GALATIANS 5:17 and ROMANS 6:12, C. H. Cayce “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”— Gal. 5:17.
“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof.”— Rom. 6:12.
Brother Cayce, these two passages of Scripture seem to be a “tangled hank” for me. I wish you would unravel the hank for me through The Primitive Baptist. The first seems to be a positive declaration— “so that ye cannot do,” etc. The second, as an admonition, seems to contradict the first by giving the saints power, or representing them as having the ability to obey— “let not sin reign,” etc. Yours in hope of eternal life, Jake Owens.
Speedwell, Tenn.
We do not think the two expressions referred to by Brother Owens are contradictory. In Rom. 6:12 the apostle admonishes the brethren to not let sin reign— do not follow the sinful inclinations and desires.
The expression in Gal. 5:17 shows that the child of God is a complex being— he is in possession of two natures.
The flesh is the Adamic nature, which is a sinful nature. The Spirit is the divine nature, which he received in regeneration. When one is born of the earthly or natural parentage he partakes of the nature of that parentage, which is a sinful nature— the flesh or fleshly nature. Then when one is born of God he is born of the heavenly parentage, and partakes of the nature of that parentage; and that nature is divine. These two natures are contrary to each other. They are not alike. From this the warfare springs up. The child of God possesses these two natures— and these natures are engaged in continual warfare. The child of God has a desire to live a holy and sinless life. He desires to be entirely free from sin.
This desire springs from the divine nature which he received in regeneration. But he cannot attain to that state of perfection while he stays here, because he still has the same old sinful nature which he had before. He should, however, not follow the inclinations and leadings of that sinful nature by engaging in things that are sinful and wrong, but should follow the inclinations and desires of the divine nature which he now possesses. In Gal. 5:16 the apostle says, “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
This expression just precedes the one Brother Owens calls attention to. Certainly the apostle would not admonish the Galatian brethren to do this, and then in the next breath tell them that they could not do so. It is the duty of the child of God to walk in the Spirit, and thereby not to fulfill the lust of the flesh; but he need not expect to do this without a warfare. It will be a continual warfare, and he must fight on in order to continually do what the apostle admonishes here. He would like to walk in the Spirit without having to engage in a warfare, but he cannot do that. The Primitive Baptist, April 30, 1912.