The Romance of Romans-Part 43

Romans Chapter 8 cont'd

5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. ESV

Comments:
The word "flesh" in Scripture is used in a variety of ways...and because of this, it can be easily misconstrued. It can mean: humanity, a physical body, the entirety of a person's life, a corpse, a relative, food, and human (not necessarily sinful) weakness. Remember "God became flesh"! And in Luke 24:39, the risen Christ is describes his glorified human body: "See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." In Paul, especially in Romans and Galatians, it also is very much linked to sinful human nature.

In A. R. G. Deasley's excellent article in Baker's Evangelical Dictionary on "flesh", he makes the point that Paul uses the word "flesh" in two distinct ways in his writings. Of the first way, he states... "the term acquires the transferred sense of that which is frail and provisional (1 Cor 1:26; Gal 1:16; Php 3:3). As transient, it is not the sphere of salvation, which is rather the sphere of the Spirit. This does not imply that flesh is evil per se: life "in the flesh" is normal human existence (Gal 2:20), but it is still merely human. This picture accords generally with that of the Old Testament."

Of the second, he points out that Paul builds upon the first definition and states..."The uniquely Pauline understanding begins from the idea that flesh, as weak, becomes the gateway to sin (Rom 8:3; 2 Cor 12:7; Gal 4:14). Still more, as the arena in which sin entrenches itself it becomes the instrument of sin (Rom 6:12-14) to the extent that it becomes sinful itself (Rom 8:3), and so an occupying alien power (Rom 7:17-20). The accompanying war Paul describes as a struggle between flesh and Spirit (Rom 8:5-17; Gal 5:16-24). The seriousness of the struggle is indicated by the fact that the mind-set of the flesh leads to death (Rom 8:6), and that those living in the flesh cannot please God (Rom 8:8). Accounts of this conflict are most vivid in contexts where Paul is describing the demands of the law on the one hand (Rom 7:4, 7-11; Gal 5:2-5), and its impotence to enable the believer to meet them on the other (Rom 8:3; Gal 3:10-12). Flesh, however, is not intrinsically sinful, and may therefore be the scene of sin's defeat. This it became through Christ's coming and crucifixion in the flesh (Rom 8:3). Those who identify themselves with him by faith likewise crucify the flesh (Gal 2:20; 5:24) so being emancipated from the power of sin in the flesh (Rom 6:14; 8:9)."

Wow...it takes some thinking to sort it through properly. Wherever the word is used, a careful examination of the context is essential. Because of how Paul links "flesh" to "sin" in certain passages like the one above and it's other meanings in the Bible, it has been easy for casual readers of Scripture to get a negative moral perspective about the physical, material or visible realm, as supposedly in strict opposition to, the spiritual, immaterial and invisible realm. This has opened the door throughout church history to an unbiblical philosophical dualism, and it's step-child, religious gnosticism, that are terribly counter-productive to a healthy spiritual life in Christ. (see The Romance of Romans-Parts 29 and 30)

More to say in the next installment.