Pay Close Attention to FLESH in his writings 
“The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. . .all flesh is grass” -The Prophet Isaiah, chapter 40.
The subject of flesh and blood is one of those cords that is woven very distinctly throughout the fabric of Scripture: it is prominent in the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as well as in the understanding of His Apostle to the Gentiles. Consider just a few samples.
“Flesh and blood hath not revealed this to you…”( Jesus to Peter).
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (Jesus to Nicodemas, a ruler of the Jews)
“Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God” (Paul to the saints at Corinth)
“We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against…the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Paul to the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus at Ephesus)
The Apostle Paul gives us the ”Resurrection” chapter of the Bible in the same letter which is begun with quite a lengthy discussion of the foolish ways of God and the wisdom of humankind. He makes a statement regarding the wisdom of God which goes to the heart of what is at stake: God’s way of redemption, of restoring His fallen creation, insures “that no flesh should glory in His presence”.
These and many other scriptures signal a basic truth: God’s ways are not our ways. When Messiah Jesus is sent into the world, it announced to all the earth (all human flesh) that God was doing an entirely new thing which would be the definitive thing in defeating our enemy for the glory of His Name. This new thing would involve the creation of a new human flesh; a flesh which was of heavenly origin, not earthly. It is through this heavenly flesh and it alone that the good and perfect will of the Father is at long last done on earth as it is in heaven.
The heavenly flesh was sent by way of the cross on its way to the resurrection and the glory that is to follow: “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit”(Jesus, speaking to his disciples just before his betrayal and death). The cross of the heavenly flesh is much more than the sinless sacrifice that “takes away the sin of the world”; it is the death of death itself that does away with the earthly flesh and all the corruption that goes with it. It is not this body that is raised with Christ. That flesh is to be relegated to the grave, and we are commanded to “reckon it to be dead”.
It was the “offense of the cross” that was at the center of all the resistance to Paul’s gospel preaching. Why? Because it meant that God had judged the earthly flesh once and for all and put it to death. The repentance that He now requires of all who would enter His everlasting Kingdom not only involves an agreement with His verdict concerning our sins of rebellion, but much more, what He has in fact already done with our flesh. What He now requires of us in true repentance is a drastic repudiation of our earthly flesh and a life of “no holds barred” mortification of it as long as we are in this body.
In Christ, He calls us to replace the flesh with the “grace and duty of minding the Spirit” (Romans 8:1-27), and of “walking or being led by means of the Spirit”. This is the way to read Romans 8 to obtain the greatest profit. This is the way to read Saint Paul and to learn from him what is the TRUE life of CHRIST (Galatians 5).
To be continued: If I had only one message to post before I die
August 28, 2008 at 8:14 am
What a beautiful reminder of how much we still have to learn and grow. It makes me think – if I spent as much time focusing on Spiritual things as I do physical needs, that would have such an impact on my life! Especially here lately, I’ve been spending time thinking about what I eat, what food to buy, what to fix, getting exercise, getting enough sleep…wow…reams of books are devoted to this old flesh…So, I will reflect on feeding my Spirit as much as or even more than feeding my body…
August 28, 2008 at 1:29 pm
As we study Paul, we see that he made a distinction between the body which is for believers now the dwelling (temple) of Christ’s Spirit, and the Adamic flesh which is to be mortified-sometimes he even uses flesh in these two different ways. So we too in fact can know on the one hand that “by one offering Christ hath sanctifed forever ” those who believe, and has by his indwelling Spirit made our body holy, it becomes us to go on presenting that body to God as a living sacrifice to Him.
I have found that the greatest motives to be faithful in this discipline is in fact Christ and his work including winning for us the gift of the Holy Spirit, that is why Paul says it is our “reasonable service”. The fact that living in this way makes the most sense and in harmony with the God who made us brings great blessing is just icing on the cake.
I told you we would have a good time this year studying the Apostle Paul.
December 23, 2011 at 10:39 am
Christmas 2011
I have linked to this post 0f 2008 in my Christmas post for 2011. I am convinced that this is what Christmas means to me: The Christ of God and His long awaited promises, sent into the world on a specific mission for humankind. When Christ became ‘incarnate’ in human flesh, it was only the beginning for God’s new race redeemed from the curse of sin.