Overcoming the Passions of the Flesh

(Ephesians 2:3)

What are the passions of the flesh and what is the impact of the passions of the flesh on people?

This verse gives us some insight into just what the passions of the flesh are and how humans are driven by them.

More importantly though, this verse shows that as Christians, the passions of the flesh can become a thing of the past. It suggests that the passions of the flesh can be beaten and it is through the working of the Holy Spirit in us that we can overcome the passions of the flesh.

Children of Wrath

This scripture tells us that all mankind are children of wrath. We were all born into sin and have sinned, and so we all bear the nature of wrath.

This is the way of this world. Wrath is the norm and wrath occurs when people reject the ways of God in favour of their own ways.

All of mankind that choose to reject Jesus Christ or the ways of God will suffer the wrath of God. There is no-one immune from the wrath and the judgement of God for we are told that all of us will stand before the judgement seat of God to give an account of what we have done. Those who do reject God will suffer His wrath.

But we do not have to be defined as children of wrath. We have been given the opportunity to escape the wrath of God through Jesus Christ.

By taking on the death of Jesus Christ by faith through grace, we are given the free gift of righteousness by faith. By faith we receive freedom from sin and freedom from the law. We are set free from all of our past sins, and set free from all future sins by being released from the law, since you cannot break a law that you are not under.

But these freedoms are only the start of the battle. They are necessary to be able to complete the victory we have in Jesus Christ, but they are only a beginning.

The real battle is just commencing for it is in overcoming the passions of the flesh that transformation takes place.

Passions of the Flesh

If we quickly look at this scripture we see a good definition of the passions of the flesh, for it reads as follows.

“Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (Ephesians 2:3)

It says here that we all once lived in the passions of the flesh, fr this is the state we were all born into.

But then the verse continues on showing us what these passions are and how they are activated in us. The passions of the flesh are the “desires of body and mind” and they are activated when we allow these base passions to have control over us. When we follow these base desires we are being led by the passions of our flesh rather than the sensibilities and rationale of our mind. We know what is wrong but we fail to do it.

And the passions of the flesh are all of those things that lead to sin and sinfulness. They are all things that are in opposition to the will and the ways of the Lord.

As an example, some of the passions of the flesh are defined in the following verse.

19 Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)

As you can see from these few examples, the passions of the flesh are destructive and opposed to God. They come from within the heart and mind of mankind, and we all suffer from these or others to some degree or other. A person may not have a weakness for sorcery or fornication, but they may be weak in drunkenness, anger or jealousy.

Everyone suffers from some weakness that leads them into the ways of sinfulness, and when they are led by these passions rather than their mind that can determine right from wrong, then they fall into sin.

This is where the real battle is, and the battleground is in the hearts and minds of each person individually. And it is a difficult battle because the fight is a pitched battle against ourselves. We are fighting what is part of our human nature, and that is never an easy battle.

To take a human example, ask anyone who has ever suffered from some kind of addiction and managed to kick the habit. They go through hell trying to overcome their addiction, and often will try and fail many times before gaining victory over that addiction. And many of those who do succeed do it without the help of the Lord, which makes it even more difficult.

It is the same for each of us when we come to Christ. The battle against the passions of the flesh to overcome is part of the ongoing path of our walk with Jesus Christ. He came to give us a COMPLETE victory over sin and over the passions of the flesh so that we could find peace and walk in peace.

Overcoming the Passions of the Flesh

The purpose of overcoming the passions of the flesh is so that we can walk as Christ walked. It is for the purpose of transformation so that we can be like Him and be born again into the image of God.

God, through Jesus Christ, has already given us the gifts of freedom from sin, freedom from the law and righteousness by faith. We receive these gifts at baptism when we take on the death of Jesus Christ as our own so that we die to this world, die to sin and in this death we are set free from the law, for the law is binding only on those who are alive as it says in Romans 7:1.

“Do you not know, brethren–for I am speaking to those who know the law–that the law is binding on a person only during his life?” (Romans 7:1)

So when we die in Jesus Christ and take on His death as our own, we die to the law as well as dying to sin.

This is important as the first steps towards overcoming the passions of the flesh.

We know that the one thing that stands between man and God is sin. If it were not for sin, man could stand in the presence of God, just as Adam and Eve did in the garden before they sinned.

So God enabled us to stand before Himself by removing our sins by faith in Jesus Christ. But He also had to remove the power of sin, which is the law, for it is the law that convicts man of sin when man breaks God’s laws. That is why He established the means by which we can take the death of Jesus as our own and so die to the law through baptism.

Why is this important to overcoming the passions of the flesh? Because if we were to remain under the law, the very next time we allowed ourselves to follow one of our passions or weaknesses that lead to sinfulness, then we would be condemned as sinners and once again be unable to stand in the presence of God.

However, by removing the law, we do not fall under condemnation by the law and so are not held accountable for those “sins” that may occur.

How wonderful is this opportunity that God has given us!

God knows that we are weak and we will fall down many times as we walk with Christ. He knows we are all “works in progress” and knowing that, He has allowed for our imperfections while we are going through the process of transformation to overcome the passions of the flesh.

And God has not left us without the things we need to have the victory over the passions of the flesh. He has given us many things to enable us to fight our own passions, the main gift being the giving of the Holy Spirit. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to transform us into the image of Jesus Christ, and that means specifically to help us overcome the passions of the flesh, as the scripture says:

“…for if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (Romans 8:13-14)

As you see here, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to put to death and to overcome the deeds of the body, which are the passions of the flesh, but the work of the Holy Spirit has to be initiated by us.

The key word in this verse is YOU. If YOU by the Holy Spirit put to death the deeds of the body you will live.

It is the work of the Holy Spirit to transform us into the image of Jesus Christ, but WE must activate the Holy Spirit to fight when needed.

When do we need the Holy Spirit to fight for us? One of the key times is when we are tempted to be led by the passions of the flesh rather than doing what is right. Whenever our passions, lusts or desires lead us to do something that is wrong or evil in the sight of God, that is when we need to activate the power of the Holy Spirit to fight for us to overcome.

I know this sounds a bit like “turning on the Holy Spirit switch,” but that is too simplistic. The Holy Spirit dwelling in us is with us always and He continually works in the background with and for us. The Holy Spirit leads and nudges us in certain ways to prick our conscience so that we learn right from wrong. The Holy Spirit also protects us when we do not even know we are under threat. And furthermore, the Holy Spirit guides, counsels and teaches us as we need His instruction.

So working with the Holy Spirit is not like flicking an on/off switch.

However, when we are being tempted by the passions of the flesh, we do need to bring the Holy Spirit to the front of the attack to defend us and help us to break the cycle of control that our weaknesses have over our human bodies. And we can do this in many ways.

First and foremost is to use the power of the Holy Spirit through prayer, and especially with speaking in tongues. When we speak in tongues, it is the Holy Spirit interceding to God on our behalf when we are weak, to overcome the weaknesses. We see this in the following scripture.

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. 27 And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27)

These “sighs too deep for words,” or “groanings” as other translations refer to them, is speaking in tongues. When we speak in tngues it is the Holy Spirit speaking to God on our behalf to give us the strength and power to overcome the weakness that happens to be tempting us at that particular time. It is one method by which we can humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God to do His will.

As someone who has used and felt this power, it is like a cloud lifting as the temptation or the passion dissipates under the power of the Holy Spirit. And by doing this we can have the victory by overcoming the passions of the flesh.

There are many other ways that God has provided through which we can overcome our fleshly passions. Such things as: prayer, meditation, singing Christian songs, listening to uplifting music or testimonies, reading the Bible, and so on.

And in order to arm the Holy Spirit to be able to help us in our time of need, we MUST study the scriptures and absorb them into our hearts and minds. This is critical to being able to overcome the passions of the flesh.

We are told that the scripture, which is the word of God, is the sword of the Spirit (see Ephesians 6:17). We are further told that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things and bring to our remembrance all that Jesus has taught us (see John 14:26).

But how can the Holy Spirit bring things to our remembrance that we have not already committed to memory? And how can the Holy Spirit teach us things that we are not studying? He will open our minds to understand the scriptures so that we can learn, and then when we are in the midst of the battles against the passions of the flesh, the Holy Spirit will bring to our remembrance the things we need to overcome.

God did not leave us bereft of the means to grow and mature in Jesus Christ. It was always His will that those who come to Christ would choose to have victory by overcoming the passions of the flesh. And it is His desire that we DO overcome so that ALL sinfulness will be removed and we can once again walk in the perfection God desired for mankind from the beginning, as children of God, rather than children of wrath.

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