1. Interpretative
framework: God and gods, Spirit and Flesh, Christian and Olympian personalities.
There
is only one true god of freedom, truth, love, and vitality. This one odd
god is Trinitarian: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is
God’s third way of being god. She burns brightly in our Christian hearts and
she alone enables us to seek the will of the Father and to affirm the truth of
the Son.
There
are six false gods of power, falsehood, indifference, and death. These are the six
conventional gods of Olympianity: (1) Jupiter, god of politics; (2) Mars, god
of war; (3) Vulcan, god of technology; (4) Venus, goddess of sex; (5) Pluto,
god of money; and (6) Bacchus, god of consumption.
These
gods form part of an evil parody of the Trinitarian god. This evil parody of
the one true Trinity consists of Satan, six conventional gods, and the Flesh. The Flesh is
the evil parody of the Holy Spirit. It smolders darkly in our Olympian hearts
and drives us to seek the will of Satan and to affirm the lies and illusions of
the six gods.
Every
person has two personalities: an Olympian and a Christian one. The
Olympian one corresponds with the evil parody of the Trinity. It is devoted to
Satan, believes the lies and illusions of the six conventional gods, and takes
its form from the destructive habits it is driven to develop by the Flesh. As
we increase the variety and strength of our Olympian habits and personality, we
increase the clarity of our witness to the six false yet conventional Olympian
gods.
Our
Christian personality corresponds with the one true Trinity. It is devoted to
Abba, believes the words of truth spoken by Jesus, and
takes its form from the creative habits it is empowered to develop by the
Spirit. As we increase the variety and strength of our Christian habits and
personality, we witness more clearly to the freedom, truth, love, and vitality
of one true yet unconventional god.
2. Today’s reading
from the Bible
Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not
gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the
Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are
opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are
led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh
are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery,
enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy,
drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned
you before: those who do such things will not inherit
the kingdom of God.
By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and
self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to
Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live
by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become
conceited, competing against one another, envying one another (Galatians
5:16-26, New Revised Standard Version).
3. Interpretation
Live by the
Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Flesh here represents the opposite of Spirit. The first is the power
of evil smoldering inside of us and driving our Olympian personality. The other
is the powerful love of Abba and Jesus burning brightly inside of us and empowering our Christian
personality. Here Paul encourages us to live as witnesses to the Spirit by developing
our Christian personality. Here Paul discourages us from continuing to live as
slaves of the Flesh doomed to satisfying its will by developing our Olympian
personality.
For what the flesh
desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the
flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you
want.
Our Christian personality wants to participate in and share all the light of Christ's truth, warmth of Christ's love, and strength of Christ's vitality. The Flesh wants to prevent that at all costs and drives our Olympian personality to prevent it.
Now the works of
the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry,
sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions,
envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.
Works:
something we labor at and get paid for. This labor or servitude is something
which the gods demand of us and the Flesh drives us to do. While there’s
nothing impressive in this whole quick list, the gods justify every bit of it as either a means or an end. Our Olympian personality develops accordingly.
The
gods promise us security, happiness, importance, justification, and meaning.
The farther we advance up the organizational hierarchies associated with
politics, war, technology, sex, money, and consumption, the more they promise
to reward us. The Flesh drives us to do it. Our own relatives, friends,
neighbors, and colleagues require or encourage us to do so as well.
Advancing
in power, climbing up Olympian hierarchies, however, requires us to be
self-centered. It demands we always ask ourselves, “What’s in this for me?” We
use words and people as means of advancement or consolation. We develop habits of
personality that allow us to improve our competitive advantage. This is
where enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions,
factions, [and] envy come in.
These
destructive habits of our Olympian personality increase in intensity when we
fail to advance or, worse, start slipping down. When we start becoming more
marginal in terms of politics, war, technology, sex, money, or consumption,
then the gods and our Olympian companions make sure we start experiencing the
insecurity, misery, unimportance, guilt, and meaninglessness that Olympian
losers deserve.
By contrast, the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Here
Paul speaks not of works but of fruit; not of labor or servitude, but of
our witness to the freedom, truth, love, and vitality that are ours by the
power of the Holy Spirit burning brightly inside our Christian hearts. These
fruits are gifts. They are not something we earn but are given.
The
Holy Spirit enables us to be Christ-centered rather than self-centered. Instead
of asking, “What’s in this for me?”, the Holy Spirit enables us to ask, “how may I best
witness to Jesus in this situation?” We share these fruits with everyone
because sharing the fruits is both the means and the end. Truth and love become
meaningful because words and people are ends in themselves, have intrinsic
value, rather than being means of greater or lesser value to us.
And those who
belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Through
his crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus decisively defeated Satan, the six dull
gods, and the smoldering Flesh. This decisive victory, however, is not yet
definitive. Our Olympian personality may still deny its truth. When Jesus comes
again in glory, that denial will no longer be possible. Our Olympian
personality, along with the Flesh which drove it to serve the gods, will be destroyed.
In
this same way, Paul tells us that Christians have already put this smoldering
Flesh and our Olympian personality in the past and that we may move even now toward a future wholly without either.
If we live by the
Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.
Amen.
Copyright © 2013
by Steven Farsaci.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.