Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
– Galatians 3:3
An even bigger problem than our natural concept is our flesh, represented by Ishmael. Our flesh is not as manifest in the beginning but appears gradually. After God appears to us, our tendency is to use our own strength to fulfill what God has shown us. In Paul’s words, this is in the principle of “the works of the Law” (Gal. 3:2), an effort to be “perfected by the flesh” (v. 3). Paul continued, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them” (Gal. 3:10). God has a desire, and we try to fulfill it in our way. This is Ishmael.
Adapted from A Sketch of Genesis,
by Titus Chu; page 106.
Tomorrow: “The Works of the Flesh” (3)