We can find many people around us who are by nature very good, very patient, and very loving. What believers hate is sin, and if they could be delivered from it so that they would no longer have the things of the flesh as mentioned in Galatians 5:19-21, then that would be good. What they aspire to is righteousness, so with all their strength they try to do righteous deeds, desiring to have the nine-in-one fruit recorded in Galatians 5:22-23. But herein is the danger. The believers have not learned to hate their flesh—the entire flesh—but hope only to be freed from sins, which issue out from the flesh. They know to reject the activities of the flesh, but they do not know that the flesh itself should be destroyed. The important point is that the flesh not only commits sins, it can also perform good deeds. If the flesh is still doing good, then it is still alive. If a man were to die, his ability to do good as well as to do evil would die with him. If he is still able to do good, he is certainly not yet dead.

We know that all men are of the flesh. According to the teaching of the Bible, there is no one in the world who is not of the flesh, because all sinners are born of the flesh. But we know that many people before they are regenerated, or even many who never believe in the Lord and are never regenerated, have done many righteous deeds. They are very loving, patient, and good. It seems they have been like this ever since they were born. They may be so good, but, based on the word of the Lord Jesus in John 3:6, they are still of the flesh. This fact proves to us that the flesh can indeed do good.

The apostle spoke to the Galatians: "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" (3:3). This word shows that the flesh is capable of doing good. The believers in Galatia fell into the error of doing good by the flesh. They had begun in the Holy Spirit, but they did not continue to be made perfect by the Holy Spirit. Instead they planned to do their own righteousness, even the righteousnesses of the law, in order to be made perfect. Thus, the apostle asked them such a question. Therefore, we see very clearly that the flesh is capable of doing good works. If the Galatian believers could do only evil by their flesh, Paul would not have needed to ask them, for they themselves would have known that the sins of the flesh could not make perfect what they had begun in the Holy Spirit. Since they wanted to perfect by their flesh the work that the Holy Spirit had begun, this proves that they wanted to arrive at a position of perfection through the righteous deeds of the flesh. They had truly tried to do righteous deeds with all their strength, but here the apostle shows us clearly that the righteous deeds of the flesh are greatly different from the works of the Holy Spirit. What one does by the flesh one does by himself; such works cannot perfect the works which the Holy Spirit has begun.

In the preceding chapter the apostle had spoken a weighty word: "For if I build again the things which I have destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor" (Gal. 2:18). This word is speaking of those who, having been saved and having received the Holy Spirit, wanted to depend on the flesh—the self—to do the righteousness of the law (vv. 16-17, 21). "The things which I have destroyed"—this means that the apostle had always considered man as being unable to save himself by his own works. The apostle always tore down the works of sinners because he considered their works as being unable to save them. "If I build again"—this means to build again now. The apostle seemed to be saying, "You cannot be saved by your own works, but you have been justified by believing in the Lord." If we build anew the righteous deeds which have been torn down previously, thinking that we should now do righteousness by ourselves, we prove that we are transgressors. Just as we sinners cannot receive life through the works of the law, so also, after having received life we cannot be perfected through the righteous deeds of our flesh. If there were such a thing, it would prove that he, the apostle, is a transgressor. This proves to us how vain are the righteous deeds of the flesh!

Moreover, we see in Romans 8 that "those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (v. 8). Thus we know that those who are in the flesh have tried to please God. Of course, trying to please God is also a righteous deed of the flesh, except that such deeds cannot please God. We should have a deep realization that the flesh is quite capable of doing righteous deeds. In fact, it is very capable of doing righteous deeds. Because we often think that the "flesh" means the lusts, we consider it altogether as defiling as lusts. Of course, as far as the body is concerned, the flesh includes the lusts. But as far as the soul is concerned, all the activities of the will, the mind, and the emotion are not necessarily as defiling as lusts. Moreover, the term lust in the Holy Bible is not necessarily one of defilement, because Galatians 5:17 says, "The Spirit against the flesh," meaning that the Holy Spirit lusts against the flesh. Therefore, lust in the Bible is not altogether defiled; to lust simply means to have a strong desire.

All that a man has done or is able to do before regeneration is the work of the flesh. Therefore, the flesh not only can do evil but also can do good. The mistake of the believer is here: he only knows that he should eradicate the evil in the flesh, but he does not know that he should also eradicate the good in the flesh. He does not realize that as the evil acts of the flesh belong to the flesh, so the good deeds of the flesh also belong to the flesh. The flesh is flesh and remains flesh whether it does good or does evil. Hence, the danger of the believer lies in that he is ignorant of or unwilling to get rid of all that belongs to the flesh; he only knows or is willing to get rid of the evil in the flesh. The lesson now is that the good of the flesh is no less fleshly than the evil of the flesh. Both belong to the flesh. If the goodness of the flesh is not eradicated, no matter what the believer does, he cannot be delivered from the power of the flesh. Moreover, since the flesh can do good and if the believer allows it to do good, he will soon see the flesh doing evil also. If self-righteousness is not eradicated, unrighteousness will soon follow.