A Conflict Of Interests
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Galatians 5:24
Two wrestlers grapple in the ring, each striving to master the other. Their names: “Flesh” (that is, your sinful nature) and “Spirit.” The ring in which they struggle is the arena of your life.
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The “Flesh” keeps trying to lure you away from the things of God. The “Spirit” continues to woo you with the love of Christ. And the one to whom you yield your life will dominate your life, as Johann Peter Lange explains.
WALK WITH JOHANN PETER LANGE
“Paul’s meaning is not that the flesh, with its affections and lusts, is no longer present at all with those that have become Christians, but that a walk in the flesh should not any longer exist in the case of Christians. A walk in the Spirit might be rightly expected of believers. This is only possible for those who have crucified the flesh. The word is not slain, but crucified. It is a task of the Christian to be accomplished only by continual effort (see Colossians 3:5).
“In ‘crucified,’ however, the simple slaying is not the main idea, but the condemning, giving sentence, surrendering to infamous death. This has necessarily taken place in becoming Christ’s. Fellowship with Christ involves a crucifixion of the flesh for the very reason that it is fellowship with Christ’s death on the cross.
“Christ indeed has only suffered what people have deserved on account of their sinful flesh. Whoever appropriates to himself Christ’s death upon the cross regards the flesh in himself no longer. For him, in Christ’s death, the flesh has been crucified.”
WALK CLOSER TO GOD
Have you identified the forces wrestling for control in your life? Paul contrasts the works of the flesh with the works of the Spirit. He reminds you of your twofold responsibility: to crucify the flesh and to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit. Flesh or Spirit. Which one will you yield to right now?
