The opposite field of force is the realm of the Spirit, by
which Paul means God’s Holy Spirit. The Spirit was the gift of the divine
presence to believers (Ro. 8:15; 1 Co. 2:12; Ga. 3:2), an eschatological
deposit in view of the things to come at Christ’s return (Ro. 8:23; 2 Co. 1:22;
5:5; Ep. 1:13-14). It was not merely phenomenological, producing periodic
ecstasy, but functional, serving as a working dynamic in the daily lives of
believers (Ro. 8:1-2, 5, 9, 13, 26-27; Ga. 5:22-25; Ep. 3:16-17). The work of
the Holy Spirit was relational, which is what Paul intends by his use of the
verb “to dwell” or “to live” (Ro. 8:9, 11; 1 Co. 3:16; 6:19; 2 Co. 6:16; Ep.
3:17; 2 Ti. 1:14). Such language is not intended to be spatial, as though the
Spirit were a gas. Rather, in keeping with his Hebrew tradition, Paul uses
concrete expressions to describe abstract realities.
For Paul, a spiritual person is one who cooperates with
the dynamic inward work of the Spirit to produce maturity and godliness (1 Co.
2:14-15; 14:37-38; Ga. 5:22-23; 6:1). In fact, it is to the point that Paul can
say that the Corinthians did not lack any spiritual gift (1 Co. 1:7) but at the
same time describe them as worldly (1 Co. 3:1, 3). Spiritual phenomena did not
equal spiritual maturity!
The polarity between flesh and Spirit—between weakness and
power—becomes a daily challenge to Christians. To live “after the flesh” is to
live in weakness and the susceptibility toward sin (Ro. 7:5, 18-20; 8:4-9). The
appetites of the flesh are markedly different than the desires of the Spirit.
The Christian, who both lives in the flesh but who is indwelled by the Spirit,
cannot satisfy the desires of both (Ga. 5:17). One or the other must have
ascendancy. The difference between being “in the flesh” and “in the Spirit” is
not the difference between a higher nature and a lower nature, but rather, the
difference between the self, in its weakness, and Christ, in his strength. It
is the inadequacy of the creature as opposed to the complete adequacy of the
Lord. The Spirit is the power-sphere of the new creation and the new age, while
the flesh is the power-sphere of the old creation and the old age. Paul’s
language of dynamis (= power) in this regard refers to being enabled by
God to live above the weakness of the flesh by being filled with hope (Ro.
15:13; Ep. 1:18-19), wisdom (1 Co. 1:24), saving faith (1 Co. 1:17-18; 2:4-5),
godliness (1 Co. 4:19-20), endurance (2 Co. 4:7-10; 12:9-10; 13:4; Col. 1:11)
and love (Ep. 3:14-21).
Out of this tension between flesh and Spirit Paul offers
his ethic of freedom. Christ has freed the believer from the power-sphere of
sin that uses the weakness of the flesh as its tool (Ro. 8:2). He challenges
the believer to fully live out this freedom (Ro.8:3-4; Ga. 5:13). Human volition
plays a critical role in whether the believer exercises this freedom in order
to rise above sin through Christ’s empowerment or falls back into fleshly
living through the inadequacy of self (Ro. 8:6-8; 1 Co. 3:1-4; 2 Co. 10:4).
True spirituality, of course, is not simply a matter of will power, but rather,
a dependence on Christ’s power that gives freedom. Will power alone is only
another expression of the flesh (Ro. 7:18b-20).
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