the flesh and
bring another ally into the field. His chief exhortation is a positive,
not a negative one. It is vain to try to tie up men with restrictions
and prohibitions, which when their desires are stirred will be burst
like Samson's bonds. But if once the positive exhortation here is
obeyed, then it will surely make short work of the desires and passions
which otherwise men, for the most part, do not wish to get rid of, and
never do throw off by any other method.

We have pointed out that in our text to walk in the Spirit means to
regulate the practical life by the Spirit of God, and that the 'desires
of the flesh' mean the desires of the whole human nature apart from God.
But even if we take the contrasted terms in their lower and commonly
adopted sense, the text is true and useful. A cultivated mind habituated
to lofty ideas, and quick to feel the nobility of 'spiritual' pursuits
and possessions, will have no taste for the gross delights of sense, and
will recoil with disgust from the indulgences in which more animal
natures wallow. But while this is true, it by no means exhausts the
great principle laid down here. We must take the contrasted terms in
their fullest meaning if we would arrive at it. The spiritual life
derived from Jesus Christ and lodged in the human spirit has to be
guarded, cherished and made dominant, and then it will drive out the
old. If the Spirit which is life because of righteousness is allowed
free course in a human spirit, it will send forth its powers into the
body which is 'dead because of sin,' will regulate its desires, and if
needful will suppress them. And it is wiser and more blessed to rely on
this overflowing influence than to attempt the hopeless task of coercing
these desires by our own efforts.

If we walk in the Spirit, we shall thereby acquire new tastes and
desires of a higher kind which will destroy the lower. They to whom
manna is sweet as angel's food find that they have lost their relish for
the strong-smelling and rank-flavoured Egyptian leeks and garlic. A
guest at a king's table will not care to enter a smoky hovel and will
not be hungry for the food to be found there. If we are still dependent
on the desires of the flesh we are still but children, and if we are
walking in the Spirit we have outgrown our childish toys. The enjoyment
of the gifts which the Spirit gives deadens temptation and robs many
things that were very precious of their lustre.

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