The Flesh and the Spirit

B-A-C · Aug 10, 2013

Lately there has been much talk about "living in the Spirit" and "how do we live in the Spirit" and "how do we know when the Spirit is speaking to us".
There have been many good answers and verses given about these things. But I would like to come at this from a slightly different perspective.

The main thing the Spirit is not, is our flesh. How do you know if you are living in the Spirit? Well here are some ways to tell that you aren't.

Gal 5:16; But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
Gal 5:17; 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.
Gal 5:18; But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
Gal 5:19; Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,
Gal 5:20; idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
Gal 5:21; 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.
Gal 5:24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Gal 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
Gal 5:26 Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

Rom 8:4; so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Rom 8:5; For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
Rom 8:6; For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
Rom 8:7; because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
Rom 8:8; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Rom 8:12; So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to live according to the flesh--
Rom 8:13; for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Rom 1:22; Professing to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 1:23; and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
Rom 1:24; Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.
Rom 1:25; For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Rom 1:26; For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,
Rom 1:27; and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
Rom 1:28; And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,
Rom 1:29; being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,
Rom 1:30; slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
Rom 1:31; without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;

Romans 1:29 an 30 are the same things that Galations 5 says is the deeds of the flesh.

1 Cor 6:9; Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,
1 Cor 6:10; nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will not inherit the kingdom of God.

I don't think the verses above need a lot of explanation, it's pretty simple. If you doing the things in the verses above, you are living in the flesh.
We have quite a list. In the 28 verses above, there are over 30 things (over 40 if you count duplicates) listed that are either deeds of the flesh (which against the Spirit) or things that will keep you from inheriting the kingdom of God.
Maybe sometimes the best way to tell if you walking in the Spirit if you're not sure, is to do a self inventory to see if you are walking in the flesh.

1 Pet 2:11; Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.

One thing to keep in mind here.... for those who say we as Christians are no longer under the law. That's only true if...
Gal 5:18; But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.

Many say they are led by the Holy Spirit, but yet they themselves show the fruit of the flesh and encourage others to be the same way.

2 Pet 2:2; Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;
2 Pet 2:9; then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,
2 Pet 2:10; and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties,
2 Pet 2:18; For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error,
2 Pet 2:19; promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.

Jude 1:4; For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into a license to sin, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Tit 1:16; They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.
1 Pet 2:16; Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God.
Rom 6:15; What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!

Matt 7:15; "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
Matt 7:16; "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?
Matt 7:17; "So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
Matt 7:18; "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.
Matt 7:19; "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Matt 7:20; "So then, you will know them by their fruits.
Matt 7:21; "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.

You will know them by their fruit? What fruit? Either the fruit of the Spirit, or the fruit of the flesh.

Rom 6:1; What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
Rom 6:2; May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

A very good question, the question is... have you really died to sin and fruit of the flesh, are or you just saying "I am led of the Spirit"?

james1523 · Aug 11, 2013

Very good post BAC.
If we are living in a way that's not right, clearly we are not in the Spirit.
Some believe Christians are always in the Spirit because they believe in Christ, this is simply not true.
Believing in Christ gives us our position as a child of God. But in the Spirit is how we need to walk which means our day to day activities and lifestyle.
The good news is that as Christians, being in the Spirit is our default condition. For the believer it is easier to walk in the Spirit than not. All we need to do is repent and confess our sins, shortcomings, failures, and immediately we are in the Spirit again. On the positive side of living in the Spirit, we need to pray, read the Bible, obey the commandments, etc do all these things. And on the negative side we need to deal with our flesh, deny our self, confess our sins etc.

stephen · Aug 11, 2013

Thank you for posting this sir. Excellent

We have so many books around to-day....."How to" religeous books. Thanks for the bible quotes. Without which
we would be swept away with the "How to"....books.

amadeus2 · Aug 11, 2013

james1523 said:
The good news is that as Christians, being in the Spirit is our default condition.

I would say that it SHOULD be our default condition!

james1523: For the believer it is easier to walk in the Spirit than not.

As a wise man told me about 35 years ago, " It is hard to live for God easy, but it is easy to live for God hard". In other words if you spend a lot of time yoyo-ing or riding the fence it is extremely hard to walk in the Spirit, but if we work continuously on surrendering to God and asking for God's help to surrender better, it is easy.

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matt 11:28-30

spirit1st · Aug 11, 2013

You can tell if your walking in your spirit by the LOVE your revealing? Our Spirit has God pure LOVE put within it. It has perfect faith in it Father and Prefect Love which the LORD HIMSELF put in it .

Eph_4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

Rom_5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

The most important thing in mankind is there LOVE.

Gal_5:6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

Of course it goes hand in hand with Faith.

Boanerges · Aug 12, 2013

This is why Jesus said to be fruit inspectors. The fruit you produce is an indicator of what is going on in your heart. If evil fruit is born then ones heart cannot be filled with God's Love.
Adam walked hand in hand with God until he choose to follow what was right in his own sight; man lost communion with God as it choose the path of Satan (I will, I, I I) but now that has been restored in Christ. We are to walk like Christ; Led of the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit, speaking the Father's own Words and doing His own will.

spirit1st · Aug 12, 2013

Adam knew it was wrong. But loved Eve more and was willing to disobey God for Her . As So many millions of men have done for a woman.

satan used women i guess more than anything other than maybe greed?

Funny thing is ? Many women chose to stay with the guy who Lords over them ?

will · Aug 15, 2013

Just want to add one thing:
It is nearly impossible for a beginner Christian to "leave the flesh and walk with the Spirit" without a proper discipleship from more mature believers around him/her.

This is why we see a lot of celebrities who embraced Christianity, and then not one year later was found drunk, doing drugs, etc. Because they can't cope with the expectation, people expect instant maturity, something that is never taught in the Scriptures or even found in the natural world (we were not born adults from our mother's womb, so why should we expect a person who just received Christ to be able to suddenly leave their "flesh" ??)

What *should* happen is, no matter how famous a person is, he/she is still a baby believer, as the Apostle Paul put it, needing milk and not solid food yet. This is why it falls on the shoulders of all spiritually growing Christians to bring up the beginners, to show them what it means to leave the flesh, and enjoy the Power of the Holy Spirit in their lives -- not to condemn them or leaving them on their own. That is what God Commissioned us to do: make disciples.

We as the Church are in severe need of this showing of examples, this is the only way we are going to be salt and light in the dark world.

Boanerges · Aug 15, 2013

Amen.. The first thing we need though is Him. Even the Apostles filled during the day of Pentecost were filled more than once (Act 4:31 ). The bible does not admonish us to get filled but to be filled (Eph_3:19,Eph_5:18) , this is a continuous process for you cannot pour out what is in your life and stay full nor can you horde it to yourself without it getting stagnant. The Holy Spirit is a living, breathing, person who wants to move in and through you (Joh 7:38 - 39).
He leads us and empowers us true, but there is so much more:

 The time is come for us to be a people who are filled with the Spirit,
hear the Spirit, walk in the spirit, who fellowship with the Spirit, who
are led of the Spirit, who are caught up in the Spirit, who have vision in the Spirit, who have purposed in the Spirit, who speak through the Spirit, who have life in the Spirit, who mind the things of the Spirit, who through the Spirit put to death the things of the flesh, who bear the fruit of the Spirit, who move in the gifts of the Spirit, who intercede in the Spirit, who know the will of God in the Spirit, who are mighty in the Spirit, who for the love of the Spirit strive together, who have revelation in the Spirit, who judge in the Spirit, who are justified and sanctified in the Spirit, who manifest the Spirit, who drink in the Spirit, who pray in the Spirit, who bless with
the spirit, who receive life form the Spirit, who have freedom in the Spirit, who are changed from glory to glory by the Spirit, who minister by the Spirit, who wait thru he Spirit, who restore in the spirit, who sow to the Spirit, who are sealed with the Spirit, who are built up together by the Spirit, who are strengthened by the Spirit, who keep unity in the Spirit, who are renewed in the spirit of their minds, who take the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God, who make pray and supplication in the Spirit, who stand fast in one spirit, who worship in the spirit, who have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit and love one with a pure heart fervently , who if reproached for the Name of Christ are happy for the spirit of glory and of God rest upon us, who has an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to His church, who rest in the Spirit, who are carried away in the spirit, who have the testimony of Jesus which is the spirit of prophecy, who cry out even so come Lord Jesus!Perhaps it is time we dare to believe God and enter into this deep fellowship that we are called to- we don't need to look far for :
Know ye not that you are the temple of the Holy Ghost- you are God's holy of holies now- and He is our Paraclete -
the one Jesus sent to walk beside us, teach us , lead us, guide us, draw us, fill us, sanctify us and fellowship with us-
let us not grieve nor quench Him- even the great Apostle Paul wanted to go his own way but yielded his plans and changed the course of his apostolic journey at the Spirit's direction- it is time we do the same

Much love and many blessings in His Name,
your brother Larry

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w

unctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w

oNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w

ontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w

ontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]-->

james1523 · Aug 16, 2013

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Himself. Jesus did not just send the Spirit, it is His Spirit. Is the Spirit of a person separate from the Person? Is the Spirit of Jesus not the same as Jesus Himself?

This is why the Spirit could not be given until Jesus was glorified: Jesus needed to die and be resurrected for His Spirit to be released.

He promised He would not leave them as orphans, He was coming to them as the Spirit: John 14:18

And on that day they received the Holy Spirit, they realized Christ was in them : John 14:20. "On that day you will realize... I am in you".

There is no other way the the apostle Paul could say "Christ in us, the Hope of Glory", if the Spirit is not Christ (Col 1:27). As Col 1:27 says, this is a mystery. How can Christ be inside of us as the Spirit and in Heaven at the same time? Only God knows.

That Jesus is the Spirit is one of the most overlooked facts in Christianity today:
2 Cor 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

As Gill's commentary says on 2 Corinthians 3:17:
"Now the Lord is that Spirit,.... "The Lord", to whom the heart is turned, when the veil is removed, is Jesus Christ; and he is "that Spirit", or "the Spirit":"

The Holy Spirit is not a mysterious force or power, or separate from Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is the Lord Jesus Himself.

The reason why the Spirit cries Abba Father (Rom 8:15), is because the Spirit is the Spirit of the Son, Jesus.

Mainstream Christianity today teaches that we receive only the Holy Spirit but the Father and Jesus are left in Heaven. This view focuses on the fact that God is three persons. But it forgets that these 3 persons are also inseparably One.

The Bible teaches that the Father and the Son are not only in Heaven , but that the Father and the Son come to us by the Holy Spirit:
John 14:23 "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

To be filled with the Spirit is to be filled with Christ to the uttermost. That is, it is to have His nature spread into our minds, emotions, wills, and so we express His character and virtues. To be filled with Christ in this way requires self denial, taking up our cross,and following Him, transformation of our minds, etc.

DHC · Aug 16, 2013

james1523 said:
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Himself. Jesus did not just send the Spirit, it is His Spirit. Is the Spirit of a person separate from the Person? Is the Spirit of Jesus not the same as Jesus Himself?

This is why the Spirit could not be given until Jesus was glorified: Jesus needed to die and be resurrected for His Spirit to be released.

He promised He would not leave them as orphans, He was coming to them as the Spirit: John 14:18

And on that day they received the Holy Spirit, they realized Christ was in them : John 14:20. "On that day you will realize... I am in you".

There is no other way the the apostle Paul could say "Christ in us, the Hope of Glory", if the Spirit is not Christ (Col 1:27). As Col 1:27 says, this is a mystery. How can Christ be inside of us as the Spirit and in Heaven at the same time? Only God knows.

That Jesus is the Spirit is one of the most overlooked facts in Christianity today:
2 Cor 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

As Gill's commentary says on 2 Corinthians 3:17:
"Now the Lord is that Spirit,.... "The Lord", to whom the heart is turned, when the veil is removed, is Jesus Christ; and he is "that Spirit", or "the Spirit":"

The Holy Spirit is not a mysterious force or power, or separate from Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is the Lord Jesus Himself.

The reason why the Spirit cries Abba Father (Rom 8:15), is because the Spirit is the Spirit of the Son, Jesus.

Mainstream Christianity today teaches that we receive only the Holy Spirit but the Father and Jesus are left in Heaven. This view focuses on the fact that God is three persons. But it forgets that these 3 persons are also inseparably One.

The Bible teaches that the Father and the Son are not only in Heaven , but that the Father and the Son come to us by the Holy Spirit:
John 14:23 "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

To be filled with the Spirit is to be filled with Christ to the uttermost. That is, it is to have His nature spread into our minds, emotions, wills, and so we express His character and virtues. To be filled with Christ in this way requires self denial, taking up our cross,and following Him, transformation of our minds, etc.

2 Timothy 1:7For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

Not just love and self discipline but also POWER.

Power is often neglected in many theologies.

You must hold onto all scripture, all passages, all the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
All the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and do not quench the Spirit.
Do not forbid prophecy!

james1523 · Aug 18, 2013

DHC said:
2 Timothy 1:7For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

Not just love and self discipline but also POWER.

Power is often neglected in many theologies.

You must hold onto all scripture, all passages, all the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
All the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and do not quench the Spirit.
Do not forbid prophecy!

Not surprising since theology by its nature is the study of God with the mind. Even if it did study the power, it might never use it and neglects the spirit.
As vs 6 says, we must stir the gift into flame. God has installed the power into us, but we must "turn on the switch". We can study electricity as much as we like, but if we never turn on the switch and use it, we will not have any power.

Welcome!

The Flesh and the Spirit

B-A-C

Loyal

james1523

Member

stephen

Member

amadeus2

Loyal

spirit1st

Member

Boanerges

Member

spirit1st

Member

will

Member

Boanerges

Member

james1523

Member

DHC

Member

james1523

Member

Members Online

Trending content

Newest members

Community Stats