The Flesh is Fixed in Stone! It Can Be Added To But Not Subtracted From!

By Michael Wells
Posted Monday, April 12, 2004

Romans 8: 8, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

To me, acknowledging the flesh is a cornerstone in understanding how the Christian life is lived in a practical way. The old man, the Adam life, the old nature is dead. Something was crucified with Christ and that “something” is the old man, or the Adam life, or the old nature. A Christian does not have two natures; that teaching merely reflects a type of Christian “Buddhism.” Dual-nature teaching is nothing more than the teaching of yin and yang. There is no battle between good and evil, which come from the same tree. If you know good, you will know evil. Christ’s life in me (good) is not battling the old nature (bad). The old nature has no power; it is dead.

It does cause frustration as we trust in or try to improve something that is dead, but be assured it is dead. Victory doesn’t come from our helping the Jesus inside us win over the old nature. If this were true, when we introduce someone to the option of Christ’s coming in them, we are introducing them to a nightmarish lifetime of struggle, something the Bible does not teach. Your old nature, Adam life, old man is dead. You have only one life in you, the life of Christ.

So how does that explain the struggle? You do have flesh. Man comprises spirit, soul, and body. When the spirit is disconnected from the body and soul (mind, will, emotions), whether through the death Adam introduced or by the choice of a believer, that person (believer or unbeliever) will live in the flesh. Flesh, then, is the being under the direction or influence of something other than the Holy Spirit from God. An animal has a mind, will, emotions, a body, and a world environment; his life’s expression is determined by how he moves in those without any influence from the spirit. Hence man, without the control of the spirit (an unbeliever dead in the spirit or a believer blocking the spirit), is called carnal or animal. Flesh is unique in every animal and in every individual. By nature we are born cut off from God. Through nurture the flesh is shaped into something unique. This is accomplished by the events that come to mind, will, emotions, and body through both the inner circumstances (a mind, will, and emotions not controlled) and outer circumstances (a world and the body, mind, will, and emotions of others out of control). Once the flesh is shaped, it is fixed in concrete, and this is the most important point.

Once developed, the flesh will not change. However, it can receive additions. An example might be a boy who looks to the father for security, and the father abandons the boy. The boy’s flesh is now developed into something insecure. Then one day the boy receives a new life that replaces the old nature, the Adam life, or the old life. He receives the life of Jesus. He is attached to the Vine. Christ’s life is secure, and the boy recognizes a security that is in him, Christ’s security. It is a mistake to think that this newfound security is the boy’s; it is Christ’s security flowing in him, and he is a partaker. However, his insecure flesh has not changed. Any moment, as a branch on a vine, the boy can simply, in a prayer of recognition, say, “Jesus, Your security is welcome here. Thank you that I can partake of it.” If he will do this, he need never experience the insecurity of his flesh. However, if the boy takes his eyes off of Jesus, stops abiding in the moment, and blocks the Holy Spirit of Jesus by choice, he will discover that the flesh, the nurturing of his being when he didn’t have Jesus, has not changed one bit. He will feel insecure, because the flesh is flesh. At this point, he can even add to his flesh by letting the chaos that is without and within rule over him.

Many, after accepting Christ and walking moment by moment with Him, have closed the door--through choice--to Him and added to their flesh. Twenty years ago I never talked to a Christian who was struggling with internet pornography. Now it is common. It is a new addition, but the root is the same; the flesh was blocking the spirit and looking to something else to feed the mind, emotions, and body. The remedy is easy. Put your eyes back on Jesus. The life of the Vine that is free from pornography will flow into the branch, and you will experience a freedom that isn’t yours but is now yours. However, close the door to the Vine (it closes when pride says, “I can”; it opens in humility by saying, “I can’t”), and you will discover that not only is the flesh feeling insecure, but it is also craving pornography.

The flesh can be added to but never subtracted from. This is so important, and I can’t emphasize it enough. It is deception to believe that the flesh will change. The enemy uses this deception in many ways. First, he has believers following one program after the other to change the flesh, when they could simply abide.

Second, the enemy uses carnal believers with strong flesh to make comparisons and put the sincere believers’ minds on the flesh.

Third, the enemy has the believers trying to undo what they see as bad flesh by doing good. This is an incredible deception. If you people-please all day long, you will hate people at night. If you jam your head with positive thoughts all day, you will be overwhelmed with negative thoughts at night. If you control your appetite all day, you will gorge at night. Good feeds evil. Remember the illustration of the horses? I had a white horse and I had a black horse. The black horse never wanted to be ridden and stayed far from the gate; the white one liked me and came close to the gate. However, when the gate was opened for the white horse, the black one would race like mad, seizing the opportunity to escape past the white horse and me. The black used the white. I call them “Christian Buddhists” who make the good and bad lists, who constantly tell what is good and what is bad, and who make comparisons. They make people worse. Always.

Fourth, there is no room for failure. You, your flesh, never changes. In becoming a Christian, your flesh never improved. It can be a depressing revelation (if you are self-righteous) or the most freeing thing in the world if you will abide, if Jesus is your focus. The most famous Christian that you have ever read about had ugly flesh until the day he died. How could the Apostle Paul say with such conviction, “In my flesh dwells nothing good”? That is something he would have said until the day he died. In some ways I would like to ban books about the “great” Christians. Well, ban the books that subtly draw comparisons between any person and us on the grounds of his strong, well-adjusted, demanding, and risk-taking flesh. It is just wrong.

There are no great men of God; there are weak men with a big God. Remember, when you are listening or looking to a Christian and being ministered to, it is Jesus that you are seeing. That person, not abiding, is not any better than a drunk or the worst person you know. He has not brought himself to a place of improvement through years of “Christian” discipline. Now, this revelation is one of the most beautiful that I have ever had. It keeps me handcuffed, moment by moment, to Jesus. It is the awareness of weakness that keeps me near. Some would complain and call it a thorn in the flesh, but if the awareness that apart from Him I can do nothing keeps me near to perfect love and participation in perfect victory, why complain?

Don’t get discouraged if you find yourself exactly as you were, or worse than you were, before becoming a believer. It is the flesh, and it has not changed; it is not going to change. God gave it to you so you would be miserable without Him in the moment. He knew we would have flesh, and He is not fighting it but using it.

Give yourself and those around you some grace. Don’t be so shocked when the pastor is seen cursing, the evangelist is angry, the Christian co-worker got drunk, or you found yourself seeing internet pornography. It is the flesh, and because the old man is dead, you can choose to move (as can they) back into the abiding relationship of the Vine. Do it, and in that moment, His victory is yours. But remember, self will be subdued with your flesh. It is God’s stronghold to keep you near