|
|
Are you In or Out?It’s a common question in poker, “In or out? Are you in the game or not?”. We might well ask it respecting our relationship to Christ. Are we bettin’ all our chips on him? The apostle Paul in Romans 8:9 declares, “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” Not much wiggle room, is there? It’s an either/or statement that demands a yes or no answer. And the answer zeros in on the two-letter preposition “IN” that can easily pass our notice. We need to watch those little prepositions. For instance, if we back up to verse 5, we run into another preposition. “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.” Rather than the word “in” we find “after,” speaking of choices and results of how we may live. The thrust of Chapter 8 is two-fold, first, to show us who we are; second, how to live. Anyone not saved, i.e., who is IN the flesh and not IN Christ can only live after the flesh. Those of us IN Christ have two options—to be deluded about ourselves with all the dire consequences or to discover who we really are by focusing on God’s truth. What then is our problem understanding and applying all this to ourselves? Granted that we may agree with the scriptures and by faith count ourselves to the IN Christ, yet we experience so much that is not Christ like. How can we honestly say we are not IN the flesh when we experience it daily? Let’s give it some thought. First, what is meant by the word flesh? I suspect this is one of those many words where the definition will vary depending on whom you talk to. Many may equate it with the body as the seat of sin as in Paul’s exclamation, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Others may disagree. So what do the scriptures say? A
search of the word flesh shows it is used in the Bible in different
ways. For instance, it may be used of the body as Paul mentioned in Gal. 4:14: Paul
uses it in Rom. 11:14 as his relationship with his natural countrymen: Or often
it may refer to our carnal nature as Paul declares in Rom. 7:18: It can refer to material things, i.e., money, etc. as seen from I Cor. 9:11. “If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?” The
Greek word for flesh is sarx, a noun, while that of carnal is sarkikos,
an adjective referring to sarx. Both words pertain to the body, but the
context in which they are used is the key to their meaning. If we are to understand the flesh, we must ask just how it relates to us. I Thes. 5:23 that defines our makeup is helpful: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” With which of these three that make up our tripartite nature does the flesh correspond? Certainly not the spirit. Leaving the soul for later consideration, let’s consider the body. Let’s start at the beginning when Adam and Eve were naked and not ashamed, and according to Gen. 3:6, when Eve “saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat.” Nothing has changed. We see at the end of the Bible the words of the apostle in I John 2:16: “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” It is fair to ask why Eve succumbed. We might say it was the flesh, citing mention that the tree was “good for food” that the body craves. “Pleasant to the eyes,” though, seems more concerned with “things,” i.e., materialism. Certainly, “to make one wise” speaks not of the body but the lust to exalt oneself, in effect, to be like God. But Eve’s temptations in themselves were not the cause of her downfall. No, that was the result of disobeying God. It had nothing to do with her body. She had a perfectly good body. But after she sinned, she was ashamed of it, as she had come under the rule of Satan. That shame has continued in the human race even unto today. We have inherited the sin of Adam (Rom. 5:12) and its consequences. We hide from God and are ashamed of our nakedness. Each of us has been born with a spirit opposed to God, living in a body that must die. God’s solution for our dilemma was to send His son who would willingly die for us. In Romans 6:6, we read, “our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.” Does this take effect when we get to heaven or does it apply to us here and now? Paul’s whole emphasis is that, knowing what Christ has accomplished for us, we now should take advantage of our new birthright, being freed from sin and the law. There is a verse that appears to say the body is the source of our problem. In Rom. 6:12 we read, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.” A legitimate question is why or how those desires originate. Is it because of the body itself is evil or from sin ruling in it? Respecting this, the theologian Adam Clark makes some incisive remarks: “Verse 12. Let not sin therefore reign--This is a prosopopoeia, or personification. Sin is represented as a king, ruler, or tyrant, who has the desires of the mind and the members of the body under his control so that by influencing the passions he governs the body. Do not let sin reign, do not let him work; that is, let him have no place, no being in your souls…That ye should obey it in the lusts thereof--This clause is wanting in the most ancient and reputable MSS. and in the principal versions. Griesbach has left it out of his text; and Professor White says, Certissime delenda: "These words should certainly he expunged" they are not necessary to the apostle's argument; it was enough to say, Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies, that ye should obey it. If it is there it will reign there; and its reign supposes, necessarily, the subjection of that in which it reigns. A king reigns when his laws are enforced, and the people obey them. When there is no executive government there is no reign. There may be a royal shadow there, but there is no king.” [italics are my emphasis, not Clark’s] I believe Clark’s remarks help us understand that evil desires in the body are not directly attributable to it but to the underlying principle of SIN ruling over it. Our body was dead because of Sin but is now alive under the new ownership of Christ (Rom. 9:11). He bought it at the Cross and now indwells it. We’ve always had the same unchanging body--mortal, subject to the wear and tear of this sinful world, destined for the grave. But weak and infirm as it may be, God accepts it as His temple to dwell in. Granted, we may be slow awakening to this, yet God knows our problem and will prevail. What we need to remember is that our body is not the problem. Back to body, soul, and spirit. Just as our spirit joins us with God, so our body unites us with the world, a world under domination of the Tempter who will put our bodies to the test. Our striving to bring our bodies under control fails because Satan convinces us we are the ones to do it, blinding us to God’s provision. One might say that in a way our soul is in the middle ground, faced with the decision of how we will live, whether according to God or to the ruler of this world (See Gal 5:17). Acknowledging that the soul is spoken of in differing ways, I believe it is most commonly acknowledged to speak of our mind, will, and emotions. The soul is where our decisions are made. Our challenge is to make sure our souls and our heart are in sync. Jesus was emphatic that our words and actions would reflect what we truly believe in our innermost selves—our heart condition. Jer. 17:9 tells us, “The heart is desperately wicked.” I know some who profess Christ believe that is still true of them. However, if we have confessed our wickedness, sought forgiveness, and claimed Christ as our Lord and Savior (see Rom. 10:9,10) are we not given a new heart? Someone will then ask, “Why then do we still mess up so often?” Why? Because nowhere does scripture tell us we have been given a new soul. Though deep within us, God’s spirit is "at work to both will and do His good pleasure” (Phil 2:13), our soul has a lot of catching up to do, a process most humbling. So much of the error and preconceptions gathered over the years must be exposed and changed by the word of God. I Pet. 2:1 tells us, “As newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby.” Romans 12:2 puts it this way: ”do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Growing up to maturity in Christ takes time and patience, seeking answers to so many questions, going through daily trials, sometimes winning, often losing—all of which God promises to make work together for the good of those who love Him (Rom 8:28). Upon first trusting Christ, some may experience truly wonderful changes and blessing. Wonderful! Even so, most eventually will confess how much they still had to learn. Others may believe on Christ with hardly any immediate change in experience and be slow to grow. We must each remember we are unique, unlike anyone else; we must trust God to fulfill His promises in us in His own time and way, being careful not to compare ourselves with others (That’s not an easy lesson to learn in practice). Now, apart from our knowledge and appreciation of what the scriptures say, whoever desires to obey Christ is bound to encounter daily practical experience with the flesh. We’re good at it. It’s our natural lifestyle. Paul’s experience related in Romans 7 will be our own, at least until we embrace the glorious news of chapter 8. So where does this leave us? How can we learn to overcome the flesh, to know how to recognize it and deal with it? Certainly, not if we identify ourselves with it. If we are to grow up spiritually, we must progress from milk to meat by studying and obeying the deeper truth of the mystery of Godliness to see who we really are in Christ. According to the truth of Romans 8:8,9, we are no longer IN the flesh but IN Christ. We must be convinced that God speaks the truth. Our adversary will point to our failings. That’s why we must walk in faith and wisdom, thanking God that He came to save sinners like ourselves. If we are wise, we will instantly agree with God about our sins and thank him for his forgiveness an acceptance through Christ who gave himself for us. May we understand that God is not trying to make us better. Self-improvement is our game, influenced by the Devil. It is not God’s. He must show us that our own righteousness is as filthy rags; it can only be self-righteousness. In short, our salvation is not about us. It is exclusively about the glorification of His son. Our job: to rest in Him, to acknowledge we can do nothing. He is our righteousness, our wisdom, and our strength, yet understood rightly it is ours, too, for we are one with him. Finally,
let’s consider a passage from Galatians 5:19-23 comparing the works of the
flesh with the fruit of God’s spirit in us. Gal. 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. While the first four works may be attributed to the body, those that follow clearly do not. These speak of the depravity of the soul that even affects the body, mistakenly identified with the source of the flesh or carnal nature. With this Adam Clark agrees as does Albert Barnes’ commentary: “It is evident here that the word sarx, flesh, is used to denote corrupt human nature, and not merely the body; since many of the vices here enumerated are the passions of the mind, or the soul, rather than of the body.” Praise God, in Christ we have a good body, even though now mortal, weak and subject to temptation but one in which the spirit of our Savior is pleased to dwell. Gal. 5:22,23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. End of story. And what a happy ending, ours even now as we abide in Christ.
|