Ephesians 6:12
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
I was thinking about this earlier, it seemed to me that you were either in the flesh working against the spirit or in the spirit working against the flesh. Yet I thought of this verse and am a little confused now? Can anyone explain this one to me
Also
Galatians 5:16-17
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do
suggests that is indeed a wrestle against the two.
Add the 7th chapter of St. Paul's letter to the Romans to the mix.
The short answer to this: Christians are what Lutherans refer to as simul iustus et peccator, literally "simultaneously righteous and sinner". It is also the language of the "old man" and the "new man" (see Ephesians 4:22-24). As Christians we are still sinners, the reality of sin is still present in and with us, which is what St. Paul is talking about in Romans 7 when he talks about how he fails to do the good he wants to do, and does the evil he doesn't want to do. Paul here is speaking about how he knows what is right and what is wrong, because the Law clearly tells him this, the Law says "don't do this" so he knows he shouldn't, but he does it anyway, because of sin. That's the old man, that's "the flesh", it's the fallen, sinful humanity which we received from Adam.
It's also called "Original Sin", theologians also call it concupiscence. The innate desires, our proclivities, are broken, fallen, twisted by sin; we are curved inward toward ourselves. Because of sin we are turned and faced inward, and therefore we are not orientated toward God and toward being righteous; but toward ourselves and being unrighteous.
When we are saved and being saved, this doesn't just go away. What happens is that something new is given, something new is created. The "new man" as Paul calls it in Ephesians. It's what Jesus talks about in John chapter 3 when He says "you must be born again". That something new is what is given with faith. This is what Paul means when he talks about how we are justified by faith, that through faith we are put into Christ, united to Jesus--His death, His resurrection; such as we see mentioned concerning the Sacrament of Holy Baptism (see Romans 6:3-4, and Colossians 2:11-14). When God works and gives us faith by His grace and word (Romans 10:17, Ephesians 2:8) something new is made, we are a "new creation" in Christ. And so while the old man doesn't just disappear, there is now also a new man--that which is being renewed by the Holy Spirit, and which is called to a life of obedience, that walks according to the Spirit in obedience, having been declared just for Christ's sake. And we are being saved, renewed, having been born again, and with the Spirit in us, called to repentance, called to obedience, called to seek the kingdom of God, take up our cross, and follow Jesus.
But these two things are in conflict: the old man hates the new man, and the new man hates the old man. And that conflict is what St. Paul is talking about in Romans 7. It's the conflict between the flesh and all its sinful desires, and the Spirit who is in us, making us new in Christ. The Holy Spirit is making us new in Christ, and thus the old man must be put to death (Romans 8:13), which is why St. John in his epistle tells us that when we repent and confess our sins God freely, justly, and lovingly forgives us our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
The flesh is all our sinful desires, the old man--the old Adam which we have by virtue of being born fallen, in a fallen world, and with a fallen sinful human nature. And we are called as new men, new people in Jesus Christ, having been born again, created new by the Spirit, in Christ, to fight against the flesh, to walk in the Spirit. This is the good fight Paul talks about, this is what it means to run the race. This is what Paul means when he says to work out our salvation with fear and trembling--not that we are justified ("saved") by our works, but that we are to take what we have been given and now run with it, to actively fight against our flesh by trusting in Christ, by abiding in Christ, by repentance, by hearing the word of God, by receiving the Sacraments, and yes, by good works which we were created to do (Ephesians 2:10). That we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone--for we have been declared righteous by the grace of God on account of Christ and have received His righteousness, we have "put on Christ" (Galatians 3:21); and we are, because of this, to live in a new obedience to the will of God as God's children, adopted by grace--not by our own strength, but by the Spirit who lives in us, He aids us, He strengthens us, He gives us faith, He cleanses our conscience, He confronts us with the Law when it is preached that our flesh be mortified; and He soothes us with the comfort of the Gospel when it is preached that we should cling always to Christ and trust Him alone.
-CryptoLutheran
