It is impossible to still be “in the flesh” after being born again. That is the very point of new birth: you are born into the Spirit and out of the flesh. The flesh was crucified with Christ; it is dead.
When I was first born, I was born from a human father and a human mother. If you trace that line back far enough, it leads to Adam—Adam, who fell into sin, who was corrupted, and who passed that corruption down through all of humanity (Romans 5). When I entered this world, I was born into sin by no choice of my own. I inherited the fallen nature. That is why I needed to be born again.
What is the qualification for new birth? John 1:12–13 says, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” The family tree rooted in Adam was cut off. I do not belong to it anymore, nor do I appeal to it (see Born of God, Not of Adam). It’s how I can be in the [fallen] world, but not of the [fallen] world. I am not “in Adam” anymore, nor am I trapped in a fallen body. That life has died, and I have been born of the Spirit.
What does that look like? It looks like Jesus. The same way He was born of the Spirit, bypassing a human father, we are born of the Spirit, receiving a nature not from Adam but from God (see What the New Creation Is). The Holy Spirit does not have a sinful nature to pass down, so we inherit His perfection—just as surely as we once inherited Adam’s corruption. Jesus is the firstborn of the new creation (Colossians 1:18). He sets the pattern for the children of God: born directly of the Spirit, not of the will of man, and born without the inheritance of Adam’s fall. This is why it is called a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), and why Scripture declares that the old has passed away.
Romans 6:6 says, “Our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” Galatians 5:24 says, “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” It is not an ongoing struggle of self-death, as if “I must crucify my flesh daily.” Our flesh was crucified the one time Jesus was crucified, and it died the one time He died, the one time we died with Him (see The Old Self Is Dead).
You are not in the flesh. The old man was crucified with Jesus, the sinful nature was destroyed at the cross, and you have been set free.
I understand that I still live in a physical body, but I am not “in the flesh.” I am not still carrying Adam’s sinful nature. That is impossible, because if I were, I would still belong to Adam and not to Christ. Romans 8 makes that clear: “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.”
So the question is simple: does the Spirit of God dwell in me? If yes, then I am not in the flesh, I am in the Spirit. If no, then as Romans 8:9 continues, “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.” (see Union, Not Separation)
When someone claims they are “still in the flesh,” they are, whether knowingly or unknowingly, claiming that they do not have the Spirit and therefore do not belong to Christ. But that is not the truth. You belong to Him, and you have His Spirit. You are not in the flesh. The old man was crucified with Jesus, the sinful nature was destroyed at the cross, and you have been set free.
Walk in the Spirit, because that is who and where you truly are.
