On the Struggle Between the Flesh and Spirit Which Occurs in a Christian......

Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Every Christian has a two-fold birth, the old one of the flesh, and the new spiritual one, as is said above, and the one is contrary to the other. The birth of the flesh is flesh; the spiritual is spirit. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (Jn. 3:6).

But a Christian, as one who has been renewed, must live not according to the flesh but according to the spirit, and submit the flesh to the spirit,
according to the exhortation of the Apostle: "Walk in the spirit and do not do the works of the flesh"
This is what it is "to crucify the flesh with the passions and desires" (Gal 5:16,24);
"do not care for the flesh in order to fulfill its desires" (Rom. 13:14);
"abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul" (1 Pet. 2:11);
"we should walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4) ,
not allow sin to rule over us,
live for Christ,
Who died for us and rose from the dead.
Let us take account: do we engage In such a struggle; are we in the midst of this fight for salvation; do we walk.
in the newness of life; do we oppose the tendencies and desires of the flesh; do we not permit sin to rule and have mastery over us?
But those alone are of Christ, who have "crucified the flesh with the passions and desires" (Gal 5:24).

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