Romans Chapter 8 cont'd
If God's Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, God will take possession of your weak and mortal body by the Spirit, and make it his living vessel. Therefore dear friends, we live with a holy indebtedness; not to live for our selfish pleasures, but for the pleasure of our gracious Master. For if after all this, we stubbornly continue to live selfishly, death, in one form or another, will encroach upon us: but if we ruthlessly put to death our old selfish tendencies and lustful habits by the Spirit's power, true life will flourish and endure.
Comments:
It's like we simply need to choose, in an ongoing way, what is going to "die" in our lives...our extreme and stubborn self-centeredness and all that flows from that basic orientation or...our experience/enjoyment of abundant life in Jesus Christ and the love, peace, joy, meaning and adventure that goes naturally with this quality of life. Either way, one way of being must "die" and the other way will automatically "live". In Christ, the Father has provided all we need to genuinely walk in the freshness of life in the Spirit. Now he is inspiring and urging us to simply cooperate by believing/trusting that it is true and subordinating our energies and powers to the Person of the Holy Spirit whose presence is dwelling in and integrated with our deepest parts, and then, outward to our very physical being. If we respond to this kind of divine initiative, the Holy Spirit will respond to our response and faithfully do his part. He will even help us to respond...he is, afterall, called The Helper!
Paul later calls this latter kind of cooperative response to God's grace and mercy: our "reasonable service of worship". Good theology makes great sense and a whole-hearted response of gratitude, love and service on our part is truly a brilliant investment. Let's do it y'all.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
The Romance of Romans-Part 48
Romans Chapter 8 cont'd
Those who live out of the selfish compulsions of their lower passions have a corrupt mind-set, but those who live by the Spirit's power have a renewed mind-set. Note the stark contrast: to be selfishly minded is death in the making; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. The selfish mind-set is at odds with God, for it is not submitted to his moral standards and it cannot be by its very nature.
Comments:
Just one more thought now on "setting our minds" on the things of the Spirit or, as Paul says in Colossians 3, "setting our minds on things above, not on things on the earth". I like to refer to it as "minding" the Holy Spirit. It's a nice word play that brings the focus of our thinking together with a heart of obedience. The bottom line is that many believers become overly-mystical and lean toward gnosticism when they imagine what this really means for our daily lives. It is not about a concerted effort to try to figure out what is going on in the angelic realm or trying hard to listen for voices from the invisible realm. (Sometimes we actually do get glimpses into and tokens from this realm...mostly serendipitously.) It's not a "way of being" that removes us from engaging with life upon God's earth. In fact, "setting our minds on the things of the Spirit" has tremendous practical applications for our lives and relationships here and now. And...actually doing it each day on earth is vitally connected to our eternal rewards then and there.
It is primarily about living out of a quiet and confident communion...a friendship...with the Trinity who indwells us and seeking to have our minds renewed so that we, more and more, come to view what is happening within us, around us and in our world from divine perspectives...viewpoints and associated feelings and responses that are informed by the Word and the Spirit. It's a discovery of what a human life on earth looks like that bears the fruit of the Spirit: LOVE...and then...joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control...and that is empowered to live and minister in the power of the Spirit's imparted gifts and grace. This life, of course, also implies clearly saying "no" to the sinful "works of the flesh" that are so obviously manifesting all around us in this fallen world.
True spirituality finds it's source of life and wisdom in the highest heaven, but it is embodied and fleshed out in Christ followers whose feet gratefully walk out our connectivity with God here on this earth that He has promised to renovate fully one day. We are invited to be His humbled and emboldened agents here and now for the honor of Jesus the Christ.
Those who live out of the selfish compulsions of their lower passions have a corrupt mind-set, but those who live by the Spirit's power have a renewed mind-set. Note the stark contrast: to be selfishly minded is death in the making; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. The selfish mind-set is at odds with God, for it is not submitted to his moral standards and it cannot be by its very nature.
Comments:
Just one more thought now on "setting our minds" on the things of the Spirit or, as Paul says in Colossians 3, "setting our minds on things above, not on things on the earth". I like to refer to it as "minding" the Holy Spirit. It's a nice word play that brings the focus of our thinking together with a heart of obedience. The bottom line is that many believers become overly-mystical and lean toward gnosticism when they imagine what this really means for our daily lives. It is not about a concerted effort to try to figure out what is going on in the angelic realm or trying hard to listen for voices from the invisible realm. (Sometimes we actually do get glimpses into and tokens from this realm...mostly serendipitously.) It's not a "way of being" that removes us from engaging with life upon God's earth. In fact, "setting our minds on the things of the Spirit" has tremendous practical applications for our lives and relationships here and now. And...actually doing it each day on earth is vitally connected to our eternal rewards then and there.
It is primarily about living out of a quiet and confident communion...a friendship...with the Trinity who indwells us and seeking to have our minds renewed so that we, more and more, come to view what is happening within us, around us and in our world from divine perspectives...viewpoints and associated feelings and responses that are informed by the Word and the Spirit. It's a discovery of what a human life on earth looks like that bears the fruit of the Spirit: LOVE...and then...joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control...and that is empowered to live and minister in the power of the Spirit's imparted gifts and grace. This life, of course, also implies clearly saying "no" to the sinful "works of the flesh" that are so obviously manifesting all around us in this fallen world.
True spirituality finds it's source of life and wisdom in the highest heaven, but it is embodied and fleshed out in Christ followers whose feet gratefully walk out our connectivity with God here on this earth that He has promised to renovate fully one day. We are invited to be His humbled and emboldened agents here and now for the honor of Jesus the Christ.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Romance of Romans-Part 47
Romans Chapter 8 cont'd
So, no matter how hard they might try, people who live by human energy alone cannot please God.
But now you are obligated to live life not out of your lower passions, but by the Holy Spirit’s impulses, if indeed he really dwells inside of you. And if he doesn't, then you haven't yet become a true Christian. However, if Jesus lives within you, then the controlling energy of sin that previously used your body as a conduit has been short-circuited, and you've been "rewired" so that his Spirit's life can now flow through you as a current of righteousness.
Comments:
God never intended that the human being would live independently of his life and Spirit. Beyond this, he sent his Son Jesus Christ, who did all that he did, so that the Spirit of God could "come and live and stay" within any human soul who would put their personal trust in him. A life of "holiness" is not so complicated and burdensome...weighed down by multitudes of rules, regulations and taboos. If God has gone to such lengths to "indwell" us, genuine holiness...of course...is intrinsically to do with an interactive relationship between the Trinity and ourselves.
The objective side of holiness functions like boundary markers that keep us from self-deception. In Galatians 5, Paul states that the "works of the flesh" are obvious...as is the "fruit of the Spirit". The things are are out of bounds and in bounds are quite clearly identified in the New Testament. However, simply because certain people may keep themselves from going out of bounds behaviorally, this is not necessarily an indication or a guarantee that they are involved in the passion and spirit of the game. This is where the subjective side of a truly "holy life" comes to bear.
Are we engaging in real time with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Are we seeking? Are we listening? Are we responding? Are we trusting? Are we fighting? Are we enduring? Are we risking? Are we forgiving? Are we moving forward? Are we sacrificing for love's sake? Are our hearts and heads "in the game"? Are we "minding" the Coach who lives in and whispers his instructions to our souls?
Real holiness is all about the real time and miraculous indwelling and loving dominion of the Holy Spirit over all our human powers that were originally and divinely designed to be fabulous and essential servants, but terrible masters, of the spiritual life.
So, no matter how hard they might try, people who live by human energy alone cannot please God.
But now you are obligated to live life not out of your lower passions, but by the Holy Spirit’s impulses, if indeed he really dwells inside of you. And if he doesn't, then you haven't yet become a true Christian. However, if Jesus lives within you, then the controlling energy of sin that previously used your body as a conduit has been short-circuited, and you've been "rewired" so that his Spirit's life can now flow through you as a current of righteousness.
Comments:
God never intended that the human being would live independently of his life and Spirit. Beyond this, he sent his Son Jesus Christ, who did all that he did, so that the Spirit of God could "come and live and stay" within any human soul who would put their personal trust in him. A life of "holiness" is not so complicated and burdensome...weighed down by multitudes of rules, regulations and taboos. If God has gone to such lengths to "indwell" us, genuine holiness...of course...is intrinsically to do with an interactive relationship between the Trinity and ourselves.
The objective side of holiness functions like boundary markers that keep us from self-deception. In Galatians 5, Paul states that the "works of the flesh" are obvious...as is the "fruit of the Spirit". The things are are out of bounds and in bounds are quite clearly identified in the New Testament. However, simply because certain people may keep themselves from going out of bounds behaviorally, this is not necessarily an indication or a guarantee that they are involved in the passion and spirit of the game. This is where the subjective side of a truly "holy life" comes to bear.
Are we engaging in real time with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Are we seeking? Are we listening? Are we responding? Are we trusting? Are we fighting? Are we enduring? Are we risking? Are we forgiving? Are we moving forward? Are we sacrificing for love's sake? Are our hearts and heads "in the game"? Are we "minding" the Coach who lives in and whispers his instructions to our souls?
Real holiness is all about the real time and miraculous indwelling and loving dominion of the Holy Spirit over all our human powers that were originally and divinely designed to be fabulous and essential servants, but terrible masters, of the spiritual life.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
The Romance of Romans-Part 46
Romans Chapter 8 cont'd
Those who live out of the selfish compulsions of their lower passions have a corrupt mind-set, but those who live by the Spirit's power have a renewed mind-set. Note the stark contrast: to be selfishly minded is death in the making; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. The selfish mind-set is at odds with God, for it is not submitted to his moral standards and it cannot be by its very nature. So, no matter how hard they might try, people who live by human energy alone cannot please God.
Comments:
I think of the word "praxis" as I seek to work through the paraphrase exegesis and application. (I do have a very personal stake in this effort too...that's why I've called R of R a "devotional" paraphrase.) Here is it's primary definition from one of the online dictionaries:1.translating an idea into action "a hard theory to put into practice"
I find profound paradox at the heart of every major doctrine of Scripture and this can qualify good theology as "a hard theory". It seems that God intends for us to wrestle personally with difficult concepts like: What does it actually mean for us to walk in the Spirit and not walk in the flesh? And...how can this (or even..."should this") be measured or evaluated in our lives? God apparently wanted Jacob (a man who tended toward deceit) to wrestle with him. Jacob did...out of his passion to receive God's blessing and partnership...and in the process, he was personally "converted" and was renamed Israel (prince of God), though he ever after walked with a limp. This Bible story seems like a parable of life to me. Wrestling has always been a way that "fathers and sons" have bonded.
I would go further and suggest that one of the most vital functions of the church, or body of Christ, is to create environments where believers read Scripture aloud and wrestle together interactively with it's intended meaning and applications (another reason for smaller communities...of some kind or another...being the backbone of a healthy church). Some of the most important tranformations and spiritual experiences have come into my life through this practice with my friends in Christ.
Too often believers want to have preachers and teachers just tell them what to do without having to grapple with God himself (it does seem a bit overwhelming!), but our Father is intent on having each of us touch him...and be touched by him..."in person" in the process of trying to understand what he wants from our lives. The paradoxes of theology are resolved in our minds and hearts only through "meeting God" in person.
When it comes to discerning what it means for us to "walk in the Spirit" and not "walk in the flesh", there are both objective and subjective sides of the matter to integrate. In my history, I have leaned too often to the objective side and not been at peace with the subjective side. But this approach has led to further frustrations in my spiritual life. Now that I am older..and I hope, wiser...I am more reconciled to the subjective side of it all and see how important it is to seek and find "truth" with capacities that include, but go beyond, my "cognitive" abilities. An over-reliance on our rational abilities...that our historic western educational systems have promoted...has led to much "legalism" and to what lies beneath it...dysfunctions in our interpersonal relationship to God and others (i.e. a lack of authentic love!). In light of the bigger context of Romans 7 and 8...I believe this capacity of bringing these two sides of our being into a dynamic balance is a very real part of being "renewed in the spirit of our mind" (Eph 4:23) and with possessing a "renewed mind-set" (see above).
We are called, challenged, invited and empowered to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. To love God with all our mind, then, must mean to love him with both of it's sides--left and right!
Those who live out of the selfish compulsions of their lower passions have a corrupt mind-set, but those who live by the Spirit's power have a renewed mind-set. Note the stark contrast: to be selfishly minded is death in the making; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. The selfish mind-set is at odds with God, for it is not submitted to his moral standards and it cannot be by its very nature. So, no matter how hard they might try, people who live by human energy alone cannot please God.
Comments:
I think of the word "praxis" as I seek to work through the paraphrase exegesis and application. (I do have a very personal stake in this effort too...that's why I've called R of R a "devotional" paraphrase.) Here is it's primary definition from one of the online dictionaries:
praxis (n.)
1.translating an idea into action "a hard theory to put into practice"
I find profound paradox at the heart of every major doctrine of Scripture and this can qualify good theology as "a hard theory". It seems that God intends for us to wrestle personally with difficult concepts like: What does it actually mean for us to walk in the Spirit and not walk in the flesh? And...how can this (or even..."should this") be measured or evaluated in our lives? God apparently wanted Jacob (a man who tended toward deceit) to wrestle with him. Jacob did...out of his passion to receive God's blessing and partnership...and in the process, he was personally "converted" and was renamed Israel (prince of God), though he ever after walked with a limp. This Bible story seems like a parable of life to me. Wrestling has always been a way that "fathers and sons" have bonded.
I would go further and suggest that one of the most vital functions of the church, or body of Christ, is to create environments where believers read Scripture aloud and wrestle together interactively with it's intended meaning and applications (another reason for smaller communities...of some kind or another...being the backbone of a healthy church). Some of the most important tranformations and spiritual experiences have come into my life through this practice with my friends in Christ.
Too often believers want to have preachers and teachers just tell them what to do without having to grapple with God himself (it does seem a bit overwhelming!), but our Father is intent on having each of us touch him...and be touched by him..."in person" in the process of trying to understand what he wants from our lives. The paradoxes of theology are resolved in our minds and hearts only through "meeting God" in person.
When it comes to discerning what it means for us to "walk in the Spirit" and not "walk in the flesh", there are both objective and subjective sides of the matter to integrate. In my history, I have leaned too often to the objective side and not been at peace with the subjective side. But this approach has led to further frustrations in my spiritual life. Now that I am older..and I hope, wiser...I am more reconciled to the subjective side of it all and see how important it is to seek and find "truth" with capacities that include, but go beyond, my "cognitive" abilities. An over-reliance on our rational abilities...that our historic western educational systems have promoted...has led to much "legalism" and to what lies beneath it...dysfunctions in our interpersonal relationship to God and others (i.e. a lack of authentic love!). In light of the bigger context of Romans 7 and 8...I believe this capacity of bringing these two sides of our being into a dynamic balance is a very real part of being "renewed in the spirit of our mind" (Eph 4:23) and with possessing a "renewed mind-set" (see above).
We are called, challenged, invited and empowered to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. To love God with all our mind, then, must mean to love him with both of it's sides--left and right!
Friday, February 6, 2009
The Romance of Romans-Part 45
Romans Chapter 8 cont'd
5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. ESV
Comments:
Paul contrasts two possible "power centers" that believers are free to choose to live out from..."the flesh" or "the Spirit". I do not buy the popular notion that believers actually have 2 "natures"...honestly I think this is a source of much confusion and spiritual defeat. The new birth in Christ has provided for us a "new nature" that is essentially holy because it is in union with the Holy Spirit himself. The Trinity now lives within us! (And if this realization isn't "the key" to a genuine Christian life...I don't know what else could be. What could possibly trump this reality?)
However, getting God "in" our lives is one thing and letting God "out" through our lives is quite another. We are free to either progressively learn to yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit's quiet and humble lordship over our human powers and capacities or...we can lose our practical synchronization with the Person of the Spirit within us and revert to living out of our "flesh"...a "false self", if you will. It is no longer our true nature, but it huffs and puffs and poses as though it were. Our "old self" can intimidate us and deceive us into believing that we have not been essentially transformed by Christ. On the practical, moral, performance level...a true believer is capable of...at least in unholy spurts...as vile of attitudes and behaviors as any other human being.
In the passage above, the apostle refers to a central and practical method and means by which we can cooperate with the process of manifesting the life of Jesus through our lives. First and foremost, it has to do with a focus and inclination in our thinking..."setting the mind"...(as in contrast to our actions) that then naturally leads to changes in our behaviors. I like to think of it in terms of "minding" the Holy Spirit, akin to how we speak about children "minding" their parents. It's interesting to me that "minding" and "obeying" are linked in a common idiom in our culture. Are you and I "minding" our Father these days?!
Elsewhere, Paul refers to this as the renewing of our mind (Rom 12:1-3) and...even more intriguing...the renewing of "the spirit of our mind". I guess thinking is a spiritual matter after all! Meditate a bit on the passage below and see if you can discern the basic framework for understanding the nature of the battle between our new (true) self and our old (false) self. Hint: it is not a battle "between two equals"!
Eph 4:20But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. NASB
5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. ESV
Comments:
Paul contrasts two possible "power centers" that believers are free to choose to live out from..."the flesh" or "the Spirit". I do not buy the popular notion that believers actually have 2 "natures"...honestly I think this is a source of much confusion and spiritual defeat. The new birth in Christ has provided for us a "new nature" that is essentially holy because it is in union with the Holy Spirit himself. The Trinity now lives within us! (And if this realization isn't "the key" to a genuine Christian life...I don't know what else could be. What could possibly trump this reality?)
However, getting God "in" our lives is one thing and letting God "out" through our lives is quite another. We are free to either progressively learn to yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit's quiet and humble lordship over our human powers and capacities or...we can lose our practical synchronization with the Person of the Spirit within us and revert to living out of our "flesh"...a "false self", if you will. It is no longer our true nature, but it huffs and puffs and poses as though it were. Our "old self" can intimidate us and deceive us into believing that we have not been essentially transformed by Christ. On the practical, moral, performance level...a true believer is capable of...at least in unholy spurts...as vile of attitudes and behaviors as any other human being.
In the passage above, the apostle refers to a central and practical method and means by which we can cooperate with the process of manifesting the life of Jesus through our lives. First and foremost, it has to do with a focus and inclination in our thinking..."setting the mind"...(as in contrast to our actions) that then naturally leads to changes in our behaviors. I like to think of it in terms of "minding" the Holy Spirit, akin to how we speak about children "minding" their parents. It's interesting to me that "minding" and "obeying" are linked in a common idiom in our culture. Are you and I "minding" our Father these days?!
Elsewhere, Paul refers to this as the renewing of our mind (Rom 12:1-3) and...even more intriguing...the renewing of "the spirit of our mind". I guess thinking is a spiritual matter after all! Meditate a bit on the passage below and see if you can discern the basic framework for understanding the nature of the battle between our new (true) self and our old (false) self. Hint: it is not a battle "between two equals"!
Eph 4:20But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. NASB
Sunday, February 1, 2009
The Romance of Romans-Part 44
Romans Chapter 8 cont'd
5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. ESV
Comments:
So...from my last blog, it's easy to see how it can be challenging to get our minds around the exact meaning of Paul's use of "flesh" in Romans and Galatians. It's easy to get confused about the kind of "flesh" that is sinful, useless and worthy only of "crucifixion" or "mortification" and the kind of "flesh" that is not sinful...merely human. This challenge is reflected by the notions implied by a popular saying among believers and teachers. Maybe you've heard it before?
"We are not human beings going through a temporary spiritual experience We are spiritual beings going through a temporary human experience."
The good thing about this statement is that we are, indeed, spiritual beings. The point that messes with the hearts and heads of believers is that we are not going through a temporary human experience...as though being human is something horribly less than God intends for us. (Well...someone better inform Jesus about this because he is, and now eternally will be, a human being!) Jesus came to restore divine dignity to being a human and too many of us are falsely ashamed that we are such. We aren't comfortable in our skin or in being ourselves and statements like the one above pressure and tempt us to deny our humanity and pose, mostly in silly ways to the watching culture, as supra-human religious disembodied spirits. This thinking is the seedbed of gnosticism among Christians throughout the centuries.
One unforeseen and terrible result of this kind of denial is that many believers don't learn how to steward well their human desires, drives and needs: food and drink, sleep, sex, money, companionship, power, clothing, work, recreation, retreat and the like...because they are quasi-ashamed that they aren't spiritual enough to sufficiently ignore these things. And so...many pretend that these "fleshly things" aren't important to our lives under God. (Christians have much to learn from the Jews in this regard.)
To take it to the next level...spiritual leaders will often create the image that they live above such "fleshly things" and so many of them suppress vital aspects of their humanity in their zeal to be and appear to be extra-ordinary. However, over time, they begin to hide from others the outlets they create to express their humanity because they must protect the "image" they have created and projected to others that they cannot actually "live up to" over the long haul. This shame-based secrecy opens the door for their "personal lifestyles" (whatever that means!) to become laced with unhealthy sinful expressions, crazy perversions and excesses that come rushing out from their depths because their submerged humanity has been screaming out for some air to breathe. When their repressed humanity finally breaks the surface, they are unable to breathe normally...they must gasp for and gulp the air. At some point, this "terrible noise" unavoidably attracts the attention of others and another "Christian leader" scandal hits the news.
I have seen too much of this, even in my own communities of faith that have been full of zealous (often over-zealous) Christ followers, through the years. This is what has stoked my fire on the subject and causes me to approach passages like the one above with careful thinking and writing, lest they be misunderstood and misapplied once again. So...what it means practically to "walk in the flesh" and "walk in the Spirit" will continue to be our subject around the corner.
5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. ESV
Comments:
So...from my last blog, it's easy to see how it can be challenging to get our minds around the exact meaning of Paul's use of "flesh" in Romans and Galatians. It's easy to get confused about the kind of "flesh" that is sinful, useless and worthy only of "crucifixion" or "mortification" and the kind of "flesh" that is not sinful...merely human. This challenge is reflected by the notions implied by a popular saying among believers and teachers. Maybe you've heard it before?
"We are not human beings going through a temporary spiritual experience We are spiritual beings going through a temporary human experience."
The good thing about this statement is that we are, indeed, spiritual beings. The point that messes with the hearts and heads of believers is that we are not going through a temporary human experience...as though being human is something horribly less than God intends for us. (Well...someone better inform Jesus about this because he is, and now eternally will be, a human being!) Jesus came to restore divine dignity to being a human and too many of us are falsely ashamed that we are such. We aren't comfortable in our skin or in being ourselves and statements like the one above pressure and tempt us to deny our humanity and pose, mostly in silly ways to the watching culture, as supra-human religious disembodied spirits. This thinking is the seedbed of gnosticism among Christians throughout the centuries.
One unforeseen and terrible result of this kind of denial is that many believers don't learn how to steward well their human desires, drives and needs: food and drink, sleep, sex, money, companionship, power, clothing, work, recreation, retreat and the like...because they are quasi-ashamed that they aren't spiritual enough to sufficiently ignore these things. And so...many pretend that these "fleshly things" aren't important to our lives under God. (Christians have much to learn from the Jews in this regard.)
To take it to the next level...spiritual leaders will often create the image that they live above such "fleshly things" and so many of them suppress vital aspects of their humanity in their zeal to be and appear to be extra-ordinary. However, over time, they begin to hide from others the outlets they create to express their humanity because they must protect the "image" they have created and projected to others that they cannot actually "live up to" over the long haul. This shame-based secrecy opens the door for their "personal lifestyles" (whatever that means!) to become laced with unhealthy sinful expressions, crazy perversions and excesses that come rushing out from their depths because their submerged humanity has been screaming out for some air to breathe. When their repressed humanity finally breaks the surface, they are unable to breathe normally...they must gasp for and gulp the air. At some point, this "terrible noise" unavoidably attracts the attention of others and another "Christian leader" scandal hits the news.
I have seen too much of this, even in my own communities of faith that have been full of zealous (often over-zealous) Christ followers, through the years. This is what has stoked my fire on the subject and causes me to approach passages like the one above with careful thinking and writing, lest they be misunderstood and misapplied once again. So...what it means practically to "walk in the flesh" and "walk in the Spirit" will continue to be our subject around the corner.
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