Are in opposition (480) (antikeimai from antí = against, opposite + keimai = to be placed, to lie or be laid down) means literally to line up against or to lie opposite to, both ideas giving us a vivid picture of the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit.
The present tense emphasizes that this opposition is a continuing conflict with no truce in sight (until we reach glory!).
Toussaint comments that...
Some well meaning teachers on the spiritual life either intentionally or unintentionally leave the impression that Christians are living defeated lives if they experience conflict. It is implied that it is sinful to have any battles at all. Such teaching is not Scriptural. There will always be struggle; the sin nature never retires from doing battle until the Christian leaves his mortal body. No one need have a guilt complex because of this. This inner struggle is inevitable and continual.
The presence of conflict is not sinful; defeat is. God’s child is never asked to live without battle, but he is commanded to be victorious in it. The resources of the Holy Spirit are available so that a God-pleasing life is possible for every believer. If the Christian does not walk by faith in Christ, then the battle is waged between the old nature and the new, and defeat is the certain outcome. When the Christian turns to Christ and looks to Him for strength, the Holy Spirit enters the struggle on behalf of the believer and victory is assured. In Galatians 5:16 Paul commands the believer to walk by means of the Spirit. This imperative is followed by "ou me" (Ed note: a double negative) with the subjunctive, which is an emphatic negation used here as a strong promise. The flesh and Spirit are so contrary to one another that a walk by the Spirit automatically excludes a fulfillment of the baser desires. Victory is available to every Christian.
Antikeimai means to be set over against, to be opposed or be in opposition and as noted below is often used as a "verbal noun" variously translated as opponent, enemy or adversary. Note that in the LXX (Zechariah 3:1), this verb is used to describe the opposition of the Adversary, Satan, and in the NT, is used to describe the opposition of Satan's man of lawlessness, the Antichrist (2 Thes 2:4)
A T Robertson writes that antikeimai conveys the picture that the flesh and the Spirit...
Are lined up in conflict, face to face (anti-), a spiritual duel (cf. Christ’s temptations), with dative case of personal interest. (Word Pictures in the New Testament)
Antikeimai is used 8 times in the NT...
Luke 13:17 And as He said this, all His opponents (verb used as a noun - present tense = were continually opponents) were being humiliated; and the entire multitude was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.
Luke 21:15 for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents (verb used as a noun - present tense = were continually opponents) will be able to resist or refute.
1 Corinthians 16:9 for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries (verb used as a noun - present tense = were continually adversaries).
Galatians 5:17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
Philippians 1:28 (note) in no way alarmed by your opponents (verb used as a noun - present tense = were continually opponents)-- which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God.
2 Thessalonians 2:4 who opposes (present tense = continually opposes) and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
1 Timothy 1:10 and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to (present tense = continually opposed to) sound teaching,
1 Timothy 5:14 Therefore, I want younger widows to get married, bear children, keep house, and give the enemy (verb used as a noun - present tense = the one who is continually set over against and thus an enemy) no occasion for reproach (Comment: Antikeimai does not speak of Satan here, but of any human being who sets himself against Christianity).
There are 11 uses in the Septuagint (LXX) (Ex 23:22 [2x]; 2Sa 8:10; Esther 8:11; 9:1; Job 13:25; Is 41:11; 45:16; 51:19; 66:6; Zech. 3:1). Below are some representative uses...
Isaiah 66:6 "A voice of uproar from the city, a voice from the temple, The voice of the LORD who is rendering recompense to His enemies (Hebrew = 'oyeb = enemy; Lxx = antikeimai).
Zechariah 3:1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan (Hebrew = satan) standing at his right hand to accuse (Hebrew = satan = act as an adversary, resist, oppose; Lxx = antikeimai = be opposed to) him.
One another (240) (allelon from állos = another) means each other and can speak of a mutuality or sharing of sentiments (in this case hostile sentiments) between two persons or groups of persons.
Wuest writes that the idea of allelon in this context is that...
there is a reciprocity on the part of the flesh and Spirit. Each reciprocates the antagonism which the one holds for the other. The translation is as follows:
For the flesh constantly has a strong desire to suppress the Spirit, and the Spirit constantly has a strong desire to suppress the flesh. And these are entrenched in an attitude of mutual opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you desire to do.
When the flesh presses hard upon the believer with its evil behests, the Holy Spirit is there to oppose the flesh and give the believer victory over it, in order that the believer will not obey the flesh, and thus sin. When the Holy Spirit places a course of conduct upon the heart of the believer, the flesh opposes the Spirit in an effort to prevent the believer from obeying the Spirit. The purpose of each is to prevent the believer from doing what the other moves him to do. The choice lies with the saint. He must develop the habit of keeping his eyes fixed on the Lord Jesus and his trust in the Holy Spirit. The more he says NO to sin, the easier it is to say NO, until it becomes a habit. The more he says YES to the Lord Jesus, the easier it is to say YES, until that becomes a habit.
The will of the believer is absolutely free from the compelling power of the evil nature. If he obeys the latter, it is because he chooses to do so. But the Holy Spirit has given the believer a new nature, the divine nature. And the sweet influences of that nature are constantly permeating the activities of the believer’s will as the believer keeps himself yielded to the Spirit. In that way, the Spirit keeps on suppressing the activities of the evil nature and any control which it might attempt to exert over the saint. (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans or Logos)
William MacDonald has an interesting thought on this conflict between the Spirit and the flesh noting that...
God could have removed the fleshly nature from believers at the time of their conversion, but He did not choose to do so. Why? He wanted to keep them continually reminded of their own weakness; to keep them continually dependent on Christ, their Priest and Advocate; and to cause them to praise unceasingly the One who saved such worms. Instead of removing the old nature, God gave us His own Holy Spirit to indwell us. God’s Spirit and our flesh are perpetually at war, and will continue to be at war until we are taken home to heaven. The believer’s part in the conflict is to yield to the Spirit. (MacDonald, W & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson or Logos)
C Norman Bartlett comments that in Galatians 5:16-18...
In these verses we have clearly depicted the struggle between the old nature and the new nature which is the common experience of Christians everywhere. And this conflict is a war to the death. There can be no cessation of hostilities until we are called home to glory. A truce is out of the question. Appeasement policies are futile. We may as well recognize the situation at the outset...
Nothing is to be gained by denying or minimizing this mutual antagonism. The acceptance of Christ into the heart will inevitably provoke a bitter and determined resistance on the part of the old sinful nature which hitherto has had everything its own way.
Nor will the flesh be put to sleep by the fond delusion that it is dead and buried. It is imperative for our spiritual growth that we grasp the fact that the old nature is not removed or reformed at regeneration. Failure to understand this elementary fact frequently plunges the new convert into needless bewilderment and even despair of his standing before God when, after a peaceful period of triumph and fellowship with Jesus, he stumbles into the old sins and faults he fancied had been vanquished forever.
With older Christians this error often operates to effect quite different results. Persuaded that they cannot sin, adherents of the heresy of sinless perfection will deny that those practices are sinful which the Word of God plainly denounces as sinful. He who thinks he has reached perfection is the victim of an illusion indicating that he is desperately in need of a new pair of glasses to forestall threatening blindness. At the same time, we must not allow false claims to perfection on the part of some to make us unmindful of the true goal of perfection for all followers of the Lord Jesus.
We are to claim and win victories over the flesh in the power of the Holy Spirit. To forget that the old nature has no right to rule us will but increase its might to worst us in the battles of life.
Beware the peril of insensibility to the terribleness of sin. If my heart can feel comfortable under sin, my soul is critically ill. We are most hurt by sin when we are least hurt by it. Numbness may be recognized by the trained physician as the forerunner of paralysis or even death itself.
Turning to the brighter side of the picture, it holds gloriously true that the more we say yes to Jesus the easier will it be, until finally it becomes a fixed habit. (Ed note: Lord, let it be for myself and all the readers of this note. Amen)
Precious and weighty, then, is our responsibility for cultivating response-ability to Jesus. (C. Norman Bartlett: Galatians and You: Studies in the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, 1948) (Bolding and color added for emphasis).
The old flesh nature which has we all inherited from Adam when we were born continually fights against the new nature which we receive when we are born again. No amount of self-discipline, no set of man-made rules and regulations, can control the old flesh nature (see the futile attempts of Jerome). Only the Holy Spirit can enable us to “put to death” the old nature (Ro 8:13-note) and produce His supernatural fruit (Gal 5:22-note, Gal 5:23-note).
Martin Luther often used the anecdotal illustration of a believer named Doctor Staupitz who said...
"I have promised God a thousand times that I would become a better man, but I never kept my promise. From now on I am not going to make any more vows. Experience has taught me that I cannot keep them. Unless God is merciful to me for Christ's sake and grants unto me a blessed departure, I shall not be able to stand before Him."
Commenting on Staupitz' statement Luther wrote that...
His was a God-pleasing despair. No true believer trusts in his own righteousness, but says with David, "Enter not into judgment with thy servant; for in thy sight shall no man living be justified." (Ps 143:2) Again, "If thou, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?" (Ps 130:3)
No man is to despair of salvation just because he is aware of the lust of the flesh. Let him be aware of it so long as he does not yield to it. The passion of lust, wrath, and other vices may shake him, but they are not to get him down. Sin may assail him, but he is not to welcome it. Yes, the better Christian a man is, the more he will experience the heat of the conflict. This explains the many expressions of regret in the Psalms and in the entire Bible. Everybody is to determine his peculiar weakness and guard against it. Watch and wrestle in spirit (Ed note: I would add in "the Holy Spirit" - Ro 8:13-note) against your weakness. Even if you cannot completely overcome it, at least you ought to fight against it. (Martin Luther's Commentary on Galatians).
The unsaved person knows nothing of the believer's conflict. To be sure, non-believers often regret their sins because of guilt and especially because of painful consequences. However, non-believers who have only the fallen flesh and lack the Spirit do not have the internal spiritual war which is the experience of every believer. When an unbeliever commits sins, he is acting in a manner which is consistent with his basic nature, for as Paul explained to the saints in Ephesus before salvation they had...
walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience... (and had) formerly lived in the lusts of (their) flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. (Ep 2:2, 3-see notes Ephesians 2:2; 2:3)
The point is that unbelievers have no real internal conflict beyond whatever conscience may remain in their sinful state (Ro 2:14,1 5-note). Only in believers are the unredeemed flesh and the Spirit living in the redeemed new man in Christ, in opposition to one another. And because this spiritual dynamic exists, believers may not do the things that they please. As all believers are painfully aware, we do not always do what we wish to do for there are moments when the wishing is present but the doing is not. Sometimes, the Spirit halts what our flesh desires, but at other times the flesh overrides the will from the Spirit.
Ray Stedman warns us about the devious nature of the flesh explaining that
flesh is openly arrogant, overbearing, boastful, lustful, cynical, proud... But when it is driven by the Spirit into a corner it can assume a garb of righteousness and become pious, religious, scrupulous about morals, zealous in church work, indignant over wrongs, provokingly evangelical!...The righteousness of the flesh is always counterfeit righteousness. It is centered in self, and therefore it is always self-righteousness....The flesh can memorize Scripture. The flesh can teach Sunday school. The flesh can distribute tracts, give large gifts of money, give a stirring testimony, teach a Bible class, sing solos, or preach a sermon. It can even apologize (after a fashion), and repent (to some extent), or suffer (with a martyred air), but there is one thing that flesh will never do. It will do anything to survive, but one thing: It will never give in it will never surrender, it will never change, it will never give up, never! It is a slippery, elusive thing; and, when we back it into a corner, it simply takes on a different disguise and appears in a different form, but it is the same old, deadly, evil flesh. When driven into a corner it would rather wreck your life than give in. Have you found this to be true?" (Ed note: And all God's people answered either "Amen!" or "Oh my!") (The Price of Survival; see also The Death of the flesh) (Bolding and color added for emphasis)
Believers need to be wary of defending the manifestations of the flesh and excusing them as part of their personality or temperament, rather than judging them for what they really are! To give way to the desires of the flesh is to give the devil an opportunity over us (see Ep 4:17, 18, 19-note, Ep 4:20, 21, 22-note, Ep 4:23, 24-note, Ep 4:25, 26, 27-note).
Pride is the root of all human evil, and pride is the basic characteristic of what the Bible calls the flesh that lusts against, wars against, the Spirit. The flesh is a principle that stands athwart God's purposes in human life and continually defies what God is trying to accomplish. Each of us has this struggle within us if we are Christians, and its basic characteristic is revealed here as pride. That is the number one identifying mark of the flesh. (Ray Stedman)
In another message Stedman says that
If this pride -- the flesh -- is not your friend, but rather a subtle, crafty enemy as this book says, then the most important thing in your Christian life is to learn to recognize how he works, for you never can win the battle against him unless you know his tactics. There is no possibility of victory without this. Paul says,
"We are not ignorant of his devices," (2Corinthians 2:11b KJV)
We know how he works and we can thus call upon all the overpowering, conquering influence of Jesus Christ on our behalf...
The whole strategy of the flesh is to convince us that these attitudes which mark God at work in us are really not to our advantage, that we would get along much better without them, and that the opposite attitudes are the things that will really pay off for us. If we can be led to distrust and reject these godly attitudes we will thereby frustrate the work of the Holy Spirit in our life. (Ray Stedman: The Struggle for Power) (Bolding and color added for emphasis)
William Hendriksen gives an excellent summary of the spiritual conflict writing that...
(1) The libertine (Ed note: a person who is unrestrained by convention or morality) experiences no such struggle at all, for he follows his natural inclinations.
(2) The legalist, who is destined for grace and glory, having been reminded of his sinfulness by the law but for a while unwilling to accept grace, struggles and struggles but without achieving victory or experiencing the sense of certain, ultimate triumph. This condition lasts until grace finally breaks down all the barriers of opposition (see note Philippians 3:7ff).
(3) The believer, while still on earth, experiences an agonizing conflict in his own heart, but in principle, has already gained the victory, as the very presence of the Holy Spirit in his heart testifies. In full measure this victory will be his portion in the hereafter; hence,
(4) For the redeemed-soul in glory the battle is over. He wears the victor’s wreath.
As to (3), therefore, the very wording of the text—note: “sets its desire against” and “are opposed to each other”—indicates the intensity of the lifelong tug of war. This shows that the Christian life means far more than stepping forward to register one’s decision at a great revival meeting, after listening to a powerful, evangelical, and heart-warming message, and while one is under the influence of the singing of old familiar hymns by a massive choir. When, under such circumstances, the sudden change is genuine, it is wonderful, but it must be borne in mind that as a rule a sinner is not wholly saved all at once (“Presto!”). He does not leap into heaven in one prodigious bound. On the contrary, he has to work out his own salvation (Phil 2:12, 13 - see notes Php 2:12; 13). This takes time, struggle, intense effort and exertion. (Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. NT Commentary Set. Baker Book or Logos) (Ed note: Don't misunderstand what Hendriksen is saying here - he is not saying we are saved by nor sanctified by our own fleshly efforts, for even in the working out of our salvation, it is clearly the Spirit in us Who now gives us the desire [the "want to"] and the power to please God. Yes, we as believers have a part in this supernatural spiritual work, for we must be willing participants [God will not force us to walk in the Spirit], but it is ultimately work which is God initiated, God enabled and God glorifying!)
Warren Wiersbe writes that
the Spirit and the flesh (the old nature) are at war with each other. By “the flesh,” of course, Paul does not mean “the body.” The human body is not sinful; it is neutral. If the Holy Spirit controls the body, then we walk in the Spirit; but if the flesh controls the body, then we walk in the lusts (desires) of the flesh. The Spirit and the flesh have different appetites, and this is what creates the conflict...
Note that the Christian cannot simply will to overcome the flesh...
Paul is not denying that there is victory. He is simply pointing out that we cannot win this victory in our own strength and by our own will...
The solution is not to pit our will against the flesh, but to surrender our will to the Holy Spirit...
The Holy Spirit writes God’s Law on our hearts (He 10:14, 15, 16, 17-see notes He 10:14; 15; 16; 17; see also 2 Cor 3) so that we desire to obey Him in love. “I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy Law is within my heart” (Ps 40:8). Being “led of the Spirit” and “walking in the Spirit” are the opposites of yielding to the desires of the flesh. (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor) (Bolding added for emphasis)
SO THAT YOU MAY NOT DO THE THINGS THAT YOU PLEASE: hina me a ean thelete (2PPAS) tauta poiete. (2PPAS): (Psalms 119:4, 5, 6; 130:3; Matthew 5:6; Luke 22:33,46,54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61; Romans 7:15-23; Philippians 3:12, 13, 14, 15, 16; James 3:2; 1John 1:8, 9, 10)
It has been pointed out that this passage has been interpreted three ways.
(1) The flesh keeps you from doing the good you desire, the righteousness you desire to carry out.
(2) The Spirit keeps you from doing the evil you desire to do.
(3) The conflicting natures (flesh or Spirit) each hinders the desires of the other so that you are unable to do them.
Below are representative comments reflecting each view with highly respected expositors associated with each view. One should not let this difficulty distract us from Paul's main point, which is the fact that believers are involved in a very real spiritual struggle, and this struggle will not disappear while we are in these mortal bodies. As we have said several times in these notes, this spiritual struggle is to be expected for it is the normal Christian life (see especially John Piper's comments below)
James Montgomery Boice favors the first view especially in view of the fact that the next verse presents a contrasting truth describing the victory which is attainable by the Spirit's power. Boice explains it this way...
In view of the parallel statements in Romans 7:15, 16 (see notes Romans 7:15; 16) (Ed note: but see Toussaint's note), probably the first should be preferred, especially since the next verse goes on to speak of the victory that can be attained by the Spirit's power. (Gaebelein, F, Editor: Expositor's Bible Commentary 6-Volume New Testament. Zondervan Publishing)
Here is a translation that clearly favors interpretation #1...
“That is why you cannot run wild, doing as you please” (Cotton Patch)
John MacArthur also favors interpretation #1 (as does J Vernon McGee, KJV Bible Commentary, Chrysostom) writing that...
Every believer has the indwelling power of God’s own Spirit to do battle with his own weak and sinful flesh, in order that he may not do the things that please his flesh. (MacArthur, J. Galatians. Chicago: Moody Press or Logos)
Vine agrees with MacArthur writing that the phrase may not do the things that you please refers to...
the things toward which fallen man naturally turns, and which are enumerated in Gal 5:19 as the works of the flesh. This is the characteristic of Christian liberty as an experience; since the believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit it is no longer inevitable that he must yield to the evil motions of the flesh, he shall, if the condition of vv. 16 and 18 is fulfilled, enjoy happy liberty from all such bondage. And not only so, as he yields himself to the guidance and strengthening of the Spirit he is enabled to refuse “to do those things which are not fitting,” Ro 1:28 (note), and to bear that “fruit” of which the apostle is shortly to speak. (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson or Logos)
Richison also agrees with interpretation #1 commenting that...
The Holy Spirit interferes with what the flesh would otherwise do in its evil lusts. When we operate on the principle of grace [God’s provisions], we will not do the things we wish. The grace of the Holy Spirit will not allow us to invite evil into our souls. The best way to fight against sin is to walk in the Spirit.
Legalistic Galatians thought they could oppose sin by trying to live up to the law. By trying to gain God’s approbation by the law, they failed to engage the grace of God provided by the Holy Spirit. Neither do believers operating under grace give license to sin. Life under grace is neither legalism nor license but a reigning principle that prohibits the sin capacity from doing what it otherwise would. (Verse by Verse Commentary)
Guzik favors interpretation #2 (as do Luther, Calvin, Lightfoot, Bible Knowledge Commentary) writing that...
When the flesh is winning the inside battle, you do not do the things that you wish. You don't live the way you want to; you live under the flesh instead of under the Spirit. (Commentary)
The NLT rendering clearly favors interpretation #2 (translations can have an interpretative bias)...
These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. (NLT - Tyndale House)
Vincent on the other hand favors interpretation #3 (as do Jamieson, UBS Bible Handbook, Constable, Eadie) writing that...
The intent of each principle in opposing the other is to prevent man’s doing what the other principle moves him to do.
The things which you will to do under the influence of either of the two contending principles. There is a mutual conflict of two powers. If one wills to do good, he is opposed by the flesh: if to do evil, by the Spirit. (Word Studies in the New Testament)
Jamieson et al concur explaining that...
The Spirit strives against the flesh and its evil influence; the flesh against the Spirit and His good influence, so that neither the one nor the other can be fully carried out into action. (Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., Brown, D. A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments)
Arichea and Nida translate this clause in a way that favors interpretation #3...
For what we as human beings want to do is against what the Spirit of God wants us to do, and what the Spirit of God wants us to do is against what we as human beings want to do. (The United Bible Societies' New Testament Handbook Series or Logos)
Levy writes that...
The sin nature blocks believers from doing good, while the Holy Spirit blocks them from doing evil in this ongoing warfare. (Levy, D. M. Guarding the Gospel of Grace: Contending for the Faith in the Face of Compromise. Bellmawr, New Jersey: The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc)
Constable favors interpretation #3 writing...
We experience conflict whether we side with the Spirit against the flesh or with the flesh against the Spirit. The things that you please may be good or evil. It is impossible for us to remain neutral; we either follow one or the other. (Galatians)
John Eadie favors interpretation #3 explaining that...
The phrase "are in opposition to one another" (allelois antikeitai) describes not only actual antagonism, but undecided result. It is true in the case of all who are born again, that the conflict ends in the victory of the spirit (Ed note: I favor the divine Spirit here); but the apostle here does not include the issue, he speaks only of the contest. So that the exegesis is preferable which includes both sides of the statement:
The spirit wrestles against your doing the things which ye would on the impulse of the flesh, and the flesh struggles against your doing the things which ye would on the impulse of the spirit.
In this case no inferred ethical notion is attached to thelete ("please" or "wish"), and the clause describes the nature of the contest between the flesh and the spirit. (Eadie, John: Epistle of St Paul to the Galatians)
So that (2443) (hina) expresses purpose or to the end that, here referring to the purpose of the two contending desires.
Do (4160) (poieo) means to accomplish. The present tense means to continually do those things that please self rather than pleasing God. The point is that while we are in these human bodies, there will continually be desires welling up from our fallen flesh nature to do what we want to do, rather than what God wants to do. Modern advertising has taken advantage of this spiritual principle - "Have it your way"... "You just go around once. Grab for all the gusto you can.", etc. The world system thus panders to and feeds our fallen flesh nature, and this is just as true for believers as for non-believers, for we both possess the evil flesh nature. To reiterate, the flesh is just as depraved in believers as it is in unbelievers and it will never get any better in this life. Don't be deceived in thinking it will improve or reform.
The things that you please - A T Robertson renders it "Whatever ye wish" (Ibid).
You please (2309) (thelo) means to will and implies volition and purpose and frequently a determination as in exercising one's will.
TDNT writes that thelo
also expresses resolve as free or weighed decision, sometimes with the idea of choice or preference, and religiously with the nuance of resolute willingness (Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Eerdmans)
While there are clearly differences in the way this last clause of Galatians 5:17 is interpreted, the end point is the same - believers will experience a spiritual conflict, but they can experience victory because of the Holy Spirit. Conflict does not mean victory is not possible or attainable. Conflict is the "normal" Christian life. No conflict in fact raises the strong possibility that one is not even a true believer.
John Piper agrees with this assessment noting that...
The main thing to learn from this verse is that Christians experience a struggle within. If you said to yourself when I was describing the flesh, “Well, I have a lot of that still left in me,” it does not necessarily mean you aren’t a Christian. A Christian is not a person who experiences no bad desires. A Christian is a person who is at war with those desires by the power of the Spirit. Conflict in your soul is not all bad. Even though we long for the day when our flesh will be utterly defunct and only pure and loving desires will fill our hearts, yet there is something worse than the war within between flesh and Spirit—namely, no war within because the flesh controls the citadel and all the outposts. Praise God for the war within! Serenity in sin is death. The Spirit has landed to do battle with the flesh. So take heart if your soul feels like a battlefield at times. The sign of whether you are indwelt by the Spirit is not that you have no bad desires, but that you are at war with them!
But when you take Galatians 5:16 and 17 together the main point is not war, but victory for the Spirit. Galatians 5:16 says that when you walk by the Spirit, you will not let those bad desires come to maturity. When you walk by the Spirit, you nip the desires of the flesh in the bud. New God-centered desires crowd out old man-centered desires. Galatians 5:16 promises victory over the desires of the flesh—not that there won’t be a war, but that the winner of that war will be the Spirit. In fact, I think what Paul means in Gal 5:24-note, when he says the flesh has been crucified, is that the decisive battle has been fought and won by the Spirit. The Spirit has captured the capital and broken the back of the resistance movement. The flesh is as good as dead. Its doom is sure. But there are outlying pockets of resistance. The guerrillas of the flesh will not lay down their arms, and must be fought back daily. The only way to do it is by the Spirit, and that’s what it means to walk by the Spirit—so live that he gives victory over the dwindling resistance movement of the flesh. So the first reason why we must walk by the Spirit is that when we do the flesh is conquered. (Read Dr Piper's entire message The War Within: Flesh Vs. Spirit)
J Vernon McGee offers his insights on this verse noting that...
A transliteration of this verse will help convey the meaning: “For the flesh warreth against the Spirit, and the Spirit warreth against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” that is, the things that the old nature wanted to do (Ed note: thus McGee favors interpretation #1 above) This is very important to see—the flesh wars against the Spirit, and the Spirit wars against the flesh.
A believer has a new nature. This is what our Lord said to Nicodemus when He said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). The believer still has that old nature of the flesh, and he won’t get rid of it in this life. The idea that we can get rid of that old nature is a tragic mistake. John said,
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1John 1:8)
My friend, if the truth is not in you, then you must be a liar. That puts the “perfect” individual in the position of being a liar.
We have two natures—the old and the new. That is what Paul describes in the last part of Romans. He himself experienced the turmoil of two natures, and this has also been the experience of many believers. The flesh wars against the Spirit, and the Spirit wars against the flesh. Therefore, we cannot do the things that we would like to do. The new nature rebels against the old nature. They are contrary; they are at war with each other. Have you experienced this in your own life?
There is a song we sing entitled “Come Thou Fount” (play hymn) by Robert Robinson.
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
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