MAN'S DUAL NATURE: FLESH AND SPIRIT
- INTRODUCTION--
- When God said in the time of creation, "Let us make
man in our image" (Genesis 1:26), He surely had
in mind a creature with a spirit.
- In John 4:24 Jesus said, "God is a Spirit:
and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
- Mankind cannot worship in spirit, unless he is spirit.
- Flesh and spirit are not joined, permanently, because when
someone dies, "....the dust returneth to the earth as
it was, and the spirit returneth unto God who gave it."
(Ecclesiastes 12:7).
- LESSON--
Because he has been given a spirit from God, man can expect
that his spirit will be eternal like God's. 2 Corinthians
4:16-5:9 "Wherefore we faint not; but though our
outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by
day. 17 For our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh
for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory;
18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the
things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are
temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
- 1 For we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle
be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with
hands, eternal, in the heavens. 2 For verily in this we
groan, longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which is
from heaven: 3 if so be that being clothed we shall not be found
naked. 4 For indeed we that are in this tabernacle do groan,
being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but that
we would be clothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed
up of life. 5 Now he that wrought us for this very thing is God,
who gave unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6 Being therefore
always of good courage, and knowing that, whilst we are at home
in the body, we are absent from the Lord 7 (for we walk by faith,
not by sight); 8 we are of good courage, I say, and are willing
rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the
Lord. 9 Wherefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or
absent, to be well pleasing unto him."
- The "earnest of the Spirit" (in Vs. 5:5) is equivalent
to the "earnest of our inheritance" Ephesians 1:13-14
"....in (Christ) ye also, having heard the word of the
truth, the gospel of your salvation, --in whom, having also believed,
ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 which is an
earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God's
own possession, unto the praise of his glory."
- The word "earnest" means a pledge or down-payment.
- We now have joys and blessings that picture what we shall
have later.
- The "earnest of the spirit" I interpret
to be that consolation that our fleshly life is not all that
we shall experience, but that we will have a great eternal existence
beyond the grave. It answers the yearning "to be absent
from the body, and to be at home with the Lord."
- This assurance and consolation are emphasized in 1 Corinthians
15:42-49 "So also is the resurrection of the dead.
It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43 it
is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness;
it is raised in power: 44 it is sown a natural body; it is raised
a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a
spiritual body. 45 So also it is written, The first man Adam
became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
46 Howbeit that is not first which is spiritual, but that which
is natural; then that which is spiritual. 47 The first man is
of the earth, earthy: the second man is of heaven. 48 As is the
earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly,
such are they also that are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne
the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the
heavenly."
But man is of two minds, and flesh is at war with spirit.
- Romans 7:21-25a "....I find then the law,
that, to me who would do good, evil is present. 22 For I delight
in the law of God after the inward man: 23 but I see a different
law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing
me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.
24 Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body
of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
- I believe that Paul's frustration here is based on his old
relationship with the Law of Moses, under which there was no
complete salvation.
- He finds the answer to his dilemna in the deliverance of
Christ.
- Romans 8:5-14 "For they that are after the
flesh mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the
Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind of the flesh
is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace: 7 because
the mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can it be: 8 and they that
are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But ye are not in the flesh
but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in
you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none
of his.
- 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of
sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But
if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth
in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give
life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwelleth
in you. 12 So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh,
to live after the flesh: 13 for if ye live after the flesh, ye
must die; but if by the Spirit ye put to death the deeds of the
body, ye shall live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit
of God, these are sons of God."
- Spiritual death is the result of rejecting this direction
of our spirit.
- So, we are "debtors" both to God and to our own
enlightened self interest to submit our spirit to God and Christ.
The responsible person who has not submitted to God must learn
that he is dead through sin. Ephesians 2:1-3 "And
you did he make alive, when ye were dead through your trepasses
and sins, 2 wherein ye once walked according to the course of
this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air,
of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience; 3
among whom we also all once lived in the lust of our flesh, doing
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children
of wrath, even as the rest:"
- This spiritual death is not a hopeless condition, because
the rest of the passage says, "but God, being rich in
mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 even when
we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with
Christ (by grace have ye been saved), 6 and raised us up with
him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places, in Christ
Jesus: 7 that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding
riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus: 8
for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not of works, that no man
should glory. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should
walk in them." (Verses 4-10)
- This renewal is by obedience to the Gospel. Titus 3:3-7
"For we also once were foolish, disobedient, deceived,
serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy,
hateful, hating one another. 4 But when the kindness of God our
Saviour, and his love toward man, appeared, 5 not by works done
in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his
mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 which he poured out upon us
richly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 that, being justified
by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of
eternal life."
- The "washing of regeneration" relates to
what Jesus said in John 3:5.
- Baptism imitates the death, burial, and resurrection of the
Lord. Then we can say with Paul, "I have been crucified
with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living
in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live
in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved
me, and gave himself up for me." (Galatians 2:20)
- The Christian who has been "made alive in the spirit"
must know that it is dangerous to defile his spirit. 2 Corinthians
6:17-7:1 "Wherefore 'Come ye out from among them,
and be ye separate, saith the Lord, And touch no unclean thing;
And I will receive you, And will be to you a Father, And ye shall
be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.' Having
therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves
from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness
in the fear of God."
- Galatians 5:16-17, 24-25 sums up the kind of life
spiritual men must lead.
- Hebrews 12:22-24 shows the relationship we enter when
we are spiritual.