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Scripture Reading: Rom. 6:6; 7:17-20, 24-25; 8:3, 6-10; 3:20
The book of Romans is fully focused on life. This book is mainly of three sections. The first section is on redemption, the second section is on life, and the third section is on building, that is, the church life. In the middle, between redemption and building, is life. Life is the central thing.
Life may be a term that is familiar to a number of Christians, but not many can define or realize what life really is in their experience. To talk about life in doctrine is easy, but to say something about life from our experience is difficult. In these chapters we have the burden to see what life is in our experience.
In the section of Romans that is on life, there are two key terms: the flesh and the spirit. Christians mostly pay attention only to the Holy Spirit, not to their human spirit. Yet we have to realize that in this section our human spirit is more practical to us than the Holy Spirit. Two things are the key to the real experience of life: our flesh and our spirit. On the negative side, we have to know the flesh. On the positive side, we have to experience our human spirit, which has been mingled with the divine Spirit (8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17).
It is hard to define what the flesh is in a practical way. We need to see that the flesh is the corrupted, polluted, and transmuted body. Originally, it was the body created by God to contain our human being. Our human being is contained in our physical body, and this physical body was created by God in a pure way. But when man fell, Satan in the form of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil got into man. That entrance of Satan into man was his entering into man’s body. Man ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and anything that man eats gets into his physical body.
Our body, which contains our inner being, was created as a pure, clean, and good vessel. But one day God’s enemy came in to inject himself into man by the way of man’s eating. Man ate of the tree of knowledge, and the actuality and reality of that tree got into man’s physical body. At that time some strange, foreign element came into man’s body. Man’s body was originally pure. But since Satan injected himself into man, man’s body has another element, a foreign element, added to it, and it has become flesh. Thus, the flesh has two elements — one element created by God and another element, the element that is Satan himself. This other element is not just something evil of Satan or by Satan. This element is the evil Satan himself. By this we can see that something foreign, something strange, something other than God’s creation, got into man’s body created by God. All the ethical and moral teachings in human religion and human culture never touch this point because they do not have the revelation concerning man’s flesh. The Scriptures show that the flesh is our polluted and transmuted body.
Have you ever realized that your flesh is a polluted thing? Regardless of how good a person you may be, you still have the flesh. You may be the best person, but your flesh is not better than anyone else’s. Do not say that you have a better flesh than someone else. Flesh is just flesh. Your flesh is no good. You might think you are a good person, but it is certain that your flesh is no good. Your flesh has been corrupted and polluted by Satan. Satan as a foreign element got into your body. This is the reason the Bible tells us that the flesh is full of lusts (Rom. 13:14; Gal. 5:16; 1 Pet. 2:11). The lusts are of the flesh. The flesh is the totality of all kinds of lusts. No lust is good. All lusts are bad.
I do not care how nice a person you may be. You may be a gentleman or a lady, a good boy or a good girl, but as long as you are a human being, you have a very bad, ugly, polluted flesh. No one has good flesh. You may say that you have been saved and sanctified and that you are holy, a saint. You may be a saint, but you still have the flesh. Our flesh is corrupted with Satan himself. The flesh is the corrupted, transmuted body. We need our body to exist, but our body is fallen, transmuted, corrupted, and polluted. Our body today is the flesh.
Romans 6:6 tells us that our body today is “the body of sin.” It is not the body of righteousness. Romans 7:24 says that our body is “the body of this death.” Our body today is not only the body of sin but also the body of death. Sin and death always go together. Sin is the husband, and death is the wife. They never have a divorce. Death always goes along with sin. There was no need for Paul to teach that sin as the husband should love death and that death as the wife should submit itself to sin. Sin surely loves death, and death is all the time submitted to sin. They always go together. In a church meeting, a brother may sit on the front row while his wife sits on the back row. But sin and death are not like this. Wherever sin sits, death sits also.
Our body is a body of sin and death. Do you love your body? We need to buffet our body (1 Cor. 9:27). Our body is the flesh because it is no longer pure. Regardless of how much we pray and walk with the Lord, we have to realize that right beside our inner being, this ugly thing, the body of sin and death, is here with us all the time. As long as we are still living, until the day of our redemption, the body of sin and death is always with us. Romans puts three things together: the flesh, sin, and death.
Romans 8:2 speaks of the law of sin and of death. One law is of these two things. This proves that sin and death are really one. Verse 6 says that the mind set on the flesh is death. Where the flesh is, there is death. Romans 8:3 speaks of the likeness of the flesh of sin. The flesh and sin are one. We must see that sin, death, and the flesh are three in one. Where sin is, there is death, and where the flesh is, there is sin. Sin is always with death, and the flesh is always with sin. These three things can never be separate from one another. If you have one, you have all three. If you have death, you have sin. If you have sin, you have the flesh. If you have the flesh, be assured that you have sin and death. These three things are one.
Now we need to see what sin is. Sin is not evil deeds such as hating and killing others. These are outward doings. They are not sin itself. Sin itself, according to the Bible’s revelation, is Satan himself. When sin came into the created man, Satan came into him. We can use the illustration of a black bookmark being placed within a book. The book may be likened to something created by God and the black bookmark to sin being placed within it. One day, Satan got into man. Sin is Satan getting into you.
Sin is a living person. Romans says that sin can deceive us, kill us (7:11), and lord it over us, that is, have dominion over us (6:12, 14). All these activities prove that sin is a living person. This living person is Satan. Satan outside of you is not sin. When Satan gets into you, that is sin. Satan in you is sin. We have to realize where Satan is in our being. He is in our flesh.
Paul says in Romans 7 that he practiced what he hated (v. 15). Since this was the case, he says, “It is no longer I that work it out but sin that dwells in me” (v. 17). Paul uses the phrase no longer I twice. In Galatians 2:20 he says, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” In Romans 7 he says, “It is no longer I...but sin that dwells in me.” Sin is another person within us. I may like to do something, but eventually I do not do it. Instead, I do what I hate. So it is no longer I, but another person who does it. This person is in my flesh. Paul says, “I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells” (v. 18). In my flesh nothing good dwells, because the flesh is fully possessed, taken over, by Satan as sin.
Some people do not believe that there is such a person as Satan in this universe. They do not know that this person, whom they do not believe exists, is in their flesh. They do not believe that Satan exists, and they do not know that while they are saying this, Satan is speaking in their speaking. They speak for Satan, whom they do not believe exists. Satan is in man’s flesh.
We have shown that the flesh is our corrupted body. The flesh also refers to the corrupted human beings. Romans 3:20 says that out of the works of the law no flesh can be justified. The word flesh here does not refer to our polluted body but to our fallen being. Out of the works of the law no human being, no fallen one, can be justified. This means that none of the people who are flesh can be justified. In God’s eyes human beings are altogether flesh. Genesis 6:3 tells us that at a certain point in the eyes of God, man became flesh.
Man is totally flesh because the fallen being today is under the dominion of the fallen flesh. Every human being today in society is dominated by his flesh. Who sends people to Las Vegas into the casinos? Who sends people to the movie theaters? The flesh sends them. In God’s eyes we are totally flesh. In God’s eyes we are no longer mere human beings, but we are flesh, which has been possessed, saturated, taken over, and mingled with Satan.
Look at today’s society. Everyone is flesh. Outwardly, men behave like gentlemen; inwardly, they are flesh. Outwardly, women behave like ladies; inwardly, they are flesh. The husband is flesh; the wife is flesh; the boy is flesh; the girl is flesh; the gentleman is flesh; the executive is flesh; the janitor is flesh. Everyone is flesh, because everyone is under the dominion of Satan, having been corrupted by him.
We all have to see that Satan as sin is in the flesh and that sin is Satan getting into man. In this flesh there is also death. The definition of death is weakness. When we are weak to the uttermost, that is death. Death is weakness. Many times we try to do good. We want to be holy persons. But when we try to do good, we fail. Some of the young brothers who live in a brothers’ house may think that the Lord’s intention is for them to learn to be patient. They are ready to learn the lesson of patience. But actually they are ready to lose their patience. Paul says, “To will is present with me, but to work out the good is not” (7:18). This is weakness, and weakness is death.
Even in spiritual things we discover death. We realize that all the members of the Body should function. Before we come to the church meeting, we may make up our mind to function. But we find out that to will is present, but to do it is not. When we come to the meeting, we sense the weakening. That weakening is death. Death is working; death is day by day affecting us.
Human beings today are not living. Actually, everyone is dying. Eventually, everyone will die. We have to realize that every person is a dying person because death is working in everyone. In particular, death is working in our flesh. If we lose our temper for one minute, this may deaden us for three days. We cannot pray, have morning watch, or read the Bible, because we are being deadened by our sin.
Sin is another title for Satan. Sin goes together with death, and Satan is the one who holds the might of death, the power of death, as mentioned in Hebrews 2:14. Now we can see these three things: sin, death, and Satan. They are all together in the flesh. The flesh is the “meeting hall” of sin, death, and Satan. They always meet here, and their meeting lasts so long that they would never have a dismissal. Many of us spend our time attending the meetings of the church in the church meeting hall. Satan also has a meeting hall. The meeting hall of Satan is our flesh. Do you like to see Satan? Just come to your flesh. Satan is here. Satan is always in the flesh with sin and death.
We need to see how bad the flesh is. First, the flesh is at enmity with God. Second, this flesh is not subject to the law of God. It is always in rebellion against the law of God. Third, this flesh is unable to be subject to the law of God (8:7). It has a nature that cannot possibly be subject to the law of God. Thus, we should not try to do good by our flesh, because our flesh cannot be subject to the law of God. Fourth, this flesh can never please God (v. 8).
Now we might ask, “What shall we do with this flesh?” According to Galatians, we have to crucify our flesh (5:24). But Paul told us in Romans that we first have to realize that there is such a thing as the flesh. Even now we have this flesh, which is the transmuted body, polluted and corrupted within. This flesh is filled up with Satan, sin, and death. The flesh, Satan, sin, and death are one. We should not think that we have anything good or that we have any possibility of being good. We must be enlightened to see that our flesh is an ugly thing. We have to condemn it, not try to improve it. Some Christians get deceived into thinking that after they are saved, their flesh has been recovered. But God would never recover the flesh. Our flesh is a hopeless case. We should not have any kind of positive expectation concerning our flesh. We have to realize that the flesh is sin.
Now I would like us to see that this flesh eventually is good for us. How is it good for us? It is good for us because it forces us to go to the spirit. We have something so bad and so evil that we can never deal with it, yet it would never go away. It is always here.
Many years ago I read a number of books telling me the ways to be holy and victorious. I tried these ways. At first they worked a little bit, but for the long run, none of these ways worked. As a result, I became fully disappointed. I found out that this poor flesh is hopeless. I wondered why the Lord would not take away our flesh. I thought that if He would take away the flesh, everything would be okay.
On the cross Christ terminated everything, but we may wonder why He still left this ugly flesh with us. It seems that the more we pray to deal with the flesh, the more we are bothered by the flesh and the more active our flesh is. It seems that we can never overcome the flesh. Eventually, I told the Lord, “Since You do not take away my flesh, I will not try to be good any longer. I give up trying to be good. I give up trying to be victorious.” The Lord told me, “Child, that’s wonderful. That’s exactly what I want you to do. You have to give up trying to overcome the flesh.” Eventually, the Lord showed me that He left the flesh with us for our good because it helps us and forces us to turn to Him, to turn to the spirit.
If we did not have such an evil thing as the flesh with us, we might not pray so desperately. This flesh helps us and forces us to call on the Lord. We are forced by the hopeless flesh to turn to our spirit. If we do not turn to the Lord, this is really bad. But if the flesh forces us to turn to the Lord, this is really good. We can say, “Thank You, Lord, for the help from the flesh. Thank You, Lord, that You can even be so sovereign to use my flesh to force me to turn to my spirit.” Are you still bothered by the flesh? You had better say, “Praise the Lord. The flesh helps me and forces me to turn to the spirit.”
We have to realize that the flesh and the spirit are very close to each other. Romans 8:6 says that to set our mind upon the flesh is death, but to set our mind upon the spirit is life. Verse 4 says that we are to walk according to the spirit, not according to the flesh. Romans 8:10 says that if Christ is in us, our body is dead. This means that our body is flesh. But if the Spirit dwells in us, our spirit is life. We can see from these verses that the Bible puts the flesh so close to the spirit.
Even if you have been saved for a long time and have been with the Lord in a deeper way, these two things are absolutely with you. The flesh is with you, and the spirit is with you. Our flesh is the embodiment of Satan. Sin and death are within our flesh. But praise the Lord that we also have a spirit within us!
There is such a person by the name of Satan in this universe. Satan is in our flesh, Satan is sin, and sin brings in death. The flesh, Satan, sin, and death are one. God does not intend to take away the flesh until we are matured. When we become mature, we will no longer need the help of the flesh. The flesh is here helping us and forcing us to turn to the spirit. We should not be disappointed. We have the flesh, but we also have to say, “Praise the Lord! I also have the spirit.”
On the one hand, we hate our flesh, but on the other hand, we praise the Lord for the “helping flesh.” I trusted in the Lord so much after I realized that my flesh was a hopeless case. From the day I discovered that my flesh was a hopeless case, I was fearful and trembling, looking to the Lord and turning to the spirit in doing everything. I was on the alert to say, “Lord, You have to come in. You have to keep me in Your care. You have to keep me in the realm of the spirit; otherwise, if I am a little careless, I will be in the flesh.”
We must realize that the flesh is a hopeless case. The ethical Christians, the moral Christians, will tell people how to deal with and overcome their lusts. But the Bible only reveals to us that the lusts are within the flesh and that the flesh is a hopeless case. It is useful only in helping us and forcing us to turn to our spirit to trust in the Lord. This is not merely in the ethical or moral realm. This is a matter absolutely of turning from the flesh to the spirit.
We all need to turn from the flesh to the spirit. We need to realize that the flesh is a hopeless case and that it is here for our good. It is here helping us and forcing us all the time, moment by moment, to turn to the spirit, to trust in the Lord, and to no longer have any confidence in our flesh (Phil. 3:3).
