So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
— Romans 8:8

In the Epistles of the apostles, and in particular of the apostle Paul, we often come across expressions such as “in the flesh”, “according to the flesh”, “walk in the Spirit”, “walk according to the Spirit”, and so on. In fact, there is a fundamental difference between “living in the spirit” and “living according to the spirit.” Confusion often arises in the body of Christ from not understanding the difference between these concepts. No wonder, because even translations sometimes render “in” as “according to”, although the Greek original uses different words: en, which means “in” and indicates location, and kata, which means “under” or “according to” and indicates action “in accordance with” something. So I would like to explain this a little in a simple and accessible style.

So, there are two kingdoms. One kingdom is called the kingdom of the Flesh, also known by the names “Darkness” and “Sin”, and the devil and death rule there. In this kingdom there is a law called “sin and death”, which means: you sinned — you died. The other kingdom is called the kingdom of the Spirit, also known by the names “Light” and “Righteousness“, and the King of Kings Jesus and life rule there. In this kingdom there is also a law, which is called “the law of the Spirit of life”, which means: you received the spirit — you live. In the beginning everyone lived in the kingdom of the Flesh, and the only way to get from the kingdom of the Flesh into the kingdom of the Spirit was to fulfil God’s Law, known as the 10 commandments or the law of Moses, without breaking a single one. Unfortunately, all the inhabitants of the kingdom of the Flesh were carnal, and God’s Law is spiritual, so no one was able to fulfil it, and everyone died.

But God, whose nature is love, wanted the inhabitants of the kingdom of the Flesh to live with Him in the kingdom of the Spirit. He solved this seemingly impossible task by sending His Son, who, being a spiritual man, became flesh in order to fulfil God’s Law, to die in the kingdom of the Flesh and rise in the kingdom of the Spirit on behalf of the inhabitants of the kingdom of the Flesh, giving them a way from one kingdom to the other. Now every inhabitant of the kingdom of the Flesh who receives the Spirit through faith automatically passes [dies in one and is born again in the other] from the kingdom of the Flesh into the kingdom of the Spirit. The beauty of life in the kingdom of the Spirit is that every inhabitant of this kingdom is pleasing to the King, and so can receive from Him everything he wants, and free of charge. Isn’t that paradise? :-)

“And if an inhabitant of the kingdom of the Spirit starts behaving like a naughty boy, will he end up back in the kingdom of the Flesh?” To go back, you would have to die in the kingdom of the Spirit and be born again in the kingdom of the Flesh, but since there is no death in the kingdom of the Spirit, only life, there is no way back either. “So now we can behave badly and nobody will spank us?” Since what pleases the King of the kingdom of the Spirit is that people simply live in it, not how they behave, nobody gets spanked here; they only hand out presents. It is another matter if an inhabitant of the kingdom of the Spirit still goes on believing that you can please the King only by behaving well and trying to keep His Law, which operates only in the kingdom of the Flesh — that is, by behaving like an inhabitant of the kingdom of the Flesh, or walking according to the flesh. Then he will always be sad and gloomy and will always live in fear. But when he learns and believes that in the kingdom of the Spirit, where he lives, there is another law, the law of liberty, or of the spirit of life, he will receive the spirit and live in joy and peace. For we did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of sonship, by whom we cry out: “Abba, Father” — Daddy! [Rom.8:15].

“Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.” [Heb.2:13]