Walk Not After the Flesh
"For they that are after the flesh do mind the
things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the
Spirit." Romans 8:5
Note that this depends on the preceding statement,
"that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Romans 8:4). The things
of the Spirit are the commandments of God, because the law is spiritual.
The flesh serves the law of sin (see Galatians 5:19-21, where the works of
the flesh are described). But Christ came in the same flesh, to show the
power of the Spirit over the flesh. "They that are in the flesh can
not please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be
that the Spirit of Christ dwell in you."
Now no one will claim that the flesh of a man is any
different after his conversion from what it was before. Least of all will
the converted man himself say so; for he has continual evidence of its
perversity. But if he is really converted, and the Spirit of Christ dwells
in him, he is no more in the power of the flesh. Even so Christ came in
the same sinful flesh, yet he was without sin, because he was always led
by the Spirit.
Waggoner on Romans, p. 129 |
