WARDING OFF THE SINFUL NATURE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Galatians 5:16-18

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

You either live in one of two ways from a spiritual perspective.

On one hand, you can live according to the flesh and as the word is used in this fifth chapter of Galatians, we have covered how it represents the sinful nature of a person (the Greek word spax). Therefore, living to “gratify the desires of the flesh” as Paul talks about in our passage today is akin to just living in sin and apart from God.

Conversely, one can live according to the Spirit which is “contrary to the flesh” or opposed to sin. This is because those who have the Holy Spirit have placed their belief in Jesus and therefore have become a child of God, a co-heir with Jesus for the very kingdom of the Lord (Romans 8:17).

Under the lead of the Spirit, one is led away from sin because the Lord’s Spirit always guides the follower to a place of righteousness and holiness, a place where a person can ward off their sinful nature. The person who has received the Holy Spirit is also in a place where they are set free from the penalty of God’s punishment and counted among the redeemed.

This contrasts with the Judaic Law that the Judaizers were trying to press on the Galatian Christians. Living under the Law didn’t free anyone from the transgressions of the flesh. It only served to illuminate just how sinful the person was and how hopeless they were before a God hated sin. For without a Savior, the Law follower would experience God’s judgment and wrath as they would be counted among the condemned.

Through our verses in the fifth chapter, we see where there is a clear distinction between living under the Law and giving into the flesh or being led by the Holy Spirit to ward off one’s sinful nature but there’s an even greater explanation of the delineation between the two found in the eighth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Look at this passage:

...there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.  The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who lives in you.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Romans 8:1-16

So the question that the scriptures present today is, “What are you living according to, the realm of sinful flesh or the realm of the Lord’s Holy Spirit?

One (the flesh and sin minus Jesus) brings death and eternal damnation; the other (the Holy Spirit through Jesus) brings life eternal and peace.

One brings enslavement to sin and rejection; the other brings salvation, acceptance, and “adoption into sonship” by God.

One leads to everlasting condemnation; the other leads to redemption and everlasting glory.

Every single person will fall into one of the two outcomes in life.

Where do you find yourself today?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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