Galatians 5:24 - Mostly dead

"But the [ones] of Christ [Jesus] the flesh they did crucify with the passions and the desires."

-Here’s the thing.  For someone who has trusted in Christ, the flesh is dead.  All these things which are wrong, which are contrary to what the Lord wants, which smack of self, the excesses and overindulgences and the things where God is left out - dead.  Nailed to the same cross on which my sins were paid for in full.  My new reality is that Christ lives in me, and I am dead, crucified in Him (Galatians 2.20).  In other words, there should in fact be no struggle.  Dead things do not put up a fight.  Because they’re dead.

-It is fair to ask, however, how is it that Paul just talked about a struggle, about the flesh setting its desire against the Spirit, about the deeds of the flesh?  What can it do, how can it do any of this, if it’s dead?  Some commentators point out that crucifixion as a means of execution was by no means instantaneous.  The victim usually hung there, struggling and hanging on to life for quite some time.  Using this imagery, it becomes obvious that the flesh thus nailed to the cross may still have some life left in it but it is rendered completely powerless.  It's only mostly dead.  It is dying, to be sure.  Rather incapacitated.  Which then suggests that - if I am in Christ - it would be ludicrous for me to allow my flesh to exert any influence whatsoever over the things that I want and the choices I make.  Those ungodly, selfish passions and desires have been crucified right along with it.  Walking by the Spirit, being led by the Spirit, I can walk right past that gibbet of crucified flesh and say yes to whatever and all that the Lord wants.