The Battle Between the Flesh and the Spirit

The Battle Between the Flesh and the Spirit

It has been said that this battle ought to have ceased once and for all. By using goodwill, it may be possible to get something out of that statement, but it is not certain.

This battle can and ought to cease once and for all in a certain sense; namely, in the sense that I no longer consider if I should do God’s will or not so that there will no longer be any “should I” or “should I not.”

In which sense does the battle between flesh and spirit continue? After it has been decided once and for all—irrevocably—that God’s will is always to be done, so it is no longer a question of whether or not the opposition in the flesh is to be overcome when God’s will is to be executed in reality.

There is definitely no such battle in some individual areas and to a certain extent in other areas, since a complete death has taken place; but in other areas something has to be overcome so that God’s will can be accomplished to the degree that God has shown it to me.

Gradually, as the death of sin becomes a reality, it transitions from being a battle to becoming a delight to do God’s will. It is a joy—a feast—for the righteous to do righteousness; for example, paying your bills! But the unjust does not quite have that mindset, and usually, neither does the person who is new on the way of righteousness, but it does happen.

Insofar as a person has died to unrighteousness and selfishness, that is how far it is an exquisite delight to do, or to execute, God’s will. However, where this death has not yet taken place, you can be fully and firmly decided always to do God’s will, and then something in yourself needs to be overcome so that all righteousness is executed. The person who denies this denies the truth, or he speaks of something that he does not even practice.