Introduction to Flesh and Spirit
There’s always a conflict, a contradiction within a saved man. The desires of the flesh and sinful nature are going to always go against the indwelling spirit of God in us.
Galatians 5:16-25 “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
One of the holiest men in the Bible, Paul describes himself as a “wretched man” in Romans 7:24. The more that we understand these two natures, the more that we’ll find power, strength, grace, and answers in our Christian lives.
Names of flesh-spirit dichotomy
Flesh: old man
Spirit: new man
Colossians 3:8-10 “But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:”
Flesh: Adam
Spirit: Jesus (last Adam)
1 Corinthians 15:45-47 “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.”
Flesh: carnal
Spirit: spiritual
Romans 7:14 “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.”
Flesh: natural man
Spirit: spiritual
1 Corinthians 15:46 “Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.”
Natural man always refers to lost people.
2 Peter 2:12 “But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;”
cf 1 Corinthians 2:14 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
Carnal: a saved Christian yielding to the flesh
1 Corinthians 3:1-3 “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?”
Flesh: outward man
Spirit: inward man
2 Corinthians 4:16 “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.”
Flesh: ‘nature’ accompanied by ‘children of wrath’
Spirit: divine nature
2 Peter 1:4 “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
Origin Of Flesh And Spirit
- Spirit comes from the Greek word ‘pneuma’ which means breath.
Genesis 2:7 “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
The spiritual nature started at Gen 2:7 when God breathed into Adam.
- Adam truly did have a spirit in him, but it’s a dead spirit because he sinned at the Garden of Eden.
1 Corinthians 15:45 “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.”
There’s a contrast here with a living spirit (last Adam/Jesus) with Adam, which means that Adam has a dead spirit.
- When they ate the forbidden fruit, their spirits died so Satan lied to them.
Genesis 2:17 “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
cf Genesis 3:4 “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:” - Death was inherited from Adam. When we are born into this world, we are born with a dead spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:22 “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
cf Romans 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” - Everyone is born in sin but God doesn’t count it dead until they know what is right and wrong.
Psalms 51:5 “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
cf Romans 7:9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” - In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit could leave someone, the spirit was alive when they knew what was right. When they inherit what’s wrong then the spirit is considered dead. That’s why in the Old Testament, unless they stayed righteous, then the Holy Spirit could remain but if they sinned then the Holy Spirit could leave.
That’s why it makes sense why there is a difference in salvation in the Old Testament compared to New Testament.
Psalms 51:7-11 “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.”
cf Judges 16:20 “And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.”Judges 16:28 “And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.”
cf 1 Samuel 16:14 “But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.”
- In New Testament, there are two births. The first birth has a dead spirit, that’s why the second birth is a spiritual birth.
John 3:3-7 “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”
- The Holy Ghost is predicted to come down in the future.
John 16:13 “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”
- The dead spirit became alive for Christians. That depends on faith this time, not works.
Titus 3:5 “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;”
cf 1 Corinthians 15:45 “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” - Our body is now considered to be dead or crucified in sins. Back then it was our spirit that was dead when we were born in sin but now the roles reversed.
Romans 8:10 “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Romans 6:2 “God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”Romans 6:6-8 “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:”
Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
Colossians 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
- Holy Ghost sealed upon us until the rapture.
Ephesians 1:13 “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,”
Ephesians 4:30 “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”If our salvation is not dependent upon the works of our flesh, then that means the Holy Spirit cannot come and go. The Holy Spirit will never leave us no matter what we do in our flesh.
That’s the reason why God considers us holy and pure despite whatever our flesh does.
That’s why salvation is by faith because it’s all by the work of the spirit, it’s not dependent upon what our body does. - When the Holy Spirit baptizes us, our body is dead. The human spirit becomes alive.
1 Corinthians 12:13 “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”
Romans 6:3-5 “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:”Colossians 2:12 “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.”
Colossians 2:11 “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:”
Notice here that this baptism is done through faith, not through works, thus showing that water baptism cannot be part of this process.
Representations Of The Flesh And The Spirit
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Water baptism
Why do we practice water baptism? Because it’s a great picture of our flesh being dead and our spiritual nature becoming alive.
‘like figure’: it’s a figure, it’s symbolic.
This passage gets rid of water baptism for salvation twofold. It shows that it has to do with spiritual baptism as well as it has nothing to do with cleaning up our sins but actually just an answer of a good conscience towards God.1 Peter 3:21 “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:”
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Two Adams
They also represent the flesh becoming dead as well as spiritual nature becoming alive.
1 Corinthians 15:22 “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
1 Corinthians 15:45 “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” -
Our testimony
Are we showing a good representation that our flesh is dead and our spiritual nature alive by our testimony? Or sometimes people cannot tell the difference between us and a lost person because our representation is poor?
Romans 6:13 “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”
Revelation 3:1 “And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”
Ephesians 5:14 “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”
Conflict Between Flesh And Spirit
God’s Holy Spirit cannot put up with the flesh of man, that’s why He drowned them out at Genesis 6.
Genesis 6:3 “And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”
The Holy Spirit can be grieved with our sins. Why does it say that? Because the flesh is conflicting with the spirit.
Ephesians 4:30 “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”
Take care of our body or else we die.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”
Flesh brings death, the spirit brings eternal life.
Galatians 5:17 “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”
Romans 8:13 “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”
While our flesh is growing, our spirit is a baby. That’s why it’s important as a Bible-believing Christian we focus on spiritual things and grow in our spiritual life. If not, the spirit will remain a baby and the flesh will grow and that conflict is really bad.
1 Corinthians 9:11 “If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?”
1 Corinthians 3:1 “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.”1 Peter 2:2 “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:”
The Bible says our spirit needs to grow up to a man, so we got to read the Bible and pray.
Hebrews 5:12 “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.”
Hebrews 5:14 “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
Be careful because the more sins (such as sexual immorality and sinful passions) we commit in the flesh, it will corrupt our spirit too. Sowing in the flesh reap corruption. To avoid confusion, this is not a reference to the Holy Ghost, it’s referring to the spirit of man in 1 Corinthians 2:11.
2 Corinthians 7:1 “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
The Holy Spirit warns us in our conscience.
What happens if we ignore the Holy Spirit’s warning?
Based on 1 Timothy 4:1-2, the conscience becomes seared because we’re not listening to the Holy Spirit anymore, we’re listening to the evil spirits.
Romans 9:1 “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,”
Hebrews 9:14 “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
When we keep listening to evil spirits then our flesh can eventually become possessed by Satan because we’ve been yielding to the evil spirits rather than the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 5:5 “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”
Paul warns that we can then taken captive by Satan at his will.
2 Timothy 2:26 “And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”
The Bible warns us to keep resisting the devil. Why would it tell us to do that if Christians cannot be demon-possessed?
Ephesians 4:27 “Neither give place to the devil.”
James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
How to avoid the things of the flesh?
This is the standard passage on the things of the flesh compared with the things of the spirit. So all we have to do is just look at those categories and follow the things that walk by the spirit.
Galatians 5:16-26 “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.”
Although we’re separated in the flesh, we can still be together in the spirit. We’re all joined into one spirit together even though in flesh we’re in different locations.
Colossians 2:5 “For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.”
Our spirit is currently together with Christ up in heaven right now so that proves that we can’t go to hell even if we wanted to.
Ephesians 2:5-6 “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:”
When the Holy Spirit baptized us, our spirits automatically joined into one in the body of Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:13 “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 12:12 “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.”
1 Corinthians 12:21-22 “And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:”1 Corinthians 12:25-27 “That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.”
One day the flesh and spirit will be reconciled together and it’s going to be known as a spiritual body.
Luke 24:39 “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.”
1 Corinthians 15:44 “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.”
1 Corinthians 15:49-57 “And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
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