Flesh, sinful nature

The physical aspect of human beings, which distinguishes them from God and is therefore frequently used in the NT as a symbol of human sinful nature in contrast with God's perfection. (The Greek word for “flesh” is sometimes translated by other words and phrases in the passages cited in this theme.).

Flesh as the bodily substance of human beings

As individuals or in relation to others

Psalm 84:2 See also Genesis 2:23–24, Genesis 29:14; 1 Corinthians 15:39GAL 1 Corinthians 2:20; Philippians 1:22–24

My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

As the means by which Jesus Christ identified with the human race to bring salvation

John 1:14 See also Ephesians 2:15; Hebrews 10:20; 1 John 4:2

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

As subject to mortality

Isaiah 40:6–7 See also Psalm 78:39; Acts 2:31; 1 Corinthians 15:50

A voice says, “Cry out!” And I asked, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall when the breath of the LORD blows on them; indeed, the people are grass.

As subject to weakness

2 Chronicles 32:8 See also Psalm 73:26; Matthew 26:41 parallel Mark 14:38

With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles.” So the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

Flesh as contrasting human nature with God's perfection

The powerlessness of human beings contrasted with God's eternal power

Isaiah 31:3 See also John 3:6, John 6:63

But the Egyptians are men, not God; their horses are flesh, not spirit. When the LORD stretches out His hand, the helper will stumble, and the one he helps will fall; both will perish together.

Human or worldly standards contrasted with God's standards

John 8:15 See also 1 Corinthians 1:26; 2 Corinthians 5:16, 2 Corinthians 10:3–4

You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.

Flesh as denoting the sinful nature of human beings

The tendency to sin

Romans 7:18 Paul does not mean that no goodness at all exists in people; nor that the physical aspect of human beings is inherently evil. He means that humans are invariably infected by evil and subject to its power. See also Jeremiah 17:5

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

The conflict in human experience between the sinful nature and the Spirit of God

Galatians 5:17 See also Romans 8:4–9; Galatians 5:19–25

For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.

The sinful nature is opposed to God and his will

This opposition finds expression in a range of acts and attitudes

Galatians 5:19–21 See also Romans 7:14–25, Romans 8:7, Romans 13:13–14; 1 Corinthians 6:9–11; Ephesians 5:5; James 1:14–15; 1 Peter 2:11; 2 Peter 2:10, 2 Peter 2:18; 1 John 2:16

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Confidence in the law is futile

Romans 8:3 Because of the sinfulness of human nature, God's law is powerless to bring people into relationship with God; Galatians 3:3 Even the attempt to find acceptance with God through keeping his law is an act of the sinful nature because it involves rejecting his offer of salvation through his grace. See also Romans 7:25; Philippians 3:3–9

For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh,

Are you so foolish? After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh?

The sinful nature controls human behaviour in ways which run counter to God's purpose

Romans 8:8 See also Romans 7:5

Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God.

The sinful nature therefore makes people subject to God's judgment and to death

Romans 8:13; Ephesians 2:3 See also Galatians 6:8

For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.

Believers are not controlled by the sinful nature

Through Jesus Christ's entering into human flesh, God delivers from the power and consequences of human sinfulness

Romans 8:3 See also Ephesians 2:15

For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh,

Believers have crucified the sinful nature

Romans 7:5–6 See also Romans 8:8–9; Galatians 5:24; Colossians 2:11

For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death. But now, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

The power of God's Spirit enables believers to continue to resist the sinful nature

Romans 8:13 See also Romans 13:14; Galatians 5:13; Colossians 3:5–6; 1 Peter 2:11