The daily war within
Flesh against Spirit
Paul describes an internal conflict that every serious believer eventually recognizes: the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other. There is a war inside us, two contrary pulls that do not negotiate, and it does not take a day off. To be a Christian is to live with this ongoing battle within.
This is strangely reassuring. Many believers are troubled to discover that becoming a Christian did not end their inner struggle — that they still feel the pull of the flesh, sometimes fiercely. Paul says this conflict is not a sign of failure but the normal experience of a soul indwelt by the Spirit. The very fact that you feel the war is evidence the Spirit is in you, contending; the dead feel no battle.
But Paul does not leave us merely at war. Those who belong to Christ, he says, have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. The decisive victory is already won at the cross; the flesh is a defeated enemy, sentenced and dying, even as it still struggles. The daily war is real, but it is the resistance of a defeated foe, not an even contest. Do not be dismayed that the battle is daily — be encouraged that the Spirit within you is contending, and the flesh is already condemned.
“For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other.”
— Paul, to the Galatians — Galatians 5:17 (WEB)
Accept the daily war between flesh and Spirit as the normal life of a soul the Spirit indwells — fighting a foe already crucified, not despairing that the battle continues.
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.”
Believers grow discouraged that conversion did not end the inner struggle, taking the ongoing pull of the flesh as evidence their faith has failed. The interior work is to receive Paul's reframing — that the conflict is the normal experience of a Spirit-indwelt soul, that the very feeling of the war proves the Spirit is contending, and that the flesh we fight is a crucified, defeated enemy still thrashing, not an equal power.
This week, when you feel the war within, do not despair or assume failure: name it as the Spirit contending in you, and fight from victory rather than for it, reckoning the flesh as the crucified, condemned foe it already is.
Discouragement twists the ongoing war between flesh and Spirit into evidence that your faith has failed, urging you to give up just when the struggle is proof the Spirit lives and contends in you. But this is no even contest: the flesh is a crucified enemy, sentenced and dying even as it thrashes, and a soul fighting from the cross's victory will not be talked into surrendering to a foe already condemned.
Many believers are quietly discouraged that conversion did not end their inner struggle — that they still feel the strong pull of the flesh against the Spirit, sometimes more acutely than before. They take the ongoing war as evidence that something is wrong with their faith. Paul says it is evidence of the opposite: the conflict is the normal experience of a soul in which the Spirit now lives and contends.
The battle is daily and real, and it does not negotiate or pause. But it is not an even contest between two equal powers. The flesh, for those who belong to Christ, is a crucified enemy — defeated at the cross, sentenced and dying, even as it still thrashes. So do not despair at the daily war, and do not mistake its persistence for defeat. The very fact that you feel the struggle means the Spirit is in you, fighting; and the foe you fight has already been condemned.
- Have I taken the ongoing inner war as evidence my faith has failed?
- Can I see the struggle itself as proof the Spirit is contending in me?
- Am I fighting the flesh as an equal power, or as a foe already crucified?
Lord, the war within did not end when I came to you, and I have taken it for failure. Teach me it is the Spirit contending in me. Help me fight from the victory of the cross, reckoning the flesh as the crucified, defeated enemy it already is. Amen.