Spirit or Flesh

Galatians 3:3 “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?”

In this verse, Paul gives a strong comment on the people’s decision to receive circumcision. Paul explains that this decision was to prove ourselves to be in line with others and this is flesh. He explains that we need to have total dependence on the Holy Spirit. In this verse, we can all see ourselves in our early saved days when everything was spiritual. We had huge enthusiasm for our spiritual growth and depended on God for everything. The failure began when carnal thoughts and priorities had taken precedence.

Our decisions matter the most here. There always is an argument between the spirit and the flesh inside us. The flesh always wants fun and satisfaction. The spirit wants us to be pure and holier. The winner matters. We are concerned about this discernment only when or not sinning. But, this discernment was required by Galatians in their acceptance of doctrine and rituals. Circumcision is not a sin, but Paul classifies that as a fleshy decision. This can be related to any situation especially in ministry where we give our efforts to God. We tend to accept everything because we see everything as prayer and harmless. Nowadays or maybe for centuries prayer are wonderful weapons for brainwashing and even cursing. This is the space where many evangelists come in and try to promote themselves. For Christians, honoring or selfies with these celebrity preachers are to be discerned. Many doctrines are fleshy and we need to be vigilant here. The Good Samaritan’s parable is a wonderful example of spiritual decision making. For such wisdom, it is better to lack worldly or even sometimes biblical knowledge and completely depend on God Himself.    

The importance of this can be read in the next verse. It nullifies all our previous efforts and achievements if we have given precedence to fleshy decisions for our relationship with Christ. Everything we have earned or learnt has become vain if we try to perfect things in flesh.

Romans 8 is the chapter where Paul explains this in detail. Verse 4 says that salvation is only for those who walk in the Spirit. Salvation is explained as the righteous requirement of the law. This was the purpose of every toil God has taken including the Law and Jesus. In Luke 7:37, the woman who broke the alabaster jar of perfume understood that forgiveness was the ultimate requirement. So, she gave up every savings she had for this forgiveness. We need to take this decision where perfection in Spirit is what we really need and not wealth.

God wants us to walk, progress and live completely for our spiritual needs only. This means that we should work hard putting all our efforts and strength together to progress spiritually and not in this world. Verse 5 says that Spiritual people always think about the spiritual things. They do not belong to material world or its pleasures, but they seek holiness and peace.

Life and Peace is an important sign in a spiritual person. This person has assurance of living with a purpose. Worldly people have everything but still are unhappy. They are already dead deep inside. This life makes us happy and would want to give more. As per James 4:1-6, all confusion and wars are results of flesh and this seeks pride. The Spirit always seeks humility. Jesus always stayed at the simplest lifestyle. A truly spiritual person would never promote himself but will seek God’s name to be honored. Humility is a mandatory requirement for every Christian.

Rom 8:8 says that the fleshy decisions do not please God. This can be used as a testing tool. The Holy Spirit inside us will explain us if He is happy or sad because of our deeds. If we ask Him, He would certainly reply and we can hear Him. However, we still choose to ignore Him. A simple prayer everytime increments our dependency on God and He will for sure be pleased in our actions.

In Genesis 6:3, we read that God mentioning the flesh as a temporary thing and this is all we are. Jesus came down to the earth and made us into spiritual beings with heavenly ambitions. The whole realm we see and live is not reality. But, in this period, the Holy Spirit has to strive with man to make him perfect. This struggle is what we read in Rom 8:26.

Back to Galatians 3:3, we should ensure if we are being perfected by the Spirit and not the flesh. We are expected to grow and this growth should only be originating from the Holy Spirit. All others are vain. The flesh seeks worldly honor, pleasures and completely makes us different. God calls this foolish because fools are essentially people who after knowing make wrong decisions and lose benefits. After learning that faith in Jesus brings us perfection, if we still keep seeking for carnal benefits, we become fools and all our previous efforts become wasted.