The Flesh Remains Ever The Same

[KenH]

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh." John 3:6

There is no promise made that in this life, we shall be set free from the indwelling and the in-working of sin.

Many think that their flesh is to become "progressively holier and holier"—that sin after sin is to be removed gradually out of the heart—until at last they are almost made perfect in the flesh. But this is an idle dream, and one which, sooner or later will be crudely and roughly broken to pieces.

The flesh will ever remain the same—and we shall ever find that the flesh will lust against the Spirit. Our fleshly nature is corrupt to the very core. It cannot be mended. It cannot be sanctified. It is the same at the last, as it was at the first—inherently evil, and as such will never cease to be corrupt until we put off mortality—and with it the body of sin and death.

All we can hope for, long after, expect, and pray for—is that this evil fleshly nature may be subdued, kept down, mortified, crucified, and held in subjection under the power of grace. But as to any such change passing upon the flesh —or taking place in the flesh as to make it holy—it is but a pharisaic delusion, which, promising a holiness in the flesh, leaves us still under the power of sin.

The true sanctification of the new man of grace—which is wrought by a divine power—is utterly distinct from any imagined holiness in the flesh—or any vain dream of its progressive sanctification.

- J.C. Philpot

 

[kyredneck]

Romans Chapter 2

13​	for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified:
14​	(for when Gentiles that have not the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are the law unto themselves;
15​	in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing them);

Romans Chapter 7

22​	For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23​	but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.
24​	Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?
25​	I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I of myself with the mind, indeed, serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Galatians Chapter 5

17​	For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other; that ye may not do the things that ye would.

 

[Van]

Yet another obscene thread pushing unstudied nonsense.

Is Progressive sanctification a "vain dream." Or is it sound biblical doctrine. As Christians mature, should we expect our strengthening self control will exercise an increasing power over our "fleshly desires? Yes!

 

[Van]

2 Corinthians 3:18 NASB
But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

While this is not a clear translation, it does capture the essence, we are being transformed into our Lord's image, in gradual degrees by our Lord's Spirit. Some of us stall out at the beginning because we are lacking in our commitment to make Christ the "Lord of our life." But scripture is clear, we will grow if indeed we have been born anew.