Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

Spirit Versus Flesh

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 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.

Rom 7:24-25

Paul summarizes everything he has said thus far in Romans 7:14-25.

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

Rom 7:15

Wait a minute! After six confusing chapters that at times seem like Paul is beating a dead horse. Paul the Apostle is declaring that he can’t stop sinning. Confusion over the relationship between flesh and spirit has resulted in all manner of heresies from Gnosticism to Atheism.

Flesh is sárx – mere human nature, the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God. Today we call sárx the old unregenerate man in comparison with the new born again new creation.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

2 Cor 5:16-19

Paul’s dilemma in Rom 7:15 is real for all of us. The solution begins in verse 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.

Rom 7:25

Simple! Right?

I can do what I want in the flesh as long as I serve the law of God with my mind?

Ummmm…NO!

The answer is found in the next chapter.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

Rom 8:1-2

Praise God! But then why do I continue to fail?  Why do I continue to sin? The answer is found in verse 5.

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.

Rom 8:5

I can only put one hundred percent of my attention on one thing at a time. If my focus is entirely on Jesus, I am in the spirit, and I do not sin. The moment my attention drifts I am in the flesh and immediately prone to sin. At the end of the day, the enemy is warring against my transformation. He doesn’t care if I am indulging in sin, striving to not sin by sheer willpower, or sitting in guilt, shame, and condemnation. All three keep me in the flesh and focused on sin. God wants me to focus on Him. We focus on Him by meditating on His word which is what Paul means when he says he serves the law with his mind.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Psalm 119:105

The law in the life of a believer is everything in God’s word.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2 Tim 3:16-17

It becomes easier to focus on God (walk in the spirit) when we clearly hear God. We develop our ability to hear God by reading and meditating on His word.

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Romans 10:17

Those who are of the flesh (unbelievers) are in permanent bondage to sin. They cannot choose to do otherwise because they do not want to choose otherwise.

For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 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. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Romans 8:7-8

The mere fact that we desire to obey God and feel convicted when we fail is proof positive that we are not of the flesh.

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 

Romans 8:9-10

The more we focus on Him (walk in the spirit) the more we are transformed and conformed to the image of His son.

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Romans 8:11

Paul just explained how what he spoke about in the previous chapters is accomplished.

Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Romans 6:12-14

We charismatics tend to emphasize an emotional experience of the presence of God. We talk about loving God in the context of loving Him with all our hearts. As we will see Paul continues to emphasize the mind as the gateway to walking in the spirit.

That said, the biggest impediment to walking in the spirit for contemporary man is our inherent obsession with self. We are so self-consumed that we can not even comprehend being any other way. We speak of our identity in Christ as if it were the root and foundation of our faith. Hence the first command Jesus gives to His disciples is

“deny self”. Mat 16:24

Deny self counters the first fruit of the fall when Adam and Eve’s focus went from God to themselves and self-centeredness was born.

And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

Genesis 3:10-11

We obsess about ourselves, our purpose, mission, ministry, __________ (you fill in the blank.)  We obsess about our identity in the face of,

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Colossians 3:3
Meditate on that.

MARANATHA

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

Undisappointing Hope

Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 1 Pet 1:13

Have you ever been disappointed that God did not do what you thought He promised to do? I can’t begin to count the number of prophetic words I have heard that never panned out. Or the number of people who made major life decisions based on prophetic words that later proved false. Some react by taking an extreme cessationist view. They begin to despise all prophecy in defiance of God’s word. 1 Thess 5:20-21 Others engage in cognitive dissonance. They deny the word was wrong believing that to do so would represent a lack of faith on their part. Still others rationalize by pointing to external circumstances or another person causing it’s manifest fulfillment to be delayed. This is also in defiance of scripture. Deut 18:22 Still others albeit fewer these days take a balanced, biblical view. 1 Cor 13:9-12

We prophecy in part…

Perhaps the biggest cause of failed prophecies is a misunderstanding and misapplication of hope.

The Trump Prophecies

You get the idea.

Most people in and of the world today view hope in the context of something they want to happen but may not. “I hope I find a spouse”. “I hope I get that job or that car.” I Hope Donald Trump gets re-elected.” But biblical hope is not a roll of the dice. Biblical hope is a guarantee. Paul calls it an anchor.

So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Heb 6:17-20

Hope is not “My desire be done in Jesus’ name”. Hope is God’s immutable word that His will shall be done. Isa 55:11 He will fulfill His eternal promises regardless of our circumstances here. That we live abased or we abound Phil 4:12 in this life is ancillary.

That’s not to say we shouldn’t be grateful. Rather false hope breeds ingratitude and sometimes narcissism. If we think that God’s purpose and plan are to bless us with success, “nice things” and never-ending comfort while so many others suffer then our hope is in the flesh and we are soulish at best. That doesn’t mean we solve the problem by giving all our stuff away. It also doesn’t mean that we don’t. Mat 19: 21-30 The issue is; what hinders us? We may enter His gates with Thanksgiving and His courts with praise every Sunday. Psalm 100:4 But do we understand what Paul means by the hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain?

Hope is prefaced by girding.

Both men and women in Peter’s day wore ankle-length robes. Hence they would gather the hem and fasten it to their waste with a belt. Girding applied if they were walking, working, or preparing for battle. We see a similar theme in Ephesians 6.

Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth… Eph 6:13-14

Loins refers to the generative, procreative part of the body. Peter is referring to the generative and procreative aspects of our minds. The mind is the seed bed of transformation. Rom 12:1-2

In the midst of our girding Peter exhorts us to be sober. Sober- nḗphō is one of my favorite words in the Bible. Sober means to abstain from wine, be discreet, watch, be calm and collected in spirit, be temperate, dispassionate, and circumspect. “Dispassionate” might sound counterintuitive in a faith stream that emphasizes joy. However, joy is chará – calm delight. Peace, patience, and self-control are fruits of the spirit that attend and complement joy. Gal 5:22 Dispassionate means our emotions take a back seat. We gird the loins of our minds by submitting and subjecting our feelings to His word until our minds are renewed. Any experience of genuine joy is contingent upon this renewal.

It is by a sober act of will that we STAND, not retreating or advancing as we resolve not to be conformed to this world and instead subject our entire being to His truth. Girding is preparation to persevere while our character is transformed. Character is the soil in which comprehension and assurance of the blessed hope grow.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Rom 5:1-5

Hope misunderstood and misapplied results in despair.

Biblical hope requires surrender and consecration but never disappoints.

1 John 2:15-29

Maranatha