The Flesh and the Body and the Holy Spirit 3 The flesh when used in the Scriptures to refer to the sinful nature of man represents the entire human nature or personality before one is born again of God. It involves the physical body, not because the physical body is evil or sinful in itself, but because it is the instrument through which the flesh practices sin. The flesh is also known as the old nature, the old man, the body of sin, the body of the sins of the flesh, and the body of death. It is the fallen nature that the first man descended into when he was deceived by the devil to partake of knowledge of good and evil in disobedience to Gods instruction. The knowledge of good and evil was to the first man a symbol of what the law required. It represented the basic distinction between right and wrong, righteousness and sin, good and evil, which morally orders and regulates the behaviour of mankind. Created in innocence, without the knowledge to distinguish between good and evil, the first man depended absolutely on God to order and regulate his behaviour. Everything was pure and good to him. And whatever he did then was of God who worked in him to will and to do according to His good pleasure. God wanted the first man to exist this way and had created the first man to exist this way to be in total dependence on Him for life and godliness. He had made it plain that the day the first man attempted to order and regulate his behaviour on his own by partaking of the knowledge of good and evil, by seeking to distinguish between right and wrong on his own, he would lose that divine fellowship of dependence on God and would die. Death here does not mean non-existence but a self existence separated from and in rebellion against God and enslaved to sin by the devil. Man would continue to exist. He would become knowledgeable of good and evil. But he would exist without God who gave him the power to do good and abstain from evil. It was an existence in self. However, man would discover that in his self existence, though having the knowledge of good and evil, being without God he lacked the power that the Holy Spirit provided to uphold what is good and abstain from what is evil. Moreover, the devil taking advantage of mans vulnerability without God enslaved the nature of man to sin and evil. This was the existence of death the first man fell into after the fall. And this is the existence he passed on to the entire human race which descended from him. It is an existence in a self nature, dead in sins and trespasses. In the self nature, man has a conscience to know good and evil but without God he is void of the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit to do what is good and abstain from what is evil. It is this fallen self nature known as the flesh that God came in Christ to deliver man from through the crucifixion and through the resurrection to bring forth a new man created in His nature of true righteousness and holiness living in absolute dependence on Him in Christ. Genesis 2:17: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Romans 5:12: “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” Romans 5:17-18: “For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is Gods wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ. Yes, Adams one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christs one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone.” Romans 7:22-25: “For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.”
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 11:37:38 +0000
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