Crucifying the Entirety of the Flesh

"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 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. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another." (Galatians 5:16-25)

The flesh is the nature we are born with. It is the part of us that is descended from Adam that is in opposition to God. The flesh nature possesses all the attributes of Adam – disobedience, a desire to usurp, and a fear that flees from the Presence of God. This is the nature we are born with – as dead and separated from God as Adam was. It wasn't just that Adam's heart was corrupt, but his entire nature was, and this is how we are.

The Spirit is what is placed within us after conversion. It is the new nature that desires God for the first time. It is what inspires a heart to pursue God. These two natures are at war within us, fighting for control. When you are saved, the flesh nature is crucified and the Spirit lives, but until we are made perfect in heaven, the flesh nature will continue to reappear in our lives.

Paul gives a list of the works of the flesh. These are things that are produced in a life where the flesh has crawled back up. This is not a list of things to work hard avoiding, this is a list of things that will naturally come out of a heart that has a living flesh nature.

Likewise, the fruits of the Spirit are what naturally grow from a heart that is Spirit-filled and Spirit-led. When God Himself lives in you, His attributes come alive in you. These are not things to work on, but things that naturally flow from a heart where the Spirit has control.

So then, the Christian life is not about avoiding the things on the flesh list and trying to live out the things on the Spirit list. The Christian life is about crucifying the flesh nature and letting the Spirit live. And because the flesh nature corrupts the entirety of your nature, this means crucifying the entirety of your being. It is more than just crucifying the fruits of the flesh that manifest themselves for moments in your life

Christianity is not about moments, it is about an entire life. Sometimes your entire day is spent with a living flesh nature, and it manifests itself for only a moment at night. It is not only the manifestation that must be confessed, but the entirety of the day. Often we get so concerned with repenting of and confessing a single manifestation of sin in our lives we overlook the complete grip sin has on our entire nature. Whenever we fall away from loving God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind, we must return to Him for a reviving and restoration of the fulness of the life He offers.

Likewise, the Christian life is not about living for Christ in opportunities that arise, but living in submission to Him every moment of everyday. We are not just to be loving or joyful in the midst of circumstances that call for those things, but every moment of everyday is to be lived by the power of the indwelling Spirit that guides us in these areas.

So the challenge then from this passage is to crucify the flesh nature. Not to crucify single events in your life where sin has popped up, but to crucify the entirety of your being. To do away with the underlying roots of pride and not just the fruits of sexual immorality and anger.