How Does the Battle Between Spirit And Flesh Play Out? Back to contents ↑
One of the not so popular themes in God's Word is about battle between Flesh and Spirit, which is present on all pages of the Bible and should be clearly present in your life as well. This battle can play out between individuals, tribes, countries and, even most importantly, within yourself. In the Bible, flesh means everthing that is present in the natural body. It it your old, unsprititual nature which is unable to know God. Examples which are: dark desires, pride, lying, putting yourself first before others, etc.
When we are led by the Spirit of God / Holy Spirit, we focus on everything that is originating from God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Bible. It is here where our love for God matures. Additionally we will see that a genuine love grows for the people around us.
Our natural reactions oftentimes stem from the flesh. When the Spirit of Christ lives in you He convict of your 'bad old nature'. We need God's grace to overcome our fleshly desires. We need to overcome by asking God to kill our old nature.
The Bible has very good examples of how this plays out.
Cain and Abel (and Seth) Back to contents ↑
Key verses: Genesis 4:1-8; Romans 3:23; Genesis 4:25
“And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.”
In this story, Cain represents living in the flesh. Note that Cain was born before Abel who represents living by the spirit. In the story, God blesses Seth and not Cain.
In Genesis 4:3, Cain brought a sacrifice of the things he thought were good and pleasant, consisting of fruits and vegetables. He was the first person to bring a sacrifice to the Lord and had worked very hard for these crops. However, God never requests a sacrifice which is produced by our own hands, as we all fall short of the glory of God:
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
In Genesis 4:4, Abel was the second person to ever bring a sacrifice to the Lord and it pleased the Lord, because he brought the same type of sacrifice that God presented to Adam and Eve after sinning in the garden by taking the forbidden fruit: God killed an animal as to make a (skin) covering for them (Genesis 3:21). Cain also sacrificed in a similar way and took one of the firstlings of his flock to present a blood offer to the Lord. Jesus eventually made the ultimate sacrifice by offering His own perfect blood on the cross for you and for me. In this way, Abel represents the spiritual life, as to point forward to the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ that you and I so badly need.
As Cain had labored so hard for these crops and God didn’t accept his offer, he became jealous with his brother. Hatred is the basis for murder, so eventually Cain kills Abel – Flesh kills Spirit.
But God has His mysterious ways and replaces Abel with Seth:
“And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.”
Seth leads a spiritual life as well and is a type of Christ. Pointing forward towards the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who had done nothing wrong, so he could conquer death.
If you have no battle between Spirit and Flesh in your life, you might need to delve into the Bible and find out what the Word of God says about sin and truly repent and turn away from your wickedness!
Ismael and Isaac Back to contents ↑
Key verses: Genesis 16:1–16; Genesis 21:9-11; Matthew 16:24
“Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee. But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me? Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.”
In this story, Ismael represents the flesh. Note that he was born before Isaac, who represents the spirit. God blesses Isaac with the first birthright, and Ismael is not blessed in the same way.
Abraham was given a promise of God that he would have descendants as many as there is sand at the sea shore. But at a certain point being old he decides that it is time to have a child with his Egyptian handmaid Hagar. Ismael is born out of this fleshly relationship and for 13 years he is the only child in the household. No spiritual activities have been registered in those years.
After 12 years, the youth and strength of both Abraham and Sarai gets restored and Sarai gets a son called Isaac. From that point forward a lot of strife was entering in the household, which eventually led to the sending away of Ismael and his mother:
“And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son.”
This strife is to be expected when you become a Christian. You will quickly notice that you have to kill your own fleshly desires on a daily basis. This is what Jesus meant when He said:
“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”
Isaac inherited the spiritual blessings, while Ismael did not, so let's persue the spirit instead of the flesh!
Out of Isaac came the descendants of Israel, which led to the birth of Jesus Christ.
Esau and Jacob Back to contents ↑
Key verses: Genesis 25:19-34; Malachi 1:2-3; Leviticus 24:20
“And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham begat Isaac: And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian. And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the LORD. And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them. And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob. And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.”
In this story, Esau represents the flesh. Note that he was born before Jacob, who represents the spirit. The flesh is only thinking about it's sort term desires, which is typified by Esau selling this birthright, which is a serious matter as the majority of wealth could have flown to Esau is he wouldn't have sold it to his brother.
Additionally, God promises Rebekkah, the mother of Esau and Jacob, that Esau would serve Jacob, which shows that your spirit is supposed to dominate your fleshly desires.
In Malachi 1:2-3 we read that God had loved Jacob and hated Esau:
“I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.”
In the story of Esau and Jacob we see a clear sign that flesh and spirit can both be apparent in ones life. While Jacob could have trusted the promise which God gave to his mother about Esau serving him, he thought to put the right in his own hand and decided to deceive his father Isaac as to make him believe that Isaac was blessing Esau instead of Jacob. This eventually led to much distress in his life: for 20 years he lived far away from his parents with his uncle Laban, who represents Satan in this world. We have an article about this story which is a type of the rapture
Living in the flesh leads to slavery with much distress!
Adam and Jesus Back to contents ↑
Key verses: 1 Corinthians 15:45-47; Genesis 2:17; Genesis 5:5; 1 Corinthians 15:48-50
While Adam is our first ancestor, the Bible makes it clear that Jesus is the second Adam, so Adam is born before Jesus:
“And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.”
Adam sinned and sin leads to death:
“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
This was not only prophesied but it really happened:
“And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.”
Jesus never sinned, had to suffer an unlawful death to the flesh and was raised up in His new resurrected body. We can only inherit the heavenly by living in and with the Spirit of God: 1 Corinthians states that:
“As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.”
Your Flesh and Your Spirit Back to contents ↑
Key verses: Matthew 5:5; Matthew 5:9
We saw that everybody first needs to be born in the flesh before we can be born of the spirit. Being born of the spririt is the same as being born again. We also saw that the spirit will battle with your fleshly desires and vice versa, howver we are supposed to have the spirit rule over the flesh. If you want to know how to become born again, refer to this page: How to Become Born Again
And, while more interesting examples can be given, we now have enough spiritual understanding to apply these lessons to our personal lives. We all are born as fleshly people into this world, but in order to gain the spirituals birthright, we need to become born again, or born from above. Up to the moment that leads to this new birth, there is no battle between the two. But once the spirit is born in our personal lives, the strife begins against the fleshly desires.
Normally, this doesn’t only stay within the boundary of our personal lives, but our actions do have an effect on the people around us and vice versa. So the battle between flesh and spirit is also taking place on all levels of society. It greatly matters how we react to the world around us, as we are supposed to be meek and peacemakers:
“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”
We can only become spiritual people if we daily meet Jesus and listen to his voice through the Holy Spirit.