A Christian has two natures—the new life which he received when he accepted Christ, and the old sinful nature called “the flesh.” The new nature is controlled by the Holy Spirit; the old nature is characterized by sinful desires. When the sinless new nature is placed alongside the depraved old nature with which we were born, there is conflict. Galatians 5:17 describes it very vividly. The “flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other”—and then specific sins of immorality and false worship and hostility are named.

The “flesh” also manifests itself in more refined forms. The new man (the new nature in us) knows we should study God’s Word, but the old man (the flesh) tries to keep us too busy to do that. The new man knows we should be a peacemaker, but the old man thrives on controversy. The new man knows we should be patient with people and witness to them, but the old nature doesn’t care.


How do we deal with the inner enemy—the “flesh?” In Romans 7 , the Apostle Paul saw himself indwelled by two laws: One delights in the law of God; the other delights to bring him into spiritual defeat. The fact that Paul says, “I delight in the law of God,” shows that he is speaking of the period after his conversion, because an unconverted person does not “delight in the law of God” ( Romans 7:22 ). Paul explains in Romans 8 , however, that none of us needs to be a constant victim of the power of indwelling sin:

a) We must learn to say “No” to the desires of our fallen nature. We read in 1 Peter 2:11 , “Abstain from the lusts of the flesh which war against the soul.”

b) We must continually reckon ourselves dead to sin. And so every time the “flesh” rears its ugly head, we must say ( Romans 6:11 ), “I died to sin; I am not going to let it have power over me.”

c) We must “walk in the Spirit” and in this way, Galatians 5:16 says we will not “fulfill the lusts of the flesh.” To “walk in the Spirit” means that we must deliberately allow the Holy Spirit to rule us. We must consciously submit to His wishes. And we must carefully comply with His will as it is revealed in the Bible.

Cc OAM4J