Identity - Flesh

Why are we talking about this?

The LORD desires you to identify with Him and His kingdom.

There seems to be confusion regarding what it means to be “in the flesh” and “of the flesh.”

It is my hope that we can look at this together and see the need to understand why our identity should not be in our flesh.

What does it say?

Looking at 3 different sets of verses:

John 3:5-8 - “Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.””

1 Cor 15:35-39 - But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.

Romans 8:9-11 “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

What does it mean?

John Chrysostom (born circa AD 347, died AD 407) spoke on the passages in John 3:5-8:

He points to how being born of flesh takes time, and the process is being built upon the decay of another; while being born of the Spirit is an instant rebirth and a radical change.

The Apostle John records Jesus as speaking to the analogy of the Holy Spirit being like the wind. We may not see it but we can hear it and feel it. When we submit and surrender to Jesus, we become filled with the Holy Spirit and are reborn in Christ. We may not ever see it, but we will hear it and feel it.

Similarly we read in 1 Cor 15:35-39 an analogy of a seed needing to die in order for it to become what it was meant to be.

But this passage goes even further to discern the differences between kinds. It notes a distinguishable difference between humans and various animals, and that we will be given new bodies when our flesh passes away.

And in Romans 8:9-11 Paul speaks to those of us who have already accepted Jesus as LORD and been indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

He goes on to remind us that even though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life and if the Spirit who raised Jesus (if in us) would give us life as well.

How should I respond?

3 points

Our bodies (our flesh) will be left behind

When we are born again in Christ we are new creations and receive the blessing of an eternal assurance in Jesus. Our hope is no longer in this world and what it offers, but in the Kingdom of God and His grace and mercy.

God’s Spirit is at war with our flesh; to refine it and make it new

An ongoing lifelong process. When we die to our selves as depicted in 1 Cor 15:35-39, we see that it is necessary for our glorification in paradise. This is echoed in passages like Isa 48:10 “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.” , Ps 66:10 “For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.” , Prov 25:4 “Take away the dross from the silver, and the smith has material for a vessel;” as well as many other passages throughout the Bible.

Our flesh is not our hope

Our youth and physical strength will continue to falter as we grow older. We cannot count on our strength or our beauty in this life. But like it says in 1 John 2:17 “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”, and,

Matt 10:29-31 says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”, and lastly,

Romans 8:31-39 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”