86: What Paul Really Means by “The Flesh”

Some Christians think “the flesh” means the physical body. Paul meant something deeper. This episode explores how Paul used “flesh” to describe our inner capacity for weakness and rebellion. We look at key passages, expose common misunderstandings, and show how God redirects our drives rather than condemns them. Learn how to discern when a good desire becomes a corrupted impulse. Discover how the Spirit empowers you to live with wisdom, strength, and freedom.

Read: https://ready4eternity.com/what-paul-really-means-by-the-flesh/

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I'm Eddie Lawrence, and this is the Ready
for Eternity podcast, a podcast and blog
exploring biblical truths
for inquisitive Bible students.
When you're reading Paul's letters in the
New Testament and he writes about the
flesh, what comes to mind?

(00:22):
All of us also lived among them at one
time, fulfilling the cravings of our
flesh and indulging
its desires and thoughts.
Ephesians 2, 3.
For many Christians, we might conclude it
refers to our physical bodies.
We might think Paul is warning us against
physical desires and bodily appetites,

(00:45):
and we assume the path to holiness means
suppressing our physical nature.
As it turns out, that's
not what Paul means at all.
Because of our assumptions about what the
flesh is, many of us might
be fighting the wrong enemy.
What might we mistake flesh to be?

(01:08):
The confusion is understandable.
When we hear flesh, we
naturally think of our bodies.
Another reason Christians may think this
is due to pagan philosophy that crept
into church doctrine centuries ago.
The Greeks taught that the body was the
prison of the soul, that matter was

(01:29):
corrupt and spirit is pure.
But that's not the Bible's view.
Scripture doesn't treat the body as
inherently evil or
something opposed to the soul.
Basil Atkinson correctly noted that the
Hebrew language doesn't even have a word
for body as something that

(01:49):
is separate from the soul.
The Israelites saw humans holistically.
Physical form was a
necessary part of being human.
In Matthew 26, 41, Jesus said that the
flesh was weak, but He
never called our bodies sinful.

(02:09):
So what does Paul mean when he uses the
word flesh in
passages like Ephesians 2, 3?
The Greek word that our English Bibles
translate as "flesh" is the word "sarcs,"
transliterated as "s-a-r-x."
This is a word that Paul

(02:29):
often uses in a distinctive way.
He's not talking
about your physical body.
He's describing your capacity for sin,
weakness, and rebellion against God.
Here's how theologian
Daniel Aiken explains it.
Most contemporary English translations,

(02:50):
including the newest edition of the New
International Version, opt to translate
"sarcs" as "flesh," and it must be
understood that in these passages,
"sarcs" refers to a
capacity, not an ontological nature.
The flesh is not what
you are, that is your body.
It's a capacity within you.

(03:12):
Your potential to sin
and or rebel against God.
It's not a force that compels us to sin,
but a weakness that
makes us susceptible to sin.
Scholar W.D.
Davies puts it even more clearly.
The flesh is a corrupted, but not a

(03:35):
corrupting, element.
He explained that it's the weak
instrument that sin uses, not the
ultimate source of sin itself.
Several Bible passages make this clear.
In Romans 7, 18, Paul says, "I know that
nothing good lives in
me, that is, in my flesh.

(03:57):
For I have the desire to do what is good,
but I cannot carry it out."
This he distinguishes between himself as
a person and the flesh
as something within him.
The flesh is where sin finds opportunity.
In Romans 8, verses 5-9, Paul contrasts

(04:18):
those who set their minds on the things
of the flesh with those who set their
minds on the things of the Spirit.
He says Christians are controlled not by
the flesh, but by the Spirit.
This shows the flesh is an orientation or
a capacity, not your physical existence
or your physical body.

(04:40):
Galatians chapter 5, verses 16-17 says
that the flesh craves what is contrary to
the Spirit and the Spirit what is
contrary to the flesh.
They are opposed to each other.
It's describing two capacities, two
directions, but one person.
And finally, Galatians chapter 5, verses

(05:00):
19-21, look at the works of the flesh
that Paul lists in these verses.
Among them are jealousy, strife, anger,
rivalries, and envy.
What do you notice about
these works of the flesh?
What should jump out at you is that many

(05:21):
of the works of the flesh
are not bodily appetites.
They are not physical sins.
Jealousy, strife, anger, etc.
These are sins of the
heart and sins of the mind.
You see, Paul is contrasting the flesh
and the Spirit, and this is the key to

(05:42):
understanding Paul's teaching.
The flesh and the Spirit work in opposite
directions within you.
When Paul speaks of "Spirit" here, he
means your human spirit,
responding to God's Holy Spirit.
The flesh is your
potential to yield to temptation.
It pulls you toward self, sin, and

(06:05):
independence from God.
Dr.
Daniel Aiken says, "As the human spirit
is the capacity to open one's life to the
influence of God, so the flesh is the
capacity to hear and
respond to temptation.
The Spirit leads life in one direction,
the flesh in the opposite direction."
To paraphrase Aiken, the Spirit is your

(06:28):
capacity to open your
life to God's influence.
It draws you toward God, holiness, and
surrender to His will.
Think of it as two voices calling you,
two opposing forces within the same
person pulling you in
different directions.
But here's a key thing to

(06:49):
understand about the flesh.
God created it.
It is not evil.
It's necessary for human
survival and flourishing.
Remember Genesis chapter 1, verse 31?
God looked at everything He made and He
called it "very good."
That includes your

(07:10):
fleshly appetites and drives.
You see, the impulses we have aren't
sinful in themselves.
For example, hunger drives us to eat.
Desire for connection with others prompts
us to build relationships.
The drive for comfort
inspires us to create shelter.

(07:31):
And the sex drive ensures reproduction.
These drives are essential
for life and civilization.
The problem aren't
the impulses themselves.
The problem is what happens when these
impulses get corrupted and
twisted away from God's design.

(07:53):
The God-given drive that belongs to our
flesh has a created purpose.
But every drive can also be corrupted.
For example, hunger, its created purpose
is for our nourishment,
health, and even celebration.
But a corrupted expression of our hunger

(08:14):
impulse is gluttony
and addiction to food.
Likewise, sexual desire.
Its created purpose is for
intimacy and procreation.
But a corrupted expression of our sexual
drive is lust, fornication, and adultery.
Another example is our
instinct for self-preservation.

(08:34):
The created purpose is to protect our
lives and avoid harm.
But a corrupted expression of
self-preservation may be cowardice,
lying, and manipulation.
The blog article that goes along with
this podcast episode has a table that
lists a number of the
impulses of the flesh.

(08:56):
The question is, is the flesh a
corrupting influence or
a corrupted influence?
A link to the article is
in the episode description.
But I think you can see the pattern.
Our drives and impulses that compose our
flesh comes from God.
It's the corruption of these drives and

(09:17):
impulses where sin
enters through the flesh.
So what does this mean for us?
Understanding the flesh
correctly changes everything.
You don't have to view your body along
with its drives and
impulses as the enemy.
Nor must we suppress every desire.
We don't have to live in constant
suspicion of our physical needs.

(09:40):
But we do need wisdom.
We need the Spirit's help to
direct what God created good.
We need discernment to recognize when a
legitimate drive is being twisted.
So ask yourself, is this
hunger or is it gluttony?
Is this healthy ambition
or is it selfish rivalry?

(10:03):
Is this righteous anger
or is it vengeful rage?
The flesh gives sin an opportunity.
But the flesh isn't the ultimate problem.
Sin is.
Thanks to Jesus, sin
doesn't have the final word.
Ephesians 2 verse 3
describes our old condition.

(10:24):
It says we lived for
the cravings of our flesh.
We carried out the
desires of our body and mind.
But Paul doesn't stop there.
The most beautiful words in scripture
come next in verse 4.
It says, "But God."
But God, He provided a way out of this.

(10:45):
We don't have to stay
enslaved to corrupted impulses.
God is made a way.
He doesn't destroy
our drives and impulses.
He redeems them.
He doesn't eliminate our appetites.
He redirects them toward Himself.
The flesh is weak, but God is strong.

(11:07):
And that makes all the difference.