immoral desires of the perverse flesh & agape love

*


AN
OBJECTION
has been raised
to the sexual interpretation
of "the desires of the flesh,"
because the itemized
"works of the flesh,"
are not primarily
works of sexual
immorality.

~*~




~*~


THE POINT
is well taken,
of course, but not,
I think decisive.


We must distinguish
between the desires of the flesh
and the works of the flesh,
that is,
the results
of those desires.


The desires of the flesh
are indeed what they seem to be,
namely,
sexual desire,
but the works of the flesh
are the social outcome
of such desire:

"immorality,
impurity,
licentiousness,
idolatry,
sorcery,
enmity,
strife,
jealousy,
anger,
selfishness,
dissension,
party spirit,
envy,
drunkenness,
carousing,
and the like."


Lest this sound farfetched,
the following parallel
from a first-century text
is unambiguous:

"But to
the spirit of perversity
belong a greedy mind
and slackness of hands
in serving righteousness,
evil and lying,
pride and a haughty heart,
deceit and cruel treachery;
hypocrisy in plenty,
shortness of temper
but full measure of folly and zeal
in insolence;
deeds abominable
in a spirit of lust
and ways of uncleanness
in the service
of impurity."


THIS text
provides an excellent parallel
to Galatians 5,
for HERE we see also
how the spirit of lust
leads not only
to sexual immorality
but to deceit,
cruelty,
treachery,
and even shortness of temper,
a list quite similar in spirit
to the works of the flesh
that PAUL adduces.


NOTE also
that the same concatenation of themes
occurs in 1 Corinthians 6,
where Paul begins his discourse
attacking civil strife
and jealousy
and seamlessly segues
into a discussion
of sexual immorality.


IN OTHER WORDS,
those who do NOT crucify their flesh
with its passions and desires
are those who produce a society
within which not only the obvious immorality,
impurity,
and licentiousness occur
but ALSO idolatry and sorcery
- perhaps Paul means the idolatry and sorcery
of love charms -
AS WELL AS enmity,
strife,
and jealousy.


THOSE,
however,
who are UNMOVED by eros
ARE capable of creating
a society of
agape.


PHILO
also provides
an excellent parallel
to this idea
when he describes first
a paradisal condition
in which MEN
spend their lives in contemplation
before the creation of woman
but then writes,

"LOVE supervenes,
brings together
and fits into one
the divided halves,
as it were,
of a single living creature,
and sets up
in each of them
a desire for fellowship
with the other
with a view to
the production of
their like.


And THIS desire
begat likewise bodily pleasure,
THAT pleasure
which is the beginning of wrongs
and violation of the law,
the pleasure for the sake of which
men bring on themselves
the life of mortality and wretchedness
in lieu of that of immortality
and bliss."


There is,
therefore,
NO REASON to discredit
the obvious meaning of
"gratifying desires of the flesh"
as referring to
sexual desire.

verliefdcool!verliefd
engel
31 jul 2005 - bewerkt op 15 mrt 2008 - meld ongepast verhaal
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