Sin in the Flesh Nothing New

Men and women are flawed creatures.

There is a propensity to evil in all of us.

It does not  mean that men and women must be ruled or resigned to depression about the sense of death, upset, shame, or condemnation in their bodies.

The problem actually occurs when people believe that they must live in accordance with it, or that they must do something about it.

From the late 1700's onward, the "Enlightment" suggested that human beings could overcome human failings, and that a perfect society with perfected people, through human means, was possible.

Then issues like happiness, personal satisfaction, and even self-actualization became key features in our culture, then human civilization took a turn for the worse.

The medieval mindset had a healthy recognition of the flaws in human nature, but more importantly, the grace of God was more resplendent, as individuals recognized that everything we have depends on the goodness of God, not the greatness of ourselves.

From the Enlightenment, which would displace God's views of the world with a man-centered belief that human knowledge could understand and overcome eternal verities, philosophers and thinkers began to discard the basic knowledge of man's brokenness.

Then   philosophers like Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and later Freud argued that the will, drivers, or unconscious motives were driving people.

As if these discoveries were novel.

Yet the Bible had discussed these frailties at length, starting with Adam and Eve's treason to eat from the Forbidden Tree, to David's lamentation for God to cleanse him secret sins and create within him a clean heart.

Yet the world ignores the unpleasant truth about God's love for us, and the frailty of man without the grace of God in our lives.

The world disdains the powerful truth and liberty found in Christ and Him Crucified, as well. If we do not have His perfection, then we will go back to looking at our empty, broken, imperfect selves and strive to fix the death in our members with all our strength -- efforts which are certain to fail.

When men and women see these imperfections, especially Christians, they become discouraged and angry, even despairing, convinced that their flesh can be perfected or at least improved.

No such luck. Just as Adam and Eve resorted to covering themselves with fig leaves because of their shame (which really had nothing to do with their being naked, but rather a knowledge of good and evil which caused them to see themselves as always wrong and in need of a fix)

We need to understand not only that the sin in our flesh will not go away as long as we are alive, but more importantly, that every sinful feeling and emotion has been condemned in the flesh of Jesus Christ our Lord:

"1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Romans 8: 1-4)

Every sin, every shame, every negative emotion has been covered, paid for, and sent away because of Jesus and His blood, which cleanses us even today and forever more (1 John 1: 7)

When we have the revelation that imperfect flesh encloses our perfect spirit, we can then rest at ease and spend more time renewing our minds to the truth of the Gospel, rather than trying to fix what cannot be fixed, but has already been condemned, that we may be dead to sin, yet alive unto God in righteousness (Romans 6: 11-12)

Sin in the flesh is not a new thing, either, but in fact was resurrected, ironically enough, by the very atheistic thinkers who wanted to debunk and remove all recognition of God in our lives, and especially the gracious goodness of Jesus Christ. Those atheistic "thinkers" actually forced men and women, even the most elite to recognize that academic knowledge would never bring men and women to a great status, or create a better society.

Yet all they had was the brokenness of man, without the grace and peace which comes through the broken body and billowed blood of Jesus.

As long as Christians do not understand this reality about the sin in our flesh, they will seek "help" from evil cults like AA to work some kind of program, as if our efforts can do something about the sin in the flesh. Not a chance.

Or we find that well-meaning people go to psychiatrists, counselors, or talk to friends for hours and hours on the phone, as though all of this protestation can do something about the sin in their flesh. Not doing more but believing more sets us free from all condemnation about the sin in our flesh. When we receive to recognize or identify with these awful tendencies, then we receive His power, and we are then fully more-than-conquerors in Christ Jesus (Romans 8: 37)!


God uses even the reproach of His enemies to honor His Son.