Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Holy Spirit, Unholy Flesh (Galatians 5:16-26)

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.