Don: Last week, Kiran reminded us that Romans 7 and 8 have a lot to say about the contrast between the flesh and the spirit, and might help us understand what Jesus meant and how prayer might overcome the weakness of the flesh. Galatians 5 and 6 also discuss the topic.
In 2 Corinthians 5:7, Paul noted that we walk by faith and not by sight. There is a sense in which affairs of the flesh are natural, are related to the senses, are experiential in terms of what we can determine in, around, and through our natural world. Walking by the spirit is in essence walking by faith. It is experiencing something that is supernatural, something not simply attuned to the senses as we know them but some kind of insight—an ability to see the world through spiritual eyes of faith and not simply through natural vision.
In Romans 7:14- Paul talks about this dual nature:
For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
There follows the great chapter of grace, Romans 8, which begins:
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
The discourse brings us back, in verse 26, to the point where much of our discussion of prayer began:
In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose….
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is a categorical statement about the opportunity for those who walk in the spirit to be bonded and to be in the presence and to feel the love and the grace of god, and it is pretty hard to be excluded.
Contrasting the spirit with the flesh, Paul says that spirit is a part of the law as it is given by god. That is to say: The law is spiritual, but the keeping of it is a matter of the flesh. While spirit sets us free, flesh binds us. A spiritual mindset, he said, confers life and peace, whereas a flesh-driven mindset is hostile to god and leads to death. The spirit dwells within us and helps us overcome our weakness. It also intercedes for us in prayer. In contrast, the fleshly mindset cannot keep the law and cannot please god.
In Romans, Paul talks about “being” in the spirit or the flesh, but in Galatians, he talks about “walking” in the spirit or the flesh. Is it possible to be in the spirit but walk in the flesh, or vice versa? It may be a subtle distinction, yet it seems an intriguing one. It suggests that what one does—walking either in the spirit or the flesh—does not define what “walking” is. Perhaps it is a matter of attitude—about reliance on self rather than on god. Proverbs 3:5:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
There seems to be a sense that walking in the spirit relies on faith rather than on the senses, yet it provides an experience that makes the person see things they would not otherwise be able to see. Maybe that’s what Paul meant when he said “All things work together for good.”
It’s like analyzing the same data using different methodologies: On the one hand, it is devastating to learn that one has cancer, or is suffering from some other tragedy; but on the other hand, to be able to see beyond that, to reach a new understanding, to feel a different experience, to see that somehow all things do work together for good, is intensely enlightening. As the culture, the language, and the lens of the spirit, prayer is the means to showing nature in a new light, shorn of the shadows of our physical senses. It is the means, literally, to enlightenment.
Perhaps this was what Jesus meant when he said we don’t know how to pray, and what the disciples meant when they asked to be taught how to pray: Teach us how to pray for enlightenment, so see the world differently from the often unpalatable view of it that is presented to our senses.
Many great biblical characters seemed to be in the spirit in the sense of having god’s interests at heart, yet did not walk in the spirit; rather, they used the physically and sensory realm to try to understand and resolve their problems. Abraham, for instance, was promised by god that he would be the foundation of a great nation, yet he took things into his own hands to make this promise come about—he took the child of his handmaiden, Hagar, to correct what he saw as a deficiency in the fulfillment of the promise. Though he was in the spirit, he walked in the flesh: He relied upon himself, not upon god.
Jay: In Romans 8:4-5:
… so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
In the context of prayer as alignment of one’s mind with god’s, as meditation, then to set one’s mind properly (i.e., on the things of the spirit) is to pray.
Harry: What is the faith Paul wants us to have? Is it faith in Jesus? Faith in his acts? Paul is none too specific. What is the spirit? Is it the part of me that leads me to good thoughts? If nothing can separate us from god’s love, what is his love doing for me right now? What does it mean?
In historical context, Paul claimed to be a “Jew of Jews.” He had been taught by some of the greatest religious scholars of his day, who believed in strict adherence to the law—to rules whose observance proved one’s worthiness before god. But in the gospels, he says to forget these rules, to live by faith alone. No wonder, then, that he concluded we no longer know how to pray, when we have thrown away the law, the rule book. I think Paul’s own insecurity and indecisiveness is evident here. He doesn’t know what to do.
I used to think that faith meant believing in Jesus. Now, I too am uncertain about what it means.
Don: I think we all have this uncertainty, and Paul is expressing it on behalf of us all. But despite that, the idea that god is near you, loves you, is very comforting and reassuring. It brings, as Paul says, a great deal of peace. It enables one who is in the spirit to see things differently—to be at peace when others are anxious. It takes away fear.
Michael: Paul seemed to be debating more with himself than to be presenting a set of conclusions. The biggest problem is that he still does not manage to clarify the separation between flesh and spirit, to help us recognize the spirit so that we can work with it. Is it something that is not accessible through the physical senses?
Harry: The big point Paul made was that god is there for us no matter what. I possess—but I don’t know about others—an inner sense, a conviction, that god exists; therefore, that he should care for me is indeed comforting and calming. My conviction that god exists cannot be explained in any way other than as an article of faith. I see the spirit of god within me whenever I feel compassion for abused animals or wish the violence in the world would all end. I think it is that simple.
Jay: Does god want me to move myself further away from flesh and more toward spirit? Do we have a yearning, an inner desire, to do so? Does the movement toward spirit and away from flesh happen naturally as we grow more enlightened? The enlightenment about prayer which has come to me through our class discussion—that prayer is not about us but about god’s will—points me toward looking outside the box of man-made rules and scriptures for a way to accomplish that difficult task of aligning myself with god’s will. It leads me to focus on things spiritual.
Harry: Monks meditate in the extreme, but they contribute little to society. It seems to me that it is unnecessary to go to extremes—that there is a middle course, which is to listen to the inner voice telling us that god is there regardless of our religious backgrounds and behavior, as Paul did.
Jay: The question is how to tune in the inner voice? We’ve been discussing prayer as one medium, but I can’t believe that god limits our access to the inner voice through the medium of prayer alone, that he does not actively make us aware of it through any and every means available. And that might depend partly upon where we are in life. At some time in our life, it may be that church is the medium, or meditation, or community service. So it’s not necessary to perfect any one medium, such as prayer; rather, it is a matter of remaining constantly receptive and alert to the inner voice, whenever and wherever it may speak, in any way we can.
Harry: I think this class illustrates Jay’s point. I find it serves the purpose of keeping me alert to the inner voice, but I think others may find it disturbing and it may render them less attuned to the voice. Church used to work for me, but no longer. We must be ready to transition from one medium to another. I hear the voice through the good works of others—of Gandhi and Mother Theresa and so on.
Kiran: In my former life as a Hindu and in my later life as a Christian, I found it easy to “win god’s favor” and feel secure by doing the things I was told Hindus and Christians have to do—by following the rules. But my life has become disrupted by this notion that security is achieved only through the spirit, not through behavior; that god will take me into his kingdom when I die regardless of the life I have lived on earth. I have to trust that this will happen, and am strengthened in that trust by the knowledge that Jesus died so that it would. The only way I have found to suppress my tendency to doubt—to prevent my trust from evaporating—is to pray.
Don: One of the things Paul seems to be saying is that we are hard-wired into the inner voice, that there is godliness in all of us. But we are born in the flesh and cannot help but be reminded of it constantly. Paul’s anguish seems to occur when he feels his hardwiring to be cut. The anguish can be overcome if we can see our existence, our flesh, differently through the lens of the inner light.
Harry: I believe in god because I see goodness everywhere. Religion and church and scripture are in some ways a result of that innate goodness, and indeed they have served to maintain my awareness of goodness and have kept me in tune with the inner voice. But they are not the only way. Good atheists must have other ways to maintain their awareness, even though they deny the very concept of an inner voice or light.
Don: Yes, good people who look at the same dataset—the dataset of goodness—may come away with different views about the existence of god. One may conclude that he does not exist, another that he does, and yet another, that he might or might not exist. But they all have been guided by the spirit, and Paul’s message is that none can escape god’s love, no matter what view they take. We might think that our hardwiring has been cut, but it can never be.
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