According To The Flesh
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
Just what does it mean to walk according to the flesh?
For many, their understanding of this begins and ends with blatantly obvious fleshly things related to sinful acts and choices.
But is that really what the Holy Spirit seeks to communicate to us?
The idea of Spirit versus flesh in these passages addresses how righteousness and justification are obtained and maintained.
What if we used the terminology “Own Strength, will, and determination” instead of flesh?
Seeking after right standing with God rooted in the law is relying upon our natural resources to comply. It assumes that with enough determination and by setting our wills to do our best, we might obey according to the flesh well enough for God to be impressed.
But the New Covenant Jesus established does not work on this basis. It works on faith in the finished work of Jesus at the cross, in the resurrection and the ascension, and in the fact that He ever lives to intercede for us as our high priest.
In other words, we experience a shift in where we draw our confidence from. We no longer experience confidence based on our performance, but rather it is based on the obedience of Jesus. If we allow ourselves to get caught in the snare of our performance for measuring our standing before God, we come back under condemnation and double-mindedness.
This is why mixing the law with grace is not New Covenant.
Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
The Law depends on our flesh, and our flesh is proven to be weak and inconsistent. Another wording that occurs in this train of thought is carnal-mindedness.
Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
Notice it did not say the carnal mind rebels and refuses to be subject to the Law of God. It says it cannot be so. There’s a problem too big for any man or woman to overcome in the flesh. No matter how much they may wish to overcome it and will themselves to be better, they cannot alter their sinful nature by relying on the flesh to improve or be good enough.
We must, by faith in Jesus Christ, be transformed. We must be born again by the Spirit and thus become new creations in Christ, made right with God with a righteousness that is not our own. Jesus took our sin, past, present, and future, at the cross and gave us His righteousness. By making us new creations, He removed our sinful nature and gave us a new nature created in Christ that is clothed in the very righteousness of God.
When we, by faith, walk in this revelation and understanding, we are walking according to the Spirit. I encourage you today to walk according to the Spirit, and you will find you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Do not live according to the flesh. Instead, let the Spirit supply you.
