After the apostle spoke concerning many items of the flesh in Galatians 5, he continued, “But they who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its lusts” (v. 24). This is the way of salvation. What the believers pay attention to and what God pays attention to are very different. The believers are concerned about “the works of the flesh” (v. 19) which are the works, item by item, of the flesh.
What God pays attention to is “flesh” (v. 24), not the works of the flesh. If a tree is dead, do we still fear that it will bear fruit? Believers always plan to deal with the offenses (fruits) and forget to deal with the flesh (the root). Therefore, it is unavoidable that one offense has not been dealt with clearly before another offense has already come. We need to deal with the root of sin.