Reading… and Thinking

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please…. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

— Galatians 5:16-25 (NASB))

What is meant in the New Testament by “the flesh”? In most translations we come across the term quite often. The NIV renders it “the sinful nature”, which certainly conveys part of what is meant. We have this nature, inherited from Adam, that is inherently corrupt, and our nature is the source of temptation. However there is a very real sense in which it is literally “the flesh” that does us in.

We like to feel good. We like to gratify our nerve endings. We tend to seek out whatever will give us a thrill, either physically or emotionally. And when God tells us we shouldn’t do some of those things, well, sometimes we conclude God is a spoilsport, or even downright unfair. Who is He to deny us what we want?

Paul’s point in this passage is that the Spirit is indeed opposed to the flesh, and it’s for a reason. It’s to prevent us from doing what we would. Why is God so restrictive? Why would he deliberately make his standards in opposition to what comes naturally to us? Is He vindictive? Does He just like to see us squirm?

We first off need to admit that it wasn’t God who introduced sin. Adam and Eve did that, and God’s righteous law was that “the wage of sin is death”. (Romans 6:23, based on Genesis 2:16-17) That first sin tainted their very nature, which we’ve inherited (Romans 5:12). So we have a problem: our nature (our flesh) leads us into sin, and therefore death.

God has set up clear contrasts for a purpose, in fact because of His ultimate purpose for us. He loves us, and He wants us to live forever. But if we choose the pleasure of the moment instead of eternity, then we’ve made our choice, and we won’t live forever. God doesn’t want to see us lose out on the best. So He has made the contrasts plain for us to see. We have clear choices—in an effort to prevent us from doing what we would do, if all we could see was the immediate gratification of the flesh.

Even with our limited perspective, even hampered as we are by the flesh, we can see that love and joy and peace are good things. The elements of the fruit of the Spirit add up to a wonderful picture. God says you can have it, if you just choose it. The alternative is death by immorality, hatred, jealousy. An utterly ugly picture.

We get to choose, and in fact we must choose. God has done everything in His power to motivate us to choose wisely!