The Way of the Spirit and the Way of the Flesh
The False Teaching:
The false teachers in Ephesus were saying that there were two types of salvation:
spiritual salvation and physical salvation. The Way of the Spirit
achieved spiritual salvation and the Way of the Flesh achieved physical
salvation.
New Testament Response:
Paul responds in Romans:
Romans 8:4-9
that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For
those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of
the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the
Spirit. For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace; because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God's law, neither indeed can it be. Those who are in the flesh can't please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you.
It's interesting that early Christianity was simply know as "The Way" - singular, perhaps in response to these false teachings.
Related Verses in Ephesians:
Eph. 2:3, Eph. 5:9, Eph. 5:11
