To Err is Human?

Continuing to read through the New Testament chronologically and sharing a thought today from my reading in Galatians 5. I'm meditating on the passage beginning with v.16 onward.

I've often heard it said that we err/fail/sin because we're human. I've said it myself. But I think that's not the accurate accounting of it. Jesus was fully God and fully human. Err? Fail? Sin? He didn't, not with all the humanness that He possessed. The more Christlike we are, the more fully human we could be. Being human in itself doesn't carry with it the bent to err/fail/sin. Having a sinful nature does that. This is how Jesus is able to be fully God and fully human. He does not have a sinful nature — He is God.

I'm thinking that maybe we're not "fully" human anymore; that is, after The Fall. The sinful nature has impaired us. So, I reflect on my walk with such a nature. How can I walk in a fully human way (at least somewhat more fully)? God, through the Apostle Paul, tells us in verse 16 to "walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh..... they are in opposition to one another." Jesus was led by the Spirit while here on earth, walking wholly in tandem, completely doing His Father's will. The more I walk by the Spirit and do the Father's will, the closer I nudge to being fully human (at least somewhat more fully).

 Do I lean more toward the spiritual or toward the fleshly? Paul gives two checklists in v. 19-23 to help me evaluate.

Deeds of the flesh (sinful nature of mankind):
"immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these..."

Fruit of the Spirit (new spiritual nature of believers): 
"love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control

When I look at the two lists, the choices I should make seem obvious. But my two natures are in opposition to one another, and the actual choosing becomes a battlefront. My own choice, yes, but I'm not alone in this. I have God's grace and the Holy Spirit abiding in me. He supplies all our need.

"Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires; if we live by the spirit, let us also walk by the spirit."
(Galatians 5: 24-25)

.......Just some thoughts during my quiet time.

Painting ~ Lady in an Interior, Carl Vilhem Holsoe 1863-1935
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