Reference: Flesh
American
The substance of which the bodies of men and animals are composed. In the Bible, besides the ordinary sense, Job 33:25, it denotes mankind as a race, Ge 6:12; Ps 145:21; Isa 40:5-6; and all living creatures on the earth, Ge 6:17,19. It is often used in opposition to "spirit," as we use body and soul, Job 14:22; and sometimes means the body as animated and sensitive, Mt 26:41, and the seat of bodily appetites, Pr 5:11; 2Co 7:1. In the New Testament, "flesh" is very often used to designate the bodily appetites, propensities, and passions, which draw men away from yielding themselves to the Lord and to the things of the Spirit. The flesh, or carnal principle, is opposed to the spirit, or spiritual principle, Ro 8; Ga 5:17.
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And God, looking on the earth, saw that it was evil: for the way of all flesh had become evil on the earth.
For truly, I will send a great flow of waters over the earth, for the destruction from under the heaven of all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything on the earth will come to an end.
And you will take with you into the ark two of every sort of living thing, and keep them safe with you; they will be male and female.
Then his flesh becomes young again, and he comes back to the days of his early strength;
And you will be full of grief at the end of your life, when your flesh and your body are wasted;
And the glory of the Lord will be made clear, and all flesh will see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has said it. A voice of one saying, Give a cry! And I said, What is my cry to be? All flesh is grass, and all its strength like the flower of the field.
Keep watch with prayer, so that you may not be put to the test: the spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is feeble.
For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; because these are opposite the one to the other; so that you may not do the things which you have a mind to do.
Easton
in the Old Testament denotes (1) a particular part of the body of man and animals (Ge 2:21; 41:2; Ps 102:5, marg.); (2) the whole body (Ps 16:9); (3) all living things having flesh, and particularly humanity as a whole (Ge 6:12-13); (4) mutability and weakness (2Ch 32:8; comp. Isa 31:3; Ps 78:39). As suggesting the idea of softness it is used in the expression "heart of flesh" (Eze 11:19). The expression "my flesh and bone" (Jg 9:2; Isa 58:7) denotes relationship.
In the New Testament, besides these it is also used to denote the sinful element of human nature as opposed to the "Spirit" (Ro 6:19; Mt 16:17). Being "in the flesh" means being unrenewed (Ro 7:5; 8:8-9), and to live "according to the flesh" is to live and act sinfully (Ro 8:4-5,7,12).
This word also denotes the human nature of Christ (Joh 1:14, "The Word was made flesh." Comp. also 1Ti 3:16; Ro 1:3).
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And the Lord God sent a deep sleep on the man, and took one of the bones from his side while he was sleeping, joining up the flesh again in its place:
And God, looking on the earth, saw that it was evil: for the way of all flesh had become evil on the earth. And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come; the earth is full of their violent doings, and now I will put an end to them with the earth.
And out of the Nile came seven cows, good-looking and fat, and their food was the river-grass.
Say now in the ears of all the townsmen of Shechem, Is it better for you to be ruled by all the seventy sons of Jerubbaal or by one man only? And keep in mind that I am your bone and your flesh.
With him is an arm of flesh; but we have the Lord our God, helping us and fighting for us. And the people put their faith in what Hezekiah, king of Judah, said.
Because of this my heart is glad, and my glory is full of joy: while my flesh takes its rest in hope.
So he kept in mind that they were only flesh; a breath which is quickly gone, and will not come again.
For the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses are flesh, and not spirit: and when the Lord's hand is stretched out, the helper and he who is helped will come down together.
Is it not to give your bread to those in need, and to let the poor who have no resting-place come into your house? to put a robe on the unclothed one when you see him, and not to keep your eyes shut for fear of seeing his flesh?
And I will give them a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in them; and I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh:
And Jesus made answer and said to him, A blessing on you, Simon Bar-jonah: because this knowledge has not come to you from flesh and blood, but from my Father in heaven.
And so the Word became flesh and took a place among us for a time; and we saw his glory--such glory as is given to an only son by his father--saw it to be true and full of grace.
About his Son who, in the flesh, came from the family of David,
I am using words in the way of men, because your flesh is feeble: as you gave your bodies as servants to what is unclean, and to evil to do evil, so now give them as servants to righteousness to do what is holy.
For when we were in the flesh, the evil passions which came into being through the law were working in our bodies to give the fruit of death.
So that what was ordered by the law might be done in us, who are living, not in the way of the flesh, but in the way of the Spirit. For those who are living in the way of the flesh give their minds to the things of the flesh, but those who go in the way of the Spirit, to the things of the Spirit.
Because the mind of the flesh is opposite to God; it is not under the law of God, and is not able to be: So that those who are in the flesh are not able to give pleasure to God. read more. You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God is in you. But if any man has not the Spirit of Christ he is not one of his.
So then, my brothers, we are in debt, not to the flesh to be living in the way of the flesh:
And without argument, great is the secret of religion: He who was seen in the flesh, who was given God's approval in the spirit, was seen by the angels, of whom the good news was given among the nations, in whom the world had faith, who was taken up in glory.
Fausets
In an ethical sense opposed to "the spirit." Ge 6:3, "for that lie also (even the race of godly Seth) (is become) flesh (carnal)." When the salt of the church has lost its savor, the whole mass is corrupt and ripe for judgment. 1Co 1:26, "wise after the flesh," i.e. with wisdom acquired by mere human study without the Spirit. Contrast Mt 16:17; 26:41. Not the body, which is not in itself sinful; it was through thinking it so that Gnostic ascetics mortified it by austerities, while all the while their seeming neglecting of the body was pampering "the flesh" (Col 2:21-23). "The flesh" is the natural man, including the unrenewed will and mind, moving in the world of self and sense only.
Self imposed ordinances gratify the flesh (i.e. self) while seemingly mortifying it. "Trouble in the flesh" is in their outward state, namely, through the present distress (1Co 7:28). So Joh 6:63, "it is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and are life." Not the outward flesh, but the word of Christ, is what gives life. So Peter understood Christ, as his reply shows: "Thou hast the words of eternal life." "To know Christ after the flesh" (2Co 5:16) means to know Him in His mere outward worldly relations, with a view to "glorying" in them (Joh 8:15; Php 3:3-10); as Judaizing Christians prided themselves on the fleshly advantage of belonging to Israel, the nation of Christ, or on having seen Him in the flesh, as a ground of superiority over others (2Co 11:18; 10:7).
Contrasted with knowing Him spiritually as new creatures (2Co 5:12,15,17). Outward rebellions toward Him profit nothing (Lu 8:19-21; Joh 16:7,22; Mt 7:22-23). All outward distinctions are lost sight of in experiment, ally knowing Him in His new resurrection life (Ga 2:6,20; 3:28; Ro 6:9-11; 1Co 15:45; 1Pe 3:18; 4:1-2); disproving both Mariolatry and transubstantiation. In Ro 4:1, "what hath Abraham found, as pertaining to the flesh?" i.e. as respects carnal ordinances (circumcision). "All flesh," i.e. all men (Lu 3:2; Joh 17:2).
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And the Lord said, My spirit will not be in man for ever, for he is only flesh; so the days of his life will be a hundred and twenty years.
A great number will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, were we not prophets in your name, and did we not by your name send out evil spirits, and by your name do works of power? And then will I say to them, I never had knowledge of you: go from me, you workers of evil.
And Jesus made answer and said to him, A blessing on you, Simon Bar-jonah: because this knowledge has not come to you from flesh and blood, but from my Father in heaven.
Keep watch with prayer, so that you may not be put to the test: the spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is feeble.
When Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of the Lord came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the waste land.
And his mother and his brothers came to him, and they were not able to get near him because of the great number of people. And someone said to him, Your mother and your brothers are outside desiring to see you. read more. But he said to them in answer, My mother and my brothers are those who have knowledge of the word of God and do it.
The spirit is the life giver; the flesh is of no value: the words which I have said to you are spirit and they are life.
You are judging from what you see; I am judging no man.
But what I am saying is true: my going is for your good: for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
So you have sorrow now: but I will see you again, and your hearts will be glad, and no one will take away your joy.
Even as you gave him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all those whom you have given to him.
Having knowledge that because Christ has come back from the dead, he will never again go down to the dead; death has no more power over him. For his death was a death to sin, but his life now is a life which he is living to God. read more. Even so see yourselves as dead to sin, but living to God in Christ Jesus.
For you see God's design for you, my brothers, that he has not taken a great number of the wise after the flesh, not the strong, not the noble:
If you get married it is not a sin; and if an unmarried woman gets married it is not a sin. But those who do so will have trouble in the flesh. But I will not be hard on you.
We are not again requesting your approval, but we are giving you the chance of taking pride in us, so that you may be able to give an answer to those whose glory is in seeming, and not in the heart.
And that he underwent death for all, so that the living might no longer be living to themselves, but to him who underwent death for them and came back from the dead. For this reason, from this time forward we have knowledge of no man after the flesh: even if we have had knowledge of Christ after the flesh, we have no longer any such knowledge. read more. So if any man is in Christ, he is in a new world: the old things have come to an end; they have truly become new.
Give attention to the things which are before you. If any man seems to himself to be Christ's, let him keep in mind that we are as much Christ's as he is.
Seeing that there are those who take credit to themselves after the flesh, I will do the same.
But from those who seemed to be important (whatever they were has no weight with me: God does not take man's person into account): those who seemed to be important gave nothing new to me;
I have been put to death on the cross with Christ; still I am living; no longer I, but Christ is living in me; and that life which I now am living in the flesh I am living by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who in love for me, gave himself up for me.
There is no Jew or Greek, servant or free, male or female: because you are all one in Jesus Christ.
For we are the circumcision, who give worship to God and have glory in Jesus Christ, and have no faith in the flesh: Even though I myself might have faith in the flesh: if any other man has reason to have faith in the flesh, I have more: read more. Being given circumcision on the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in relation to the law, a Pharisee: In bitter hate I was cruel to the church; I kept all the righteousness of the law to the last detail. But those things which were profit to me, I gave up for Christ. Yes truly, and I am ready to give up all things for the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, which is more than all: for whom I have undergone the loss of all things, and to me they are less than nothing, so that I may have Christ as my reward, And be seen in him, not having my righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may have knowledge of him, and of the power of his coming back from the dead, and a part with him in his pains, becoming like him in his death;
Which say there may be no touching, tasting, or taking in your hands, (Rules which are all to come to an end with their use) after the orders and teaching of men? read more. These things seem to have a sort of wisdom in self-ordered worship and making little of oneself, and being cruel to the body, not honouring it by giving it its natural use.
Hastings
This word is used in Scripture to express: (1) the substance of the animal body, whether of man or of beast (Ge 41:2). (2) The whole human body (Ex 4:7). (3) Relationship by birth or marriage (Ge 2:24; 37:27; Ne 5:5), for which also the further phrase 'flesh and bones' is found (Ge 2:23; 2Sa 19:12)
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And the man said, This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh: let her name be Woman because she was taken out of Man. For this cause will a man go away from his father and his mother and be joined to his wife; and they will be one flesh.
And destruction came on every living thing moving on the earth, birds and cattle and beasts and everything which went on the earth, and every man.
Let us give him to these Ishmaelites for a price, and let us not put violent hands on him, for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brothers gave ear to him.
And out of the Nile came seven cows, good-looking and fat, and their food was the river-grass.
And he said, Put your hand inside your robe again. (And he put his hand into his robe again, and when he took it out he saw that it had become like his other flesh.)
But our flesh is the same as the flesh of our countrymen, and our children as their children: and now we are giving our sons and daughters into the hands of others, to be their servants, and some of our daughters are servants even now: and we have no power to put a stop to it; for other men have our fields and our vine-gardens.
O God, you are my God; early will I make my search for you: my soul is dry for need of you, my flesh is wasted with desire for you, as a dry and burning land where no water is;
My flesh and my heart are wasting away: but God is the Rock of my heart and my eternal heritage.
The passion of my soul's desire is for the house of the Lord; my heart and my flesh are crying out for the living God.
For the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses are flesh, and not spirit: and when the Lord's hand is stretched out, the helper and he who is helped will come down together.
A voice of one saying, Give a cry! And I said, What is my cry to be? All flesh is grass, and all its strength like the flower of the field. The grass becomes dry, the flower is dead; because the breath of the Lord goes over it: truly the people is grass. read more. The grass is dry, the flower is dead; but the word of our God is eternal.
And after that, it will come about, says the Lord, that I will send my spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will be prophets, your old men will have dreams, your young men will see visions:
Keep watch with prayer, so that you may not be put to the test: the spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is feeble.
See; my hands and my feet: it is I myself; put your hands on me and make certain; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have.
Whose birth was from God and not from blood, or from an impulse of the flesh and man's desire. And so the Word became flesh and took a place among us for a time; and we saw his glory--such glory as is given to an only son by his father--saw it to be true and full of grace.
About his Son who, in the flesh, came from the family of David,
About his Son who, in the flesh, came from the family of David, But was marked out as Son of God in power by the Holy Spirit through the coming to life again of the dead; Jesus Christ our Lord,
For we are conscious that the law is of the spirit; but I am of the flesh, given into the power of sin.
I give praise to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So with my mind I am a servant to the law of God, but with my flesh to the law of sin.
For what the law was not able to do because it was feeble through the flesh, God, sending his Son in the image of the evil flesh, and as an offering for sin, gave his decision against sin in the flesh: So that what was ordered by the law might be done in us, who are living, not in the way of the flesh, but in the way of the Spirit.
It is planted a natural body; it comes again as a body of the spirit. If there is a natural body, there is equally a body of the spirit. And so it is said, The first man Adam was a living soul. The last Adam is a life-giving spirit. read more. But that which is natural comes before that which is of the spirit. The first man is from the earth, and of the earth: the second man is from heaven. Those who are of the earth are like the man who was from the earth: and those who are of heaven are like the one from heaven. And in the same way as we have taken on us the image of the man from the earth, so we will take on us the image of the one from heaven. Now I say this, my brothers, that it is not possible for flesh and blood to have a part in the kingdom of God; and death may not have a part in life.
Now I say this, my brothers, that it is not possible for flesh and blood to have a part in the kingdom of God; and death may not have a part in life.
Because God, then, will give us such rewards, dear brothers, let us make ourselves clean from all evil of flesh and spirit, and become completely holy in the fear of God.
I have been put to death on the cross with Christ; still I am living; no longer I, but Christ is living in me; and that life which I now am living in the flesh I am living by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who in love for me, gave himself up for me.
But I say, Go on in the Spirit, and you will not come under the rule of the evil desires of the flesh.
Worship of images, use of strange powers, hates, fighting, desire for what another has, angry feelings, attempts to get the better of others, divisions, false teachings,
Among whom we all at one time were living in the pleasures of our flesh, giving way to the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and the punishment of God was waiting for us even as for the rest.
Let no man take your reward from you by consciously making little of himself and giving worship to angels; having his thoughts fixed on the things which he has seen, being foolishly lifted up in his natural mind,
If then you have a new life with Christ, give your attention to the things of heaven, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
And may the God of peace himself make you holy in every way; and may your spirit and soul and body be free from all sin at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And because the children are flesh and blood, he took a body himself and became like them; so that by his death he might put an end to him who had the power of death, that is to say, the Evil One;
Morish
????. This term is used in various senses in scripture. The principal are
1. The estate of man: "all flesh shall see the salvation of God," Lu 3:6; "the Word became flesh." Joh 1:14.
2. The material part of man and of animals: "all flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts." 1Co 15:39.
3. The same kindred: "thou art my bone and my flesh," Ge 29:14; "he is our brother, and our flesh." Ge 37:27.
4. Union: "they shall be one flesh," Ge 2:24; Eph 5:29-31.
5. Man's nature, but corrupted by sin: "that which is born of the flesh is flesh," Joh 3:6; "sinful flesh," Ro 8:3.
6. The state which characterises man before knowing deliverance: Rom. 7, Ro 8:8-9.
7. Though no longer the state of the Christian, yet the flesh is in him, and is antagonistic to the Spirit, "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye should not do the things that ye would." Ga 5:17. Thus the Spirit resists in the Christian the accomplishment of the lusts of the flesh.
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For this cause will a man go away from his father and his mother and be joined to his wife; and they will be one flesh.
And Laban said to him, Truly, you are my bone and my flesh. And he kept Jacob with him for the space of a month.
Let us give him to these Ishmaelites for a price, and let us not put violent hands on him, for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brothers gave ear to him.
And all flesh will see the salvation of God.
And so the Word became flesh and took a place among us for a time; and we saw his glory--such glory as is given to an only son by his father--saw it to be true and full of grace.
That which has birth from the flesh is flesh, and that which has birth from the Spirit is spirit.
For what the law was not able to do because it was feeble through the flesh, God, sending his Son in the image of the evil flesh, and as an offering for sin, gave his decision against sin in the flesh:
So that those who are in the flesh are not able to give pleasure to God. You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God is in you. But if any man has not the Spirit of Christ he is not one of his.
All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one flesh of men, another of beasts, another of birds, and another of fishes.
For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; because these are opposite the one to the other; so that you may not do the things which you have a mind to do.
For no man ever had hate for his flesh; but he gives it food and takes care of it, even as Christ does for the church; Because we are parts of his body. read more. For this cause will a man go away from his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.
Smith
Flesh.
[FLOOD]
See Flood
Watsons
FLESH, a term of very ambiguous import in the Scriptures. An eminent critic has enumerated no less than six different meanings which it bears in the sacred writings, and for which, he affirms, there will not be found a single authority in any profane writer:
1. It sometimes denotes the whole body considered as animated, as in Mt 26:41, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
2. It sometimes means a human being, as in Lu 3:6, "All flesh shall see the salvation of God."
3. Sometimes a person's kindred collectively considered, as in Ro 11:14, "If by any means I may provoke them which are my flesh."
4. Sometimes any thing of an external or ceremonial nature, as opposed to that which is internal and moral, as in Ga 3:3, "Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect in the flesh?"
5. The sensitive part of our nature, or that which is the seat of appetite, as in 2Co 7:1, "Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit;" where there can be no doubt that the pollutions of the flesh must be those of the appetites, being opposed to the pollutions of the spirit, or those of the passions. 6. It is employed to denote any principle of vice and moral pravity of whatever kind. Thus among the works of the flesh, Ga 5:19-21, are numbered not only adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, drunkenness, and revellings, which all relate to criminal indulgence of appetite, but idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, and murders, which are manifestly vices of a different kind, and partake more of the diabolical nature than of the beastly.
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Keep watch with prayer, so that you may not be put to the test: the spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is feeble.
And all flesh will see the salvation of God.
If in any way those who are of my flesh may be moved to envy, so that some of them may get salvation by me.
Because God, then, will give us such rewards, dear brothers, let us make ourselves clean from all evil of flesh and spirit, and become completely holy in the fear of God.
Are you so foolish? having made a start in the Spirit, will you now be made complete in the flesh?
Now the works of the flesh are clear, which are these: evil desire, unclean things, wrong use of the senses, Worship of images, use of strange powers, hates, fighting, desire for what another has, angry feelings, attempts to get the better of others, divisions, false teachings, read more. Envy, uncontrolled drinking and feasting, and such things: of which I give you word clearly, even as I did in the past, that they who do such things will have no part in the kingdom of God.