Bible Studies

Your Flesh is Dead Christian, Not in School

by Michael Edwards 
04/23/18
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Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Gal 3:3 NAS

As Christians, we want to do the next right thing. We desire to get out of sin, not into sin. But often we go about it in the wrong way. We try to perfect our dead flesh by our dead flesh. This comes from an unrenewed mind, still trying to do things on our own as we have always had to do since the fall.

When we trust Jesus as our Savior, we receive a new born-again Spirit. The Bible teaches that our newly born-again Spirit is righteous, sanctified, holy and perfected from the very start. All of this is a gift from God. Our Spirit is in perfect alignment with God and does not need to be taught to trust, believe and therefore obey God.

Our flesh is not born-again. It remains infected with the same fallen sin nature we inherited from Adam. The Bible does not teach we can, or are supposed to, perfect the flesh by the flesh as though we are teaching it something for eternity. So we will end up in an advanced class in heaven because of all the things we taught our flesh down here. Or so God will say well done, you perfected a corpse. Many believers fall into the trap of trying to perfect the flesh by the flesh. They live a rigid life of rule keeping based on the fear of possible punishment from God. This type of life naturally leads a person with a fallen flesh to be prideful and judgmental of others who are not living as they are in public. I have been there myself, so I speak from experience. If we feel like God is judging us, we will feel a tremendous burden that is not our burden, and our fallen flesh will naturally judge others. The truth is the burden of our salvation is completely on God. He is the promise maker, and the promise maker always holds the burden of keeping a promise like we see in John 3:16 and many other verses.

Our flesh is dead, not in school.

For a born-again believer, the Bible teaches we are supposed to by faith see our flesh as dead because that is how God sees it right now. Our Father tells us to see our flesh as crucified and dead with Christ. When God says our flesh is dead, it is as good as done, and we all know the death of our flesh is certain. God is not counting the sins of your dead flesh. He sees it as dead. Sin was condemned in the flesh.

If Christ is in you, though the body/flesh is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. Rom 8:10 NAS (body - Strongs Greek 4983. sóma - body, flesh)

Our flesh must die because it is still in a fallen state and unredeemed. Our flesh will never be sanctified, holy, righteous and perfected as our Spirit is right now. This is why spending time trying to teach our dead flesh by the dead flesh, to do this and not do that, as though we are learning something we will need for eternity, is a waste of time. It is like trying to teach a corpse how to behave when it gets to heaven when it isn’t even going to heaven.

If with Christ you died (were crucified) to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism (self-denial, self-mortification) and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. Col 2:20-23 ESV (emphasis mine)

When we die, we will all receive a new glorified body and this new body will NOT be infected with a fallen sin nature like the one we have today. Our fallen sin nature that still resides in our body of death as Paul calls it is the cause of the majority of our difficulties and struggles today. Paul spoke about this in Romans 7, how it was not he who sinned but the Sin nature that lived inside his body of death. We will not have that struggle with our new body. We will not need to battle a nature that thrives on sin and rebellion or teach our new body to believe, trust and obey. But in this life we will struggle with it just like Paul. 

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. Rom 7:21-25 ESV

When our flesh dies, and we receive our new perfected and glorified body, our redemption will be complete. We will know all we need to know and have no desire to sin any longer. It will be in perfect sync with our perfected Spirit.

One of the biggest issues with trying to perfect our dead flesh is that If we pay too much attention to our dead flesh, eyes on self. We will live a life of doubt about our salvation because our flesh will never stop sinning.  If we doubt our own salvation, we will also doubt the salvation of others by their actions because our eyes are on our self and our own actions. If we voice our doubt to others about their salvation, we create doubt in their minds too and do Satan’s work. Satan has used doubt from the very beginning to deceive us. The truth is when we look at others who say they believe; we are not supposed to look at their flesh, regard them as in the flesh. We are supposed to look at Jesus in their place just like we are supposed to see Jesus in our place.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Cor 5:16-17 ESV 

Our flesh, their flesh, will always mess up until the day it dies. If you think God is watching to see if your flesh is sinning, you will always doubt your salvation and never live the life your Father desires for you right now. The truth is under the New Covenant; we are under grace where our sins are not even counted by God. He is not keeping a record of our sins and the Bible is very clear about this truth.

You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. John 8:15 ESV

“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Isaiah 43:25 ESV

from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." Jer 31:34b

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, …Psalm 32:1-2a

For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more. Heb 8:12

then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. Heb 10:17

Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will NEVER (ou mÄ“) count against them. Rom 4:8 NIV (ou mÄ“ is a double negative like never ever) 

Love does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 1 Cor 13:5

Our eyes are supposed to be OFFself and fixed on Jesus the author and perfecter of our salvation.

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb 12:2 NAS

Our Father sees us in Christ, and by faith, we are to believe what God says about our position in Christ. Not doing so is unbelief and will keep the mind from being renewed to the truth. We renew the mind to the truth for this life to walk in His freedom now, not for eternity. In heaven, all we need to know will be revealed. We will not need faith when all is revealed. The renewal of the mind here is what stops the flesh from sinning and leads it to do the next right thing naturally.  

As believers, we are already living in eternity once we are born-again. It is a done deal from God’s perspective because it is all about Jesus and zero about us. We can enjoy much of the freedom we will have in heaven, right now if we believe the truth about who we are in Christ. This will allow us to be the best ambassador we can for the King of kings as we complete our mission here. Much of this comes from correctly seeing the division between the perfected Spirit and the dead flesh in ourselves and other believers. If you ask your heavenly Father to help you see this division clearly, He will not let you down. Ask Him to help you recognize yourself and others by the Spirit, the new creation we are right now, and not the dead flesh that will never make it to heaven.

For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Cor 5:14-21 NAS

More studies that apply:

Leave the Burden on God

Jesus Did Not Die to See If We Can Qualify

How is the Flesh Crucified?

What is The One Thing That Keeps a Believer in Sin? 

Christians are Blessed Because God is Not Imputing our Sins

Sins Are NOT Counted Under Grace

Holy Spirit Does Not Convict a Believer of Their Sins

What is the One Unforgivable Sin?

I Am Holy, I Am Sanctified, I Am Perfected

God Said a Believer Can Never be Considered Unholy
I Am a New Creation IN CHRIST

See Yourself as God Does, Stop Doubting, Rest in Him, Walk in Peace

Jesus Never Called a Believer a Hypocrite,

Believers are Never Called Sinners in the New Testament

Christians Have Diplomatic Immunity

Law Demands Righteousness Grace Provides Righteousness

Jesus is The End of The Law for Believers

Many more New Covenant Bible Studies HERE. Jesus poured out His blood for the New Covenant of grace and truth, replacing the Old Covenant law of Moses. Believers are exclusively under the New Covenant, the last will and testament of Jesus that began after the cross. 

And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. Luke 22:20