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Galatians 5:17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. Truth to Learn The Holy Spirit wants to be in control of your life. Let Him!<\/p>\n Behind the Words In the previous verse we were introduced to the word epithumia<\/span><\/em>, meaning strong desires. Here it is used as a verb of two things in opposition. That is, the flesh strongly desires some things whereas the spirit strongly desires other things.<\/p>\n The word translated \u201care<\/span> contrary<\/span>\u201d is a form of antikeimai<\/span><\/em>, a compound word made up of anti<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cagainst\u201d and keimai<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cto lie\u201d or \u201cto be placed.\u201d Hence, this word literally means \u201cto lie against.\u201d It refers to two things which are opposed to each other or which are adversaries.<\/p>\n \u201cSo<\/span> that<\/span>\u201d is translated from the Greek word hina<\/span><\/em>. This word has a number of uses in New Testament Greek, the most common of which are to express purpose (with the intent being) or result (with the result being). Though there is a difference of opinion among Greek scholars, it appears that its use here is one of purpose. In other words, Paul is saying that it is the intent of the desires of the flesh to keep us from doing the desires of the spirit and vice-versa.<\/p>\n Meaning Explained As a result of the back biting and infighting that seem to have developed within the churches in Galatia, Paul admonished the Christians there to walk in the Spirit. That is, to go through this life in close intimate fellowship with God. His reasoning is, \u201cso that you should not fulfill the strong desires of the flesh.\u201d<\/p>\n Paul now adds some explanation as to why walking in close fellowship with God can produce that result. The strong desires of our flesh are in direct opposition to the desires of the Spirit of God. Our flesh (our sin nature) produces these strong desires which are against what the Holy Spirit wants us to do. And, these desires are primarily directed at satisfying self; that is, putting self on the throne of our life, being in control and getting what we want for ourselves. The strong desire of the Spirit of God, however, is that we should \u201clove our neighbor as ourselves,\u201d as Paul pointed out in verse fourteen; in other words, putting God on the throne of our lives, listening to what He tells us to do, and giving Him control of our lives.<\/p>\n Paul speaks from experience, for he said of himself:<\/p>\n For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I desire to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>(Romans 7:14, 15<\/span><\/strong>)<\/p>\n The word here translated as \u201ccarnal\u201d is a form of sarx<\/span><\/em>. Hence, Paul is saying, \u201cbut I am fleshly,\u201d and his flesh often wins.<\/p>\n Application If you are a born again Christian and you are determined to live as God wants you to live, then your flesh, your sin nature, will be constantly battling against the Spirit of God who lives within you. You want to be obedient and to please God, but you keep doing things which you know grieve Him. We all fight this battle. But when you fall, don\u2019t give up! Confess your sin and get right back on your feet and continue down the path of life with God close by your side, listening for His direction. After all, He knows the way of peace and He is your Lord!<\/p>\n In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2008 <\/span>Will <\/span>Krause. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n <\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, you can call the church phone (618) 614-3070 and leave a message telling us your name and e-mail address or you can send an e-mail to:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Galatians 5:17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. Truth to Learn The Holy Spirit wants to be in control of your life. Let Him! Behind the Words In the previous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-galatians-5"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-1g","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"signature\"](\"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/signature.gif\")
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