What is the flesh according to the Bible?

It may be well to state here what is meant by 'the flesh' in the subject before us. It is the evil or fallen nature, in every child of Adam, poisoned by indwelling sin. It is the real source of every sinful action performed by him.

"The flesh" is not the body; it cannot be that, for the body becomes the temple of the Holy Ghost. It is that evil principle that governs man, that makes him his own centre instead of God. It is the very nature of man until he is born again — all his motives spring from self-love: see it in the ambitious politician, the man who is making haste to get rich, the man who lives for pleasure; let us look at our own lives apart from Christ and the Spirit — that is the flesh, and the end of that is death. If we live in the flesh we shall die — corruption and death are the end of that road. But if we are walking in the Spirit and minding the things of the Spirit, we shall not be self-centred, we shall be Christ-centred, and there will be life and peace. Which road shall we take — the road that ends in death, or the road of life and peace: shall we walk after the flesh and be self-centred, or walk according to the Spirit and be Christ-centred?

Flesh. — The apostle has spoken of the flesh. A few words on the different senses in which this term is employed in the New Testament may be useful. We meet with flesh in its ordinary sense, as the flesh of men and of animals (1 Cor. 15:39). We read of "flesh and blood," describing man in his present state of corporeal existence (1 Cor. 15:50; Eph. 6:12), and of "flesh and spirit" as two parts of a man (Matt. 26:41; 2 Cor. 7:1). Then the human race is styled "all flesh" (Luke 3:6; Acts 2:17; Rom. 3:20; 1 Cor. 1:29), and one in the body on earth is in the flesh (1 Peter 4:2), and earthly relations are called kinsmen according to the flesh (Rom. 9:3), and judging of things in a natural way, one is said to judge according to the flesh (John 8:15). Besides all this we meet with the term flesh in a moral sense, descriptive of the evil nature within us (Gal. 5:17), which lusts against the Spirit, and has works of which the apostle makes mention in that same chapter (19-21). Flesh used in this sense is of course opposed to the Spirit, as Rom. 8:4-8 makes plain. So the Christian is not to live after it (Rom. 8:12-13), and is to remember that those who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts (Gal 5:24), God having crucified our old man with Christ. Besides this, it is used of the sensual part of man's nature, connected with his lusts, as distinguished from the evil of the mind (Eph. 2:3). Inattention to the different uses of this term flesh may lead to great confusion.

The Apostle John goes to the very root of things—nature—when he says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh” (John 3:6)—flesh describing here the fallen sinful, nature of man. “Flesh” in Scripture sometimes means the physical body, such as “flesh and bones.” In this use of it, it includes reference to the Lord Himself, but mostly the word refers to our fallen sinful nature, in which the blessed Lord had no part surely, or else He were as one of ourselves and no Saviour.

The flesh is viewed in two ways in Scripture. In the first place it is what the body is (Gen. 6:3, 13); “The life I now live in the flesh” (Gal. 2:20); “That which is born of the flesh is flesh” (John 3:6). Another way in which it is viewed is in its fallen and corrupt condition, in which dwells no good thing (Rom. 7:18). Now when we are told: “Ye are not in the flesh,” the meaning is that the spring and fountain of our life does not lie in the flesh, as it once did when of the old order (Rom. 7:5), in the standing, state, and responsibilities of a mere child of Adam, all our activities springing from a corrupt life within, the corrupt life of fallen, sinful flesh. But to be in the flesh in the sense of Galatians 2:20 is to be in the body, but the Apostle was energized, not by the will of the flesh, but by faith in the Son of God. The flesh in its corrupt state has been defined as “the body with a will in it,” and I take this as a fairly correct definition.

All through the Old Testament, "flesh" is thus the symbol of weakness and nothingness: a use of it which is carried on also in the New. Witness a passage which is often cited in another way, and very falsely applied: it is the tender apology of the Lord for His disciples' sleeping in the garden: The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Here, the "weak" flesh is clearly not at all the old nature. It is bodily infirmity, which prevents it yielding to the will of the spirit.

Flesh is used in the New Testament for our sinful nature, as it works habitually through its lusts. So "flesh," "sin in the flesh," and "sinful flesh," are substantially the same, though it may be in different aspects and application; "the mind of the flesh" is also used, its bent, and purpose or object. Sin has a much wider sense - "who takes away the sin of the world," for instance, "to put away sin." But if we look at it in the sense of a nature and principle, it is the same as flesh. It is sin that dwells in me. "I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing." Christ "was made sin": here evidently it is not sin in us. Sinfulness is the state of the flesh and fleshly mind.

(V. 18). Secondly, in this struggle to do right and overcome sin by legal efforts, another important truth is learnt. I discover the incorrigible evil of the flesh. As the Apostle says, "I know that in me (that is in my flesh) dwells no good thing". He does not say, "I do no good thing", but "in me … dwells no good thing". It is here a question of what I am, not of what I do. As a matter of fact the flesh can do many things that are morally right. Doubtless in the case supposed, the life was blameless. The failure was lust, and that is inward.

"In the flesh" is a term used in Scripture to set forth our fallen condition, governed by the old nature, as connected with Adam. Adam innocent was in the flesh, but without sin. The Lord Jesus too, was in the flesh, but without sin. By the fall the flesh, or nature of man, came under the dominion of sin, and so flesh became sinful flesh (Rom. 8:3). In this struggle to do right we discover that, in spite of all our efforts the flesh does not change. Lust again and again arises in the heart, showing that the old nature is there, and that it is incorrigible. We discover that not only there is a great deal of evil in the flesh, but that, in the flesh there is no good thing. We are brought to the point when we abhor ourselves.

Observe how the Lord opens this subject out Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." The reason is then given. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh" — a most solemn truth with regard to what man is, as man. Everything partakes morally of its source. Flesh is flesh. Do with it what you will, it is flesh, and nothing but flesh. Educate it to the highest pitch, and it is flesh still, not spirit Raise the flesh to the highest point you can, and what is it? Flesh. Saul of Tarsus went to the very summit, so to speak, of the tree of human excellence in religion, and what was he doing? — persecuting and slaying the saints of God. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." You may sublimate the flesh as you like, but you will never distil spirit out of it. "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." It partakes of its source; the nature of it is the same as its source.

The translation of the last clause of this verse, as may be seen from the Revised Version, is altogether faulty. Taking it as it stands, it would teach that both the Spirit and the flesh are equally impotent, or rather that the result for the believer of their mutual antagonism is that he cannot do anything, that, whatever his desires, the desires of the new nature, even though indwelt by the Holy Ghost, he is utterly helpless, cannot do the things he would. An examination of the context (v. 16, for example) shows at once that such a thought is wholly alien from the mind of God; and, in fact, the words should be rendered, "that ye should not do those things which ye desire." This at once clears away the difficulty. The Galatian saints were not walking according to the character of their calling. Losing the sense of grace, they had put themselves back, through the influence of Judaizing teachers, under law; and the consequence was, that the flesh assumed its old dominant place in their lives. (v. 15.) The only remedy for this, as the apostle points out, was to "walk in the Spirit." (Compare Rom. 8:13.) Thereupon he takes occasion to bring before them the abiding character of the flesh, and its irreconcilable contrariety with the Spirit. "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other." The two are, and must ever be, opposed. The flesh will always be evil, and cannot be ameliorated, improved, or changed; and the Spirit, blessed be God, is holy; and it is impossible therefore that the two can be in agreement. The flesh "lusteth" against the Spirit, ever antagonizing, and ever seeking, in opposition to the Spirit, to gratify its own inclinations. The Spirit, on the other hand, is ever in opposition to the flesh, and seeks to repress its activities, and thus to lead the believer according to God. The question then is, To which shall the believer yield? If by grace he walks in the power of the Spirit, he will not fulfil the lusts of the flesh (v. 16); but if, on the other hand, he surrenders himself to the dominion of the flesh, there is then, as verses 19-21 indicate, no sin, however abominable, into which he may not fall. Give the Spirit His place in our souls, He will produce the beauteous fruit mentioned in verses 22, 23. But then, as the apostle warns these saints, it is a characteristic of those "that are Christ's," that they "have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." If, therefore, any were allowing the sway of the flesh, let them take heed lest, after all, they had but deceived themselves with a vain profession, and did not really belong to Christ. If we live in the Spirit, let it be seen — for this is the force of the exhortation — by our also walking in the Spirit. E. D.