But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

(Galatians 5.16-18)

Each of us has both a lower and a higher will, which struggle against each other.  Paul put it another way in a subsequent letter:

For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

(Romans 7.22-23)

With two opposing wills, we tend to bend toward whichever has the strongest desires; but that’s not what God wants!  He tells us to shun “the works of the flesh” (Ga 5.19).

Sexual Immorality

We could get rather uncomfortable here, with detailed definitions, but it’s really not that complicated.  God reserves sexual contact for married couples.

Impurity

We tend to think of impurity in sexual terms, too; but that’s just one application!  Impurity is the mixing of what belongs, with what does not.  If your behavior is good, but you introduce something inappropriate—even a bad motive—it has become impure.

Sensuality

This, likewise, is often seen in sexual terms, but there’s more!  It’s the undue pursuit of sensory gratification.  It’s good to enjoy the taste of a well-grilled steak or the smell of a magnolia blossom; but fixating on those and ignoring higher pursuits is fleshly and wrong!

Idolatry

Idolatry is more than bowing down before a golden image and venerating it as a god.  That’s a fair start, but it takes other forms.  Paul wrote in yet another letter that we must put away “covetousness, which is idolatry” (Co 3.5).  Anything you dedicate yourself to serving, in place of God, is an idol.

Sorcery

The Greek word is φαρμακεία-pharmakeia, from which we derive pharmacy; but while this points to the potions and drug cocktails used by sorcerers, and says something about modern attitudes toward healing drugs, we mustn’t let that problem distract us from the demonic realm sorcerers seek to harness.

Enmity

Enmity is simply the opposite of friendship, with hateful disposition and actions.  You can’t prevent others from acting as your enemies, but Jesus said, “love your enemies” (Mt 5.44), rather than harming them.

Strife

A little more specific than enmity, strife occurs when two individuals or groups both pursue disagreement for its own sake, and wish harm on their opponents.

Jealousy

ζῆλος-zēlos-“jealousy,” elsewhere translated “zeal,” can be a good quality (e.g. 2Co 11.2)!  But zeal can be directed toward evil, too—wanting for oneself what another possesses. 

Fits of Anger

This one is fairly self-explanatory.  Note that anger itself is not the problem, but rather fits of anger.  Anger inclines us to excess.  Letting our anger take control often feels righteous; but it’s just another sinful work of the flesh.

Rivalries

This one is the next natural step, after enmity and strife, combined with jealousy and anger.  The former two were focused on harming a neighbor; the latter two are more about satisfying oneself.  Rivalry, then, is about promoting oneself above one’s neighbor.

Dissensions

The next step is to entrench the rivalry and involve others in it, bringing about disunity where harmony existed before.

Divisions

The final step in the process that began with enmity is division.  This is more extreme than dissensions, which involved a still nominally cohesive group, the church.  But when each fleshly motivation is fulfilled, the church ends up fracturing into distinct groups, who can no longer dwell amicably with each other.

Envy

This one shifts the focus back to individuals’ conduct.  Envy is similar to jealousy, but while jealousy aims to get what someone else has, envy also aims to harm the one who has it.

Drunkenness

This one does what it says on the tin.

Orgies

We’re inclined to think this is about sexual depravity; but that’s a side point.  κῶμος-kōmos refers to a pagan ritual, originally for the god of wine, Dionysus.  It was pure sensuality, especially eating, drinking, and dancing with no inhibition or self-control.  When speaking of partying, this is generally what today’s world has in mind. 

…and things like these

This list is not exhaustive!  And what are the consequences of behaving like this?  “I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Ga 5.21).  So, if our lower and higher wills are in conflict, and if we know our own record of sins, how can we expect to inherit the kingdom of God?  Back in Romans 7, Paul asked this, too—then hinted at the answer!

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

(Romans 7.24-25)

Jeremy Nettles

Or was it going to happen anyway?  Is it the work of “the ruler of this world”—Satan (cf. Jn 14.30)—or just chance?  These questions have been topics of debate for thousands of years, involving people from all walks of life, each of whom has an opinion.  Sometimes it spills out into current events, like the recent attempt to assassinate presidential candidate Donald Trump.  Some take note of details that, against the odds, led to his survival, and conclude that God intervened to miraculously rescue him from certain death.  Others scoff at this notion and accuse the former group of narcissistically treating every welcome occurrence as God’s special blessing to them.

It’s always amusing when irreligious people offer up opinions about religious matters; but in this case, the extremes are only slightly exaggerated versions of ideas promoted by those who profess to be Christians!  Some harp on God’s sovereignty, and hold that nothing occurs without God specifically willing it.  Others protest—that would make God the author of evil as well as of good, and mean none of us has free will, but are all puppets, compelled to righteous or evil deeds as it suits his arbitrary purposes.

Those who stress God’s sovereignty have a point.  “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above” (Ja 1.17), and “for those who love God all things work together for good” (Ro 8.28).  Does this mean your paycheck is a gift from God, and not a result of your work?  Well, no.  That’s looking at it from the wrong angle.  Your paycheck is a gift from God, and you earned those wages by your free choice to work for them.  How can both of these be?  God expects us to cooperate with his grace, in the little things as well as the big ones.  He created a universe in which you could earn a living, and molded the unfathomably numerous and complex features of that universe in such a way that, in this case, you received an earthly reward for your work. 

But the other side has a point, too.  Many have worked, without receiving an earthly reward, or had it swept away by the natural world, or stolen by evil men.  Perhaps you’d blame God, if your entire livelihood was lost in, for example, a flood; but again, you’d be looking at it from the wrong perspective.  The book of Job introduces a third option. In the first two chapters Satan takes away everything Job has, in an effort to get him to curse God.  It’s Satan—not God, and not chance!  Yet, where did Satan get this idea?

And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”

(Job 1.8)

So when Job’s wife implores him to “Curse God and die” (2.9), her assumption that God is behind the loss of Job’s children, health, and wealth is not totally wrong.  In fact, Job affirms it, asking her rhetorically, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (v10).  The difference is in the perspective.  Job’s wife expects to see justice in the natural world.  If not, she will accuse God of doing wrong.  Job recognizes that there’s more to the story, and strives to

look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

(2 Corinthians 4.18)

Job was not merely the victim of chance; Satan worked evil against him; but in God’s hands that evil became good, because Job loved God (cf. Ro 8.28).  God didn’t force Job to remain true.  If he had chosen to curse God over his misfortunes, God could have justly condemned him as a traitor.  Instead, God exercised both his inscrutable providence and his visible intervention in order to dispense grace and influence his creations to cooperate with it, by way of reason.

However, fervently attributing each welcome event to God’s intervention reflects a major flaw in the Calvinist philosophy common to most American Protestants.  Many show by their actions that, deep down, they don’t really believe the caricature of predestination they preach.  Others hold a fairly nuanced view compatible with reality.  But there are also plenty who would label this article as heresy, on account of words like “cooperate” and “earned.”  They would point to a number of proof-texts, which in the absence of the context of the entire rest of the Bible would seem to support their position; but in practice, the view is absurdity: if I get what I want, then it’s a gift from God and it testifies to his love for me.  If I don’t get what I want…well, let’s not talk about that.

But as you recoil from that nonsense, be sure to avoid the opposite extreme, which is just as bad—the notion that God is not allowed to intervene in his creation.  It’s fine to shrug and move on, without ascribing an event to God, or to Satan.  But to say, this is not God’s doing; it was going to happen anyway, displays a  profound misunderstanding.  There is no “anyway,” unshackled from God, if he is both omniscient and the creator of the universe.

Although there was nothing in the natural world to inform Job of their cause, the disasters that befell him were evil.  They also worked together for good.  They were Satan’s doing, but they were also God’s doing.  The difference is that Satan was trying to get Job to do evil—“But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face” (Jb 1.11)—while, in the very same events, God was giving Job an opportunity to do good—“He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason” (Jb 2.3).  Don’t get distracted worrying whether an event’s cause is divine, demonic, or natural.  Instead,

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

(1 Thessalonians 5.16-18)

Jeremy Nettles

God labels the gates of the New Jerusalem, symbolic of both the church and of heaven, with “the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel” (Re 21.12).

Reuben

You’d expect Jacob’s firstborn to be a natural leader, and the most favored.  Reuben was not.  He raised frail objections to his brothers’ hateful plans to dispose of Joseph (Ge 37-21-22), and long before that, he “went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine.” (Ge 35.22).  On his deathbed, Jacob was still upset about this (Ge 49.4).  Reuben’s descendants settled on the east side of the Jordan.

Simeon

After his sister Dinah was raped, Simeon “came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males” (Ge 34.25), including the rapist and his father.  Jacob was furious about this.  Simeon’s descendants settled in the south of Israel, and their land eventually was absorbed by the tribe of Judah—as Jacob predicted in Genesis 49.7.

Levi

Levi acted alongside Simeon in the events surrounding Dinah’s rape.  Practically nothing else is recorded about him, but among his descendants were Moses and Aaron, and therefore the priesthood.  The tribe inherited no cohesive territory, but had cities all over Israel, and the sole right and responsibility to serve at the tabernacle and temple.

Judah

The fourth son of Leah pushed to sell Joseph, rather than killing him.  Whether this came from brotherly affection or greed is not told (Ge 37.26-27).  He later treated his daughter-in-law so badly that she seduced him and humiliated him in order to get some relief.  Yet, over the course of the family’s dealings with Joseph in Egypt, he emerged as the de facto leader of his brothers.  He was ready to sacrifice his own freedom in order to save Benjamin from slavery, and spare Jacob the loss of another son, and his growth was rewarded.  Jesus descended from Judah.

Dan

Born to Rachel’s servant Bilhah on Rachel’s behalf, Dan is otherwise unknown.  Jacob said, “Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by the path” (Ge 49.17), which was reflected in a mass murder perpetrated by Dan’s descendants in Judges 18, combined with the tribe’s general apostasy.

Naphtali

Bilhah’s other son receives even less attention in the Bible.  Even about Naphtali’s descendants very little is known except that they settled in the northern parts of Israel.

Gad

Once again, nearly nothing is known about Gad, except that he was born to Zilpah, on Leah’s behalf.  Gad’s descendants settled on the east side of the Jordan, and included some especially adept warriors (1Ch 12.14). 

Asher

Zilpah’s other son likewise receives almost no attention in the Bible.  His progeny settled on the northern coast, near the Phoenicians.  Jacob predicted, “Asher’s food shall be rich, and he shall yield royal delicacies” (Ge 49.20), which suggests they became entangled with these seafaring Canaanites and indulged in the material gains brought by commerce.

Issachar

The birth of Leah’s fifth son is an interesting, if odd, story in Genesis 30.  Continuing the pattern, almost nothing else is known of him, but his tribe settled in the south of the region later called Galilee.  A few leaders came from this tribe, but little is known about them, too.

Zebulun

The sixth and final son of Leah is another whose life story is unknown.  His descendants settled next to the tribe of Issachar.

Joseph

Finally, a son for Rachel!  Joseph’s brothers resented the favor Jacob showed him, and sold him as a slave, yet he ended up ruling Egypt, by God’s providence.  While the tribe of Judah was given hegemony, Joseph got the firstborn’s double portion in the inheritance.  The tribes descended from Manasseh and Ephraim, Joseph’s two sons, each got a generous allotment of land, in the center of Israel and east of the Jordan. 

Benjamin

As she lay dying, Rachel named Jacob’s final son Ben-oni—“son of my pain.”  Jacob vetoed his favorite wife’s last wish, and instead called the child Ben-jamin—“son of the right hand,” associated with strength and blessing.  Both names seem appropriate.  The boy was sheltered by his father, until he found himself at the center of the drama when his family went to Joseph for food.  His descendants settled just north of Judah’s territory, and were nearly exterminated by the other tribes in an overreaction to horrible sins committed by Benjaminites.  Among Benjamin’s descendants were Saul—the first king of Israel—as well as Saul—the last Apostle of Jesus.  They were known as formidable warriors, and had plenty of opportunity to prove it.

§

Many of our earthly expectations are subverted in the stories of the twelve sons of Jacob.  Those who rose to prominence are generally not the one’s we’d expect, and some of the most prominent are also guilty of the worst sins!  It all serves to illustrate God’s ways.  The Father told Moses,

“I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”

(Exodus 33.19)

And his Son tells us,

“behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

(Luke 13.30)

Jeremy Nettles

A commonly held ambition is to change the world.  It shows up everywhere, including the lyrics of the 1968 Beatles song, “Revolution”:

You say you want a revolution.

Well, you know

We all wanna change the world.

You tell me that it’s evolution.

Well, you know

We all wanna change the world.

Vaunted sage John Lennon took for granted that we all share this inclination, and while he was mistaken about many things, on this he had a point.  It grows, in part, from a desire for personal notoriety.  But for most of those trying to change the world, it goes without saying that they want to change it for the better, so there’s clearly another motivation.  After all, Hitler changed the world and gained notoriety, but that’s not the kind of legacy most pursue!  Everyone has opinions about the status quo, and whether the present arrangement is acceptable—it never is.  The next step is to formulate a plan for fixing the world’s problems; yet no two people give exactly the same prescription.  Each man’s ideas grow from his own experience and imagination.  In dreaming up a perfect world, he shows the other motivation—to create something in his own, unique image.

Both of these motivations imitate God!  Of his mercy toward Israel God said,

“For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.”

(Isaiah 48.11)

And of his creation of mankind he said,

“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion…”

(Genesis 1.26)

Not only does God pursue his own glory, but in his potent imagination, he designed and created a race of men who resemble him in many respects.  As God has dominion over creation, so man has a lesser dominion.  As God imagines and creates, so man does the same, but at a much lower level again.

We all want to change the world.  Most of want to change it for the better.  But take a look at the history of mankind.  How have we fared?  We’ve multiplied and filled the earth, and managed to discover methods to feed eight billion people, and to drastically reduce infant and maternal death rates.  We have created amazing conveniences, including access to clean water, transportation, information, and a host of other blessings that just a few hundred years ago would  have seemed possible.  We’ve also come within a whisker of exterminating humanity a few times, and amplified war, murder, enslavement, and oppression to previously unimagined levels.  Win some, lose some.

The greatest world-changer is Jesus.  Within a century of his death, burial, and resurrection his church spread across the known world, and the transformation has continued for nearly two thousand years.  When Paul and his helpers preached the gospel of Christ, the inhabitants of one city said they had “turned the world upside down” (Ac 17.6).  God himself had described his plans thus:

“Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in…”

(Haggai 2.6-7)

How does this topsy-turvy, fundamentally changed world appear?  What sort of earth-shattering deeds did Jesus accomplish?

Jesus…rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

(John 13.3-5)

Radicalism!  What did he tell his followers?

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…”

(Matthew 5.44)

What a horrifying thought!  Furthermore,

“it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

(Acts 15.28-29)

It’s an extremist cult!  And it gets crazier.

But we urge you, brothers, …to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders…

(1 Thessalonians 4.11)

Can a society survive, if people behave like this?  But you won’t believe what comes next.

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

(1 Timothy 2.1-4)

What sort of deranged fanatic would engage in such irresponsible and reckless behavior?

These examples are, of course, cherry-picked; but while you might have thought it overt sarcasm to characterize them as dangerous, extreme ideas, it was really just a slight exaggeration.  These behaviors seem boring and inoffensive; but if you consistently engage in them, you’ll find that the world takes great offense!  In a word, they are revolutionary.  If you want to change the world, your best strategy is to follow Jesus’ example.  Instead of pursuing your own glory, proclaim God’s.  Instead of attempting to refashion the world after your own image and likeness, restore it to his.  Really, in the grand scheme of things, you don’t have it in you to change the world for the better.  The only way is to hand the reins over to Jesus.

Jeremy Nettles

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.

(Genesis 1.1-2)

The first two sentences of the Bible testify to  the central truth of our lives.  There exists an all-powerful being, independent of the natural universe, and he is its designer and builder.  Just saying it doesn’t make it so, but the purpose of Genesis is not to prove anything.  Rather, it provides answers from that powerful, transcendent being—let’s call him God—that we can choose to to reject, or to accept on faith.  The Apostle Paul later observed that “what can be known about God is plain to” all mankind,

because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

(Romans 1.19-20)

The creation itself testifies to its creator; but what else does he tell us about the process?

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

(Genesis 1.3-5)

God took the formless “void” of verse 2, and started not only making new things, but creating order, as well.  Light was new, but God didn’t completely banish the darkness that had existed already.  Instead, he gave boundaries to each, and arranged a pattern for later, as yet nonexistent intelligent minds to discover, analyze, and appreciate.

And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” …And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

(Genesis 1.6-8)

This is another setting of boundaries, another layer of order imposed upon the primeval chaos.  This time the entities organized are more concrete, but still vast.  The result is another pair of distinct arenas, unpopulated for now, but with endless potential.

And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.

…And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. …And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

(Genesis 1.9-13)

God already organized the creation into vertical divisions, and now he does the same horizontally.  This is also the first appearance of life—plant, and not animal.  When we consider the arrangement of the story, it’s clear that God considers this to be part of the environment—the background, and not among the proper subjects of his creation, which will begin to appear, the next day.

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night.” …And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

(Genesis 1.14-19)

Now we have things that move.  They’re described in figurative terms, as if they had their own agency, to “rule” over day and night (v16)—the domains created on Day 1.

And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” …And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

(Genesis 1.20-23)

Animal life is made on Day 5, and the sheer multitude—“swarms”—highlights that the creation has gone from chaos, to order, to a level of complexity that appears, from a distance, to be more chaos!  These creatures populate the domains God created on Day 2.

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.

…Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

        male and female he created them.

…And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

(Genesis 1.24-31)

The final level of complexity comes with independent creatures inhabiting the domains created on Day 3.  This culminates in the most important of God’s creations, man, who sits atop the hierarchy of creatures, and is the only creation to bear the image of God.  The rest was all made in service to this greatest specimen of God’s handiwork.

And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.

(Genesis 2.2)

The narrative does little, up to this point, to explain what is the purpose of all this; but God clearly considers it a job well done, and his cessation of activity on the seventh day constitutes, in a way, one final creation—the concept of satisfied rest.  If we appreciate his creation, we also ought to long for that same sense of completion and delight, as well as to share them with God, in God’s own presence.

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest…

(Hebrews 4.9-11)

Jeremy Nettles