This week in posts, we have already discussed from Romans 8 both the incredible comfort of God’s grace and the call of God’s grace. We rejoice in these twin doctrines or truth. As sinners who are in Christ, we no longer have any condemnation; instead, we have been adopted into God’s family, become a joint-heir with Jesus, and can call God “Daddy.” However, we recognize that although we are accepted into God’s family as we are, God still has an agenda by grace to grow us more into Christ, the process we call sanctification. To do this with the greatest proficiency and effectively as possible, the Apostle Paul tells us to mortify or put to death the flesh. Today, we answer the question, “How do you put to death the flesh?” First, though, we start with a more basic question, “What is the flesh?”
What is the flesh?
The question, What is the flesh? needs to be addressed before we can answer, How do you put to death the flesh? For your understanding, let me give you a two-part understanding of it. I’ll use Romans 8 to describe it.
First, the flesh describes your inner disposition prior to salvation (or justification).
Sometimes I refer to this in computer terms as your spiritual operating system.
An operating system is the most important software that runs on a computer. It manages the computer’s memory and processes, as well as all of its software and hardware. Without an operating system, a computer is useless. Your computer’s operating system (OS) manages all of the software and hardware on the computer. Most of the time, there are several different computer programs running at the same time, and they all need to access your computer’s central processing unit (CPU), memory, and storage. The operating system coordinates all of this to make sure each program gets what it needs. Operating systems usually come pre-loaded on any computer you buy. Most people use the operating system that comes with their computer, but it’s possible to upgrade or even change operating systems. The three most common operating systems for personal computers are Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux.[1]
The flesh as Paul refers to it here is just like an operating system. It is the control center of your inner man prior to salvation. The flesh, provided for you through your connection to Adam (Romans 5), comes standard with every person. It manages everything about you – how you think, what you want, what you love, how you feel, and, ultimately, everything that you do. The flesh operating system in Adam suffers under universal depravity, as all have sinned. We are born sinners and become sinners. because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, The flesh refuses to submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so. The flesh is the operating system through which sin occurs. This sinful disposition can also be referred to as your old man.
Upon salvation or justification, God changes your spiritual operating system. Instead of an in-Adam, old man, depraved inner man dominated by sinful lusts, God provides you an in-Christ, new man, righteous inner man clothed in true righteousness and holiness (cf., Eph 4:22-24; Col 3:9-11; 2 Cor 5:17). This new operating system both provides the desire to honor God and enables you to now honor the Lord. Specifically, Paul calls this new desire and enablement as being led by the Spirit (Rom 8:14).
Second, living in the flesh is the opposite of living by the Spirit.
One aspect then of the flesh simply refers to the spiritual operating system of an individual – either in the flesh in-Adam or in the Spirit in-Christ. The second aspect then refers to the way one lives. As discussed above, the spiritual operating system determines which way fundamentally one operates. As an in-Adam person, you produce the deeds of the flesh; that is, as you live, what you do (deeds) flows out of your fleshly disposition of your heart or inner man. Therefore, we would refer to this as living according to the flesh (Rom 8:5). The one who after justification as an in-Christ person is led by the Spirit and does those things which honor God, that person is living by the Spirit. The Spirit of God lives in him or her and produces His fruit in you, which becomes manifested in your behavior (Rom 8:9-10).
Sadly, even after justification, one can live (and, chooses to live) either according to the flesh or according to the Spirit. Although God changed the operating system, you still have functional control over your life. Even though you now are in-Christ new man, your heart remains active either for or against God. The power of the flesh is broken; you no longer serve under the power of the flesh as your operating system. Yet, until you get to heaven, the presence of sin remains even though the power of sin is broken. As a person with a free will and active heart, you choose in every moment of every day to either follow the leading of the Spirit in righteousness (which is consistent with your new man in-Christ operating system) or you can live according to the flesh producing the deeds of the flesh.
Here is the difference. Whereas before salvation you could only serve the flesh and produce deeds according to the flesh,…
Those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom 8:8).
… now, you have a choice. While on earth, until you get to heaven either through the return of Christ or death, you can either live by the Spirit or according to the flesh. The ability to sin and the presence of sin will only be alleviated once we are in heaven and receive our glorified bodies (known as glorification).
Until then, we face a critical choice in every moment of every day, under what influence will we choose to live. Will we live by the Spirit or according to the flesh?
So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh (for if you live according to the flesh, you will die), but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. (Rom 8:12-14)
Either we will by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the flesh or we will follow our fleshly desires and live according to the flesh.
In Summary “What is the flesh?”
The flesh in one sense refers to our in-Adam, old man, depraved spiritual operating system prior to salvation. It dominates us prior to the miraculous work at salvation where God takes away the old spiritual operating system and grants you a new spiritual operating system, which refers to an in-Christ, new man, righteous spiritual operating system. This new man desires to follow the Spirit, honor God, and say no to the flesh.
The flesh in another sense refers to your tendency to turn back to the selfish desires of your old man which used to dominate you and live according to those former strong passions and desires which could not honor God. For the follower of Christ, the battle rages at this point. Will we choose to live as those led by the Spirit or those who walk in the flesh?
As those who are in-Christ new man people who have been justified by God at salvation, how then do we live by the Spirit and not according to the deeds of the Spirit? Tomorrow, we will answer this question, How do you put to death the flesh?
Become a Patron Supporter…
Become a partner with this ministry to help offset the cost of the blog. This blog is a work of love; any gift of support continues to make this work possible. Thank you for considering a partnership. Learn more here.
KevinCarson.com | Wisdom for Life in Christ Together
Trackbacks/Pingbacks