The Flesh Against the Spirit

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"Ye have been called unto liberty."

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"Use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh."

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"By love serve one another." "Through love be servant one to another."

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"Take heed that ye be not consumed one of another."

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"The flesh lusteth against the Spirit."

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"The Spirit [lusteth] against the flesh."

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"These are contrary the one to the other."

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"Ye can not do the things that ye would."

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"Walk in the Spirit."

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"Ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh."

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"If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law."

1. The student can now, as we come near the close of the epistle, see more clearly the practical character of it. It is not that the apostle now takes leave of the "doctrinal," the argumentative, and gives some "practical" exhortation, but we have here the conclusion of the whole matter. All true doctrine is intensely practical, it is given for nothing else but practise. This epistle was not written to furnish ground for controversy, but to silence it; its purpose is to reclaim those who are sinning against God by trying to serve Him in their "own weak way," not knowing that "they that are in the flesh can not please God." Rom. 8:8. Do not relax any diligence in study. Let every word be indelibly printed on your mind. Read the verses scores of times, not forgetting that which we have already passed over.

2. The contrasts in this epistle are the true and the false gospel; the power of God and the power of man; living, active faith, against dead works; reality against forms; trust in the promises of God, against confidence in one's self; freedom against bondage; the Spirit against the flesh; justification, righteousness by faith, against attempted righteousness by works; the blessing of perfect righteousness by the cross of Christ, against the curse of outward obedience, which at best is but sin; complete submission to the Spirit of God, against wavering between the flesh and the Spirit; peace with God, the peace of God, against human strife.

3. Christ came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. Matt. 20:28. He "emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant." Phil. 2:7, R. V. The mind of a servant He had already. "I am among you as he that serveth." Luke 22:27. Perfect knowledge of Christ, appreciation of His life and character, is shown in service. Thus the law is fulfilled.

4. Compare verses 16-18 with chapter 2:20 and Rom. 8:8-10. If the life that we live in the flesh is lived by the faith of the Son of God, who lives in us, and whose life alone is manifested in us, then we are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit; for He is a "quickening Spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45), with "power over all flesh" (John 17:2).

5. The Spirit and the flesh are irreconcilable. They are "contrary the one to the other." Literally, they "lie over against" each other; they are diametrically opposed. The picture here presented is very striking, when we consider the force of the word "lusteth." It is from a compound Greek word meaning to "rush eagerly against" or upon; to "strive vehemently." The picture is of two armies encamped over against each other, each sharply watching the other, eager to find some advantage, and both in deadly opposition. They have nothing in common. The Spirit is given by God to strive with all flesh, so that every man is a battle-ground. It is easy to see that a man who knows something of the working of the Spirit, and wishes to do right, yet who is still in bondage to the flesh, can not do the things that he would.

6. But there is the greatest hope, for the Spirit is as much opposed to the flesh as the flesh is to the Spirit, and the Spirit is the stronger. Christ has "power over all flesh." John 17:2. "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God." John 1:12. The promise is sure. "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." There is complete deliverance.

7. "If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law." Note carefully the connection. See how manifest it is that to be under the law is to be in bondage to the flesh. But that is to be in a state of war against the law, not of obedience to it, because "the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. 8:7. Christ has come to save not only those who know nothing of the law, and who are known as open sinners—heathen—but those who are in bondage to the law which they acknowledge, and are vainly striving to keep. He will deliver such from their bondage to the law to freedom in it. Whoever walks in the Spirit, will not be under the law, and will not be in bondage to the flesh; for "the law is spiritual." Rom. 7:14.