Galatians 5.16-18
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
The inner conflict that we experience is the battle between the desires of the Spirit and the desires of the flesh. The Greek word for “desire” in this passage is epithumia, and with regard to the sin nature it means a distorted or mis-directed passion. Paul is stating an experience that every Christian knows all too well: we have passions, desires, and impulses that seek to lead us in the wrong direction and tempt us to say/do things that are not in alignment with God’s character.
I Peter 2.11 says it very directly: “Abstain from the passions (epithumia) of the flesh that wage war against your soul.”
Desire is not a bad thing. God created us with desires and passions. He created us with epithumia. The problem is that the Fall caused our desires to be distorted and mis-directed. As a result of the Fall …
Sometimes we desire the wrong things.
Sometimes we desire the right things in the wrong way.
Sometimes we desire the right things for the wrong reasons.
Let’s be clear: The problem is much deeper than an occasional mis-directed desire. Under the distorting influence of the sin nature, epithumia can easily become an all-consuming drive and longing for things that should not be in our life. We can easily get caught up in the habit of indulging a distorted desire. It could be bad language or bad behavior; it could be a negative attitude; it could be consumption of harmful entertainment and media; it could be addiction; it could be idolatry. The point is that sin creates in us the feeling that we must have a thing, and it is the distorted desire to have the thing that is the desire of the flesh.
What’s most insidious is that when you indulge the desire — when you actually experience or possess the thing — there is only fleeting satisfaction. Often, there is no satisfaction at all. There is no fulfillment. This is because the sin nature can stimulate, but it cannot satisfy. It can excite and arouse, but it cannot fulfill. It promises something that it cannot deliver.
The good news is that in Christ, our desires are redeemed and restored to God’s original intent. In Christ, we can desire a thing, experience and enjoy a thing, and then be fulfilled because our desire and our experience were in alignment with God’s design and purpose.
Consider relationships. If you desire relationships for the right reason, and you go about your relationships the right way, you will experience great joy and fulfillment. But if you deviate from God’s principles for healthy relationships, you will experience varying degrees of pain and heartache.
Sex is a particular element of relationships that amplifies how this works. Virtually everyone has sexual desires. If you allow your sexual desires to be directed by God’s principles, and you engage in sexual intimacy in the context of marriage, it is wonderful and fulfilling. If you deviate from God’s principles and allow your sexual desires to be directed by the sin nature, you put yourself (and the other person) at great risk. Inevitably, sooner or later, bad things happen.
The conclusion is a simple statement: good desire is good, and bad desire is bad. Paul’s admonition in this passage in Galatians is that we should be very careful to feed and cultivate the things of the Spirit, and we should not gratify the desires of the sin nature. It’s a deeply serious battle, possibly the most important battle you fight every day.
Again, “abstain from the passions of the flesh that wage war against your soul.”
