Read Romans 8:1-17.
What does Paul mean by “the flesh”? It doesn’t sound good, does it – he pairs it with “death”. We can think of Adam and Eve, who only knew they were naked after they disobeyed God. In a simple sense, the flesh is the body. If we eat meat, we eat the flesh of an animal. The flesh can be good, but if we look at it the wrong way, it’s bad. After Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they became creatures of desire for things that God didn’t want. Suddenly their bodies were objects of desire, too. They knew they were naked, and started to cover up.
But the picture of the flesh is more than just about sex. It’s not just about keeping away from pornography. There are many other selfish desires that can take us away from what God wants.
If we really want something for ourselves, but it hurts someone else, is it a good thing? In life, there are competitions, but only one person gets first prize. We accept that we can’t always be the winner. But at other times, there’s no need to have a competition. There’s no need to have a competition, but some people still need to be on top. Or sometimes people have a great goal that they want to achieve. Everything in their life is focused on that goal. Other people have no part in their life unless they help them with their goal.
For Paul, these things are all “flesh”. They’re “flesh” if they’re not what the Spirit wants.
How do we know if we’re led by the Spirit? “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom 8:6). If we have prayed our way into understanding God’s role for us, we will be at peace. We will have life and peace. We should not be consumed by jealousy or anxious about our achievements or looking over our shoulder to see if we are the best.
We needn’t worry about past errors, because Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death. That’s the “law of the Spirit” (Rom 8:2). Jesus came in the body and gave himself totally for us. Good flesh for bad.
But we need to watch out that we stay in the Spirit.In verse 9, Paul offers both an assurance and a condition. The assurance is “You are not in the realm of the flesh, but in the realm of the Spirit”. The condition is “if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you” (Rom 8:9). We have salvation, but to live in God we must stay connected to God – and it’s the same as having the Spirit of Christ. Jesus was all about doing God’s will, not filling his own selfish desires. This is the truth that we hear in stark drama every Easter, but the one that should also lead us every day.
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