Read the sins of the flesh, vs. 19-21. I DON'T WANT to do any of those. If you do, then do you really have the Holy Spirit?
As I said, you are understanding it cock-eyed!
Good night.
Your flesh, or your old man, wants to do all of those.
In my new man, or in the Spirit, I don't want to do any of those.
But I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, there dwells no good thing (Romans 7:18).
Denying that you have a sin nature is a denial of one of the basic concepts of Christianity.
And I am not denying the new nature in saying that the old man is still a factor.
I am saying that the flesh is a reality in all of our lives that we all have to deal with.
For example, I know that I have touches of prejudice in my heart against people of color because of past experiences I have had with them that were bad. But I say also that this is sin and based in my flesh; because Christ has confined sin to the flesh (Romans 8:3).
I know that there are people who are born again of the Holy Spirit who also have racial prejudices within their constitution. Again, it is in their flesh and not in their spirit; because Christ has confined sin to the flesh (Romans 8:3).
The first and only step that we can take in dealing with these matters is to confess them as sin and to bring them to the Cross as something to be dealt with at the Cross.
If you have never had any bad experiences with people of another race, and therefore have no racial prejudices, I commend you.
However, I think that racial prejudice is a sin that affects people of every color and is deeply rooted in the differences that we have with one another. I also don't think that there is anyone who is completely unaffected by this problem to some degree or another.
So I think that if you are honest with yourself, you will admit that it applies to you. And if you will never admit it, it will never be dealt with at the Cross. It will not be forgiven and cleansed because it remains unconfessed (see 1 John 1:9).