Flesh vs Holy Spirit pt.2

Continuing on the topic of living by the flesh….

Romans 8:1-11

New International Version (NIV)

Romans 8

Life Through the Spirit

^“1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you^[a] free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,^[b] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.^[c] And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

 ⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶ The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

 ⁹ You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life^[d] because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of^[e] his Spirit who lives in you.”

I felt that I needed to include scriptures 1 through 11 of Romans 8. These scriptures are important to add to the discussion of living by the flesh versus living by the Spirit.

We have to always remember the reasons why Jesus existed on this earth, among those reasons the most profound one is so that we can be led by the Holy Spirit, the spirit of God. Jesus was sacrificed for our sins so that the blood of Jesus will wash us and make us pure again.

Another way to see Jesus’ sacrifice in relation to living by the flesh is that Jesus, who was God on earth in form as a man, as a flesh canceling out flesh, meaning that Jesus’ flesh that was put to death cancels out our “living” flesh today. As Jesus was dead to the flesh, so must we be. We can’t expect to just let Jesus’ body die and not our own.

If our sins could have been easily canceled out in any other way, God would have done so, but our sins were so much that He had to send His one and only pure son to our “pay debt”. 

You may have heard of the phrase, “you need to kill your flesh”; killing your flesh is not letting your impulses and unwise decisions lead your life. Doing something just because it feels good, is one aspect of being lead by the flesh. Of course this isn’t a one-time prayer or decision to automatically die to your flesh, something like this takes time to do. 

Don’t stop hacking away at your “flesh” until it no longer affects your desires.