The Battle of the Sexes

In the Book of Romans Chapter 7, Apostle Paul painted a graphic picture of a struggle that is going on in the mind of an individual – particularly a Christian. Let us term it the battle of the flesh, and attempt to look at that chapter in the light of a Christian’s struggle with sexual sin.

Here, Paul personalises his analogy, probably so he can drive home his point. Therefore, as you read the following selected verses from the aforementioned chapter, try reading it out aloud, and see if the words are true about you. It is a fairly long reading, but absolutely necessary:

I once lived without a clear understanding of the law, but when I heard God’s commandments, sin sprang to life and brought with it a death sentence. The commandment that was intended to bring life brought me death instead.

Sin, by means of the commandment, built a base of operation within me, to overpower me and put me to death.

So then, we have to conclude that the problem is not with the law itself, for the law is holy and its commandments are correct and for our good…

For we know that the law is divinely inspired and comes from the spiritual realm, but I am a human being made of flesh and trafficked as a slave under sin’s authority.

I’m a mystery to myself, for I want to do what is right, but end up doing what my moral instincts condemn.

And if my behavior is not in line with my desire, my conscience still confirms the excellence of the law.

And now I realize that it is no longer my true self doing it, but the unwelcome intruder of sin in my humanity.

For I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but will-power is not enough to accomplish it.

My lofty desires to do what is good are dashed when I do the things I want to avoid. (Verses 9-12, 14-19, The Passion Translation).

Again, while Paul speaks here on sin generally, let us scrutinise the above Scripture in the light of sexual sin. Many Christians who find they are struggling with this sin try desperately to pull out of it as a result of the guilt that ravages them each time they engage in it. The reason for this is simply because they are actually saved – or their spirit man is saved – but their minds, which is the battlefield – as Joyce Meyer puts it – needs to be renewed. Paul continues in the same chapter:

I love God’s law with all my heart.

But there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.

Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin?

Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin (Verses 22-25, New Living Translation). 

So, clearly, the mind is the battlefield, not the already saved spirit of the individual. And why is this so with you? This is because you are still given to the flesh. In other words, you still allow your flesh to dictate to you or to your spirit which ought to be in charge and control of your entire being. The word “flesh” means “of the senses” or “sensual”; therefore, you rely more on what you see, hear or feel. This is what Scripture calls “carnality”.

Man, before giving his life to Christ, is seen not only as fallen and weak before God, but as sinful also. It doesn’t matter whether you have been a moralist from the womb; as long as you have never given your life to Christ, accepting Him as your Lord and Saviour, then you are still in the fallen state, weak and a sinner.

Flesh is contrasted with the human spirit that has been redeemed by the Spirit of God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross; and without the aid of the Spirit, one cannot please God. Those who are “in the flesh” cannot please God because God is please through faith, as stated in the Book of Hebrews 11:6. God wants us to believe and trust Him and not rely on our senses. The most vivid passage in the Bible is the first part of Romans Chapter 8, where Paul sharply contrasts those who are “in the flesh” with those who are “in the Spirit”.

So to be “in the Spirit” in this sense does not mean to be in an ecstatic state, or to be high on some drugs; but rather, to be living one’s life in that spiritual realm that is controlled by the Spirit of God – or, simply, to live your life in the light of God’s Word, a life devoid of sin. Beyond being saved, being “in the Spirit” speaks of a believer who yields to his conscience, the Word of God or to the promptings of the Holy Spirit to do what is pleasing to God.

If you live your life having any negative attitude, character or behaviour which seems to control you and everything you do, it means you are “in the flesh”. How then can you please God while “in the flesh”, controlled by your senses and giving in to every whim to sin? Remember that God cannot behold sin. The flesh will always hold you down. To live after the dictates of the flesh tends to death, but to live after the dictates of the Spirit of God tends to life (Romans 8:6).

Paul makes a sharp and absolute contrast between being “in the flesh” (unredeemed) and being “in the Spirit” (redeemed). When one comes to be “in the Spirit”, he becomes a believer and is no longer living “in the flesh”; howbeit, the flesh is still in him. In other words, there remains in the believer a struggle between the flesh (the mind that loves the sinful lifestyle) and the spirit (that has been saved, regenerated). Paul was addressing Christians when he says:

For your self-life craves for the things that offend the Holy Spirit and hinder him from living free within you! And the Holy Spirit’s intense cravings hinder your old self-life from dominating you! So then, the two incompatible and conflicting forces within you are your self-life and the new creation life of the Spirit (Galatians 5:17, The Passion Translation).

What The Passion Translation calls ‘the self-life’ is the old sinful nature, that is, the life of the flesh; and ‘the new creation life of the Spirit’ refers to what the believer in Christ benefits from the relational walk with God.

Thus, there are two contrasting and mutually exclusive realms, two worlds apart: “in the flesh” and “in the Spirit”. From the above Scripture, to be “in the Spirit” means to be indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit; that is, to be a redeemed person. A redeemed person belongs to God, and is on the side of the Hosts of Heaven; while the unredeemed person – that is, the person consistently living “in the flesh”– belongs to the camp of Satan and the Hoards of Hell. Such a person has no heart for and thoughts about God and the things of God.

Because the Christian life is the battleground of these two opposing principles, there is always a tussle between good and evil within one, and this makes it impossible to be the perfect person one would wish to be. Or is it?

Now, understand this: people don’t usually just fall into sexual sin or any other evil act wham! all of a sudden. No. They slip into it a little bit at a time until, hardly realising what has happened, they are nearly irrevocably mired in their wicked ways. Any person who allows sexual sin to take root in his or her life can and will find himself or herself enslaved by it. Temptation entertained today becomes sin tomorrow. Sin not curtailed today becomes a habit by the next day. Then a habit not repented from and forsaken eventually leads to (spiritual or even physical) death, therefore separation from God forever. The Book of James 1:14-16 tells us:

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 

Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 

Do not err, my beloved brethren (King James Version). 

To think you could never become this evil is the first step toward a hard and unrepentant heart.

So beware if you think it could never happen to you, lest your pride becomes your downfall (1st Corinthians 10:12, The Passion Translation).

When you, as a believer in Jesus Christ, go into a relationship with one who doesn’t know God, through such a relationship, you can become entangled in unhealthy practices. Your flesh would be having a field day; definitely not your spirit man. Friendships with unbelievers are important, but you must accept people without compromising your beliefs or adopting their patterns of behaviour or lifestyle.

When I come your way again next week, we shall be pursuing this line of thought a bit further. Do keep checking. God bless!