Over the last several days, we have covered all the names Peter gives to us as Christians. Yesterday we concluded with the last of the three Peter employed in the 1 Peter 2:11-12, exiles. Having completed, or at least attempted, the study of each of the names, it’s time we got to Peter’s exhortation. Peter says that as we are these things, beloved, sojourners, and exiles, we should abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against our souls. We covered these passions in some detail in the study Inordinate Desire. (I recommend reading if you are wondering to what Peter is here referring.) So, today I want to focus on the quality these passions have of waging war, and look at what the Bible says about waging war against them.
11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
1 Peter 2:11-12
A conundrum
Let us first start with a bit of a conundrum. If you have been with me for a long time, you will know that my first studies for this site were over James. James brings in a concept that at first glance seems to contradict with Peter. Let’s put the two verses here and then we can walk through what the implications might be.
We have 1 Peter 2:11 which says, “…the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” And, in James 1:13-14 we read, “13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”
I suppose for you, dear reader, there may not seem to be any conundrum. But, let me explain the difficulty from my perspective. When I think of the concept of passions of the flesh and waging war against your soul, I am envisioning temptations coming from “outside.” Where do we get this notion? And, is it at all true? Then, we have James explaining to us that temptation does not come without, but from within. Finally, we have the results. James says, these temptations (and, via Peter, let’s apply “which wage war against your soul”) “give birth to sin.” So, it seems we must wage war with ourselves, because we are already waging war against our souls. See what I mean?
Are we tempted by devils?
Let’s answer the questions above, first, then we can perhaps look for some answers to how we might in turn wage war against the passions of the flesh.
First, I think the notion of temptation from outside is not simple folly. When we imagine some minor demon laying out before us forbidden fruit which we know we ought to resist even looking at, much less taste, we aren’t being simple-minded morons. We have the prototype for this sort of interaction in scripture. And, if you were raised in a church, it was very likely one of the first lessons you learned.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
Genesis 3:1-7
The serpent
Probably I do not have time this morning to really cover all the implications related to temptation and sin these verses contain. But, for today’s application, let’s look at what temptation comes from outside, and what from inside. Here, we see the serpent asking a question, “Did God actually say…” Next, we have the serpent calling God a liar, “You will not surely die.” Before we move on, it’s interesting to point out here that the serpent, with a single phrase, not only declares God to be lying. He also essentially tells Eve, (using modern English parlance) “It will be okay.” Finally, we have the serpent actually tempting Eve. He tempts her with the prospect of being “like God.”
So, briefly, Satan brings a question, calls God a liar, assures Eve it will actually be okay, then tempts her. We can say that the question, the disbelief, the false assurance, and the temptation to autonomy (we can call it pride, maybe? But, regardless, it is our desire to take God’s place as our own deity.) all came from Satan. This is waging war from outside.
What about ourselves?
But, did any of the temptation come from within Eve herself? Yes. Eve “saw that the tree was good for food.” Next, she desired it because of its appearance. It was “a delight to the eyes.” Finally, and here’s where the temptation of Satan takes fruit (if you will pardon a pun during this serious discussion) within Eve’s own mind, Eve desired the fruit because of its secret virtues.
(This notion of Eve desiring the fruit because of something secret, something hidden, something she lacked which only it might provide is really profound. I wish I could explore this concept a while. But, I fear we must move on. Maybe I will someday get to cover Genesis. Then we might linger here for days. Alas, today is not the day!)
Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the pride of life
So then, with Eve, we see there is a lust of the flesh, a lust of the eyes, and finally pride. Does that sound familiar? I hope it does. We know from the apostle John’s writing that these three are key components of a worldly person. We know from the apostle James’ writing, and from Eve’s example, that these come from within. And, we know from the apostle Peter’s writing that they wage war against our souls.
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
1 John 2:15-17
Whence comes temptation?
Okay, let’s sum up where temptation comes from. It may be that questioning and doubting God’s word come from Satan. It may be that the temptation to be our own God comes from Satan. But, clearly the passions of the flesh which wage war on our souls come from inside ourselves. So then, Peter is, by way of inference, urging us to wage war against our own flesh.
As sojourners and exiles, wage war
This is actually much easier to grasp when we consider the verse in its entirety, along with Genesis 3, and the verses from James and John. Peter is urging us to abstain from the passions of the flesh as sojourners and exiles. We covered each of those in previous studies. (If you would like to read those, you can do so here: Sojourners, Exiles.) Basically, we are to live as those looking forward to that which God has promised. Doubting the promise, questioning the one who promised, and desiring to be rid of Him, may very well come form Satan. But, the temptation to indulge in our illicit desires for whatever we see and imagine with our eyes focused on the world around us, comes from within ourselves. It comes from our love of the world, as John puts it.
How then do we wage war against these desires within ourselves?
Walk by the Spirit
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 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. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Galatians 5:16-24
When we add in the apostle Paul’s writing here, we really do have the answer. Let’s see if I can put it together succinctly.
Our own desires wage war against our souls
We know from Eve’s example and from the writing of James that the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride that seeks to magnify the self all come from inside ourselves. We know from John’s writing that these things are from the world, i.e., they are from what was created, not from the Creator. Paul writes that they are in opposition to the Spirit. And, Peter writes that they wage war against our souls. And, from James, we know that when we fulfill these worldly desires which come from within, it gives birth to sin. John says that those who love these things which give birth to sin, do not love God. James says that allowing these sins to grow to maturity leads to death.
Walking in the Spirit, we wage war against our desires
But, if we wage war against these passions, what then? Peter urges us to live as exiles and sojourners – those living in the world, but living with eternal promises in mind. Essentially, Peter says that if we live eternally minded, we will abstain from the desires which lead to sin and death. Paul exhorts us to walk by the Spirit, being led by it, and producing spiritual fruit. He tells us that those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh and its desires. Crucified desires are not left to live and grow from sin into death. John says that those who do the will of the Father abide forever.
I have cited a number of other verses which might here be applied in order to wage war against the desires which come from within us. You can check out Inordinate Desire for more specifically related to this topic.
Hopefully this has been beneficial to someone. I know it has been to me! I pray we will all grow so that we walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh. I pray you will truly have a love for the Father and not for the world, and that together we will abide forever in the presence of our God.
