Make No Provision

Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. (Romans 13:13-14)

I don't know if it was intentional or not by the author, but I notice that there are three pairs in verse thirteen and that if the three pairs are compared in line with each other that there seems to maybe be a parallel progression on each side of the three. The parallel progression is not as clear though, as the natural progression that each pair has in following the previous pair.

I had to look up the original words to get a sense of what they might really mean and found some helpful insights. The word for carousing means reveling or rioting but comes from another root word which means to lie out-stretched. The imagery that comes to mind is hard partying where a person “lets their hair down”, lets go of their inhibitions and allows themselves to sink into a weakened condition emotionally, physically and morally. This certainly is what typically happens when one gets involved in drunkenness and is often the very reason why people choose to get drunk, to shed their inhibitions.

What often follows after the inhibitions are abandoned is a desire to get involved in sexual activities that are inappropriate. There is an interesting distinction though, between promiscuity and sensuality. Promiscuity would seem to indicate deliberate involvement in a much more physical level with sexual activities while sensuality is much more a state of the mind and imagination. Sensuality can be indulged in far more easily and in many more circumstances than outright engagement in physical sex. This may be because physical sexual activity would more likely require another person somewhat willing to be involved while sensuality can be indulged in completely alone. But either way, these are natural progressions from getting involved in the first pair of activities.

The third set of things described here are also typical natural outgrowths of the previous choices and activities. Strife and jealousy are the results caused by messing up relationships and engaging in activities of lust and many times coercion that accompany improper sexual indulgences. Strife and jealousy are simply fruit that is produced by the dysfunctional tensions that are set up when we violate the natural laws of relationships that God intended for us to live in harmony with.

The word for strife means to argue and debate, it involves wrangling, quarreling, contention, etc. And while this very often comes as the result of engaging in the previous activities, it can also occur while carefully avoiding them, at least externally. This is the point in the discussion where many Christians can easily begin to get nervous and want to move quickly on to another less exposing passage of Scripture.

Jealousy also has some interesting connotations in the original language. It carries in it an intensity of zeal but in a negative way. It involves fervency and indignation. It literally means “heat”. It creates the picture of someone's emotions heating up because of a threatened or damaged relationship which is clearly what would be involved after the previous activities had taken place.

But again, jealousy is something that can easily infect the mind and heart without the person engaging in sexual sins. It can be something that we can allow to grow in the heart through assumptions and suspicions of others. When a person indulges in the counterfeit kind of judgment they can easily draw conclusions about others that will produce strife and jealousy.

The last verse here puts the finger on the real root of all of these problems. All of these issues emanate from our sarx, the flesh as it is often called in English. It is the sinful part of our psyche that has been embedded deep within our beings that we cannot escape and that we inherited from Adam. It is the part of us that is constantly suggesting ideas to make us feel better but that never quite agrees with the ways that God has for us. The sarx is the root living within us that always purports to have our best interest in mind and is always offering ways to satisfy our needs and resolve our problems in ways that sound very logical and attractive. But the sarx is hopelessly derailed from the ways of pure truth and can never bring true satisfaction no matter how many times it insists it needs just one more chance.

The sarx is really the traitor within our hearts. It is so close to us and such a part of us that we assume it is us, that it is our real identity. But the sarx is the part of us that if we do not acknowledge and expose and renounce as our enemy, in spite of its loud protests, it will in the end bring us to ruin and cause our complete failure while still insisting that our problems are all someone else's fault.

This last verse is a clear declaration of the real choice that each human being is faced with in relation to themselves and God's offer of restoration. We can renounce the things that we crave suggested by our sarx (flesh) and refuse to accommodate it in any way, while at the same time embracing the identity and presence of our Saviour Jesus Christ in such a way as to deliver us from the spell of the sarx. Or we can follow our natural desires, our own wisdom, our own feelings or cravings and then suffer the natural dysfunctions that result from disharmony with the perfect ways of Jesus and the design for which we were originally created.

The word lusts here refer directly to how the flesh part of us, the sarx, always operates. The fleshly desires that lie at the root of our sinful nature are always selfish, even when they appear to be very generous and magnanimous. Our lower nature is very deceptive and quite often it is ourselves that are the ones most deceived. We often think we are pretty good with just a few problems that need ironing out, but in general compared to most folks we are a pretty decent, kind person.

But selfishness and lust are very closely linked and lust by definition is the desire to have what we want very soon, preferably now. The focal point of lust is our own desires and cravings for satisfaction, good feelings and pleasure of some sort. Ironically this can include many things that we don't normally associate with the word lust but still are used to satisfy our desire for fulfillment and attention outside of God's will. But the direction of both selfishness and lust is inward and we end up using people or circumstances or opportunities to benefit primarily ourselves instead of selflessly living for others first. This is simply because the nature of sin itself is generally always the opposite direction from the flow of attention and focus that operates in the atmosphere of heaven.

But the only way I can change this direction of focus and thinking and living is to have my spirit and mind immersed in the continuous presence of the Lord Jesus in a very real way, not just in theory or idealism. I need to have a dynamic and growing relationship with Jesus that is transforming my life on an on-going basis for me to have any hope of experiencing what God wants for my life. I really do have to learn and experience what it means to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for my flesh.

I can see that it would be very helpful to spend some time seriously contemplating and even discussing with others just what making provision for the flesh might look like in all different circumstances. It would be very useful because being aware of the potential ways in which I might be doing it can help alert me more quickly when I find myself doing that very thing. If you have any ideas about this feel free to share them with me.

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