Christ within

I think it is easy for modern people to read Paul and surmise that he
wishes we did not have to deal with physical bodies.  To those of us
used to thinking of the spirit/soul and the body as totally separate
thing, Paul's "spirit" - "flesh" contrast can sound like "spirit good,
body bad."  But I don't think Paul shares our spirit-body duality. 
After all, he insists that resurrection is a bodily thing, and in
today's reading he speaks of the Spirit giving "life to (our) mortal
bodies." 

Paul seems to use "flesh" as a kind of shorthand for life that is
animated by sin.  Certain sorts of bodily cravings may be a part of
this, but the body itself is not the problem.  That is why those who are
"in Christ Jesus" can still live a normal, bodily existence but be not
be captive to sin.  As Paul writes to very fleshy humans, "But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you." 

The
change Paul is talking about isn't something apart from our bodily
lives.  Rather it is an inward transformation that reorients our lives,
including our day-to-day, fleshy ones, so that they in tune with God.  

I
think that the true goal of spirituality - and religion when properly
understood - is to become aware of and attentive to this inward presence
of Jesus, the Spirit dwelling in us.  That is why spirituality must
first go inward.  Yet true spirituality cannot simply stay there.  A
life animated by the Spirit, that is "in Christ," issues forth in a life
pleasing to God, a life that is modeled after Jesus.  Surely Jesus is
the most deeply spiritual person ever to walk this earth, yet his life
was one of vital action on God's and humanity's behalf.  Surely Jesus is
the ideal embodiment of what Paul is talking about: bodily life that is
"in the Spirit."

Originally posted at Pastor James.