, you will gain enough knowledge from this study to victoriously enter into the battles we all face.
It is vital that you realize the consequences involved in how you choose to live your life. Galatians 6:8 tells us distinctly, “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” The word ’sows,’ speiro in the Greek, means: to do those things which satisfy the nature and promptings of. ‘Corruption’ in the Greek means: destruction and perishing. Our flesh is an enemy of God. Romans 8:5-8, “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. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” We see in Deuteronomy 30 if we obey the commandment of the Lord, love the Lord, walk in His ways, and keep His rules, we will live! If though, our heart turns away from God, we will perish. Then we read in Deuteronomy 30: 19 and 20, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." God’s desire for us is to choose life and blessing!
This battle between flesh and spirit commenced when Eve saw the forbidden fruit in the Garden. Genesis 3:6 (Berean Standard Bible), “ When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.”
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. 16 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. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” According to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, the Greek word, agapao - translated as ‘love’ in verse 15, means: to take pleasure in the thing, prize it above other things, be unwilling to abandon it or do without it. (Setting the heart on earthly advantage and joy). Epithymia, translated ‘lust’ means: desire, craving, and longing. ‘Pride’ is this verse means: display in one’s style of living, vainglory. ‘Life’ means: the period or course of life.
1 Peter 2:11 (NASB20), “Beloved, I urge you as foreigners and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul.” ‘Foreigners’ in this verse means: of Christians, whose fatherland is heaven. ‘Strangers’ is metaphorically speaking of Christians with heaven as the native country. Then ‘war’ means: fights against or contends with.
Our heavenly Father is very much aware of our dilemma and has made provision for us to overcome the flesh and live according to the Spirit. We see in Romans 7:24 and 25a, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Paul realized that our only hope is through the redemptive power of Christ.
Then John 6:63 reveals, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” The only way to overcome the flesh is by the Holy Spirit. The Father has given us His Spirit to empower and assist us in our efforts. With the aid of the Spirit, we make that quality decision to die to self and obey His Spirit. John 14:16, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,”
The battle between the flesh and Spirit is very arduous and perpetual because as long as we live in this earthly world, the flesh will be enticed by those things it sees and desires. James 1:14 and 15, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. ” The word ‘lured’ is translated from the Greek word exelko which metaphorically means: as in hunting and fishing, game is lured from its safe place, man by lust is allured from the safety of self-restraint to sin. The temptations that continually come before us can have a strong pull. Sad to say, quite often people, rather than show self-restraint, choose to do what they ‘want’ to do.
We have been given some solid instruction as to what we need to do so that we will not give in to the desires of the flesh nor, be ruled by the flesh.
Galatians 5:24 and 25 (NLT), “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives.”
Ephesians 4:22-24 (NLT), “throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God--truly righteous and holy.”
Hebrews 12:1 reads that after we have laid aside every weight and sin we need to run with endurance the race which is set before us. After we have chosen to crucify or put off our old self or our flesh, to effectively run this race, we need to develop a passion for Christ and be like Him.
Romans 13:14, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” When looking at the root word in the Greek for the phrase ‘put on’, we gain amazing insight regarding what we need to do! The root word is endyno which means: to become so possessed of the mind of Christ as in thought, feeling, and action to resemble Him and, as it were, reproduce the life He lived! Wow! Then, it gets even more dynamic when we couple that verse with 2 Peter 1:3 and 4, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
How does this happen? By His divine power, through the knowledge of Him who called us and through His promises.
We must choose to put God first in our lives and allow His Holy Spirit to be the very center of our existence.
The Scripture tells us in Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Spending time with God through His Word, worshipping, and communing with Him in prayer is how we learn of Him.
We will close with Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
I strongly encourage you today to make the decision to not allow your flesh, an enemy of God, to rule your life.
You can definitely win this battle.
Put on Christ, learn of Him, reflect His nature for the world to see.
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture is taken from the English Standard Version.
NIV New International Version
NASB20 New American Standard Bible 2020
NLT New Living Translation