Overcoming Giants: The Flesh

• Paris Ragan
• Christian Living
• 0 comments
• December 21, 2017

Galatians 5:16-17 says, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 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.”

I think we will find that “the flesh” is one of the most deceptive and destructive enemies that we will face in our lifetimes. In fact, while the sin nature is rendered idle and ineffective, we are left to contend with the flesh on a moment-by-moment basis. Brother Swaggart says that the flesh is “that which is indicative to man.” The flesh is our natural tendency to move in the opposite direction of God.

In the Greek, the word sarx means “flesh,” and this term has a plethora of different meanings. It is of the utmost importance that we always remember this: In the interpretation of Scripture, context rules, and we must pay attention to the motive the author is using in order to properly understand what the Scripture is saying to us. Context simply means “that which goes with the text.” This will help us to understand what the writer is saying when he uses certain words that have multiple definitions.

By looking ahead to Galatians 5:19-21, we can deduce that Paul is referring to the part of man that is not pleasing to God.

The flesh seems to be more dangerous than any outside enemy because the flesh operates by one’s own free will. The flesh is self-dependent, self-empowered, self-thinking, and self-glorying—_it is simply self_! The flesh relies on anything other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified in the believer’ daily life. Placing faith in the flesh is to depend on one’s education, willpower, strength, charisma, position in society, or anything else. The end of this road is destruction, and the works of the flesh dominate our lives.

According to our text above, Paul explains that the Spirit is always against the flesh. This means that the flesh sets its desires against the desires of the Spirit. The flesh is polar opposite of who God is and what God desires. The flesh cannot be rehabilitated, it cannot be educated, and it cannot be indoctrinated. The only solution for the flesh is the work that Christ did on the Cross of Calvary.

“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Walking in the Spirit is doing good deeds, reading the Bible, and going to church. Walking in the Spirit is ordering your life in the realm in which the Spirit of God operates. The key to walking in the Spirit is keeping your faith in the finished work of Calvary. Romans 8:2 says, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

• Viewed 2545 times

No one has commented on this article yet. Leave your comment below!