Flesh and Spirit

We live in a world that is both physical and spiritual. We tend to be most aware of the physical world because we can see and touch it with our five senses. We think with our brains, so our intellectual life is an aspect of the physical world. However, the spiritual world is equally important.

When God created Adam, he formed him physically, and then breathed on him (spiritised him) so he would be a “living being” (Gen 2:7). As a “living being”, he moved in both the physical and spiritual world. If we think of our ability to live in the physical world as being “in the flesh”, then he was living in the flesh and the spirit.

When Adam and Eve rejected God, they lost their ability to function in the spiritual world. They began to live “in their flesh” only, most aware of the physical world around them. Entities from the spiritual world could influence them, but they were often not aware of it. They were not fully aware of God’s presence around them and within them, sustaining their lives. They were stuck in the physical world. This is what Paul meant by being “in the flesh”.

Flesh refers to our physical bodies, including our brains, which are made of flesh and blood. This is why our intellectual life is “in the flesh”. Adam and Eve were living in a world that is both physical and spiritual, but as people “in the flesh,” they were not fully aware and responsive to the spiritual world, both good and bad.

We inherit our life from our parents, who were “in the flesh”, and going back far enough, they inherited “flesh” but not “Spirit” from Adam and Eve. We are born “in the flesh”, with the ability to function in the physical world, but with minimal ability to function in the spiritual world. That is why we are all dominated by Sin and Death (Rom 6,7) and the other spiritual powers of evil that attack us.

Our problem in life comes from the way that we are born. We inherit from Adam and Eve the status of being “in the flesh” and not attentive to the spiritual world. That is why we need to be born again of the Spirit. Just as God breathed on Adam and he became a living being, when we trust in Jesus, the Holy Spirit moves on us to make us true “living beings” who can function in both the physical and spiritual worlds.

When we are born again of the Spirit, we change from being in the flesh only (operating in the spiritual world only) to being “in the flesh and the Spirit”. This ability to function in both the physical and spiritual world enables us to live to our full potential as true living beings. Jesus defeated the spiritual powers of evil on the cross, which equips those who walk in both “the flesh and the Spirit” to escape from their grip.