The Flesh
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. First Thessalonians 5:23 (ESV)
The last part of us is the Body or, the flesh. This is the part of us that does not cooperate with God (Matthew 26:40-43). It is the part of us that we must force into discipline. First Corinthians 9:26-27 tells us, “Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” (NASB-1995).
Notice the warning here, if we do not learn to discipline our flesh, we will disqualify ourselves. The word disqualify is the Greek word adókimos; meaning “Unapproved, unworthy, worthless, rejected or cast away.”[1]Now, Romans 11:29 may sound like a contradiction to what we just established, “for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.” (NIV) The word irrevocable is the Greek word, ametamélētos; meaning, “without changing one’s mind; without repentance.”[2] It is not God who changes His mind; it is us, by insisting on following the flesh, who disqualify ourselves.
As a boxer you can enter the ring with all your credentials, but if you insist on violating the rules, use your elbows, punch below the belt, etc. after a few warnings, you will be disqualified. The same happen to us as believers. The Scripture is clear, “…the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23) Following our flesh is the wrong path to follow.
To be continue…
[1] Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000).
[2] Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000).
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