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For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. This expression recalls the corresponding words of our Lord, with which we may assume that St. Paul was familiar. Addressing his disciples during thorn closing hours of communion with them in the "upper room," Jesus had said, "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." And, in his sublime high priestly prayer, Jesus spoke thus: "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil." The thought expressed m the passage now before us seems to have been a cherished one with the apostle. He enlarges upon it in writing to the Romans (Romans 8:4-9). He speaks of "us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." He explains that "to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." And he firmly declares, "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." By "living in the flesh" we are to understand, simply our possessing this fleshly, bodily nature, with its frailties, limitations, and infirmities. By "living, or warring, after the flesh," we are to understand neglecting the higher dictates of the higher spiritual nature, and living as though the desires of the body were the only ones that needed satisfying. But the precise thought of the apostle here may be that he will not be moved against the evil party at Corinth by those natural feelings of indignation which their conduct towards him had aroused, but will reprove and exhort only upon the great Christian principles, and only in the Christly spirit. Self shall not rule even his warfare with such unreasonable foes. Christ shall rule.

I. THE CHRISTIAN POSSIBILITIES OF OUR FLESHLY CONDITION. "We walk in the flesh." God is pleased to set us in this human body, to give us this vehicle of communication with other men and with the surrounding world; and it is possible for us to win this body for Christ, to possess and rule it so that all its powers shall be used, and all its relations sustained, only in Christly service. In fact, the work of human life may be spoken of as this - winning our bodies and our life spheres for Christ. Our bodies, our fleshly natures, include

(1) natural faculties, such as eating and drinking;

(2) passions, affecting the relationship of the sexes;

(3) mental emotions; and

(4) powers of acquiring knowledge.

It is possible to dominate the whole machinery of the body with the sanctified and Christly will.

II. THE LIMITATIONS OF OUR FLESHLY CONDITION. It is not a merely dead machine that we have to move by the force of the regenerate life. Nor is it a machine in full efficiency and repair. If the figure may be used, the body is a machine of too limited capacity for the work which the renewed soul wants done; and even taking it for what it is, it is sadly out of repair, rusted and worn, so that we have continually to complain that "we cannot do the things that we would." Illustrate in St. Paul's case. The body would have so affected him, if he had yielded to it, that he could not have been noble towards his traducers at Corinth. The body would have urged a passionate reply. So we find the body such a drag upon the high and holy aims, purposes, and endeavours of the soul, that we are often saying, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

III. THE CHRISTIAN MASTERY OF FLESHLY CONDITIONS. This is precisely the discipline of life. Christ wins our soul. Christ regenerates our will. Christ assures us of his own spiritual presence as our inspiration and strength; and then seems to say, "Go forth, win your flesh, your mind, your body, your associations, for me, so that henceforth no fleshly ends are sought, and no carnal, self-seeking tone rests on any of your doings and relations." It is inspiring to find how fully St. Paul could enter into Christ's thought for him, but it is comforting to observe how very near he was to failure in his endeavour to gain the mastery over self, again and again. Through much tribulation and conflict only can any one of us gain the mastery of the spirit over the flesh. - R.T.

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KJV: For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

WEB: For though we walk in the flesh, we don't wage war according to the flesh;