What is the lust of the flesh?

If the love of the Father possesses us, we shall see the world in its true light. We shall possess a spiritual faculty which acts after the fashion of the much prized X-rays. We shall get down beneath the surface of things to the skeleton framework on which all is built. That skeleton is revealed to us in verse 16 as, "The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life;" all of which spring not from the Father but are wholly of the world.

The lust of the flesh is the desire of having — the desire to possess oneself of those things that minister to the flesh. The lust of the eyes is the desire of seeing, whether with the eyes of the head or with those of the mind, all the things that minister to one's pleasures. It would cover man's restless intellectual cravings as well as his continual hunt for spectacular pleasures. The pride of life is the desire of being — the yearning to be somebody, or something that ministers to pride of heart. This is the most deep-seated evil of the three, and often the least-suspected.

The "lust of the flesh" is the desire of HAVING — the restless longing to have or acquire everything that can minister to any desire having its seat in the body. The phrase covers the whole range of such desires from the lowest animal passion to the highest refinements in the way of creature comforts.

The "lust of the eyes" is the desire of SEEING. The eye, be it remembered, is only the organ of sight. It is the brain that really sees. This phrase, therefore, covers the whole range of desires connected with the living, intelligent soul which man possesses, rather than with his body. The world provides every kind of spectacle and show to please the eyes or ears. You may visit the lowest kind of music hall imaginable or the finest and most cultured theatre. If your desires are more intellectual you may wander in paths of science and philosophy, ever gratifying the lust of seeing mentally some new thing, though never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

What is the world? Here its underlying principles are analysed for us. They are three. First, the lust of the flesh; that is, the desire after that which gratifies man's fallen nature. Second, the lust of the eyes; not merely the desire for outward shows that appeal to the eyes in our heads, but even more the restless desire of the human mind for the acquisition of knowledge, for probing into things undiscovered as yet. Men wish to see the deep secrets of nature, and it is amazing what they have discovered.

Whether we look at man as having natural instincts, or intellectual qualities his whole nature in a moral point of view is called "flesh." "Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as others" (Eph. 2:3). Here the desires of the flesh as distinguished from the mind refer to natural interests, and the desires of the mind to his mental, as distinguished from the brute creation. It takes in all the natural man craves for, his desires — tastes as well as lusts. Whatever the object, all are classed as "the lusts of the flesh;" that is, it is the nature of man to desire these things. For the mind is not independent of the flesh, but as the mind excites the flesh, so does the flesh give tone to the mind. That is, the higher and the lower qualities of nature influence each other, and both are "the flesh."

"The flesh" can assume a religious aspect, but where there is profession without faith, every desire of the mind is of "the lusts of the flesh." It may be decent and respectable, yea most commendable in the judgment of the world; but it is not of Christ and therefore sin. A believer may yield to his flesh, seeking pre-eminence in the church, and desiring the praise of men. This is a far more serious thing in him than in a man of the world. It is the "flesh" (which the believer has power to judge) intruding into the holy things of God, taking advantage of the position given through faith, to acquire a place for its own exaltation.

But you may ask — What do you mean by moral order? I mean the order in which Satan's temptations usually reach us, as they reached Eve at first, and all the world since. It is written, "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food" (the lust of the flesh), "and that it was pleasant to the eyes" (the lust of the eye), "and a tree to be desired to make one wise" (the pride of life), "she took of the fruit thereof and did eat; and gave also to her husband with her, and he did eat" (Gen. 3:6). The order here is akin to Luke's account of the Lord's temptations, and exactly what the Spirit of God elsewhere thus describes: "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world" (1 John 2:16). Poor world! Its composition is after all only twofold, lust and pride. Lust is seeking what I do not possess, pride is self-exaltation on account of what I do possess. These principles form and actuate the world — away from God.

There is nothing wrong to desire good food, given by a beneficent Creator for the sustenance of man. But when there were many trees able to satisfy, why eat of one hedged round by God's expressed prohibition? To eat of the tree in those circumstances meant, "the lust of the flesh." Neither is it wrong to admire what is pleasant to the eyes. God, who created beauty, must rejoice when His creature appreciates what is beautiful. But when this admiration is so strong as to lead to the taking what God has forbidden, it becomes a grievous thing, "the lust of the eyes." The third character of the temptation, "the pride of life," was the strongest of all. To be as gods, to know good and evil, surely that was worth risking the eating of the tree in defiance of God's prohibition, and risking the sentence of death in all its horrors.

It appeals to the flesh, the feeling of a corrupted nature: this is the sensual attraction. But more, there is the lust of the eyes," the artistic attraction, - form, colour, perspective, all engaged to appeal to that in us which seems noble and dignified, but which calmly excludes the Father. May our eyes not wander from our holy blessed Lord, in Whom all true, pure beauty is comprehended. And thirdly, "the pride of life" is the intellectual attraction, the appeal of increasing knowledge, by which the world boasts of its ability to do without God.

The flesh supplies us with all those baser desires, which each of us knows too well, as also with every other desire not in accordance with the will of God.

"Desire" and "lust" are really the same word, as may be seen from many passages. For example, the word translated "lust" in the above scripture is the same as that in Phil. 1:23 (and a number of other places), where it could only be rendered "desire." It is the thing longed for that characterises the nature of the feeling cherished. If the object of the craving is good, according to God, then it is a holy desire. Thus the Lord Himself uses the word in question when He says to His disciples, "With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer." (Luke 22:15.) When the object, on the other hand, is evil, then the desire for it is "lust." Hence the apostle employs the word when he speaks of the "lusts of our flesh." (Ephesians 2:3.) There is consequently an important distinction to be noted. "Lust," as James teaches, has its origin in ourselves (chapter 1:14), but holy "desire" is the fruit of the action of the Spirit of God in the believer.

Up to this point the apostle had said "ye," meaning the Gentiles to whom he was writing; but were the Jews better as to their former state? "Among whom also we* all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath even as others" (ver. 3). The Jew, with all his privileges and favours, was not one whit better than the outside Gentile. There may be outward differences, but before God the ruin is complete. The desires of the flesh may be distinct from those of the mind; but both spring from the one evil source. The former would comprehend all that is base and foul; the latter, man's search after wisdom, which invariably leads him from God, and lands him in self-complacency, vanity, and infidelity. Solemn thought! we ever should have delighted in and performed the will of God; but we loved not His way, preferring our own and indulging our "desires" (or "wills") to the full. The opposite should be true now; His will, not our own, should be our unceasing delight. Christ as Man below never did His own will, but the will of His Father, and we are called to follow His steps. All this was our state by nature; we were then "children of wrath even as others."