And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
They that are Christ's have put the sinful selfish lower nature with its passions, desires and lusts to death. This marks the dividing line between the manifest works of the flesh that bar from the kingdom of God and the fruit of the Spirit against which there is no law. It is a painful daily struggle of denying self, renouncing personal will and cherished pursuits, and following Christ in small self-denials at every step. It is not outward penance by bodily mortification to earn pardon, but the work of the Holy Spirit received by faith that clasps Christ's strength, cleansing the heart and fashioning the life after His likeness. When it is real it is the evidence of true conversion, bearing the fruit of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance, without vainglory, envy or provoking one another, and bringing appetites, habits and passions into subjection to Christ.
Words and Immediate Context
Those who belong to Christ have put the sinful, selfish, lower nature with its passions, desires, cravings and lusts to death. The old self has not been crucified while temper, malice, hatred, strife and other carnal traits still rule, while the renewed heart bears the Spirit's fruit and subdues self by ongoing personal effort. This death to self is the Bible standard by which perfection of character is tested, known by its fruit and opposed to criticizing and faultfinding, vainglory, provoking one another and envying one another. It belongs with living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit in love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance, manifesting the fruits of righteousness in obedience to inspiration.
Flesh, fleshly and carnal lusts denote the lower, corrupt nature, whose animal propensities must not rule the whole person but be brought into subjection to the higher powers of soul, will and reason. The crucifixion is accomplished by putting to death temptation to sin, not by inflicting pain on the body, with corrupt thoughts expelled and every thought brought into captivity to Christ. God's love is to reign supreme, with body and members as His purchased possession serving righteousness, appetites and passions brought under control of conscience and spiritual affections, and the mind's higher powers ruling the body. The body is the medium through which mind and soul are developed for upbuilding of character, and Satan directs temptation to enfeebling and degrading the physical powers because success there surrenders the whole being to evil, so unless physical nature is under dominion of a higher power it will work ruin and death. Crucifying the flesh means passions controlled by the will, the will itself under God's control, and reason sanctified by divine grace bearing sway, with complete self-control possible only in strength from Christ as the higher powers hold rightful dominion over the lower. The lower nature with all its inclinations must be subdued and crucified because it is not subject to God's law and cannot be, keeping the body under, uprooting every affection and impulse contrary to God's will, with food helping or hindering so that a plain, simple but liberal diet of fruits, vegetables and grains best aids those preparing for God's work.
The verse stands as the dividing line between the manifest works of the flesh, the evil fruit of an evil tree that bar from inheriting the kingdom of God, and the fruit of the Spirit against which there is no law and no condemnation. The truly sanctified who belong to Christ are under no condemnation because they do not walk after the flesh but after the Spirit, cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfecting holiness in the fear of God. That cleansing puts to death fleshly lusts such as idolatry, drunkenness and like indulgences of appetite and passion, and instead walks in the Spirit bearing temperance and self-denial in physical habits and health. Bearing love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance results in bearing one another's burdens and so fulfilling the law of Christ, without vainglory, provocation or envy.
Those who belong to Christ are His property bought with His blood, and through His imputed righteousness they strive to keep God's commandments and glorify God in body and spirit by representing Christ. Abiding in Christ as the branch abides in the vine, they put the selfish nature with its desires to death and prove fruit-bearers by pure words, unselfish planning in Christ's meekness and lowliness, and softened hearts full of sympathy, love and compassion, not fractious when displeased and free from vainglory, provoking and envying. Belonging to Christ is vital connection with Him, sharing His Spirit and the divine nature, expressed as being dead to the world and crucified to the world, renewed in knowledge and true holiness. Mere profession of faith, church membership or church record does not make a person a Christian or child of God.
If believers live in the Spirit they must also walk in the Spirit, working out salvation with fear and trembling because God works within to will and to do of His good pleasure. The person does not use the Holy Spirit but the Holy Spirit uses the person, cleansing and fashioning after Christ's likeness to bear love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance, not with a pompous, overbearing spirit. That cleansing puts to death everything savoring of strife, and for workers in the Lord's vineyard it means faithfulness to God and to one another, with loyalty to the Owner and disinterested love in cultivating the soil so rich clusters testify to the Source of supplies. It means practical godliness and daily conversion, speaking the same thing, perfectly joined in the same mind and judgment with no divisions, bearing the infirmities of the weak, being of one mind and living in peace with the God of love and peace present.
What Crucifixion Requires
Crucifixion of self is a painful struggle that comes after feeling need of atonement and desiring a changed heart, requiring renouncing personal will and cherished objects of affection and pursuit and warring against temptations without and within. Many hesitate, falter and turn back at the effort required, yet every truly converted heart must fight and win this battle before entering union with Christ. That union begins only after selfish desires are put to death, like a dry and apparently lifeless branch grafted into a living tree to become a living branch of the True Vine bearing the same fruit Christ bore, and it is preserved only by continual earnest painstaking effort with Christ exercising power to preserve and guard the sacred tie and the dependent helpless sinner acting his part with untiring energy, or Satan will separate him from Christ.
It is never a past profession alone but a present experience, a measure of advancement in the divine life shown in victories over feelings, failings and waywardness and in no longer living for own interests and pleasures. It gives strength from God to engage in spiritual warfare and belongs to putting on the armor of God and the whole armor of righteousness, while those who have never done it make no advancement in piety, receive no spiritual nourishment, become dead branches congenial to the world's amusements and attractions, have a name to live while dead, disperse no light with untrimmed and unburning lamps, dishonor the religion of Jesus Christ, become stumblingblocks, and have no power for the fight not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness. Being Christ's is not mere profession but experiencing this crucifixion in constant warfare against the flesh and against the inclinations, vanity and pride of the heart, refusing to live in dead hope without growth and refusing to lower the standard of Bible religion to personal attainments. It requires preparing to meet hardships and the assaults of Satan, and by the Spirit of the Master denying self and suffering for Christ's sake and going forth to labor to save souls.
It must be done at every step and daily by constantly submitting human will, ways, plans and ideas to God's will and way, refusing supremacy to peculiar ideas and self-confidence, overcoming besetting sins and evil habits, and rooting out wrong dispositions and feelings so the Spirit can form holy tempers and emotions and constantly transform character, ways and manners with more of Christ and less of self. God cannot work in the heart to will and to do of His good pleasure unless self is crucified, and work attempted in human strength will grievously fail. To crucify self means to become His disciple only on condition of denying self daily and taking up the cross and following Him, to be partakers with Christ in His sufferings and sacrifices, and to imitate Him in daily small self-crossings and denial of personal inclinations. Selfishness and self-esteem and exhibiting self are the opposite of this requirement and are unlike Christ and the example He gave in His own life.
It means much more than many suppose and requires counting the cost, because no one will succeed without strenuous effort and spiritually exercising all the powers to put the flesh with its affections and lusts to death. It means heeding every word of counsel, refusing indifference in words and actions, teaching these lessons in the family circle, refusing to be off guard, and watching and praying to keep from entering temptation. For those pledged to Christ's service it means diligence, faithful work doing all possible to win souls to Christ, and constant watchfulness to stay faithful unto death and fight the good fight of faith until the warfare is ended so that as overcomers they receive the crown of life.
It means unreserved consecration to God of body and soul with all energies and capabilities throughout the entire period of probation, allowing no indolence but requiring continual advancement. Every ordinary or peculiar power, endowment and faculty is claimed by God in trust, and to withhold these from God is robbery toward Him, while every talent is a sacred trust to be used and improved, enlarged and strengthened by use in accordance with His will, so that divine light and power are communicated to the world. Well-improved talents bring increased talents, while gifts buried in worldliness and selfishness decrease and are cut off, and growing in Christ requires putting physical and intellectual powers to use by human exertion and taxing them to the very uttermost for God. Youth and children must be taught this, whose forgiven first love, simple testimonies, cheerful service and grateful thanks are sweet fragrance and acceptable to God.
It means unconditional surrender of the heart and affections to God, loving Christ above friends, brothers, sisters, father, mother, houses, lands and the world, choosing Christ over the world, aiming to glorify God and attain His moral likeness. It binds by baptismal vows to honor the Creator by resolutely denying self and crucifying affections and lusts, bringing even the thoughts into obedience to the will of Christ. It is the turning-point of destiny for youth, with strength in God to resist temptation when it cannot be shunned, and with the promise that suffering with Christ leads to glory in His everlasting kingdom for those who sacrifice all for Him.
It is not bodily penance or self-mortification by sackcloth, chains, fasting, sleeplessness, scourgings, nettles or galling chains to earn pardon and peace, and such outward mortification does not take the place of inwardly renouncing sin and crucifying lusts. Fastings, sleeplessness and scourgings as painful efforts to become holy weakened without relieving the burdened soul. Such outward mortification is easier to the self-indulgent, carnal, unrenewed heart that loves self-indulgence than inwardly renouncing sin, opening the soul to God, and bowing to the yoke of Christ with a heart renewed by the Spirit of God and planted firmly on the foundation of truth. Outward religion prefers confessing to a fellow mortal rather than to God, doing penance rather than renouncing sin, and holding a form of godliness without the power amid seductive pomp and ceremony.
Mere profession of faith, church membership or church record does not make a person a Christian or child of God, for to be a Christian means to be Christlike and united with Christ and to represent the character of Christ. That identity comes through vital connection with Christ, sharing His Spirit and the divine nature, expressed as being dead to the world and crucified to the world with renewal in knowledge and true holiness, and whether the heart has been penetrated by the light of Christ and whether justice and purity and truth abide within is known by the fruits that appear. A profession of Christ is not genuine discipleship while a person continues in wrongdoing, worldliness or half-hearted allegiance, and anyone willing to continue in gratifying lust, spending time gratifying fleshly lusts, or keeping up a form of religion while refusing to stop lusts that sacrifice physical strength and reason and destroy comfort, health and conscience, is deceived, is not in favor with God, and never can be His follower until the wrong is stopped and righteousness is practiced. Merely professing Christ without engaging in constant warfare against the selfishness and pride of the heart is not Christianity, and hoping to grow better without advancing dishonors the Bible religion by lowering the standard, leaving people like a fruitless fig tree cumbering the ground, unprepared to meet the assaults of Satan and lacking the Spirit of the Master they greatly need.
How God Accomplishes It
Abundant provision has been made through Jesus the divine Redeemer so that all who desire to live godly have grace and strength to put the flesh with its affections and lusts to death, though lifting the cross and bearing burdens is still required. The Christian life is therefore not to be one of burdens and cares, for strength and peace are drawn from the Source of strength and the life becomes full of happiness and peace. Those thus supplied bear the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance — against which there is no law.
It is the work of the Holy Spirit to cleanse and to fashion the person after Christ's likeness, rooting out wrong dispositions, habits and feelings, including everything that savors of strife, and forming holy tempers and sanctified emotions. This cannot be accomplished by human resolve alone, by trying to reform by one's own strength, or by merely acknowledging imperfections while particular sins are retained. Each wrong act indulged strengthens the old selfish nature, while full surrender seeks His power to do His will. The gospel with the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit brings renewal from an earthly, sensual state to spiritual soundness, transforming from moral corruption that ends in death to escape from the world's corruption through lust, participation in the divine nature, and reflection of Christ's image. For workers in the Lord's vineyard this means faithfulness to God and to one another, with loyalty to the Owner and disinterested love marking the life while cultivating the soil, so that living in the Spirit becomes walking in the Spirit without vainglory, provoking one another, or envying one another, and rich clusters of fruit testify to the Source of supplies.
The putting to death comes by faith that clasps the hand of Christ in every place and emergency, taking hold of His strength and efficiency with a trust He will never disappoint. Victory is entered into by faith in the victory Christ has gained, while doing all that can be done on one's part, by taking hold of faith and the grace and power of God and following the light God has given to gain victory over self and self-confidence and peculiar besetments. Daily resistance to inclinations and a perverse temperament that would turn the will toward wrong continues as Christians grow, and this trust gives strength from God, a sanctified heart and judgment, might in word and power of the Spirit, and at last a crown of glory brilliant with stars. Such faith is the evidence of true conversion, making the renewed person good like a tree made good so as always to bear good fruit in pleasant words, true courtesy, and unselfish actions, with character made fragrant and life freed from overbearing and oppression.
It comes through coming to the cross of Calvary as the source of all power, where Christ gave Himself to redeem from all iniquity and make a pure people eager for good works. Seen in the light shining from that cross, sin appears too mean, too perilous and too fearful to indulge. Taking up the cross placed by Christ and bearing it after Him gives spiritual life and strength and excellency, with the two great principles of the law cherished in deep earnest sympathy and love to God and man, with elevated moral taste and controlled and sanctified passions, and with Christ set forth as altogether lovely and chiefest among ten thousand.
It comes by seeking God with the whole heart in repentance, humiliation and confession, receiving light and life and power from the Holy Spirit to do right because it is right. It comes by hourly contact and earnest communion with God and by earnestly and constantly seeking the divine presence, drawing close to Jesus, watching continually unto prayer, and doing everything as in the immediate presence of God, in full view of pure angels and the Redeemer. Adorning profession by a well-ordered life and godly conduct, with tastes, appetites, habits and passions all placed under the control of the Spirit of God, keeps from straying into forbidden paths, saves from yielding to temptation, and keeps pure, spotless and undefiled unto the end. Those who live this way bear love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance, possess the heavenly endowments of whatever is honest and lovely and of good report, hold the beginning of confidence firm unto the end, have the way established in God, and what grace has begun glory will crown in the kingdom of God.
It comes by studying the Word of God and making it the rule of life and the great lesson book, practicing its teachings and teaching it in love. Through Christ's grace the flesh with its affections and lusts must be put to death, laying aside worldly wisdom, self-sufficiency, insubordination, self-kindled light and personal theories. Man cannot interpret Scripture correctly by his own light and narrow comprehension, but only when this crucifixion has taken place can he have an eye single to discern and understand the high things of God from the heart, gaining a humble, God-centered understanding rather than one shaped by self-sufficiency. Then natural and cultivated traits are greatly improved, selfishness is cut away, pure uncorrupted sympathy constantly grows, the heart is brought into captivity to Christ as branches grafted into the True Vine, good fruit appears, character expresses the likeness of Christ's character, and the person becomes a partaker of the divine nature.
When Christ dwells within, the flesh with its affections and lusts is crucified, with temptation resisted and life lived in purity. Self with its affections and lusts must be crucified at every step by constantly submitting human will, ways, plans and ideas to God's will and way, refusing supremacy to peculiar ideas and self-confidence, conquering besetting sins, overcoming evil habits, and rooting out wrong dispositions and feelings so the Spirit begets holy tempers and emotions and constantly transforms character, ways and manners with more of Christ and less of self. God cannot work in the heart to will and to do of His good pleasure unless self is thus crucified, and work attempted in human strength will grievously fail.
Changed Character and Fruit
Crucifixion of the flesh is the evidence of true conversion and of a deeper work of conversion, for the old life has passed away and all things have become new. Those renewed to righteousness are made good as a tree is made good, so that they always bear good fruit, and whether justice and purity and truth abide within is known by the fruits that appear, since mere church membership does not make a person a Christian. To be a Christian is to be Christlike and united with Christ and to represent His character.
When the crucifixion is real the heart is subdued and softened by deep cleansing, selfishness is cut away, natural and cultivated traits of character are greatly improved, and pure uncorrupted sympathy constantly grows. This means allowing grace to change habits and letting the Spirit rule the heart, working for souls with humble trustful dependence upon God. The radiance of His Spirit is then reflected in a Christlike character, with sympathy, kindness, forbearance and love as abiding principles that bless all around.
It is an internal sanctification that appears in outward experience as Christlike character, adorning the doctrine by grace and meekness and showing inward sanctification in outward character. Character is made fragrant and life is freed from all overbearing and oppression, in pleasant words, true courtesy and unselfish actions, with pure words and unselfish plans, meekness, humility, sympathy, love and compassion. This belongs with learning in the school of Christ and continually studying His Spirit, life and character, being clothed with humility, showing no anger toward the spiritually blind, no harshness of spirit, no coarseness of speech and no thorns to prick and bruise others, while holding truth firm and removing prejudice. It also means letting go of self and avoiding vainglory, provoking others and envy, but living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit.
Those who have crucified the flesh bear the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance — against which there is no law and no condemnation of the law. True consecration that makes worship acceptable to God is proved as a tree is proved by its harvest, not by large organs and vocal and instrumental music, and those who abide in Christ have peace, happiness and a firm hope that earthly storms cannot sweep away. If believers live in the Spirit they must also walk in the Spirit, with tastes and appetites brought into captivity to Christ and passions kept under control so the mind is clear for the Spirit to work, and with gospel principles received in home life and daily experience. Then, holding the cross of Calvary as abiding hope, drawing inspiration from Christ and linked brother with brother, they develop the attributes of Christ, speak the same thing, are perfectly joined in the same mind and judgment with no divisions, bear the infirmities of the weak, and live in peace with the God of love and peace present.
The old self has not been crucified when temper, malice, hatred, strife, impatience, fault-finding, overbearing behavior, uncontrolled temper, harshness, desire to rule, pride, self-rule, carnal enmity, suspicion, envy and jealousy still rule. Hidden unamiable traits revealed in words and actions show that self is still alive, and a person controlled by self is not Christlike, for a Christian has humility and a meek quiet spirit that can bear contradiction without anger. Such a state produces inner conflict and spiritual pride, lets the lower brutish nature rule the spiritual life, and requires ongoing personal effort, patience, forbearance and calmness to subdue a hasty temper and control impulses that lead to hurtful judgments, condemnation and resentment. Christ alone can remove these defects and restore the person to meekness.
Inherited or learned tendencies to wrong need not rule or be carried along, but through the power God gives they can be overcome, the carnal heart subdued and transformed into subjection to Christ. This means walking in the Spirit rather than fulfilling fleshly lusts, yielding the body to God as an instrument of righteousness in bodily and mental purity, in obedience to God's law. When grace takes possession of the heart a new life under God's control begins, and the whole person — body, soul and spirit — is brought under God's direction and used as an instrument of righteousness, with selfishness put away, so as to become holy as God is holy.
Those who abide in the true Vine overcome wrong feelings and conduct with Christ's help, walk in the Spirit, show Christ's character in life, and bear fruit that helps bring others to Him. Their lives testify before the universe that they are striving to obey God's law, and by the miracle-working power of the gospel they dwell on whatever is true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report. This comes when workers study the Bible, practice its teachings and teach the Word in love, and then good fruit appears in love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance.
Unity Instead of Rivalry
Those who belong to Christ have put the flesh with its passions, desires and cravings to death, and this belongs with living and walking by the Spirit rather than giving in to fleshly impulses. It rules out being desirous of vainglory or empty praise, provoking one another, and envying one another. It is known by its fruit and is part of the Bible standard by which ideas about perfection of character must be tested, standing opposed to a spirit of criticizing and faultfinding. To live in the Spirit is also to walk in the Spirit in love, joy, peace, long-suffering or patience, gentleness or kindness, goodness, faith or faithfulness, meekness, and temperance or self-control, against which there is no law to condemnation.
Those who have crucified the flesh cherish and manifest love, deference and respect for brethren, speak the same thing, and are perfectly joined together in the same mind and judgment. They put away division, discord, contention, prejudice, and differences even in opinion, bear one another's burdens and the infirmities of the weak, and so fulfill the law of Christ. To be a Christian in this sense means to be Christlike and united with Christ, to represent the character of Christ, and to have the heart penetrated by His light so that justice and purity and truth abide within, which church membership alone does not give and which is known by the fruits that appear. Death to self in this way brings being perfect, of good comfort, of one mind, living in peace, with the God of love and peace present.
Death to self is shown by humility under God, willingness to suffer for Christ's sake and to strive for spirituality, and putting away all sins, especially striving for supremacy, seeking to be first, unholy selfish ambition, vainglory, provoking and envying, and speaking to disparage associates to others. Only those who do this, bearing the fruit of the Spirit and walking in the Spirit, will stand approved of God in the near judgment when every work and secret motive is revealed, be lifted up and honored by the Lord instead of humbled and made last, and gain heaven inside the holy city instead of being shut out for cherishing Satan's attributes. For workers in the Lord's vineyard this means, through the Holy Spirit's cleansing work putting to death especially everything that savors of strife, faithfulness to God and to one another, with loyalty to the Owner and disinterested love marking their lives as they labor to cultivate the soil. Then living in the Spirit becomes walking in the Spirit without vainglory, provocation or envy, and rich clusters of fruit testify to the Source from which supplies are drawn.
For students in divided schools made like the schools of the prophets, it means making the Bible the great lesson book, becoming thorough students and doers of the Word, digging deep and laying a sure foundation through obedience to all the requirements of God, thereby preparing to graduate to the higher school. When the crucifixion is real the heart is subdued and softened by deep cleansing and the fruit appears in good works to the glory of God, in working for souls with humble, trustful dependence upon God and the radiance of His Spirit reflected in a Christlike character. It keeps from exalting self over another, making "I" prominent, esteeming self above others, reining others up to one's own ideas and experience of confession, criticizing or manifesting a harsh, denunciatory spirit, seeking high excitement, exercising one's own spirit, or marring God's work. Instead it brings Jesus into the work, lets Him into the heart, seeks to glorify Him and not self, and makes sympathy, kindness, forbearance and love abiding principles that reveal His love and the peaceable fruits of righteousness, so that He reveals Himself as a mighty Worker in the midst of His workers and they see His salvation.
Self is unholy ambition to be first and desire for prominence of self, which places a person on Satan's side of the controversy. Crucifying self in all who would be laborers together with God keeps the soul in the love of God by faith, enables walking in the footsteps of Jesus in the short time remaining, meets the call for advanced reform, and lets character stand God's testing. It brings self-will under control, corrects weaknesses of character, and removes selfishness so believers can serve together in harmony. It enables enduring being misapprehended, alienated, misrepresented, unappreciated and disparaged without becoming weak and despondent over supposed neglect, serving God with full purpose of heart as a partaker of Christ's sufferings in order to be a partaker with Him of His glory.
Temperate and Pure Living
To belong to Christ is to have put the lower nature to death with its passions and desires, living a life of resistance to self-indulgence and walking by the Spirit in temperance and self-denial in physical habits and health, cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit to perfect holiness in reverence for God, with temperance as fruit of the Spirit in contrast to fulfilling fleshly lusts such as idolatry, drunkenness and like indulgences of appetite and passion. Tastes, appetites, habits, passions, physical powers and mental faculties are brought into captivity to Christ and under control of the Spirit, conscience and spiritual affections through hourly contact and earnest communion with God, so that the mind is clear for the Spirit to work, the nerves steadied, duty seen clearly, and spiritual strength and understanding of eternal things unhindered. Those controlled by passion cannot follow Christ while devoted to evil and unwilling to leave corrupt habits for His service, for restraint must reach inner motives and be grounded in firm principle and not merely outward conduct.
The body is brought into subjection to the higher powers of the being as the medium through which mind and soul are developed for the upbuilding of character, with passions controlled by the will, the will itself under God's control, and reason sanctified by divine grace bearing sway. Satan directs temptation to enfeebling and degrading the physical powers because success there means surrender of the whole being to evil, and unless physical nature is under dominion of a higher power it will work ruin and death; fallen nature is not arrayed against God but appetites and passions are brought under control in God-given manhood and womanhood as conquerors, with complete self-control possible only in strength from Jesus Christ. Desires no longer rule conduct, but the mind is trained and desires and conduct brought under God's Spirit rather than impulse, pleasure, vanity, self-reliance, self-confidence or selfish desire, choosing even food and clothing to preserve health and strength for serving Christ rather than to gratify appetite, seek display or follow fashion. Those who sow to the flesh reap corruption.
Indulging lustful appetite wars against the soul and hinders spiritual growth, troubling the conscience so that persons take offense at truth and withdraw from gatherings, while cherishing such desires makes a person vulnerable to reproof and leaves truth wounding the conscience. Continual indulgence in harmful desires makes consecration of the heart to God impossible and makes sanctification of body and spirit and perfection of Christian character impossible, for a diseased body and disordered intellect from wrong habits cannot maintain consecration, and only a living, holy, sound offering and not a diseased decaying one is acceptable to God. This self-control including temperance in appetite and keeping the body under in healthful condition belongs to consecrating the body to God. A habit of using alcohol or stimulating drinks must not be continued moderately within bounds but must be put to death by total abstinence with full cooperation, aroused moral powers, looking to Jesus and trusting His grace to overcome the unnatural craving, regaining lost self-control because self-indulgence is moral sin and physical disease, and keeping body in healthful condition to do God's will and intellect clear and active to think candidly and control all powers, since a person is not his own but God's property purchased at infinite price with every faculty to be employed in His service.
Attachment to tea, tobacco and flesh-meats as harmful stimulants must be overcome as acquired depraved appetite, for indulging appetite hinders spiritual growth and makes people resist truth while giving it up removes that hindrance. Food eaten helps or hinders the work of subduing the lower nature which is not subject to God's law and cannot be, uprooting every affection and impulse contrary to God's will and keeping the body under in subjection, so a plain, simple but liberal diet of fruits, vegetables and grains best aids those preparing for God's work. No matter how high the profession, anyone willing to be employed in gratifying lust of the flesh cannot be a Christian but is deceived and not in favor with God, for indulgence including self-abuse wrecks humanity in body and mind and is an abomination that sacrifices physical strength and reason and destroys comfort, health and conscience. Christ's servants give employment, meditations, work, thoughts and pleasure to more excellent things and live in purity and godly sincerity, obeying His commandments and working righteousness, and mere form of religion while refusing to stop lusts never makes one His follower until the wrong is stopped. A passion for lust must be crucified not kept alive in the heart, and tolerating improper sexual familiarity or giving it encouragement proves lust remains alive and the mind is not pure and chaste.
It is unsafe to continue conniving at sin, covering up sin, excusing sin, or continuing in a sinful course, and this requires separation from meetings and close association with those who are corrupted and corrupting, lived under the eye of an unseen witness. Those seeking heaven are instead endowed with whatever is honest and lovely and of good report, with God's book as faultless instructor, unerring counselor and unfailing guide. Self-respect and conscious dignity of character that is not pride, self-esteem or self-exaltation is the safeguard of youth, impressing that there is a reputation to sustain and a character to lose or to keep for heaven. This qualifies for ministry and places of trust and responsibility in God's institutions by a self-denying, pure, holy life that puts away fleshly lusts and greed for gain, lives the Word and brings it into every phase of work and not only preaches it, leading to a vastly different state of things. Those who have so crucified self with its affections and lusts have truth, righteousness and mercy abiding in the heart, bear faith, meekness, temperance, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, love, joy and peace, and possess what is honest and lovely and of good report.
Good, humble religion with softening, subduing grace upon the heart removes weakness and vacillation and makes earnest, steadfast, uncorrupted followers abiding in Christ the living Vine with Christ abiding in them to bring forth fruit unto righteousness. This gives respect to Christian profession and inspires confidence in sincerity and piety, so others can be reached where they are and elevated to truth and reform without stepping down from it, reflecting Christ's Spirit and character with controlling influence upon unbelievers in business, in associations with believers and unbelievers, in the sanctuary, at home and in every place; genius, talents and money are not essential for this influence but abiding in Christ with converting power, simplicity and mutual love is essential. Conquest of self, self-denial and control of natural appetites and passions expressed in pure lives shows the power of the truth taught by God's workers. Overcoming self and the world with affections and lusts is the evidence of belonging to Christ, and those remaining carnally minded, unsanctified through the truth and not partakers of the divine nature are not fit to join the redeemed, and their presence makes the churches weak. Standing pure amid corruption of the last days belongs to this death to sin, with body made holy, spirit pure and every action governed by God's Spirit as preparation for immortality.
Dying to self calls for patience, forbearance and calmness, subduing a hasty temper and controlling impulses that lead to hurtful judgments, condemnation and resentment, disciplining the soul and enduring hardship in spiritual experience rather than yielding to self-centered desires. This difficult work in constant warfare against selfishness and pride of heart may not bring immediate satisfaction, but its eventual effect is peace and happiness. Mere profession without advancing dishonors Bible religion by lowering the standard, and without crucifying self people are like a fruitless fig tree cumbering the ground, unprepared to meet Satan's assaults and lacking the Master's Spirit greatly needed. Belonging to Christ requires denying affections and desires ruled by self so love of self does not outweigh love for Christ, giving up one's own will, refusing indulgence in selfish desires and worldly pleasures, and putting God's glory and service first rather than living to please and magnify self. Victory over self, self-confidence and peculiar besetments comes by following God-given light and taking hold of faith and God's grace and power while doing all that can be done, giving strength from God, sanctified heart and judgment, might in word and power of the Spirit, and at last a crown of glory brilliant with stars; those in whom self is not crucified remain weak where much is at stake even if strong in argument, with unsanctified hearts and judgments, unable to deal with minds to best results, known by the devil in special weaknesses, in danger of being overcome and of shipwreck of faith. This is a continual lifelong struggle calling for watchfulness, prayer, perseverance and reliance on grace, daily resisting inclinations and perverse temperament that would turn the will toward wrong, growing onward and overcoming as Christ overcame by faith in the victory He gained.
It requires forsaking all that diverts affections from God and breaking every slavish band to Satan, laying aside every weight and besetting sin and allowing no divided allegiance between God and the world, for earthly and selfish interests controlling a professed follower show crucifixion has not been experienced. The golden chain of mammon, worship of reputation and worldly honor, and idol of a selfish life of ease and freedom from responsibility are Satan's snares that must be given up with every idol drawing affection from God, lived instead through faith in Christ with willing obedience and true love shining to the world in conformity to God's will and purity of heart and life. The natural heart must be restrained and brought under sanctifying grace received through faith. Self must be subdued and cleansed of haughtiness with selfishness put away, crucifying pride through humiliation and heart-searching so God's converting and reforming power makes faith deep and lasting with Christ's righteousness received, restraining passions and being governed by principle rather than sensual indulgence to become holy as God is holy, for inherited tendencies to wrong need not be indulged or carried along.
They that are Christ's have put the sinful selfish lower nature with its passions, desires and lusts to death. This marks the dividing line between the manifest works of the flesh that bar from the kingdom of God and the fruit of the Spirit against which there is no law. It is a painful daily struggle of denying self, renouncing personal will and cherished pursuits, and following Christ in small self-denials at every step. It is not outward penance by bodily mortification to earn pardon, but the work of the Holy Spirit received by faith that clasps Christ's strength, cleansing the heart and fashioning the life after His likeness. When it is real it is the evidence of true conversion, bearing the fruit of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance, without vainglory, envy or provoking one another, and bringing appetites, habits and passions into subjection to Christ.
Words and Immediate Context
Those who belong to Christ have put the sinful, selfish, lower nature with its passions, desires, cravings and lusts to death. The old self has not been crucified while temper, malice, hatred, strife and other carnal traits still rule, while the renewed heart bears the Spirit's fruit and subdues self by ongoing personal effort. This death to self is the Bible standard by which perfection of character is tested, known by its fruit and opposed to criticizing and faultfinding, vainglory, provoking one another and envying one another. It belongs with living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit in love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance, manifesting the fruits of righteousness in obedience to inspiration.
Flesh, fleshly and carnal lusts denote the lower, corrupt nature, whose animal propensities must not rule the whole person but be brought into subjection to the higher powers of soul, will and reason. The crucifixion is accomplished by putting to death temptation to sin, not by inflicting pain on the body, with corrupt thoughts expelled and every thought brought into captivity to Christ. God's love is to reign supreme, with body and members as His purchased possession serving righteousness, appetites and passions brought under control of conscience and spiritual affections, and the mind's higher powers ruling the body. The body is the medium through which mind and soul are developed for upbuilding of character, and Satan directs temptation to enfeebling and degrading the physical powers because success there surrenders the whole being to evil, so unless physical nature is under dominion of a higher power it will work ruin and death. Crucifying the flesh means passions controlled by the will, the will itself under God's control, and reason sanctified by divine grace bearing sway, with complete self-control possible only in strength from Christ as the higher powers hold rightful dominion over the lower. The lower nature with all its inclinations must be subdued and crucified because it is not subject to God's law and cannot be, keeping the body under, uprooting every affection and impulse contrary to God's will, with food helping or hindering so that a plain, simple but liberal diet of fruits, vegetables and grains best aids those preparing for God's work.
The verse stands as the dividing line between the manifest works of the flesh, the evil fruit of an evil tree that bar from inheriting the kingdom of God, and the fruit of the Spirit against which there is no law and no condemnation. The truly sanctified who belong to Christ are under no condemnation because they do not walk after the flesh but after the Spirit, cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfecting holiness in the fear of God. That cleansing puts to death fleshly lusts such as idolatry, drunkenness and like indulgences of appetite and passion, and instead walks in the Spirit bearing temperance and self-denial in physical habits and health. Bearing love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance results in bearing one another's burdens and so fulfilling the law of Christ, without vainglory, provocation or envy.
Those who belong to Christ are His property bought with His blood, and through His imputed righteousness they strive to keep God's commandments and glorify God in body and spirit by representing Christ. Abiding in Christ as the branch abides in the vine, they put the selfish nature with its desires to death and prove fruit-bearers by pure words, unselfish planning in Christ's meekness and lowliness, and softened hearts full of sympathy, love and compassion, not fractious when displeased and free from vainglory, provoking and envying. Belonging to Christ is vital connection with Him, sharing His Spirit and the divine nature, expressed as being dead to the world and crucified to the world, renewed in knowledge and true holiness. Mere profession of faith, church membership or church record does not make a person a Christian or child of God.
If believers live in the Spirit they must also walk in the Spirit, working out salvation with fear and trembling because God works within to will and to do of His good pleasure. The person does not use the Holy Spirit but the Holy Spirit uses the person, cleansing and fashioning after Christ's likeness to bear love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance, not with a pompous, overbearing spirit. That cleansing puts to death everything savoring of strife, and for workers in the Lord's vineyard it means faithfulness to God and to one another, with loyalty to the Owner and disinterested love in cultivating the soil so rich clusters testify to the Source of supplies. It means practical godliness and daily conversion, speaking the same thing, perfectly joined in the same mind and judgment with no divisions, bearing the infirmities of the weak, being of one mind and living in peace with the God of love and peace present.
What Crucifixion Requires
Crucifixion of self is a painful struggle that comes after feeling need of atonement and desiring a changed heart, requiring renouncing personal will and cherished objects of affection and pursuit and warring against temptations without and within. Many hesitate, falter and turn back at the effort required, yet every truly converted heart must fight and win this battle before entering union with Christ. That union begins only after selfish desires are put to death, like a dry and apparently lifeless branch grafted into a living tree to become a living branch of the True Vine bearing the same fruit Christ bore, and it is preserved only by continual earnest painstaking effort with Christ exercising power to preserve and guard the sacred tie and the dependent helpless sinner acting his part with untiring energy, or Satan will separate him from Christ.
It is never a past profession alone but a present experience, a measure of advancement in the divine life shown in victories over feelings, failings and waywardness and in no longer living for own interests and pleasures. It gives strength from God to engage in spiritual warfare and belongs to putting on the armor of God and the whole armor of righteousness, while those who have never done it make no advancement in piety, receive no spiritual nourishment, become dead branches congenial to the world's amusements and attractions, have a name to live while dead, disperse no light with untrimmed and unburning lamps, dishonor the religion of Jesus Christ, become stumblingblocks, and have no power for the fight not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness. Being Christ's is not mere profession but experiencing this crucifixion in constant warfare against the flesh and against the inclinations, vanity and pride of the heart, refusing to live in dead hope without growth and refusing to lower the standard of Bible religion to personal attainments. It requires preparing to meet hardships and the assaults of Satan, and by the Spirit of the Master denying self and suffering for Christ's sake and going forth to labor to save souls.
It must be done at every step and daily by constantly submitting human will, ways, plans and ideas to God's will and way, refusing supremacy to peculiar ideas and self-confidence, overcoming besetting sins and evil habits, and rooting out wrong dispositions and feelings so the Spirit can form holy tempers and emotions and constantly transform character, ways and manners with more of Christ and less of self. God cannot work in the heart to will and to do of His good pleasure unless self is crucified, and work attempted in human strength will grievously fail. To crucify self means to become His disciple only on condition of denying self daily and taking up the cross and following Him, to be partakers with Christ in His sufferings and sacrifices, and to imitate Him in daily small self-crossings and denial of personal inclinations. Selfishness and self-esteem and exhibiting self are the opposite of this requirement and are unlike Christ and the example He gave in His own life.
It means much more than many suppose and requires counting the cost, because no one will succeed without strenuous effort and spiritually exercising all the powers to put the flesh with its affections and lusts to death. It means heeding every word of counsel, refusing indifference in words and actions, teaching these lessons in the family circle, refusing to be off guard, and watching and praying to keep from entering temptation. For those pledged to Christ's service it means diligence, faithful work doing all possible to win souls to Christ, and constant watchfulness to stay faithful unto death and fight the good fight of faith until the warfare is ended so that as overcomers they receive the crown of life.
It means unreserved consecration to God of body and soul with all energies and capabilities throughout the entire period of probation, allowing no indolence but requiring continual advancement. Every ordinary or peculiar power, endowment and faculty is claimed by God in trust, and to withhold these from God is robbery toward Him, while every talent is a sacred trust to be used and improved, enlarged and strengthened by use in accordance with His will, so that divine light and power are communicated to the world. Well-improved talents bring increased talents, while gifts buried in worldliness and selfishness decrease and are cut off, and growing in Christ requires putting physical and intellectual powers to use by human exertion and taxing them to the very uttermost for God. Youth and children must be taught this, whose forgiven first love, simple testimonies, cheerful service and grateful thanks are sweet fragrance and acceptable to God.
It means unconditional surrender of the heart and affections to God, loving Christ above friends, brothers, sisters, father, mother, houses, lands and the world, choosing Christ over the world, aiming to glorify God and attain His moral likeness. It binds by baptismal vows to honor the Creator by resolutely denying self and crucifying affections and lusts, bringing even the thoughts into obedience to the will of Christ. It is the turning-point of destiny for youth, with strength in God to resist temptation when it cannot be shunned, and with the promise that suffering with Christ leads to glory in His everlasting kingdom for those who sacrifice all for Him.
It is not bodily penance or self-mortification by sackcloth, chains, fasting, sleeplessness, scourgings, nettles or galling chains to earn pardon and peace, and such outward mortification does not take the place of inwardly renouncing sin and crucifying lusts. Fastings, sleeplessness and scourgings as painful efforts to become holy weakened without relieving the burdened soul. Such outward mortification is easier to the self-indulgent, carnal, unrenewed heart that loves self-indulgence than inwardly renouncing sin, opening the soul to God, and bowing to the yoke of Christ with a heart renewed by the Spirit of God and planted firmly on the foundation of truth. Outward religion prefers confessing to a fellow mortal rather than to God, doing penance rather than renouncing sin, and holding a form of godliness without the power amid seductive pomp and ceremony.
Mere profession of faith, church membership or church record does not make a person a Christian or child of God, for to be a Christian means to be Christlike and united with Christ and to represent the character of Christ. That identity comes through vital connection with Christ, sharing His Spirit and the divine nature, expressed as being dead to the world and crucified to the world with renewal in knowledge and true holiness, and whether the heart has been penetrated by the light of Christ and whether justice and purity and truth abide within is known by the fruits that appear. A profession of Christ is not genuine discipleship while a person continues in wrongdoing, worldliness or half-hearted allegiance, and anyone willing to continue in gratifying lust, spending time gratifying fleshly lusts, or keeping up a form of religion while refusing to stop lusts that sacrifice physical strength and reason and destroy comfort, health and conscience, is deceived, is not in favor with God, and never can be His follower until the wrong is stopped and righteousness is practiced. Merely professing Christ without engaging in constant warfare against the selfishness and pride of the heart is not Christianity, and hoping to grow better without advancing dishonors the Bible religion by lowering the standard, leaving people like a fruitless fig tree cumbering the ground, unprepared to meet the assaults of Satan and lacking the Spirit of the Master they greatly need.
How God Accomplishes It
Abundant provision has been made through Jesus the divine Redeemer so that all who desire to live godly have grace and strength to put the flesh with its affections and lusts to death, though lifting the cross and bearing burdens is still required. The Christian life is therefore not to be one of burdens and cares, for strength and peace are drawn from the Source of strength and the life becomes full of happiness and peace. Those thus supplied bear the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance — against which there is no law.
It is the work of the Holy Spirit to cleanse and to fashion the person after Christ's likeness, rooting out wrong dispositions, habits and feelings, including everything that savors of strife, and forming holy tempers and sanctified emotions. This cannot be accomplished by human resolve alone, by trying to reform by one's own strength, or by merely acknowledging imperfections while particular sins are retained. Each wrong act indulged strengthens the old selfish nature, while full surrender seeks His power to do His will. The gospel with the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit brings renewal from an earthly, sensual state to spiritual soundness, transforming from moral corruption that ends in death to escape from the world's corruption through lust, participation in the divine nature, and reflection of Christ's image. For workers in the Lord's vineyard this means faithfulness to God and to one another, with loyalty to the Owner and disinterested love marking the life while cultivating the soil, so that living in the Spirit becomes walking in the Spirit without vainglory, provoking one another, or envying one another, and rich clusters of fruit testify to the Source of supplies.
The putting to death comes by faith that clasps the hand of Christ in every place and emergency, taking hold of His strength and efficiency with a trust He will never disappoint. Victory is entered into by faith in the victory Christ has gained, while doing all that can be done on one's part, by taking hold of faith and the grace and power of God and following the light God has given to gain victory over self and self-confidence and peculiar besetments. Daily resistance to inclinations and a perverse temperament that would turn the will toward wrong continues as Christians grow, and this trust gives strength from God, a sanctified heart and judgment, might in word and power of the Spirit, and at last a crown of glory brilliant with stars. Such faith is the evidence of true conversion, making the renewed person good like a tree made good so as always to bear good fruit in pleasant words, true courtesy, and unselfish actions, with character made fragrant and life freed from overbearing and oppression.
It comes through coming to the cross of Calvary as the source of all power, where Christ gave Himself to redeem from all iniquity and make a pure people eager for good works. Seen in the light shining from that cross, sin appears too mean, too perilous and too fearful to indulge. Taking up the cross placed by Christ and bearing it after Him gives spiritual life and strength and excellency, with the two great principles of the law cherished in deep earnest sympathy and love to God and man, with elevated moral taste and controlled and sanctified passions, and with Christ set forth as altogether lovely and chiefest among ten thousand.
It comes by seeking God with the whole heart in repentance, humiliation and confession, receiving light and life and power from the Holy Spirit to do right because it is right. It comes by hourly contact and earnest communion with God and by earnestly and constantly seeking the divine presence, drawing close to Jesus, watching continually unto prayer, and doing everything as in the immediate presence of God, in full view of pure angels and the Redeemer. Adorning profession by a well-ordered life and godly conduct, with tastes, appetites, habits and passions all placed under the control of the Spirit of God, keeps from straying into forbidden paths, saves from yielding to temptation, and keeps pure, spotless and undefiled unto the end. Those who live this way bear love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance, possess the heavenly endowments of whatever is honest and lovely and of good report, hold the beginning of confidence firm unto the end, have the way established in God, and what grace has begun glory will crown in the kingdom of God.
It comes by studying the Word of God and making it the rule of life and the great lesson book, practicing its teachings and teaching it in love. Through Christ's grace the flesh with its affections and lusts must be put to death, laying aside worldly wisdom, self-sufficiency, insubordination, self-kindled light and personal theories. Man cannot interpret Scripture correctly by his own light and narrow comprehension, but only when this crucifixion has taken place can he have an eye single to discern and understand the high things of God from the heart, gaining a humble, God-centered understanding rather than one shaped by self-sufficiency. Then natural and cultivated traits are greatly improved, selfishness is cut away, pure uncorrupted sympathy constantly grows, the heart is brought into captivity to Christ as branches grafted into the True Vine, good fruit appears, character expresses the likeness of Christ's character, and the person becomes a partaker of the divine nature.
When Christ dwells within, the flesh with its affections and lusts is crucified, with temptation resisted and life lived in purity. Self with its affections and lusts must be crucified at every step by constantly submitting human will, ways, plans and ideas to God's will and way, refusing supremacy to peculiar ideas and self-confidence, conquering besetting sins, overcoming evil habits, and rooting out wrong dispositions and feelings so the Spirit begets holy tempers and emotions and constantly transforms character, ways and manners with more of Christ and less of self. God cannot work in the heart to will and to do of His good pleasure unless self is thus crucified, and work attempted in human strength will grievously fail.
Changed Character and Fruit
Crucifixion of the flesh is the evidence of true conversion and of a deeper work of conversion, for the old life has passed away and all things have become new. Those renewed to righteousness are made good as a tree is made good, so that they always bear good fruit, and whether justice and purity and truth abide within is known by the fruits that appear, since mere church membership does not make a person a Christian. To be a Christian is to be Christlike and united with Christ and to represent His character.
When the crucifixion is real the heart is subdued and softened by deep cleansing, selfishness is cut away, natural and cultivated traits of character are greatly improved, and pure uncorrupted sympathy constantly grows. This means allowing grace to change habits and letting the Spirit rule the heart, working for souls with humble trustful dependence upon God. The radiance of His Spirit is then reflected in a Christlike character, with sympathy, kindness, forbearance and love as abiding principles that bless all around.
It is an internal sanctification that appears in outward experience as Christlike character, adorning the doctrine by grace and meekness and showing inward sanctification in outward character. Character is made fragrant and life is freed from all overbearing and oppression, in pleasant words, true courtesy and unselfish actions, with pure words and unselfish plans, meekness, humility, sympathy, love and compassion. This belongs with learning in the school of Christ and continually studying His Spirit, life and character, being clothed with humility, showing no anger toward the spiritually blind, no harshness of spirit, no coarseness of speech and no thorns to prick and bruise others, while holding truth firm and removing prejudice. It also means letting go of self and avoiding vainglory, provoking others and envy, but living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit.
Those who have crucified the flesh bear the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance — against which there is no law and no condemnation of the law. True consecration that makes worship acceptable to God is proved as a tree is proved by its harvest, not by large organs and vocal and instrumental music, and those who abide in Christ have peace, happiness and a firm hope that earthly storms cannot sweep away. If believers live in the Spirit they must also walk in the Spirit, with tastes and appetites brought into captivity to Christ and passions kept under control so the mind is clear for the Spirit to work, and with gospel principles received in home life and daily experience. Then, holding the cross of Calvary as abiding hope, drawing inspiration from Christ and linked brother with brother, they develop the attributes of Christ, speak the same thing, are perfectly joined in the same mind and judgment with no divisions, bear the infirmities of the weak, and live in peace with the God of love and peace present.
The old self has not been crucified when temper, malice, hatred, strife, impatience, fault-finding, overbearing behavior, uncontrolled temper, harshness, desire to rule, pride, self-rule, carnal enmity, suspicion, envy and jealousy still rule. Hidden unamiable traits revealed in words and actions show that self is still alive, and a person controlled by self is not Christlike, for a Christian has humility and a meek quiet spirit that can bear contradiction without anger. Such a state produces inner conflict and spiritual pride, lets the lower brutish nature rule the spiritual life, and requires ongoing personal effort, patience, forbearance and calmness to subdue a hasty temper and control impulses that lead to hurtful judgments, condemnation and resentment. Christ alone can remove these defects and restore the person to meekness.
Inherited or learned tendencies to wrong need not rule or be carried along, but through the power God gives they can be overcome, the carnal heart subdued and transformed into subjection to Christ. This means walking in the Spirit rather than fulfilling fleshly lusts, yielding the body to God as an instrument of righteousness in bodily and mental purity, in obedience to God's law. When grace takes possession of the heart a new life under God's control begins, and the whole person — body, soul and spirit — is brought under God's direction and used as an instrument of righteousness, with selfishness put away, so as to become holy as God is holy.
Those who abide in the true Vine overcome wrong feelings and conduct with Christ's help, walk in the Spirit, show Christ's character in life, and bear fruit that helps bring others to Him. Their lives testify before the universe that they are striving to obey God's law, and by the miracle-working power of the gospel they dwell on whatever is true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report. This comes when workers study the Bible, practice its teachings and teach the Word in love, and then good fruit appears in love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance.
Unity Instead of Rivalry
Those who belong to Christ have put the flesh with its passions, desires and cravings to death, and this belongs with living and walking by the Spirit rather than giving in to fleshly impulses. It rules out being desirous of vainglory or empty praise, provoking one another, and envying one another. It is known by its fruit and is part of the Bible standard by which ideas about perfection of character must be tested, standing opposed to a spirit of criticizing and faultfinding. To live in the Spirit is also to walk in the Spirit in love, joy, peace, long-suffering or patience, gentleness or kindness, goodness, faith or faithfulness, meekness, and temperance or self-control, against which there is no law to condemnation.
Those who have crucified the flesh cherish and manifest love, deference and respect for brethren, speak the same thing, and are perfectly joined together in the same mind and judgment. They put away division, discord, contention, prejudice, and differences even in opinion, bear one another's burdens and the infirmities of the weak, and so fulfill the law of Christ. To be a Christian in this sense means to be Christlike and united with Christ, to represent the character of Christ, and to have the heart penetrated by His light so that justice and purity and truth abide within, which church membership alone does not give and which is known by the fruits that appear. Death to self in this way brings being perfect, of good comfort, of one mind, living in peace, with the God of love and peace present.
Death to self is shown by humility under God, willingness to suffer for Christ's sake and to strive for spirituality, and putting away all sins, especially striving for supremacy, seeking to be first, unholy selfish ambition, vainglory, provoking and envying, and speaking to disparage associates to others. Only those who do this, bearing the fruit of the Spirit and walking in the Spirit, will stand approved of God in the near judgment when every work and secret motive is revealed, be lifted up and honored by the Lord instead of humbled and made last, and gain heaven inside the holy city instead of being shut out for cherishing Satan's attributes. For workers in the Lord's vineyard this means, through the Holy Spirit's cleansing work putting to death especially everything that savors of strife, faithfulness to God and to one another, with loyalty to the Owner and disinterested love marking their lives as they labor to cultivate the soil. Then living in the Spirit becomes walking in the Spirit without vainglory, provocation or envy, and rich clusters of fruit testify to the Source from which supplies are drawn.
For students in divided schools made like the schools of the prophets, it means making the Bible the great lesson book, becoming thorough students and doers of the Word, digging deep and laying a sure foundation through obedience to all the requirements of God, thereby preparing to graduate to the higher school. When the crucifixion is real the heart is subdued and softened by deep cleansing and the fruit appears in good works to the glory of God, in working for souls with humble, trustful dependence upon God and the radiance of His Spirit reflected in a Christlike character. It keeps from exalting self over another, making "I" prominent, esteeming self above others, reining others up to one's own ideas and experience of confession, criticizing or manifesting a harsh, denunciatory spirit, seeking high excitement, exercising one's own spirit, or marring God's work. Instead it brings Jesus into the work, lets Him into the heart, seeks to glorify Him and not self, and makes sympathy, kindness, forbearance and love abiding principles that reveal His love and the peaceable fruits of righteousness, so that He reveals Himself as a mighty Worker in the midst of His workers and they see His salvation.
Self is unholy ambition to be first and desire for prominence of self, which places a person on Satan's side of the controversy. Crucifying self in all who would be laborers together with God keeps the soul in the love of God by faith, enables walking in the footsteps of Jesus in the short time remaining, meets the call for advanced reform, and lets character stand God's testing. It brings self-will under control, corrects weaknesses of character, and removes selfishness so believers can serve together in harmony. It enables enduring being misapprehended, alienated, misrepresented, unappreciated and disparaged without becoming weak and despondent over supposed neglect, serving God with full purpose of heart as a partaker of Christ's sufferings in order to be a partaker with Him of His glory.
Temperate and Pure Living
To belong to Christ is to have put the lower nature to death with its passions and desires, living a life of resistance to self-indulgence and walking by the Spirit in temperance and self-denial in physical habits and health, cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit to perfect holiness in reverence for God, with temperance as fruit of the Spirit in contrast to fulfilling fleshly lusts such as idolatry, drunkenness and like indulgences of appetite and passion. Tastes, appetites, habits, passions, physical powers and mental faculties are brought into captivity to Christ and under control of the Spirit, conscience and spiritual affections through hourly contact and earnest communion with God, so that the mind is clear for the Spirit to work, the nerves steadied, duty seen clearly, and spiritual strength and understanding of eternal things unhindered. Those controlled by passion cannot follow Christ while devoted to evil and unwilling to leave corrupt habits for His service, for restraint must reach inner motives and be grounded in firm principle and not merely outward conduct.
The body is brought into subjection to the higher powers of the being as the medium through which mind and soul are developed for the upbuilding of character, with passions controlled by the will, the will itself under God's control, and reason sanctified by divine grace bearing sway. Satan directs temptation to enfeebling and degrading the physical powers because success there means surrender of the whole being to evil, and unless physical nature is under dominion of a higher power it will work ruin and death; fallen nature is not arrayed against God but appetites and passions are brought under control in God-given manhood and womanhood as conquerors, with complete self-control possible only in strength from Jesus Christ. Desires no longer rule conduct, but the mind is trained and desires and conduct brought under God's Spirit rather than impulse, pleasure, vanity, self-reliance, self-confidence or selfish desire, choosing even food and clothing to preserve health and strength for serving Christ rather than to gratify appetite, seek display or follow fashion. Those who sow to the flesh reap corruption.
Indulging lustful appetite wars against the soul and hinders spiritual growth, troubling the conscience so that persons take offense at truth and withdraw from gatherings, while cherishing such desires makes a person vulnerable to reproof and leaves truth wounding the conscience. Continual indulgence in harmful desires makes consecration of the heart to God impossible and makes sanctification of body and spirit and perfection of Christian character impossible, for a diseased body and disordered intellect from wrong habits cannot maintain consecration, and only a living, holy, sound offering and not a diseased decaying one is acceptable to God. This self-control including temperance in appetite and keeping the body under in healthful condition belongs to consecrating the body to God. A habit of using alcohol or stimulating drinks must not be continued moderately within bounds but must be put to death by total abstinence with full cooperation, aroused moral powers, looking to Jesus and trusting His grace to overcome the unnatural craving, regaining lost self-control because self-indulgence is moral sin and physical disease, and keeping body in healthful condition to do God's will and intellect clear and active to think candidly and control all powers, since a person is not his own but God's property purchased at infinite price with every faculty to be employed in His service.
Attachment to tea, tobacco and flesh-meats as harmful stimulants must be overcome as acquired depraved appetite, for indulging appetite hinders spiritual growth and makes people resist truth while giving it up removes that hindrance. Food eaten helps or hinders the work of subduing the lower nature which is not subject to God's law and cannot be, uprooting every affection and impulse contrary to God's will and keeping the body under in subjection, so a plain, simple but liberal diet of fruits, vegetables and grains best aids those preparing for God's work. No matter how high the profession, anyone willing to be employed in gratifying lust of the flesh cannot be a Christian but is deceived and not in favor with God, for indulgence including self-abuse wrecks humanity in body and mind and is an abomination that sacrifices physical strength and reason and destroys comfort, health and conscience. Christ's servants give employment, meditations, work, thoughts and pleasure to more excellent things and live in purity and godly sincerity, obeying His commandments and working righteousness, and mere form of religion while refusing to stop lusts never makes one His follower until the wrong is stopped. A passion for lust must be crucified not kept alive in the heart, and tolerating improper sexual familiarity or giving it encouragement proves lust remains alive and the mind is not pure and chaste.
It is unsafe to continue conniving at sin, covering up sin, excusing sin, or continuing in a sinful course, and this requires separation from meetings and close association with those who are corrupted and corrupting, lived under the eye of an unseen witness. Those seeking heaven are instead endowed with whatever is honest and lovely and of good report, with God's book as faultless instructor, unerring counselor and unfailing guide. Self-respect and conscious dignity of character that is not pride, self-esteem or self-exaltation is the safeguard of youth, impressing that there is a reputation to sustain and a character to lose or to keep for heaven. This qualifies for ministry and places of trust and responsibility in God's institutions by a self-denying, pure, holy life that puts away fleshly lusts and greed for gain, lives the Word and brings it into every phase of work and not only preaches it, leading to a vastly different state of things. Those who have so crucified self with its affections and lusts have truth, righteousness and mercy abiding in the heart, bear faith, meekness, temperance, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, love, joy and peace, and possess what is honest and lovely and of good report.
Good, humble religion with softening, subduing grace upon the heart removes weakness and vacillation and makes earnest, steadfast, uncorrupted followers abiding in Christ the living Vine with Christ abiding in them to bring forth fruit unto righteousness. This gives respect to Christian profession and inspires confidence in sincerity and piety, so others can be reached where they are and elevated to truth and reform without stepping down from it, reflecting Christ's Spirit and character with controlling influence upon unbelievers in business, in associations with believers and unbelievers, in the sanctuary, at home and in every place; genius, talents and money are not essential for this influence but abiding in Christ with converting power, simplicity and mutual love is essential. Conquest of self, self-denial and control of natural appetites and passions expressed in pure lives shows the power of the truth taught by God's workers. Overcoming self and the world with affections and lusts is the evidence of belonging to Christ, and those remaining carnally minded, unsanctified through the truth and not partakers of the divine nature are not fit to join the redeemed, and their presence makes the churches weak. Standing pure amid corruption of the last days belongs to this death to sin, with body made holy, spirit pure and every action governed by God's Spirit as preparation for immortality.
Dying to self calls for patience, forbearance and calmness, subduing a hasty temper and controlling impulses that lead to hurtful judgments, condemnation and resentment, disciplining the soul and enduring hardship in spiritual experience rather than yielding to self-centered desires. This difficult work in constant warfare against selfishness and pride of heart may not bring immediate satisfaction, but its eventual effect is peace and happiness. Mere profession without advancing dishonors Bible religion by lowering the standard, and without crucifying self people are like a fruitless fig tree cumbering the ground, unprepared to meet Satan's assaults and lacking the Master's Spirit greatly needed. Belonging to Christ requires denying affections and desires ruled by self so love of self does not outweigh love for Christ, giving up one's own will, refusing indulgence in selfish desires and worldly pleasures, and putting God's glory and service first rather than living to please and magnify self. Victory over self, self-confidence and peculiar besetments comes by following God-given light and taking hold of faith and God's grace and power while doing all that can be done, giving strength from God, sanctified heart and judgment, might in word and power of the Spirit, and at last a crown of glory brilliant with stars; those in whom self is not crucified remain weak where much is at stake even if strong in argument, with unsanctified hearts and judgments, unable to deal with minds to best results, known by the devil in special weaknesses, in danger of being overcome and of shipwreck of faith. This is a continual lifelong struggle calling for watchfulness, prayer, perseverance and reliance on grace, daily resisting inclinations and perverse temperament that would turn the will toward wrong, growing onward and overcoming as Christ overcame by faith in the victory He gained.
It requires forsaking all that diverts affections from God and breaking every slavish band to Satan, laying aside every weight and besetting sin and allowing no divided allegiance between God and the world, for earthly and selfish interests controlling a professed follower show crucifixion has not been experienced. The golden chain of mammon, worship of reputation and worldly honor, and idol of a selfish life of ease and freedom from responsibility are Satan's snares that must be given up with every idol drawing affection from God, lived instead through faith in Christ with willing obedience and true love shining to the world in conformity to God's will and purity of heart and life. The natural heart must be restrained and brought under sanctifying grace received through faith. Self must be subdued and cleansed of haughtiness with selfishness put away, crucifying pride through humiliation and heart-searching so God's converting and reforming power makes faith deep and lasting with Christ's righteousness received, restraining passions and being governed by principle rather than sensual indulgence to become holy as God is holy, for inherited tendencies to wrong need not be indulged or carried along.