Galatians 5:16–18 (ESV) — 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
What Is the Flesh?
When I was a boy, it took my family a little while to realize I was left-handed. One of my earliest memories is of an interchange with my paternal grandfather. He had bought me my first baseball glove, but since it was for right-handed throwers, it sat on my left hand. But when thrown a ball, I would both catch and throw it with my gloved left hand. I remember the moment because of my dad's excited response—I think he immediately began dreaming that I would be the next Sandy Koufax, the next great left-handed pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers! Once we all figured out my handedness, everything else made more sense. Soon, I was writing, playing sports, and eating with my left hand. Similarly, once we come to terms with the dynamics of the flesh and Spirit within us, other elements of life fall into place. Soon, the basic disciplines of the Christian life become clear because we realize our need for them and why we often resist them. So what is the flesh? It comes from the Greek word sarx. It can mean the body, including bodily appetites, but Christians developed it to convey a bit more than that. Many translations render it "sinful nature," which helps us understand Paul's meaning. Paul wasn't thinking of the body versus the Spirit or the physical realm versus the spiritual realm. Instead, Paul thought of the flesh as the "sin-desiring aspect of our whole being as opposed to the God-desiring aspect." [1] The New Testament denotes how even our most charitable and best desires are stained and tainted by underlying sinful ones. [2] It is the part of every Christian that is not yet renewed by God's Spirit. It can be understood as "any mindset, action, and attitude that is not led by the Spirit." [3]
Who Is the Spirit?
But who is the Spirit Paul speaks about here? The word Paul used in Greek is the word pneuma. At its base level, it means wind, air, or breath. But Paul attributed this word to the Holy Spirit of God, the third person of the Trinity. The Spirit behaves like the wind in that you cannot see him, but you can see his effect on a person submitted to him. He is like air in that he is the one to give us spiritual oxygen while we live in a broken world. He is like breath in that just as God breathed life into Adam, he also breathes into everyone who believes the gospel, awakening them to life with God. These are appropriate ways to think of the Spirit because, in Paul's usage here, the Spirit is meant to convey that part of us that is alive to God. So the flesh is the part of us that is yet unrenewed, still pulled in rebellion against God, and the Spirit is the new heart, nature, and life we receive when we believe the gospel. Paul majors on the Spirit in this ethical section of Galatians. He will mention the Spirit seven times by name. This new focus is appropriate because Paul has made it clear that Christians are not under the law (18). But if we aren't under the law to guide us, how did the early church produce so many beautiful lives? How did such power and holiness come to exist among them? What standard did they follow? How could Paul say, in another letter, that he worked harder than anyone for God without being a legalist (1 Cor. 15:10)? Paul has already told us that the law of love now drives us, but here we learn who authors this love—the Holy Spirit of God. When our lives are submitted to him, he makes us like Jesus, and Jesus is love, so we become loving. So we aren't led by the law anymore, but love—and love grows within us as we walk and are led by the Spirit (16, 18).
War
So believers have both the Spirit and flesh, a renewed nature and a sinful one, warring within them. Paul was clear about this here. He said that the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other (17). This conflict is a fact of the Christian life and will not abate until our hope of righteousness comes with Jesus (Gal. 5:5). [4] And this battle is recognized here as fierce. [5] The flesh and the Spirit have incompatible desires, which means the Christian is a battleground. What this means is that "Christians should not think that they have the choice to do whatever they want; whether conscious of it or not, their actions at every point are governed by the flesh or the Spirit." [6] We are far from autonomous individuals with complete self-control. Instead, the Bible presents us here as under pressure from evil while being pulled by the Spirit. In the following passage, we will consider just what the flesh and the Spirit are trying to produce, but notice here that both have desires of their own (17). We will soon discover that the flesh desires us to sin in the realm of sex, to practice our own religious forms, to contribute to a chaotic society, and to give in to the abuse of substances, to name a few (Gal. 5:19-21). But the Spirit has desires of his own, namely to produce love in us, and this love leads to a life that looks suspiciously like Jesus—joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (22-23). [7] The news that you are a battleground might initially discourage you, but there are reasons to be immensely encouraged by it. First, this is far better than the alternative. Before Christ came to rescue us, we were dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). In a sense, there was no battle at all because we only had a sinful nature to work with. This isn't to say that people without God never face a moral conflict within. Before Christ, when we did want something better or healthier than our addictions and sins, even those desires were driven and tainted by our sinful nature. However, the Christian is under even more pressure because of the presence of the flesh and the Spirit. But when Jesus gives us new life, hope is born. Yes, there is a battle, but at least there is a battle. We don't have to be merely annihilated by sinful desires anymore. Second, this battle is evidence of the Christian life and experience. "We should not become discouraged and think that we aren't Christians if we are engaged in a struggle against sin." When Paul describes this war between the flesh and Spirit, he describes the everyday Christian life. Temptation is not the problem; what you do with it is problematic. As James said, "Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire" (Jas. 1:14). Temptation uses our desires to try to bring us into defeat. But temptation—and the flesh's desires—are a fact of life. "Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin," (Jas. 1:15). James means that there is a gap between the temptation and the conception of desire that births sin. James finished, "...and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death" (Jas. 1:15). When temptation can lock in harmful desires as our practice, moral, spiritual, psychological, relational, and (sometimes even) physical death comes. This battle with temptation is not evidence that we aren't Christians; it is a specifically Christian conflict.
Deepest Desires
Paul said that this war within keeps you from doing the things you want to do (17). Does he mean that we live in a constant middle ground as Christians, never fully obeying the flesh or the Spirit, never doing what we ultimately want to do in either direction? Is this his way of describing a torn individual, a tormented soul that will never experience satisfied desire? In Romans, Paul said, "I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members" (Rom. 7:22-23). This tells us that the New Testament vision of Christians is that we are so thoroughly remade by God that our truest new self wants to obey God. But the flesh wars against our deepest desires. This logic is right in line with the “already, not yet” truths of Christianity. I am already saved, righteous, and in the kingdom, but I have not yet fully experienced that salvation, righteousness, or kingdom. And we are already new but not yet free of old desires. Next week, we’ll continue on about how to win this inner war! [1] Keller, Timothy. 2013. Galatians For You. New Malden, England: Good Book Company. ↩ [2] Barker, Kenneth L., and John R. Kohlenberger III. 2019. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Old & New Testaments. USA: Zondervan Academic. [3] Sayers, Mark. 2017. Strange Days: Life in the Spirit in a Time of Upheaval. Moody. [4] Stott, John R. W. 2008. Galatians: Experiencing the Grace of Christ. Nottingham, England: Inter-Varsity Press. [5] Schreiner, Thomas R. 2010. Galatians. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. [6] Moo, Douglas J. 2015. NT341 Book Study: Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (Audio). Logos Mobile Education. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press. [7] Keller, Timothy. 2013. Galatians For You. New Malden, England: Good Book Company.