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  LAYING ASIDE OF ALL CARNAL AFFECTION
  by Clement of Rome
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Summary: True holiness is essential for a believer, and those who do not
live a holy life are not of God.

Topics: "Holy Living", "Spiritual Warfare"
Scripture References: 1 Samuel 16:14, Romans 8:7, Romans 8:9, 1 Corinthians 6:19, Galatians 5:16, Ephesians 4:30, Colossians 3:5, James 4:4, 1 Peter 1:15

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DESCRIPTION
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Clement of Rome emphasizes the importance of holiness in every aspect of
a believer's life, both in body and spirit. He contrasts the
characteristics of those who are truly believers, filled with the Spirit
of Christ, with those who exhibit the works of the flesh, listing
various sins and behaviors that are contrary to God's law. Clement warns
against the dangers of allowing the mind of the flesh to dominate, as it
leads to enmity towards God and the absence of the Spirit of God within.
He references the departure of the Spirit of God from Saul as a
cautionary example of the consequences of lacking the Spirit of God.

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CONTENT
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For, if a man be only in name called holy, he is not holy; but he must
be holy in everything: in his body and in his spirit. And those who are
virgins rejoice at all times in becoming like God and His Christ, and
are imitators of them. For in those that are such there is not the mind
of the flesh.

In those who are truly believers, and in whom the Spirit of Christ
dwells -- in them the mind of the fleshcannot be: which is fornication,
uncleanness, wantonness; idolatry, sorcery; enmity, jealousy, rivalry,
wrath, disputes, dissensions, ill-will;drunkenness, revelry; buffoonery,
foolish talking, boisterous laughter; backbiting, insinuations;
bitterness, rage; clamour, abuse, insolence of speech; malice, inventing
of evil, falsehood; talkativeness, babbling; threatenings, gnashing of
teeth, readiness to accuse, jarring,disdainings, blows; perversions of
the right, laxness in judgment; haughtiness, arrogance, ostentation,
pompousness, boasting of family, of beauty, of position, of wealth, of
an arm of flesh; quarrelsomeness, injustice, eagerness for victory;
hatred, anger, envy, perfidy, retaliation; debauchery, gluttony,
overreaching (which is idolatry), the love of money (which is the root
of all evils); love of display, vainglory, love of rule, assumption,
pride (which is called death, and which God fights against).

Every man with whom are these and such like things-- every such man is
of the flesh. For, he that is born of the flesh is flesh; and he that is
of the earth speaks of the earth, and his thoughts are of the earth. And
the mind of the flesh is enmity towards God. For it does not submit
itself to the law of God; for it cannot do so, because it is in the
flesh, in which dwells no good, because the Spirit of God is not in it.
For this cause justly does the Scripture say regarding such a generation
as this: My Spirit shall not dwell in men for ever, because they are
flesh.

Whosoever, therefore, has not the Spirit of God in him, is none of His:
as it is written,The Spirit of God departed from Saul, and an evil
spirit troubled him, which was sent upon him from God.

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/clement-of-rome/laying-aside-of-all-carnal-affection/
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