As a counterbalance to the possibility of expressing one’s “sinful nature” or “flesh” (5:13) through freedom, Paul asserts that living “by the Spirit” (5:16) will characterize true freedom. The contrast of flesh (Greek sarx) and Spirit (Greek pneuma) is found throughout the Pauline Epistles, as well as other parts of the New Testament. Rather than pointing to two different parts of the same individual, the terminology relates to an orientation that motivates the course of life a person will take. These two orientations conflict in the most basic sense (5:17; see Rom. 7:15–23). Paul seems to assert that in spite of a person’s will to do right (i.e., follow the law), the flesh orientation makes that will ineffective and dooms the person to failure (5:17). This assertion reveals the utter fr…