Why do the animals fight? They are created by God, the life they have is from Him, and He himself is peaceful; so why do they fight? I don’t even mean between species; within their own species they fight. Cats fight cats, dogs fight dogs, etc. So why is this? This question occurred to me the other day, and the answer is quite illuminating, for it’s bearing on the soul of man.
The animals are devoid of reason; God informs us of this, Jude 10, 2 Peter 2:12. They do not have the ability to consider what it is that they do, and the things which they do know, God has given this to them as their instinct.
The animals fight, because they are purely according to the flesh. They lead a purely sensual life, that is, they live according to their senses, and their emotions. They are driven by their instincts, and to satisfy the needs of their flesh. Hunger, pain, pleasure, emotional love, fear, etc.; these are the things that drive them on.
In 2 Peter 2:12 and in Jude 10, the word which is translated as “unreasoning” in the NASB, and as “brute” in the NKJV, is alogos. The a at the beginning of the Greek word acts to negate what follows, similar to the case with English. The English word “atypical” means “not typical”; the a at the beginning of the word gives what follows the opposite meaning. A typical road is made of cement or asphalt; it would be atypical, not typical at all, for a road to be made of wood.
So alogos is opposed to logos. What does this mean?
The Greek word logos has as one of it’s meanings (the meaning relevant to our case):
“II. Its use as respects the mind, alone,
1. reason, the mental faculty of thinking, meditating, reasoning, calculating, Heb 4:12
2. account, i. e. regard, consideration: Acts 20:24
3. account, i. e. reckoning, score: Phil 4:15
4. account, i. e. answer or explanation in reference to judgment: Rom 14:12
5. relation: Heb 4:13
6. reason, cause, ground: Acts 10:29”[1]
Therefore alogos means:
“1. destitute of reason, brute.”[2]
Since the animals are alogos, they do not possess he capability to reason. They are driven purely by what they sense, and what they feel.
Men who act according to the flesh, as the unreasoning animals, are the cause of issues in the church. For James says,
“But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing,” James 3:14-16, and again,
“What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: ‘He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us’?” James 4:1-5.
But Paul says,
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please,” Galatians 5:16-17, and again,
“For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life,” Galatians 6:8.
When we see “human traits” in animals, it isn’t because they are like us, it is because we are like them. The animalistic side of man.
But we are able to think and reason, and to learn to control this side of ourselves. Reason triumphs over emotion, that is, we can control our emotional self, and we can act with reason contrary to our feelings.
The things of God are contrary to instinct and emotion;[3] for these things are of the flesh, but the things of God are of the Spirit.
But there are men who form their religion based upon the sensual and animalistic things of life. Divisions in the church come from these men, Jude 19. Jude tells us,
“Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’ But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.’ These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage,” Jude 8-16
And Peter echoes the same in 2 Peter 2:1-22.
Jude tells us that these men, who are likened as unreasoning animals, following after their senses, living sensual lives, forming their religion around the things they dream up, instead of remaining in the gospel of Christ, “have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.”[4] So what was the guilt of these men?
Cain, “was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous,” 1 John 3:12. Cain was envious that Abel’s sacrifice was accepted by God and that his wasn’t, and instead of correcting his own faults so that he would be acceptable, he killed his brother.
The guilt of Balaam was that he taught the people of Israel to sacrifice to idols, and commit immorality, “Behold, these caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of the LORD…(f)or they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor, and the LORD was angry against Israel,” Numbers 31:16, 25:2-3. Balaam, “kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality,” Revelation 2:14, and he did it for the love of money, “(F)orsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,” 2 Peter 2:15.
Korah, who was the cousin of Moses and Aaron, was guilty of not accepting the leadership which God established, Moses and Aaron, but instead sought it for himself, “They assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, ‘You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?’ When Moses heard this, he fell on his face; and he spoke to Korah and all his company, saying, ‘Tomorrow morning the LORD will show who is His, and who is holy, and will bring him near to Himself; even the one whom He will choose, He will bring near to Himself…is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them; and that He has brought you near, Korah, and all your brothers, sons of Levi, with you? And are you seeking for the priesthood also?’” Numbers 16:3-5, 9-10.
Diotrephes was of this mindset, “I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God,” 3 John 9-11.
The guilt of these men was according to the flesh; selfish ambition, the love of money, envy and jealousy. For a man who has selfish ambitions in the church, and who devises his doctrine according to himself, and not according to the word of the Lord, has devised it from his unreasoning instincts, from his selfish desires. For these things of the man are devised according to the flesh, and not according to the Spirit.
The Spirit has not devulged to us the truth according to what we feel, but according to what we hear, that is, the word He revealed to the prophets.
We cannot trust feelings or emotion when it comes to our religion; these things are of the flesh, and will lead us astray.
What can we trust, then?
“Then the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth,” 1 Kings 17:24, and again,
“The sum of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting,” Psalm 119:160, and once more,
“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth,” John 17:17.
We can trust and rely on what the Lord has spoken to us, because He will act and perform according to what He has told us, for He is true to His word. What He has established will stand, and whatever man has devised to the contrary, will fall.
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law,” Galatians 5:16-23.
[1] (from Thayer's Greek Lexicon, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2000, 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
[2] (from Thayer's Greek Lexicon, PC Study Bible formatted Electronic Database. Copyright © 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
[3] Emotion to a point; clearly, emotion isn’t sin. However, emotion can easily lead us astray, and to someone whose religion and belief system are founded in emotion, they cannot be taught the truth; they have an emotional attachment to what they believe, and no amount of logic and reason in the world can overcome a false impression in someone who is ruled by their emotions, and has based their decision on emotions.
[4] Jude 11