2 Peter 2:18b — The Third Person

…and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh …

Summary: We live in two worlds. God calls us to live in the spiritual realm. Satan temps us with the desires of the flesh. 

Do you ever wonder why the Bible is always going on about the “flesh?” Did you know that the flesh has desires? Are you aware that the desires of the flesh are “lustful?” What does that mean, anyway? 

As people, I believe that we normally think of ourselves as a “whole” being. What I mean by that is that it is unusual for us to think of ourselves in the third person. 

Imagine for a moment that you had never heard of the Bible. Nobody has ever told you about God, or ghosts, or spirits. How do you think of yourself? When you say, “I am hungry. I want something to eat,” are you thinking to yourself, “Hmmm… the physical part of my being is feeling hunger pains, but the spiritual part is not hungry”? No. Nobody thinks that way. Nobody except God. 

It was no accident that the first thing that happened when Jesus started his ministry was the test in the wilderness. Luke reports the following: 

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.” (Luke 4: 1-2)

I guarantee, as a person who has occasionally fasted, that Jesus felt hunger before the forty days were up. The Greek word for hunger means to be “needy” or to “suffer want.” At the end of forty days, Jesus was past what you and I call hunger. His body was physically in desperate need of food. 

Why would the Holy Spirit do this to him? Why drive him out into the wilderness to almost starve? 

If you were seeking a new pastor for your church, and you wanted to make certain that he was not a slave to the “lustful desires of the flesh,” what could you do to test that? If he volunteered to deprive himself of any physical comfort, including food for forty days and nights, would that convince you? It would convince me!

The test in the wilderness was not for God’s benefit or even Jesus’ benefit. Both were of one mind on this matter (John 10:30). They both knew from the beginning of time what would happen and what the cost of redeeming creation would be (Hebrews 1:10, 7:3). The test was for our benefit. God wanted to show us the character of his Messiah. I think he also wanted to show us that Jesus valued the Spirit over the flesh. 

If we are not to indulge the flesh, what else is there? 

Ask Jesus. 

Ask him why he gave up food for over a month. Ask him why he did not accept food when his disciples returned from their shopping trip (John 4: 1-38). Ask Jesus why he was willing to go to the cross (Acts 2:23). 

“This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God…” (1 John 4:2)

Do you have a spirit? Does it acknowledge Jesus? Are you aware that it even exists? 

Each of us is born with an appendix, but nobody thinks about it unless it becomes infected. Our stomach, on the other hand, is always complaining that it wants more food. What about your spirit? Are you aware of what it hungers for? 

The context of Peter’s thought is, “For they [false teachers] mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.”

The false teacher appeals to our flesh. In a sense, they teach what they know. Knowing the difference between teachings that appeal to the flesh and those that appeal to the spirit is important. 

Application: It is not enough to be on guard against our own desires of the flesh, we need to be on guard against those who tell us such desires are good. 

Food for Thought: What comes to mind when you think of “desires of the flesh?”