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WHEREFORE in this passage we ought to take "flesh" as meaning not man,
i.e., his material substance, but the carnal will and evil desires, just as
"spirit" does not mean anything material, but the good and spiritual
desires of the soul: a meaning which the blessed Apostle has clearly given
just before, where he begins: "But I say, walk in the spirit, and ye shall
not fulfil the desires of the flesh; for the flesh lusteth against the
spirit and the spirit against the flesh: but these are contrary the one to
the other, that ye may not do what ye would." And since these two; viz.,
the desires of the flesh and of the spirit co-exist in one and the same
man, there arises an internal warfare daily carried on within us, while the
lust of the flesh which rushes blindly towards sin, revels in those
delights which are connected with present ease. And on the other hand the
desire of the spirit is opposed to these, and wishes to be entirely
absorbed in spiritual efforts, so that it actually wants to be rid of even
the necessary uses of the flesh, longing to be so constantly taken up with
these things as to desire to have no share of anxiety about the weakness of
the flesh. The flesh delights in wantonness and lust: the spirit does not
even tolerate natural desires. The one wants to have plenty of sleep, and
to be satiated with food: the other is nourished with vigils and fasting,
so as to be unwilling even to admit of sleep and food for the needful
purposes of life. The one longs to be enriched with plenty of everything,
the other is satisfied even without the possession of a daily supply of
scanty food. The one seeks to look sleek by means of baths, and to be
surrounded every day by crowds of flatterers, the other delights in dirt
and filth, and the solitude of the inaccessible desert, and dreads the
approach of all mortal men. The one lives on the esteem and applause of
men, the other glories in injuries offered to it, and in persecutions.
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