This should be a great encouragement to us as individual Christians. The apostle Paul who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament lamented over the sin abiding in his flesh which continuously warred against his mind to bring him back into bondage to the flesh. Regardless of how deep your faith grows and how mature you grow in Christ, your flesh will continue to war against your mind and attempt to draw you back to walk according to the flesh. Most people try to overcome the flesh by our efforts in the flesh but this can only provide temporary success and is limited to human ability. Truly overcoming is to live according to the inner man created in Christ who is born after the Spirit.Those who try to overcome the flesh by the flesh are fighting a losing battle for you can not produce anything spiritual by efforts of the flesh. Earlier we looked at the passages that tell us that all our righteous acts in the flesh are filthy rags in God's sight, all the good produced by the wicked is sin, and whatever is not of faith is sin. Faith is of the Spirit and only that which is born of the Spirit can produce any righteousness for righteousness is of the Spirit. We cannot overcome temptation by sheer resistance. Man can curb certain behaviors; however, if our life is still lived according to the flesh, we profit nothing.
