The apostle Paul explains: "Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life", Galatians 6:8
Paul is explaining that we have to choose between two paths and two retributions: the path of righteousness and the path of sin, the retribution of eternal life and the retribution of destruction.
To explain this, Paul uses the triple division of man: body, soul and spirit. To the spirit belongs everything that is perfect, the spirit is the divine substance, instead to the flesh belongs the error.
That is why we have to choose between living as spiritual men, that is, as adults focused on the eternal; or as natural men focused on mutable and temporary things.
What belongs to the spirit is spirit and reaps eternal life, what belongs to the flesh is flesh and harvest destruction. An example of this is the conversion of Paul:
Paul passed in his conversion and justification from a life full of sins to a life of righteousness.
"About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?
Who are you, Lord? I asked.
"I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting", he replied. My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.
What shall I do, Lord? I asked
"Get up", the Lord said, "and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do". My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.
A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout obsever of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me and said, "Brother Saul, receive your sight!". And at that very moment I was able to see him.
Then he said: "The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous one and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and Heard. And now what you are waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name". Acts 22:6-16.
The life of Paul is a good example of the difference between the natural man and the spiritual man. This is why the preaching of the early church is focused on conversion, on living according to the commandment of love: "love your neighbor as yourself" Mark 12:31.
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