Flesh and Spirit

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     A month has gone by since we camped on the slopes of Romans 5. It is now time to shoulder our packs and start anew up the steeps of grace, gaining our initial toe-hold at Romans 6:1. Sin is flint-hearted and treacherous. And one of its potent weapons is rationalization. It uses this for self-preservation, seeking to hold captive those who are in its malign grasp and upon whom it feeds as a vicious parasite. Sometimes it approaches delusion from the negative side, sometimes from the positive, but always it has the black hood at hand to drop over the eyes of the victim, while the gallows starkly waits in the background.

     Smiley Blanton, the psychiatrist, affirms that rationalizing "is the great narcotic that people use to anesthetize their consciences and justify yielding to temptation; an embezzler telling himself he is just 'borrowing' the money and will surely put it back. An unfaithful husband assures himself that what his wife does not know will not hurt her. In a thousand daily temptations from padding the expense account to exceeding the speed limit, the rationalizer's attitude is 'Everybody's doing it, why shouldn't I'"?

     Paul anticipated just such an attitude toward grace. He had said some mind-staggering things about it. "God's act of grace is out of all proportion to Adam's wrongdoing. For if the wrongdoing of that one man brought death upon so many, its effect is vastly exceeded by the grace of God and the gift that came to so many by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ" (5:15). "For by the wrong-doing of that one man, death established its reign through a single sinner, much more shall those who receive in far greater measure God's grace, and his gift of righteousness, live and reign through the one man, Jesus Christ" (5:17).

     Then he dealt with the problem of law in respect to grace. "Now we find that the Law keeps slipping into the picture to point out the vast extent of sin. But where sin was multiplied grace exceeded it on an immeasurable scale...so grace could issue in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (5:21). One can almost anticipate the reaction of the carnal mind to this. As sin multiplies, grace increases to exceed it, and since grace is essential to eternal life, the more it increases the better off are its recipients.

     "What are we to say, then? Shall we persist in sin, so that there may be all the more grace?" From this, the apostle recoils and shows the absurdity of such a presumption. "No! Nol We died to sin: how can we live in it any longer?" A dead building contractor does not draw plans for constructing a new housing project. A dead grocer does not propose to increase his income by expanding his business outreach. If the occupant of a casket suddenly sat up in his satin-lined box to discuss a blueprint with the mortician, it would be taken for granted he was not

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dead when they loaded him in the hearse. It would also have a visible effect on the funeral director.

     Is it possible that a lot of people just play dead spiritually? When you see one who professes to be in Christ, but who is busily engaged in making plans to widen the scope of his sin, and extend his franchise for evil into new territories, can you not assume that he is employed by sin? The apostle uses his clincher argument. "Have you forgotten that when we were baptized into union with Christ Jesus we were baptized into his death? By baptism we were buried with him, and lay dead, in order that, as Christ was raised from the dead in the splendor of the Father, so also we might set our feet upon the new path of life."

     This is beautiful in its simplicity. It is regrettable that it ever got caught in the gears of the theological meat-grinder and was reduced to shreds. Certainly the apostle never dreamed that his statement would be put to the uses to which it has been subjected, to prove some things on one side and to disprove more things on the other. I do not propose to be lured from my theme to beat the bushes and thump the thickets in argument. I shall indicate a few things which seem to me to appear obvious and move on up, leaving the professional pugilists to pummel each other into a loving pulp over peripheral matters.

     Either all who died to sin were baptized or the entire argument is rendered ridiculous. That no explanation of justification by faith which excludes being baptized into union with Christ Jesus, is fair to the apostolic letter, is apparent to the concerned student. Paul accepts the postulate that his argument based upon baptism will be immediately understood by all who have died to sin. He makes no explanation of baptism for no one questioned it. It would be a little silly to say, "Have you forgotten that when we were baptized...?" if a bunch of them had never been and did not even think it was essential.

     This is another good example of Paul's mastery of what I call the "as and so" reasoning. He employed it frequently. It is a balanced argument. On one hand you list under "as" all of the necessary elements. Then under "so" the same items must be catalogued. If one does not fit under "so" it must be removed from under "as," for these words signify a relationship of the identical.

     What Jesus did to save all men, all men must do to be saved. The saving features of the Good News are three in number--that Christ died for our sins, that he was buried, and that he rose again (1 Cor. 15:3, 4). Christ identified with us in a body to die, be buried and rise again. So we must die, be buried and rise again, to be identified with him in a body. He did so according to the old covenant scriptures. We must do so according to the new covenant scriptures. As he died for sin we must die to sin. As he was buried we must be buried. Ae he arose from the dead in glory we must "rise to life on a new plane altogether."

     I suspect there may be one little item in Paul's reasoning which a lot of my readers overlook. Because of the post-apostolic introduction of sprinkling and pouring as a ritual (they do not constitute baptism), a lot of us have been on the firing line and have sought for every argument to enforce our contention for immersion, which I accept as eminently correct. We have insisted that baptism is a burial, and it is, of course. But when Paul, who was not writing to supply our arsenal, speaks of being buried in baptism he uses two separate and distinct words.

     It has been our contention that the

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original for baptism should have been translated immersion. To this, W. E. Vine takes pointed exception. He says that there is no word in the English language to translate baptizo, for it signifies more than dipping or plunging and includes coming out or being withdrawn. "The word baptizo was necessarily transliterated into English, as there was no equivalent in our language. 'To immerse' would be simply 'to plunge into.' To baptize is to put into water and take out again. It involves immersion, submersion, and emergence--death, burial and resurrection. The word was used among the heathen Greeks of articles which underwent submersion and emergence, as in the case of dyeing a garment" (The Epistle to the Romans, page 87).

     If you have not read William Barclay's comments on how the Jews and the Greeks would understand Paul's reference to baptism and death, you have missed a great deal. We urge you to share in his insights by referring to his book in the Daily Study Bible Series, entitled The Letter to the Romans, pages 82-86. It will provide background material I have found in no other place.

     To Paul, baptism was limited to believers, who were responsible adults. His very argument makes this essential. One would not ask a person who was sprinkled as an infant, "Have you forgotten that when we were baptized into union with Christ Jesus we were baptized into his death?" One cannot forget something of which he was never conscious at the time.

     But we must get back to Paul's purpose in mentioning baptism. The man who has been baptized has died to sin. He cannot engage in it to promote an increase of grace. He is not his former self. That self was crucified so the tyranny of sin could be broken. "For a dead man can safely be said to be immune to the power of sin" (6:6). "In the same way look upon yourselves as dead to the appeal and power of sin but alive and sensitive to the call of God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (6:11).

     The appeal of sin! The power of sin! These affect us only when we are alive to sin. Dead men are immune to that power. Law increases sin by making us conscious of it. It serves the same purpose as the nerves of the body. These do not create pain but they make us aware of all the places in which it is present. The nerve of law has been deadened and removed. "Sin is not meant to be your master--you are no longer living under law but under grace."

     This makes legalists uncomfortable. A legalist must have a law or he cannot survive. He breathes law like the human body breathes oxygen. If God provides no law, he will take what God has provided and convert it into law. All of my life I have been around men who spin out their interpretations of God's word designed to show that the Holy Spirit lied when he said we were not under law but under grace. Grace itself is a written code revealed, they argue.

     The problem is that legalists always exercise selectivity. They choose some features of the law to which they willingly submit, while ignoring others. But those which they choose then become the criteria of righteousness. To these men must conform even though they utterly neglect other valid and vital provisions of God's will. Men who live and walk by law have no idea of the restraint of perfect love. There must be a whip to crack. There must be threats issued and intimidation involved. Frequently those who bluster and abuse are insecure, walking after the flesh, hiding their emptiness with their fulminations, and in constant fear that they will be found out!

     How can we keep men under control without law? How can we exercise supervision over them, and guarantee that they will cower and kowtow to the will of their spiritual superiors? Paul apparently anticipated the questions that would be engendered by the agitated souls who suddenly find out that law has abdicated and grace occupies the throne. "Now, what shall we do? Shall we go on sinning because we have no law to condemn us any more, but are living under grace? Never! Just think what it would mean" (6:15).

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     We shall allow you to read for yourself what it would mean in the ensuing context.

     I do not intend to be ordered around by sin any longer. I shall not bow in meek subservience to the tyrant who once occupied the throne in my heart and drove me like a slinking slave. The blood of God's Son paid my price. He ransomed me. The old man has been dethroned, driven out, shot down by the shaft of grace. I am committed to the service of God. Where he leads me I will follow! It makes no difference what others do or say. I shall walk through detractors like Israel crossed the Red Sea. Every gain I make will be in the direction of holiness. And the end is eternal life.

     I would not exchange the freedom I have for all the world has to offer. What a thrill to be in Christ! What a feeling of heady enjoyment comes from imbibing the Spirit. What an adventure to be able to go anywhere, to speak to anyone, to listen to anyone. My compassion reaches out to those who murmur and mumble, carp and criticize, whine and whimper. They never really died to the lower nature and are condemned to walk in a perpetual shadow, dragging along the heavy weight of their own foreboding. They are prophets of doom and presagers of evil. The sun is shining but they do not know it.

     This kind of talk upsets a lot of folk. As they see it, those in Christ ought to be gloomy, alert for the worst, and alienated from sinners--other sinners that is! They mistake being somber for being serious. Instead of having happy feet on a joyous mission, they would prefer that everyone walk like a pall-bearer. But I want you to know that I have found that joy is a person. I am in that person. Don't try to sell me a bill of goods about Christianity being on the wane. Jesus Christ is not about to shut up shop and board up the windows. He is here to stay and I am going to stay with him. I am going to walk in the Spirit and not shuffle along with my head down. I have eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That is my gift and it is from Him.

     Now, let's move on to Romans 7, where the first six verses are powerful medicine. Paul begins this account with a universally acknowledged fact. A man is subject to law-- any law--only during his life span. "You cannot be unaware, my friends--I am speaking to those who have some knowledge of law-- that a person is subject to the law so long as he is alive, and no longer." To enforce his point he gives an illustration. "A married woman, for example, is bound by law to her husband so long as he is alive. But if he dies, then his legal claim over her disappears. This means that if she should give herself to another man while her husband is alive, she incurs the stigma of adultery. But, if, after her husband's death, she does exactly the same thing, no one would call her an adulteress, for

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the legal hold over her has been dissolved by her husband's death."

     This seems plain enough, but, in making the application a good many brethren get the illustration and miss the point. They conclude that God killed the law so we could be married to Christ. But this is not the case here. It was ourselves who died, and not the law. "So you, my friends, have died to the law by becoming identified with the body of Christ, and accordingly you have found another husband in him who rose from the dead, so that we may bear fruit for God" (7:4).

     The body of Christ is the body that died on the cross. We became "incorporate with him in a death like his" (6:5). Jesus was crucified and those who were under the law, and accepted him, were crucified with him. They thus severed any relationship which they sustained before death. This included relationship with the law which was binding only until death. Jesus was raised from the dead. The crucified believers were raised from the dead. It was the resurrected ones who married, and the purpose of that union, as of marriage from creation, was to bring forth fruit unto God.

     The prior marriage to law also produced fruit. But the union was on an inferior level. The parties lived in a basement apartment. The marriage was marred by sinful passions encouraged and stimulated by the party of the first part. "While we lived on the level of our lower nature, the sinful passions evoked by the law worked in our bodies, to bear fruit for death." The law could not change the unspiritual nature of those wedded to it. Law is external. Its goal is conformation. What we needed was transformation.

     Despite the good intentions of law, it only incited to sin. Its very prohibitions encouraged experimentation. Its denunciation created determination to taste the forbidden fruit. It was not the law that was weak, but the flesh. It perverted what it came to protect. Obviously a whole new plane of life had to be created with a level of life to which law could never aspire. It would not do to die to one law and then marry another one. Law has nothing to offer one who is raised from the dead. To be joined to another law would be to leap from the frying-pan into the fire! And the flames of legalism are hot.

     The Christian who claims to be under law is really in bondage. He is carrying on an affair with another beneath his station. Law is only adapted to the lower nature. As Paul puts it, "We also know that the Law is not really meant for the good man, but for the man who has neither principles nor self-control" (1 Timothy 1:9). When a good person gets yoked up with one who was not meant for a good person, there's going to be serious trouble. Brethren who insist that they are going to be under law regardless of what anyone says, are like a good girl who gets taken in by a lecherous man. She isn't going to have an easy time of it.

     That is why Romans 7:6 is a real fountain in the desert for me. "But now we are freed from the Law; we are dead to that which once held us fast! and so we are free to serve God in a new way, the way of the Spirit, not in the old way, the way of a written code." I confess that when I first became aware of the implications of this, I could not accept them. I didn't want it to read that way. If it did, I did not want it to mean what it appeared to be saying. I doubt that you can realize the inner turmoil churned up inside a heart which had been trained in the arrogant assumption that a certain faction contained all of the righteous people on earth, and their righteousness must be judged by their subscription to our partisan interpretation of a written code.

     Such a party is always subservient to a clerical clique. The men who compose that clique are the real power behind the paper curtains. They determine for all what items belong to faith, to opinion, or to the realm of the indifferent. In their hands the word of God becomes a cudgel, a club with which to crush the skulls of brethren. By insinuation and innuendo they can ruin one who does not take his signals from their dugout. They hurl the thunderbolts of wrath through the pages

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of the printed media. They control the lectureships and manipulate the meetings under guise of loyalty to Christ. "They lean on the law and make their boast of God, and know his will, and understand the difference between right and wrong" (Romans 2:17,18).

     Thank God for deliverance from "The System." Thank God for grace! I do not care by what name "The System" is called. I do not care who the "some-whats" are who exercise dominion, be they popes, prelates or just plain preachers. I simply say that every sectarian attempt to enforce coercion by threat or compulsion is alien to the spirit of freedom which the blood of Jesus makes available. Infallible elders are more dangerous than an infallible pope, for they are closer at hand.

     Every factional editor and leader on this earth, without exception, is erratic, inconsistent and capricious. Legalism produces that kind of character. It enslaves and degrades. It places a premium on ignorance and forbids one to learn beyond the limits of the organizational brain. The best member is not the one who thinks but the one who does not. I was in that kind of bondage. I served under it, promoted it, defended it and proclaimed it. And I am ashamed of it!

     Now I am freed from law! I am dead to that which once held me fast in its talons. I am free to serve God in a new way, not under a new law, but in a new way! It was this I was afraid to acknowledge at first. I felt secure in the old way. There were no decisions to make because they were made for me. I was safe with the safety behind prison walls and bars. And then I found that God had built no walls. He had forged no bars. He had set no bounds except those of love for Him in his infinite mercy, and for my fellowmen in their infinite need.

     I cannot get enough of His wonderful book. I turn to it with eagerness as a student who lays aside his textbook on jurisprudence to read again the love letters from his only beloved. I no longer search for "sermon material," but for means to share the heart-swelling, soul-stirring, blood-tingling message of a love so great human spit and iron nails and acanthus thorns and a wooden cross could not stop it until it reached down and touched me and left its brand of crimson stain.

     I no longer engage in "acts of worship," which become stereotyped and conventional, prosaic and professional. Now I praise him in song and prayer and sharing. I want to give. I want to know the fellowship that enters into human sorrow and suffers with those who have not found the still waters, and whose restless souls cannot lie down because they have not discovered the green pastures.

     The new way is exciting, fascinating, animating, and infectious. It is personal and persuasive. After trying for so long to find him in the pages of a book, in the letters and words and punctuation marks, I came to him fully, completely, and learned that he had found me first. I know how the disciples must have felt when they realized they had been walking with him, talking with him, questioning him, and listening to him. "Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him." Paul's precious prayer has been answered for me. "I pray that your inward eyes may be illumined, so that you may know what is the hope to which he calls you, what the wealth and glory of the share he offers you among his people in their heritage, and how vast the resources of his power open to us who trust in him."

     The great thing about the new way of serving God is that once you strip off the tattered garb of law and put on the new garment of grace, nothing else matters. You can be lied about, attacked, assailed, misrepresented, and cast out of the synagogue, but none of these move you. You can love your enemies and pray for those who despitefully use you. And you can do so honestly. That is something. Nothing that men can do will hurt you. You are not trusting in your own righteousness. "For now my place is in him, and I am not dependent upon any of the self-achieved righteousness of the Law. God has given me that genuine righteousness

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which comes from faith in Christ. How changed are my ambitions" (Phil. 3:9, 10). How changed are my ambitions! You can say that again, Paul.

     The new way is the way of the Spirit. It is not the way of a written code. And that is a good point of contact with chapter 8. This is the magnificent chapter of the spiritual outlook which is life and peace (verse 6). It is the chapter of divine-human sharing of suffering here and of splendor hereafter (verse 17). It is the chapter of a universe on tiptoe waiting for the glorious hope (verse 19). It is the chapter of overwhelming victory, the march of the "more than conquerors" (verse 37). It is the chapter of the indwelling Spirit, directing, empowering, giving life, assuring of sonship, helping in weakness, and culminating the divine purpose in victory through Jesus!

     And this is the most important fact on earth right now. Sin is not simply an intellectual concept with which to reason and wrestle. It is not just a skulking force without which we can overcome by flailing about us in the dark. Instead, it is a power which has seized the throne room of our hearts and through years of domineering in which we have been reduced to abject slavery, has weakened the will to resist. In fact, the inclination to give in and go along has made all of us victims of our own feebleness in the conflict.

     Even though sin is driven out, and the heart washed and cleansed, it still lurks expectantly in the shadows. For sin is the weapon of a master-strategist who knows every weak spot in our character. He can exploit every fear, every emotion, every desire, with such a surge of strength that we feel resistance is useless. He can take human loneliness and use it as a wrecking-bar to tear down the strongest determination. He plants a seed and waits until it is matured and pushed out through the chinks of despair and despondency.

     All of the good resolutions on earth will not offset this power. Each man is like a lost traveler in the snowy waste of the Yukon Territory, surrounded by a pack of fiery-eyed wolves. The pack awaits the inevitable moment when the fire goes out. Sleep will overcome the will of the man, or his meager fuel supply will become exhausted. The slavering jaws will move in for the bloody kill.

     What is needed is for Someone to move into the inner compartment vacated by sin, someone who can man "the hot line" to heaven, who can buttress the sagging places in the dike and repair the faults and cracks with the cement of love. The relationship created must be one so personal that there is never a sense of being alone, forsaken or deserted. It must be Someone who neither slumbers nor sleeps, but who watches the battlements with unflagging zeal.

     Moreover, the consciousness of this power within must be reflected to others. They must be able to tell that the house is occupied. The light must gleam through the windows. The flag which betokens that a royal guest is being entertained must be flying from the mast. There must be a change, a tremendous and startling change. Old things must pass away. All things must become new.

     All things! Habits, disposition, tendencies, character! "You've changed," must become the greeting of past acquaintances and accomplices. "You're not the same man," must be on the lips of those who still cling to sin and envy the swine the husks that they eat. It is my contention that precisely what I have described is what the Father has provided for those who become the willing captives of the Son. Anything less than this is life on

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the carnal level, and the person who indulges it is holding a gun against his own temple and robbing his own pockets.

     It is my conviction that when Jesus left this earth to return to heaven, he requested that another helper be sent who would abide with us through the ages of his absence. That helper came! He is the Holy Spirit. He is here now and he dwells in me, empowering me to withstand the cosmic forces of evil. The Father, according to the wealth of his glory, makes me strong with power through his Spirit in the inner self (Eph. 3:16). This is the glorious promise. I accept it, acknowledge it and rejoice in it. Even though our struggle is against "unseen rulers and powers, against the lords of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly world." I am not even trembling. "I will fear no evil, for thou art with me." No evil!

     But what about those who say the Holy Spirit does not dwell in them, that God has furnished them a guidebook and written map and started them out on their own? I never argue with any person who says he does not have the Holy Spirit. I agree with him. I suspect he is right. Of course I feel sorry for him as he slogs along, lashing out in his own frustration at every brother who overtakes him while he is staggering along under the huge pack he is trying to carry by himself. But there is too much to do without stopping to flail away at folks who are happy in their misery and miserable because I am happy.

     Romans 8 is one great chapter. It was originally written to men and women in a great metropolis sprawled along the banks of the Tiber River. Some of these were slaves, mere human chattels in a teeming, crawling, creeping mass of vice and corruption. One noted historian, after several paragraphs swimming in a depletion of unbridled degradation, writes: "But to dwell upon the crimes and the retributive misery of that period is happily not my duty. I need but make a passing allusion to its enormous wealth; its unbounded self-indulgence; its coarse and tasteless luxury; its greedy avarice; its sense of insecurity and terror; its apathy, debauchery, and cruelty; its hopeless fatalism; its unspeakable sadness and weariness; its strange extravagances alike of infidelity and superstition" (The Early Days of Christianity,by Frederic W. Farrar, page 2).

     Here, in the capital of this pagan world came this word of light and hope to brighten the hearts of the humble and to make out of them a fighting force which would capture the world while shedding no blood but their own. I claim for myself that inner might which cannot be defeated by death. On the basis of this blessed chapter I expect to become more than a conqueror. And I invite you to explore it with me and savor that potential so great that it toppled the Caesars from their throne and made the name of Jesus known "from sea to shining sea."

     Condemnation is the exact opposite of justification. Since the latter means to declare one guiltless, the other means that one has heard the sentence, "Guilty!" He is amenable to punishment and subject to death. One cannot be esteemed as guilty and guiltless at the same time, so those who are justified by faith and have gained access to grace are not under condemnation. There is no guilt assessed against them. They are free!

     To be in Christ Jesus is to sustain an intimate relationship with him. It is not so much a matter of place or position, but of participation in a life, eternal life. In him no condemnation resides, for through faith one appropriates unto himself that righteousness which is Christ's.

     What is the flesh? What is it to walk after the flesh? We must be very careful here. There is ever the danger that we will equate flesh with the material body, and like modern gnostics, assume that matter is evil. That "the flesh" cannot refer to the physical body, its natural cravings

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and desires, is evident from verse 9, which says, "You are not in the flesh." All of us are in the physical body even when we walk in the Spirit.

     Nor must we associate the flesh with sex, which is a provision of God, and in no sense unclean of itself. Certainly, in its gratification it may be abused, and such abuse is a symptom of subservience to the flesh, but many other things not directly related to sexual passion are also a part of the flesh, as one may learn by reading the works of the flesh as listed in Galatians 5:19-21.

     W. E. Vine says, "The flesh here stands for corrupt human nature, the dominating element in unregenerate man."

     William Barclay, in the concluding sentences of one of the most analytical treatises I have ever read, entitled, The Enemy in the Soul, has this to say: "The flesh is human nature as it has become through sin. Man's sin, his own sin and the sin of mankind, has, as it were, made him vulnerable to sin. It has made him fall even when he knew he was falling and even when he did not want to fall. It has made him such that he can neither avoid the fascination of sin nor resist the power of sin. The flesh stands for the human nature weakened, vitiated, tainted by sin. The flesh is man as he is apart from Jesus Christ and his Spirit."

     C. H. Dodd says, "The flesh is the common stuff of human nature which we inherit." He says it is in itself powerless for moral ends. He also affirms that "We are given a bias from the first by heredity and environment tainted with these things. Paul is right in seeking at a level deeper than individual choices for the roots of our moral malady."

     Ragnar Bring, who is an excellent example of the Scandinavian school of theological thought, and who produced the most provocative commentary on Galatians that I have ever read, says, "The flesh is therefore not conceived of as sexual desire, libido carnis, but could be described instead as a power in control of this existence which has taken possession of man's soul and body and has perverted their activity."

     C. Norman Bartlett affirms that the flesh is unsanctified human nature, and represents all that we are apart from God.

     Albert Barnes regards the flesh as human nature, corrupted by sin and selfishly concerned only with its own gratification.

     My own "working definition" of the flesh is the nature of man, invaded and captured by the power of evil, which exercises the thoughts, desires and passions to produce destruction of the personality and decay of all those relationships in which man can become involved. It is man without God in the relationships of life.

     Marriage is one of those relationships. Designed by a beneficent Creator for the propagation, perpetuity, protection, and happiness of a race made in his own image, under the dominance of the flesh it is often made into a living hell, ripping sensitive personality to shreds, and leaving the participants empty and wrung dry of the motivation or will to even go on living.

     The social culture is another of those relationships. In a trenchant statement on this very matter, C. H. Dodd says, "But when all discount has been allowed, is it not true that the world into which we are born is under the dominion of false gods? Is it not true at this moment that, although the experts know the kind of thing which could and should be done to deal with the present world-wide depression, yet envy, hatred, greed, and fear so rule the peoples that little can be done?"

     The word for walk is peripateo and it signifies "the whole round of the activities of the individual life," as W. E. Vine so aptly phrases it. To walk after the flesh is to exist under the constant domination of the power of evil, that is, "to live on the level of our lower nature." It is to surrender oneself to the force of evil, to simply drift with the tide, to go along with the unsanctified crowd.

     It is my thesis that we do not reason ourselves out of this frightful state. We are captives and prisoners, part of the chain-gang of sin. We can no more free

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ourselves by thinking good thoughts, than a man can think himself out of the penitentiary dungeon. We have to be rescued. We must be saved. And that requires a savior. There must be a superior power which can invade the inner depths of the heart and throw the usurper out.

     And there must be a power which takes up his abode in us, remains with us, and strengthens us with might in the inner man. Modern man is all hung up on outer space, which is merely a matter of adjusting computers and launching machines. But his real trouble is inner space, for here no machine can enter. It is the realm of the spiritual and is reserved for the Spirit.

     It is all well and good to tell prisoners to do their best and try to improve their lives from day to day. What they need is to be set free and given a new life. Turning over a new leaf only gives you one more blank surface on which to scrawl your abject failures. It is here that any well-designed plan fails. After you try to dig yourself out and then come to the surface you find you are still inside the walls. We were made to be men and not moles!

     Then it happened! Perhaps it occurred in college, perhaps not! How tragically simplistic we are when we lament, "College ruined my boy!" How easy it is to blame things, institutions and organizations, rather than to get to the real seat of the difficulty. Many of you will not like what I am now going to say. But I am weighing my words carefully and in full cognizance of facing them at the judgment.

     There is no plan on this earth involving human obedience and acts of compliance which can of itself provide the power to live on the spiritual level.

     There is no organization composed of human beings, membership in which can act as a force to free from the lower nature. And I mean no organization!

     It is true that such membership may act as a deterrent to overt acts which are frowned on by the membership, or which run counter to "what is expected of one." But very frequently such membership only encourages hypocrisy of the deepest dye, and develops a form of cowardice which restrains one from ever saying what he really thinks until he dies of bleeding ulcers or becomes a first-rate religious schizophrenic. And because of our neatly-contrived little plans created by playing tic-tac-toe with the scriptures, a lot of people at baptism change nothing but their clothing.

     Certainly they are sorry for their past sins. Certainly they want to do better. They have resolutions firmly mixed up with their mental reservations and doubts. They are going to try and live more decent lives with their wives, their children, their neighbors, and even with "the Negroes who have pushed themselves into the factory and taken the jobs of white men." They are going to watch television less and read the Bible more. They are going to go to baseball games only half as often and give the money to the church. They are going to get involved in "church work" and go out on "calling night" and see if they cannot talk others into being baptized. I hear about scores of them!

     "Jack has started hitting the bottle and swearing again. He has quit going on Sunday and Wednesday nights, and is grumpy most of the time."

     "Bill has started staying late at the office again with his secretary. He had lipstick on his shirt collar the other night. He says the church is full of hypocrites

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and has quit attending with the children and me."

     "Jane gave me to understand that she wasn't going to miss out on all of the fun since Jeff walked out on her. She has slept with three different men the last three months, and when I called her to invite her to the women's meeting she said it was composed of a bunch of old biddies who don't even know the game, much less the score. She still keeps the Bible on her living-room table and sometimes sets a can of cold beer on it."

     "Carl, what can I do? You remember that I wrote you three years ago how glad I was that we talked Jim into being baptized before the draft called him. Well, my heart is broken! He was placed in the stockade for defending himself when a bunch of no-good trash who are soldiers, attacked him. When he was home I found a letter from a girl when I searched his pockets. It was absolutely filthy. It seems she had made over my boy and talked him into doing something he shouldn't. When I mentioned it to him, he flew into a rage and called me names. I am afraid the preacher and elders will find it out and want to drag him before the church, although God knows two of the elders have sons that are a lot worse than Jim!"

     Empty lives will find something to occupy them. And you cannot pack in enough Bible verses to fill a human heart. Men can commit adultery who can quote every passage where the word occurs like a living concordance. They can give you the Greek so you can tell whether their acts should be classified as fornication or adultery. Packing a Bible in with your son's shirts or socks when he drives his Volkswagen off to the university will not guarantee his moral purity.

     I am sorry to disillusion you, but membership in the religious clan, cult or community cannot provide the power to keep one holy when the chips are down and the fires are up and the demons are at the door. Some of the most unhappy, frustrated, bitter people on earth never miss a meeting of the church. Some of them have to go. They are the preachers! Others drag themselves in on Wednesday night even if they have had a "knock-down and drag-out" fight with the kids until they are so churned up inside they cannot even remember a thing as important as how many Philistines Samson clobbered with the jawbone of an ass, when the preacher directs the question to them!

     What we must have in order to overcome is an inner dynamic which stems from relationship with the power source of the universe. And that is exactly what the Father has provided. The very Greek word for that power is dynamis. From it we derive such words as dynamite, dynamic, and dynamo. This power is the direct result of the indwelling Spirit. It is not self-generated. It is a gift. So Paul prays, "I ask God from the wealth of his glory to give you power through the Spirit to be strong in your inner selves" (Eph. 3:16).

     To walk after the flesh is the fate of once-born men; to walk after the Spirit is the feat of twice-born men. This last is simply living the whole existence on the spiritual plane. The feet have been planted on higher ground. And on this level the power available to the individual is the "same mighty strength which he used when he raised Christ from death, and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly world."

     Although by rational process as applied to the new covenant revelation, one can

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make a rather intricate and elaborate presentation in favor of the personality of the Spirit, I prefer to assign four simple grounds upon which I base my conclusion.

     1. Attributes and Abilities.
     The Spirit possesses a mind (Romans 8:27). The Spirit has the power of knowledge and comprehension of divine thoughts (1 Cor. 2:11). The Spirit is able to convey thoughts by speaking (1 Timothy 4:1), and to do so in words by which spiritual truths can be understood and interpreted (1 Cor. 2:13). The Spirit is capable of bearing witness to facts relating to another, on exactly the same basis as human witnesses may do so (John 15:26,27).

     Regardless of the position one may take as to the continuation of charismatic bestowals by the Spirit, no one who accepts the new covenant scriptures as authentic will deny that in Paul's day there were "varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit," and that "all these are inspired by one and the same Spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills" (1 Cor. 12:11). One cannot give another what he does not possess, so the Holy Spirit shared with individuals what he personally possessed. It is obvious that these gifts were to be utilized by persons, and it seems just as obvious that since their possession was personal, they were bestowed by a person. The attributes of the Spirit are such as can only belong to an intelligent and communicative being.

     2. Ascriptive Terms.
     The personal pronouns relating to the Spirit indicate personality. Jesus told the sorrowing apostles, "I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you throughout the age" (John 14:16). There are two Greek words for another--heteros and allos. Heteros means another of a different kind. Allos means another of the same nature. Jesus requested the Father to send another (allos) Helper like himself, who could encourage, strengthen and support the saints during the age when he was absent. A great many of my friends are tripped up by the fact that this promise was made directly to the apostles. The apostles were the only ones with Jesus at the time when he spoke. But we must never forget that the apostles were also disciples, and the promise was made to them in both capacities. Whatever the Spirit was to do for them in the apostolic office was limited to them as ambassadors and envoys. But whatever was done for them as followers of Jesus, as his disciples, belongs to all of us until he returns at the end of the age. We all need help, comfort and strength! Turn to John 16:7-15, and notice the term of address used with reference to the Spirit.

     "When he comes, he will convict the world of sin...he will guide you into all truth...he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak...he will glorify me...he will take what is mine and declare it unto you." Suppose you just read these words to someone, and asked him if he thought the reference was to a person. He would be forced to answer in the affirmative. Jesus was not speaking of something, but of Someone. Certainly a person would be grinding a theological axe to reach any other conclusion.

     3. Actions.
The word for Comforter is Paraclete, which means "one called to the side of another." It expresses the purpose for which the Spirit comes. He takes our part and stays with us to help. We must not be led astray by the word Comforter. In our day it may mean one who dries our tears in time of grief, or one who speaks reassuringly when the going gets tough. But it means much more than that. The word "fort" is used of a stronghold, a place where one can defend himself against attack. So a comforter is one who comes with strength or power to enable us to hold out and to resist.

     Jesus says that the world cannot receive the Comforter. The world does not know him and will not admit him. But he also says, "You know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you" (John 14:17). I know that this is true.

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I have no empty apartment in my heart. There's an "occupied" sign on the door. W. E. Vine writes: "With and in! What a power for every experience in life."

     The Spirit teaches and recalls to memory (John 14:26). The Spirit reproves (John 16:8). The Spirit guides, hears, speaks and reveals (John 16:13). The Spirit transfers things from one person to another (John 16:15). The Spirit can be grieved, and grief is an emotion which can only be experienced by rational persons (Eph. 4:30). The Spirit makes intercession, as does Jesus, thus proving that he is truly a helper like the Son (Romans 8:26). These are all the actions of a living person, not of a fuzzy mental concept. The Spirit is not a state of mind. He is a being with a mind.

     4. Associations.
     The Spirit is always associated with other persons and these constitute the Godhood, a much better word than godhead, embracing all that we regard as Deity. There is a great difference between recognition and definition of Deity. The first is possible for human beings, the second is not. The limitations of the finite mind make it impossible to gather the infinite up into any kind of container or enclosure, verbal or otherwise.

     We are to baptize into (not in) the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19). With reference to spiritual gifts, the three divine persons are associated. There are varieties of gifts, but bestowed by the same Spirit; varieties of service, but rendered to one Lord; varieties of working, but all motivated and inspired by one God (1 Cor. 12:4-6).

     The apostle includes in his benediction the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14). God is love, this is his essence. Grace is bestowed through and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Fellowship is that state of sharing in eternal life which results from the indwelling Spirit. Man can no more create fellowship than he can create the love of God or the grace of the Lord Jesus. He can only share in them. He has no power to turn them off and on. If the love of God or the grace of Christ were subject to whims and eccentricities of men, they would not be worth having. The same thing can be said of what men call "fellowship," but which results from a coalition of the party spirit and not from the consolation of the Holy Spirit.

     If you wonder why I omit 1 John 5:7 at this juncture, let me state that I think it is an interpolation. I do not wish to try and bolster or shore up a contention by employing such a shaky timber. But I have already presented enough proof to demonstrate that the Holy Spirit is associated with the Father and the Son, and upon the basis of sound interpretative rules we have no right to assume that two of these are personalities while the third is not.

     It will be my position, as we study further our relationship to the divine through the Spirit, that the Spirit is a personality, and that our bodies are temples created for a sanctuary in which the Spirit may dwell. God has no holy places, holy days or holy things, in the kingdom of heaven. He has only holy persons. He is not worshiped in temples made with hands. Buildings of brick and stone may be "dedicated" to the service of God, and be empty of the power of the Spirit. Man has no power to consecrate or sanctify. That is the domain of the Spirit, and we are usurpers when we seek to capture the right.

     We must now lay away the pen for another month. What a thrill to know that we are guiltless by divine declaration because of the relationship with Jesus. "There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." The past holds no remorse. The future holds no fears. The present has no sense of guilt, no shadow hanging over the soul to obscure the sunlight of His blessed love. Praise God for that righteousness which is by faith, and not by legal rectitude! Praise God for the opportunity to serve Him by loving and helping all who were made in His image!

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     In our next issue we will explore what is meant by the law of the Spirit of life as opposed to the law of sin and death. We shall determine what the law could not do because it was robbed of its strength and power by our own lower nature. Most important of all we shall study the difference between life in the basement and life in the penthouse, life on the lower level of nature and life on the spiritual level. William Barclay writes:

     "The Spirit-controlled life, the Christ-centred life, the God-focused life is on the way to life. Daily it is coming nearer heaven even while it is still on earth. Daily it is becoming more Christlike, more one with Christ. It is a life which is such a steady progress to God that the final transition of death is only a natural and inevitable stage on the way. It is like Enoch who walked with God and God took him. As the child said, 'Enoch was a man who walked with God--and one day he didn't come back.'" And let me add in closing that when a Christian dies he does not leave home, he goes home!