SECOND, LIVING IN THE FLESH IS THE OPPOSITE OF LIVING BY THE SPIRIT

Upon salvation or justification, God changes your spiritual operating system. Instead of an in-Adam, old man, depraved inner man dominated by sinful lusts, God provides you an in-Christ, new man, righteous inner man clothed in true righteousness and holiness (cf., Eph 4:22-24; Col 3:911; 2 Cor 5:17). This new operating system both provides the desire to honor God and enables you to now honor the Lord. Specifically, Paul calls this new desire and enablement as being led by the Spirit (Rom 8:14).

One aspect then of the flesh simply refers to the spiritual operating system of an individual – either in the flesh in-Adam or in the Spirit inChrist. The second aspect then refers to the way one lives. As discussed above, the spiritual operating system determines which way fundamentally one operates. As an in-Adam person, you produce the deeds of the flesh; that is, as you live, what you do (deeds) flows out of your fleshly disposition of your heart or inner man. Therefore, we would refer to this as living according to the flesh (Rom 8:5). The one who after justification as an in-Christ person is led by the Spirit and does those things which honor God, that person is living by the Spirit. The Spirit of God lives in him or her and produces His fruit in you, which becomes manifested in your behavior (Rom 8:9-10). Sadly, even after justification, one can live (and, chooses to live) either according to the flesh or according to the Spirit. Although God changed the operating system, you still have functional control over your life. Even though you now are in-Christ new man, your heart remains active either for or against God. The power of the flesh is broken; you no longer serve under the power of the flesh as your operating system. Yet, until you get to heaven, the presence of sin remains even though the power of sin is broken.