Part II (God Has Made an Announcement/Discernment)

True Discernment

Paul, using his pen but writing by the Holy Spirit, makes two astounding statements in Romans 8.  He says, “who walk not after the flesh…” and “you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.”

I learned a long time ago to ask the Holy Spirit (our Lord) “what does this mean?”  And then allow Him to FULLY teach me what it means.  I also learned to never assume I know what it means, because when He teaches us, He says we will “ know!”

So, I am simply going to pen what He taught me about this (and continues to deepen and enrich).  “We are not in the flesh” is about WHO I am, not my behaviors and my walk.  In another letter, Paul wrote that all who are in Adam die, but we who are in Christ Jesus, are alive and shall be alive forevermore.

Once we have received Christ, God did a work in us.  He made our spirits alive in Christ.  We are forever changed.  We may not look changed, feel changed, but according to God, we are!  Our spirits have been made alive in Christ, we’ve been put into Christ, joined with His Spirit, and made sons and daughters of the living God.  And we were given the Gift of His Spirit.

“Who walk not after the flesh…” is another story altogether.  All my life, I’ve been asking this question of “how this Christian life” is really lived and by God’s grace, I’ve received my answer.  Frustrations and failures are really God’s gift to us – He uses them to propel us to Truth.

Flesh and spirit are two diabolically opposed realities.  When the two words are in one sentence together, it is talking about Adam and Christ, human effort and striving, versus the Spirit’s life and fruit.

Flesh (also as seen in the world) is about pride, appearance, man’s ability, human comparison and striving, having a relationship (or so-called relationship) with God his way and not God’s way.

Spirit is about one reality:  Christ as Life.  Period – no human is in the equation as having added something to it or been a part of God’s provision.  No, we have simply RECEIVED God’s way and provision.

Paul said in Romans these words:  “how to perform, I know not…”  Then later on he declares “Who shall deliver me from this body of death – I thank my God! Through Jesus Christ!”

What did he mean?  Paul received revelation and understanding from the Lord Jesus Christ of HOW this whole walk was going to be pulled off AND that He Himself (Jesus Christ) is the WHO of the HOW!

It is not and never will be human beings who are now in Christ, living by human effort to carry out commandments of the Law written in tablets of stone.  Romans 7 is proof of this.  Paul carries us into Romans 8 saying that the life we have been given (as the gift of God) is the Life of  His Son.  We are called to TRUST in Him for this whole walk.  His life is the Producer and He reproduces Himself in you, in me, in His body.

Stay tuned for the conclusion, Part III

In Him,

Sue Gaither