Why The Flesh Cannot Enter The Kingdom

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MatthewG

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Please consider everything written here before posting.

So the other day my teacher taught a lesson on Romans 7; and the perspective of the life of Apostle Paul and his writing about himself as a Christian believer; in his struggles between the flesh and the spirit. He even absolves himself by saying that when is flesh acts up it is not Him that is doing it. In Romans 7:17 and it is the sin that dwells in the Apostle Paul, who was a Disciple of Christ who is showing from his own experience of being a Christian chosen Apostle in life from his writing.

If you ever read this before 19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. From Galatians 5.

Why is it any of these actions of the flesh not inherit the kingdom of God? Because all of the actions though people may not react upon them reside in our flesh, in this body of death. Paul exclaims as a living and breathing Apostle this notion : Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?.

Thinking on why it is our fleshly body can not go to heaven is because of it's sinfulness. It was tainted with sin since birth, and we can not shake it off as much as a dog who needs to go to a groomer for a flea bath to take care of the fleas that has not way of getting their because of no owner, to take them to be cleaned.

Jesus Christ is the one who cleanses us of our sins and forgives us, in which from God we are in-birthed with faith by being persuaded by God and the hope He provides to us as believers. We are given a spirit to live by and that spirit is the spirit of Christ that resides with-in. Where you may ask? It it in the flesh? I would suggest it is inside of the Body of Flesh; is where the Spirit resides and because we are now spiritually raised from the dead with Christ; we are able to live by the spirit if we walk by the spirit.

Seeking out the things of the spirit and not so much the flesh; And the spirit causes us to have self-control over our flesh; kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, love, joy, peace, forbearance, longsuffering towards God and towards Others.

The Flesh can not enter the kingdom of heaven because it is tainted with sin; it will corrupt go into the ground and die but where do you go? Where does your soul (mind(heart)/will/emotion) Go? Our Soul goes back to God; and we are resurrected into spiritual bodies from there on, at least that is what I believe.

What do you believe, or think about these matters? Please share your perspective if you would like to.
 
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Enoch111

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Thinking on why it is our fleshly body can not go to heaven is because of it's sinfulness.
The word "flesh" in the NT is used in two different way: (1) the human body of flesh, blood, and bones and (2) the indwelling sin nature which resides in the immaterial soul.

The body of flesh which believers have will be TRANSFORMED and perfected at the Resurrection/Rapture. It will be changed into a glorious, immortal body -- a "spiritual" body -- but the same body. And the sin nature will be eradicated at that time.

Therefore your conclusion above is FALSE. The bodies of the saints will indeed be in Heaven as perfected and glorified bodies.
 
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kcnalp

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1 Corinthians 15:44 (NKJV)
44 There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

Luke 24:39 (NKJV)
39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."
 
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MatthewG

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@Enoch111 you have to reconcile this verse 1 Corinthians 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

@kcnalp; that is right.
 

TheslightestID

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I believe we will always be prone to sin, just as Satan was in his non flesh body. Regardless the type body we have, we either practice sin or we do not.

It's all up to us to live a reasonably decent life and that is what the already quoted scripture is basically telling us:

19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
 
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amadeus

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...
It's all up to us to live a reasonably decent life and that is what the already quoted scripture is basically telling us:
What is 'reasonably decent'? What is it that Paul wrote here?

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" Rom 12:1

If we never quench the Holy Spirit of God in us, will we ever sin?

"Quench not the Spirit." I Thess 5:19

Are we unable to help ourselves? Then why not ask for more help?

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." Matt 7:7-8
 

MatthewG

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I would say reasonably lived life is doing well to please God by virtue of faith, on the Son of God; which includes suffering for Christ.
 

MatthewG

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Wouldn't a Christian believer live by what has been placed on their heart by God?

To walk after the spirit? To have love, compassion, forgiveness, mercy, longsuffering, mercy?

Though they still have to live in their flesh; and as Christian we still make mistakes in our lives? When it comes to us not showing love towards God or our neighbor?

What is the heart anyway?

kardia: heart
Original Word: καρδία, ας, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: kardia
Phonetic Spelling: (kar-dee'-ah)
Definition: heart
Usage: lit: the heart; mind, character, inner self, will, intention, center.
HELPS Word-studies
2588 kardíaheart; "the affective center of our being" and the capacity of moral preference (volitional desire, choice; see P. Hughs, 2 Cor, 354); "desire-producer that makes us tick" (G. Archer), i.e our "desire-decisions" that establish who we really are.

[Heart (2588 /kardía) is mentioned over 800 times in Scripture, but never referring to the literal physical pump that drives the blood. That is, "heart" is only used figuratively (both in the OT and NT.]
 

amadeus

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@MatthewG I do not read many of the posts on this forum. There are too many posts and many of them hold no interest, I skip over them. When someone uses the tagging system I will at least look at them. If you do not make use of the tagging system which gives me an alert I may not even see you post and therefore never read it much less respond to it.

Wouldn't a Christian believer live by what has been placed on their heart by God?
What is the difference between what you call a "Christian believer" and Adam and Eve in Eden prior to their disobedience? What did they do with what God placed in their hearts?

To walk after the spirit? To have love, compassion, forgiveness, mercy, longsuffering, mercy?

Though they still have to live in their flesh; and as Christian we still make mistakes in our lives? When it comes to us not showing love towards God or our neighbor?

What is the heart anyway?

kardia: heart
Original Word: καρδία, ας, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: kardia
Phonetic Spelling: (kar-dee'-ah)
Definition: heart
Usage: lit: the heart; mind, character, inner self, will, intention, center.
HELPS Word-studies
2588 kardíaheart; "the affective center of our being" and the capacity of moral preference (volitional desire, choice; see P. Hughs, 2 Cor, 354); "desire-producer that makes us tick" (G. Archer), i.e our "desire-decisions" that establish who we really are.

[Heart (2588 /kardía) is mentioned over 800 times in Scripture, but never referring to the literal physical pump that drives the blood. That is, "heart" is only used figuratively (both in the OT and NT.]

What meaning was in these usages of the word, heart, as Solomon was inspired to write them?

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Prov. 3:5-6

"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts" Prov 21:2

Did you believe I was referring the physical red blood pump?
 

TheslightestID

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What is 'reasonably decent'?

The bible has made it very simple.... the answer is is right there in the last part of the OP's quoted Romans 7:21,

, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God

So, "reasonably decent" would be to not practice the mentioned sins, plus any the Holy Spirit will make us aware of. And yes, I agree, can't hurt to ask for help in not sinning willy nilly, or like we didnt care. In the end, some do have a tough time stopping their sinning, but the main problem there is, we just havent decided to stop.

The key is to make up our minds not to practice sin, and to make up our minds to go for it, and follow God all the way, whatever it takes.

I personally am not perfect, but I do so much better than I used to do, so, I know it can be done.
 
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amadeus

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The bible has made it very simple.... the answer is is right there in the last part of the OP's quoted Romans 7:21,



So, "reasonably decent" would be to not practice the mentioned sins, plus any the Holy Spirit will make us aware of. And yes, I agree, can't hurt to ask for help in not sinning willy nilly, or like we didnt care. In the end, some do have a tough time stopping their sinning, but the main problem there is, we just havent decided to stop.

The key is to make up our minds not to practice sin, and to make up our minds to go for it, and follow God all the way, whatever it takes.

I personally am not perfect, but I do so much better than I used to do, so, I know it can be done.
What I believe is that there no limit as to how close to God we may approach except in the measure that we limit ourselves. God can break through any and every barrier, but He will not force His way through while we still have time left to choose for ourselves, His Way or our own, as Jesus named it, God or mammon. That is our 'free will' as men named it: To open the door to our hearts and our controls for Him... or not. Behind that first door it would seem there are other deeper recesses within us which also need His work. We, however, in every case need to choose to open unto Him.
 

Gregory

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Please consider everything written here before posting.

So the other day my teacher taught a lesson on Romans 7; and the perspective of the life of Apostle Paul and his writing about himself as a Christian believer; in his struggles between the flesh and the spirit. He even absolves himself by saying that when is flesh acts up it is not Him that is doing it. In Romans 7:17 and it is the sin that dwells in the Apostle Paul, who was a Disciple of Christ who is showing from his own experience of being a Christian chosen Apostle in life from his writing.

If you ever read this before 19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. From Galatians 5.

Why is it any of these actions of the flesh not inherit the kingdom of God? Because all of the actions though people may not react upon them reside in our flesh, in this body of death. Paul exclaims as a living and breathing Apostle this notion : Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?.

Thinking on why it is our fleshly body can not go to heaven is because of it's sinfulness. It was tainted with sin since birth, and we can not shake it off as much as a dog who needs to go to a groomer for a flea bath to take care of the fleas that has not way of getting their because of no owner, to take them to be cleaned.

Jesus Christ is the one who cleanses us of our sins and forgives us, in which from God we are in-birthed with faith by being persuaded by God and the hope He provides to us as believers. We are given a spirit to live by and that spirit is the spirit of Christ that resides with-in. Where you may ask? It it in the flesh? I would suggest it is inside of the Body of Flesh; is where the Spirit resides and because we are now spiritually raised from the dead with Christ; we are able to live by the spirit if we walk by the spirit.

Seeking out the things of the spirit and not so much the flesh; And the spirit causes us to have self-control over our flesh; kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, love, joy, peace, forbearance, longsuffering towards God and towards Others.

The Flesh can not enter the kingdom of heaven because it is tainted with sin; it will corrupt go into the ground and die but where do you go? Where does your soul (mind(heart)/will/emotion) Go? Our Soul goes back to God; and we are resurrected into spiritual bodies from there on, at least that is what I believe.

What do you believe, or think about these matters? Please share your perspective if you would like to.
If the spirit can control the flesh and gives us kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, love, joy, peace, forbearance, longsuffering towards God and towards Others, isn't that what heaven is made of?

The resurrection of the body is a real event. The tomb will be emptied of it flesh body and be raised an incorruptible flesh body. Our resurrected flesh body will be light years different from our mortal flesh body, but flesh nonetheless.

Why do you think God gave us a flesh body in the first place?