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January 21, 2002 by Rose Murdock
What is the difference between "children of the flesh" and "children of the Spirit?" God had promised a son to Abraham from whom He would make a great nation of people. A people with whom He could establish His covenant with. Let’s look at what He promised Abraham: "And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing." Genesis 12:2 Concerning Eliezer who was born in Abraham’s house: "…This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir." Genesis 15:4 Thirteen years after Ishmael was born, The Lord spoke of Sarah and said: "And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her." Genesis 17:16 We can see the progression of Abraham’s faith as he received word from the Lord concerning how the promise of a son would be carried out. After receiving the initial promise from the Lord, he questioned at one point if Eliezer would be the heir the Lord was talking about because Abraham and Sarah had no children. The Lord said, No, he will be one that comes out of your own bowels. Then Sarah told Abraham to have a child with her maid Hagar since Sarah had not yet conceived. As soon as Hagar conceived she despised Sarah and Sarah knew what they had done was wrong. "And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee." Genesis 16:5 And then thirteen years later the Lord spoke to Abraham again and told him the son He promised would be a child of both he and Sarah. So finally, Isaac, the son of promise, was born. Abraham and Sarah were old and the fact that she conceived and had a son was truly a miracle. Back in Galatians, Paul is explaining how we who believe in Jesus as the Christ are the children of promise, as Isaac was. And just as Ishmael, who was born after the flesh persecuted Isaac who was born after the Spirit, so it is now. There were those who were telling the Galatians that it wasn’t enough to believe in Jesus, that they had to follow the law. Paul explains that if they are going to try and be justified by the law that it would do no good to believe in Jesus. Anytime we try and bring a promise of God to pass by our own efforts or our own plans, we may find ourselves creating a mess that will be a problem for us later on. Ishmael had to be cast out of Abraham’s household so he wouldn’t be heir with Isaac, the son of promise. If we try and earn right-standing with God through our own efforts or good deeds, we’ll find that it was all for nothing because righteousness only comes by faith in Christ Jesus (Gal. 2:16). It’s not hard to understand that the ‘works of the flesh’ are wrong. Galatians 5:19-21 lists several ‘works of the flesh’ and as we read through the list we normally have no problem admitting that these are sinful. Adultery, witchcraft, hatred, envyings, murders etc… are all works of the flesh that we know displease the Lord and keep us from the kingdom of God. But we must be careful that we don’t think that we earn our righteousness with God by keeping a strict set of religious rules. It was proven that no one can keep the law of God in their own strength. The only way for us to live a righteous life before the Lord is to have our sinful nature washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ and receive the life and nature of God. As 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, to become a ‘new creature in Christ Jesus’. Once we become a new creature in Christ Jesus and receive right-standing with God, then we will walk pleasing to the Lord much more than we ever could in our own strength. And if we do sin, we can receive forgiveness and cleansing from unrighteousness through Jesus Christ (1 John 1:9). We may find, however, that once we come to this understanding of being justified by our faith in Jesus Christ rather than through our own efforts, that those who are still trying to earn recognition or right-standing with God through their own good deeds, will persecute those who believe in righteousness by faith. The children of the flesh, or those trying to earn righteousness by recognition of their good deeds, persecute the children of the Spirit, which are those who receive righteousness by receiving the promise—righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy 3:5 warns us of those who have a form of godliness but deny the power. The power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that as we believe in Him He transforms our lives, putting His nature within us so we can receive His Spirit and therefore His power to live as He lived in the earth! Those who are trying to earn righteousness in the flesh do not recognize the Spirit of God when He moves in people’s lives. They may even rebel against a work of God, as the Pharisees did with Jesus. They are looking to call attention to themselves instead of truthfully looking at the promise of God. If we find ourselves speaking against any of God’s people or move of the Spirit, we should examine our own hearts and see if we are not slipping into trying to earn righteousness or gain recognition in the flesh. It can happen because of pride but it can also happen because of such a low self-esteem and hopelessness that we don’t think we have the right to receive a righteousness that we haven’t suffered for. We don’t deserve it, but that’s the beauty of what Jesus did for us. He suffered for us. He earned righteousness by living a perfect, sinless life and purchased righteousness for us. He paid the price for our sin and that’s why we need to believe in Him to receive forgiveness of sin and cleansing from unrighteousness. That’s the depth of the love of God for us.
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