walking after the flesh

30 Ways Your Flesh Reacts to Trouble

January 20, 2023 // 14 Comments

You arrive at a moment of crisis. Perhaps you are in your boss’s office or the medical clinic. You’re fighting with your spouse or you’ve heard bad news. The heat is on and the pressure’s rising. What do you do? The smart thing to do is take five, lean into God, and see what he says. Let him guide you [...]

What does the Bible Say About the Flesh?

March 17, 2022 // 32 Comments

The flesh is one of the most confusing words in the Bible. What does it mean? And is the flesh good or bad? Why did Paul say he was alive in the flesh but then say he had crucified the flesh? Why does he say the body of the flesh has been circumcised (so it’s gone, right), then say he served sin with his flesh [...]

How to Recognize a Mixed-Grace Gospel

May 8, 2014 // 100 Comments

In churches every week, you will hear one of two messages. You will either hear a mixed-grace gospel or you will hear the hypergrace gospel. Do you know how to tell the difference? A mixed-grace gospel combines the unmerited favor of God with the merited wage of human-effort. “You are saved by grace but you [...]

7 more things that happen to Christians who stray

April 17, 2013 // 48 Comments

Nearly every book in the New Testament warns Christians of the dangers of false preachers and teachers who preach another Jesus or another gospel. Jesus, Paul, Peter, et al. had some harsh words to say about those who mislead the saints. But what about the saints who are misled? What happens to them? The usual [...]

Is Grace a License to Sin?

September 24, 2012 // 60 Comments

Grace-preachers attract sinners and that is a good thing. If you consider yourself a sinner you have come to the right place! Sinners are welcome in the House of Grace. I wish our churches were magnets for sinners for that would be a sure sign that we are preaching the true gospel of grace. If this scandalizes [...]

Beware “Practical Holiness”

July 27, 2012 // 67 Comments

Life under the old covenant was so much simpler than the free and confusing world of grace. Back then if you wanted to stay on the straight and narrow, you just had to keep all the rules. But in the kingdom of grace, there are no rules (1 Cor 6:12). A good marriage doesn’t need them. For those unacquainted with [...]

Do NIV readers have a sinful nature?

September 4, 2011 // 123 Comments

Here are two verses that seem to say contradictory things about our sinful nature: 1. In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, (Col 2:11) 2. So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to [...]

Romans 7: The flesh test

August 18, 2011 // 36 Comments

Have you seen the pearl of wisdom hidden in Romans 7? Many miss it because they view the chapter as “not written for me” or as a mere prelude to chapter 8. This is a shame because if you can grasp what Paul says in Romans 7, it will save you a world of hurt. “Just remind me, what’s Romans 7 about?” I [...]

12 Infamous Examples of Walking After the Flesh in the Bible

August 16, 2011 // 14 Comments

“…and everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” (Jdg 17:6) Since most of us have grown up with a works-based view of salvation, we tend to think of sin as doing bad things. If we avoid doing bad things we’ll avoid sin. But the Bible has a different definition of sin. “Whatever is not of faith is [...]

How to Walk After the Flesh in 20 Easy Lessons

August 11, 2011 // 66 Comments

If you’ve ever taken children to the zoo, you will know that the big animals tend to be more popular than the small ones. Elephants, rhinos, and tigers get more attention than otters, turtles, and geckos. And so it is with works of the flesh. Ask any churchgoer to list the works of the flesh and they will [...]

When Doing Good is Bad for You

August 7, 2011 // 21 Comments

Ever since our ancestors ate the forbidden fruit, we humans have had an innate sense of good and evil. You help a blind person cross the street and you just know you’re doing something good. You use a cat for a football and you just know you’re doing something bad. You don’t need anybody to tell you. Being [...]

The flesh vs the spirit – two good books

May 7, 2011 // 10 Comments

For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these things are opposed one to the other, that ye should not do those things which ye desire. ~ Galatians 5:17 (Darby) Paul describes the Christian life as a tug of war between the flesh and the spirit. The flesh is that part of us [...]