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.
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