Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Conflict Between the Flesh and the Spirit
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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Proverbs 23:7
"You are what you eat" is a common expression. Our physical bodies certainly use what we eat as energy and raw material for new tissue. But this adage is not entirely true. Jesus says in Mark 7:15-16, "There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!" Jesus is explaining that we are not necessarily what we eat but what we think. Proverbs 23:7 backs Him up: "For as [a man] thinks in his heart, so is he." Even though we are what we think, we are not always what we think we are. Paul says in Romans 12:3 that a person should not "think of himself more highly than he ought to think." He goes on to say that we should "think soberly," that is, not that we should think little of ourselves but seriously and realistically. After all, we are ambassadors for Christ and kings and priests in training for God's Kingdom. Nevertheless, we still fight that old, sinful nature, so we cannot allow ourselves to be puffed up due to our positions, abilities, gifts, or authority that God has given us. One of the most important things we do is to think. Our thinking can be profitable or futile. We are—or should be—the masters of our thoughts. We can thus think of good, or we can think of evil—the choice is ours. But we cannot think both good and evil thoughts simultaneously any more than we can travel east and west at the same time. A thought must be all good, for if it contains any evil, it is evil. So we have to choose carefully what to think. Our thoughts are: righteous or unrighteous,
clean or unclean,
moral or immoral,
honest or dishonest,
pure or impure,
true or untrue,
just or unjust,
good or bad, etc. In Psalm 119:11, the psalmist says, "Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You." Like a costly treasure, God's Word should be hidden in our hearts, our minds, so that we guard ourselves from sinning against God in thought, word, or deed. We always sin in thought before we sin in word or deed because the things that defile us, as Jesus said, originate inside us. A thief is a thief because he thinks like a thief. A liar is a liar because he thinks like a liar. An adulterer is an adulterer because he thinks like an adulterer. "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he." God says through the prophet in Isaiah 55:7, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him. . . ." Forsake can also be translated as "to leave" or "to refuse." We need to refuse to think unrighteous thoughts because unrighteous thoughts will lead to unrighteous or wicked ways. There are only two ways to think: the righteous way and the unrighteous way. Jesus instructs, "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit" (Matthew 7:18). A person cannot live a righteous life and think unrighteous thoughts. Likewise, one who thinks good thoughts cannot live a bad life. In the same vein, James writes, "No spring yields both salt water and fresh" (James 3:12). No one can live a righteous and unrighteous life at the same time. One can, however, forsake—leave or refuse—his unrighteous thoughts and return to the Eternal, and He will abundantly pardon. In Isaiah 55:8-9, God describes His own thoughts: "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' says the LORD. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.'" Thoughts means "purpose or intentions." When we think unrighteous thoughts, our purposes and intentions are not the same as God's because He never thinks unrighteous thoughts. Ways implies "direction." When we think unrighteous thoughts, they will lead us in the wrong direction, to live a way in opposition to God's. Psalm 119:97 reads, "Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day." If David authored this psalm, he did not sit around all day with his legs crossed, hands on his knees, and eyes closed, meditating on God's law. He was a king; every day was a busy day. He had to make countless decisions, solve difficult problems, and make crucial judgments every day. This verse means that he thought about God's law and applied it to all his decision-making, problem-solving, and judgment-rendering throughout his day. It would be nice if we could just send all our unrighteous thoughts to a recycle bin and empty it, then open up our minds to pure and righteous concepts. But it is not this easy. The way to get rid of unrighteous thoughts is to bring "every thought into captivity to the obedience of Jesus Christ" (II Corinthians 10:5). This takes meditating or thinking in a focused manner on God's Word and applying it to our life all day long. If we do this, we will have little time or desire for unrighteous thoughts. Philippians 4:8 contains the apostle Paul's suggestion about the content of our meditation: "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, . . . just, . . . pure, . . . lovely, . . . of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things." He is saying that we have a choice in what we think about, either the good or the evil, so choose to think righteous thoughts because we are what we think.
Clyde Finklea
As a Man Thinks
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Jeremiah 17:9
One of our greatest enemies lurks within us, poised to bring disaster on us if we allow it to take control. This devious, corrupt enemy even hides its motives from itself, so that its owner does not really know it. It is full of deceit, folly, and incurable corruption, and it often prompts us to act against our best interests before we are even aware that we are weakly following its urges. Just what is this enemy that is so well concealed, evil, and against our own good? Jeremiah 17:9 reveals it to us: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" As the Expositor's Commentary points out, "In Old Testament usage, the heart signifies the total inner being and includes reason." The heart is a biblical codeword for the way we think, feel, and make decisions, and unfortunately, it is heavily influenced by our bodily needs and desires (which the Bible calls our flesh), as well as the promptings of Satan. However, God does not leave us without instruction on how to protect ourselves from the misguidance of our hearts. Proverbs 4:23 cautions, "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life." We are to keep or guard the heart with great care and attentiveness, watching over it like a hawk, as it were, because to a large degree it determines the course of our lives. Guarding the heart is serious business to God. To guard something is to watch over or care for, to protect, to control. A guard must remain vigilant and take precautions both not to be surprised by his adversary and to avoid being distracted. If we take this responsibility in a casual manner, we are likely to let our diligence slip, and the enemy, our own heart, will break out and cause us harm. Why is guard duty on our hearts so important? Because the heart directs us in all we do, if we are not alert in this culture, where temptation, distraction, and ungodly ideas bombard us constantly, it can lead us to sin and on to all of its terrible consequences. In effect, guarding our hearts is where our conversion begins and ends. If with God's help we can control our heart, we are well on the path toward righteousness and godliness. The heart will justify hatred, prejudice, lust, laziness, anger, revenge, gossip, criticism, resentment, idolatry, murder, theft, deceit, selfishness, etc.! It will soften black and white into shades of gray. It will manipulate circumstances to provide it opportunities to do what it wants. It will play games of "just this once" and "God wants me to be happy." It will patiently erode even the most resolute decision through doubts, temptations, and twisted reasoning. It is a formidable adversary, and thus must be dealt with, as the proverb says, diligently and firmly. Why must we take such a hard line with it? "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be" (Romans 8:7). For all the years prior to our calling, our hearts, which we trusted, had been programmed in this world by Satan. The heart had had its way, and it had become used to its freedom to sin at will, to fulfill its desires, to get its way. But when God calls us to His way of life, the heart is required to change drastically—to the point that God says that He must give us new hearts (see Ezekiel 36:26). Even with the Spirit of God at work within us, the heart will work to do all it can to satisfy itself. Proverbs 4:24-26 lays out the general parameters of what we have to do to stay out of trouble: "Put away from you a deceitful mouth, and put perverse lips far from you. Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established." The advice is to control what one says and does and what one allows his eyes to view. In other words, we are to monitor both what comes into our hearts and what we allow our hearts to spit out as words and deeds. Jesus says in Mark 7:15, "[T]he things which come out of him, those are the things which defile a man." It is the old "garbage in, garbage out" process. God wants us to reverse this human failing so that it becomes "goodness in, goodness out."
John O. Reid
Our Hidden Enemy
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Romans 8:7
The Greek word underlying “carnal” is sarx, which Strong's Concordance says refers literally to the meaty part of an animal or man. However, it has several figurative usages that commonly appear in the Bible. The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible adds that sarx “is either the equivalent of the English word 'material' or describes human nature when under the domination of its lower, unregenerate impulses.” “Carnal” describes the way we humans think and act without the influence of God's Holy Spirit that we receive when we are called, repent, and are converted. The carnal mind focuses on using circumstances in life to please the self. In many modern translations, sarx is often rendered as “flesh,” its literal meaning. In the context of Romans 8, it is translated as such in the New King James Version to clarify that spiritually, there are two classes of people. Those who live according to the flesh allow their lives to be determined by their sinful nature. They set their minds on—are most deeply interested in, constantly talk about, engage in, and glory in—things that pertain to the self. Those in the other category live according to the Spirit. They submit to the Holy Spirit's influences, concentrating their attention on, specializing in, and choosing what is important to God's Holy Spirit. In the conflicts between the pulls of the flesh and the influences of God, the first group sides with the self, and the second group sides with God, despite knowing that choosing that way may entail considerable sacrifice. In Romans 8, Paul reminds church members that it is impossible to be on both sides at once. This choice is basic to our attitudes and sets the direction of our lives: We are either on God's side or sinful human nature's side. If a person persists in siding with the flesh, which is worldliness, then he must expect the world's doom. Conversely, if the things of God and His Kingdom are a person's chief concern, he can expect God's love to be shed abroad in his heart (Romans 5:5) and his future to be full of unspeakable joy, as Paul later declares. In the apostle Paul's writings, “flesh” clearly indicates spiritual weakness. He teaches us that a person living by the flesh cannot be justified before God or please Him because the flesh does not appreciate God's priorities. Living with a fleshly outlook leaves an individual vulnerable to the power of sin to excite him to temptations, self-gratification, pride, pursuit of praise, envy, selfishness, impatience, and a definite unwillingness to sacrifice for spiritual well-being. As Paul teaches, the spirit may be willing, but the flesh is weak because it is not inclined to believe God. It is the flesh, stirred to action by Satan, that drives this world. Even so, we must be clear on an important truth: Satan cannot make us sin. Scripture says unequivocally that the sins committed belong to those who committed them. Adam's and Eve's sins were not forced by Satan. He reasoned with Eve, and she chose to believe what he suggested and then transgressed. Neither was Adam forced by Satan to sin, nor was he deceived as she was. He chose to follow his wife into sin without Satan's arm-twisting.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Leadership and Covenants (Part Seven)
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