9. Living In Alignment - In the Spirit or In the Flesh? - Rom. 8.5-11-Fr. Michael Flowers 07.28.24

St. Aidan's Anglican Church, Kansas City - weekly talks

Romans 8:1-11 We are flying high over Romans 8, limiting my focus to Paul’s contrast between living in the flesh and living in the Spirit. Understanding and participating in these realities will determine how we live as Christians, and better understand our struggles and longings for greater devotion to the Lord. Paul uses two repeating NOUNS and two repeating PREPOSITIONS. The nouns are flesh and spirit The prepositions are in and according to When Paul uses either of the nouns, flesh or spirit, with the preposition in, he refers to a realm or sphere of existence. Wherever he uses either of the nouns, flesh or spirit, with the preposition according to, he refers to a way of life indicative of the Simply put, there are only two realms of human existence: in the flesh and in the Spirit, and there are only two ways of living: according to the flesh and according to the Spirit. These two spheres and modes are complete opposites; one ends in death, and the other ends in life. Here’s one of the main ideas of Romans 8:1-13: The state of existence In the flesh can only live according to the flesh, but in the Spirit, we can live either according to the flesh or according to the Spirit. This is what Paul points out to the Corinthians in I Corinthians 3:1f: "But I, brothers (and sisters), could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?" This is an example of Christians in Christ, who are baptized and exhibit spiritual gifts but are of the flesh, infants in Christ. The Corinthians are in the Spirit but live according to the flesh. They were more concerned with charisma than character. They celebrated the love of power rather than the power of love (As Paul would later describe in I Corinthians 13). The single biggest reason we do not regularly experience the newness of life in the Holy Spirit is that we are trying to live in the Spirit according to the flesh. Image by Anita Powers (Pentecost Banner at St. Aidan's)