The Flesh And The Spirit
THE FLESH AND THE SPIRIT
As believers, we need to reign in life over sin, death, and Satan, our three main enemies. As the gospel of God, the book of Romans deals with these three negative things. In chapters five through eight sin and death are covered in a full way. Where there is sin, there is death, because sin brings in death. In 16:20 Paul speaks of Satan; he says that the God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet. The reason Paul did not mention Satan by name before the end of the book is that dealing with Satan is a Body matter, not an individual matter. If you try on your own to subdue Satan, you will be defeated. Satan, the enemy of the Body, can be defeated only by the Body. Therefore, it is through the local churches as the practical expression of the Body of Christ that Satan is dealt with. Only after Paul has cov ered the church in a very practical way in chap ters fifteen and sixteen, does he speak of the crushing of Satan; he indicates thereby that Satan is crushed under the feet of local churches.