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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Watch and pray, that you may not fall into temptation. True, the spirit is eager, but human nature is weak."
For these cravings of our earthly nature conflict with the Spirit, and the Spirit with our earthly nature--they are two contrary principles--so that you cannot do what you wish.
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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"Blessed are you, Simon, Son of Jonah," Jesus replied. "For no human being has revealed this to you, but my Father who is in Heaven.
And the Word became Man, and dwelt among us, (We saw his glory--the glory of the Only Son sent from the Father), full of love and truth.
Concerning his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord; who, as to his human nature, was descended from David,
I can but speak as men do because of the weakness of your earthly nature. Once you offered every part of your bodies to the service of impurity, and of wickedness, which leads to further wickedness. Now, in the same way, offer them to the service of Righteousness, which leads to holiness.
When we were living merely earthly lives, our sinful passions, aroused by the Law, were active in every part of our bodies, with the result that our lives bore fruit for Death.
So that the requirements of the Law might be satisfied in us who live now in obedience, not to our earthly nature, but to the Spirit. They who follow their earthly nature are earthly-minded, while they who follow the Spirit are spiritually minded.
Because to be earthly-minded is to be an enemy to God, for such a mind does not submit to the Law of God, nor indeed can it do so. They who are earthly cannot please God. read more. You, however, are not earthly but spiritual, since the Spirit of God lives within you. Unless a man has the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ;
So then, Brothers, we owe nothing to our earthly nature, that we should live in obedience to it.
Yes, and confessedly wonderful are the deep truths of our religion; for-- 'He was revealed in our nature, pronounced righteous in spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, taken up into 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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On 'That Day' many will say to me 'Master, Master, was not it in your name that we taught, and in your name that we drove out demons, and in your name that we did many miracles?' And then I shall say to them plainly 'I never knew you. Go from my presence, you who live in sin.'
"Blessed are you, Simon, Son of Jonah," Jesus replied. "For no human being has revealed this to you, but my Father who is in Heaven.
Watch and pray, that you may not fall into temptation. True, the spirit is eager, but human nature is weak."
And when Annas and Caiaphas were High Priests, a Command from God came to John, the son of Zechariah, while he was in the wilderness.
Presently Jesus' mother and brothers came where he was, but they were not able to join him on account of the crowd. So word was brought to him--'Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.' read more. His reply, spoken to them all, was: "My mother and my brothers are those who listen to God's teaching and do what it bids."
It is the Spirit that gives Life; mere flesh is of no avail. In the teaching that I have been giving you there is Spirit and there is Life.
You judge by appearances; I judge no one.
Yet I am only telling you the truth; it is for your good that I should go away. For otherwise the Helper will never come to you, but, if I leave you, I will send him to you.
You, in the same way, are sorry now; but I shall see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will rob you of your joy.
Even as thou gavest him power over all mankind, that he should give Immortal Life to all those whom thou has given him.
What then, it may be asked, are we to say about Abraham, the ancestor of our nation?
We know, indeed, that Christ, having once risen from the dead, will not die again. Death has power over him no longer. For the death that he died was a death to sin, once and for all. But the Life that he now lives, he lives for God. read more. So let it be with you-regard yourselves as dead to sin, but as living for God, through union with Christ Jesus.
Look at the facts of your Call, Brothers. There are not many among you who are wise, as men reckon wisdom, not many who are influential, not many who are high-born;
still, if you should marry, that is not wrong; nor, if a young woman marries, is that wrong. But those who marry will have much trouble to bear, and my wish is to spare you.
We are not "commending ourselves" again to you, but rather are giving you cause for pride in us, so that you may have an answer ready for those who pride themselves on appearances and not on character.
And that he died for all, so that the living should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose for them. For ourselves, then, from this time forward, we refuse to regard any one from the world's standpoint. Even if we once thought of Christ from the standpoint of the world, yet now we do so no longer. read more. Therefore, if any one is in union with Christ, he is a new being! His old life has passed away; a new life has begun!
You look at the outward appearance of things! Let any one, who is confident that he belongs to Christ, reflect, for himself, again upon the fact--that we belong to Christ no less than he does.
Of those who are thought somewhat highly of--what they once were makes no difference to me; God does not recognize human distinctions--those, I say, who are thought highly of added nothing to my Message.
I have been crucified with Christ. So it is no longer I that live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and, as for my present earthly life, I am living it by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
All distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and freeman, male and female, have vanished; for in union with Christ Jesus you are all one.
For it is we who are the circumcised--we whose worship is prompted by the Spirit of God, who exult in Christ Jesus, and who do not rely upon external privileges; Though I, if any man, have cause to rely even upon them. If any one thinks he can rely upon external privileges, far more can I! read more. I was circumcised when eight days old; I am an Israelite by race, and of the tribe of Benjamin; I am a Hebrew, and the child of Hebrews. As to the Law, I was a Pharisee; As to zeal, I was a persecutor of the Church; as to such righteousness as is due to Law, I proved myself blameless. But all the things which I once held to be gains I have now, for the Christ's sake, come to count as loss. More than that, I count everything as loss, for the sake of the exceeding value of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. And for his sake I have lost everything, and count it as refuse, if I may but gain Christ and be found in union with him; Any righteousness that I have being, not the righteousness that results from Law, but the righteousness which comes through faith in Christ--the righteousness which is derived from God and is founded on faith. Then indeed I shall know Christ, and the power of his resurrection, and all that it means to share his sufferings,
To such ordinances as 'Do not handle, or taste, or touch'? For all the things referred to in them cease to exist when used. You are following mere human directions and instructions. read more. Such prohibitions appear reasonable where there is a desire for self-imposed service, and so-called 'humility,' and harsh treatment of the body, but are of no real value against the indulgence of our earthly nature.
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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Watch and pray, that you may not fall into temptation. True, the spirit is eager, but human nature is weak."
Look at my hands and my feet, and you will know that it is I. Feel me, and look at me, for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see that I have."
For not to natural conception, nor to human instincts, nor to will of man did they owe the new Life, but to God. And the Word became Man, and dwelt among us, (We saw his glory--the glory of the Only Son sent from the Father), full of love and truth.
Concerning his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord; who, as to his human nature, was descended from David,
Concerning his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord; who, as to his human nature, was descended from David, But, as to the spirit of holiness within him, was miraculously designated Son of God by his resurrection from the dead.
We know that the Law is spiritual, but I am earthly-sold into slavery to Sin.
Thank God, there is deliverance through Jesus Christ, our Lord! Well then, for myself, with my reason I serve the Law of God, but with my earthly nature the Law of Sin.
What Law could not do, in so far as our earthly nature weakened its action, God did, by sending his own Son, with a nature resembling our sinful nature, to atone for sin. He condemned sin in that earthly nature, So that the requirements of the Law might be satisfied in us who live now in obedience, not to our earthly nature, but to the Spirit.
As surely as there is a human body, there is also a spiritual body. That is what is meant by the words-'Adam, the first man, became a human being'; the last Adam became a Life-giving spirit. read more. That which comes first is not the spiritual, but the human; afterwards comes the spiritual; The first man was from the dust of the earth; the second man from Heaven. Those who are of the dust are like him who came from the dust; and those who are of Heaven are like him who came from Heaven. And as we have borne the likeness of him who came from the dust, so let us bear the likeness of him who came from Heaven. This I say, Brothers-Flesh and blood can have no share in the Kingdom of God, nor can the perishable share the imperishable.
This I say, Brothers-Flesh and blood can have no share in the Kingdom of God, nor can the perishable share the imperishable.
With these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that pollutes either body or spirit, and, in deepest reverence for God, aim at perfect holiness.
I have been crucified with Christ. So it is no longer I that live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and, as for my present earthly life, I am living it by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
This is what I have to say--Let your steps be guided by the Spirit, and then you will never gratify the cravings of your earthly nature.
Idolatry, sorcery, quarrels, strife, jealousy, outbursts of passion, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,
And it was among them that we all once lived our lives, indulging the cravings of our earthly nature, and carrying out the desires prompted by that earthly nature and by our own thoughts. Our very nature exposed us to the Divine Wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Do not let any one defraud you of the reality by affecting delight in so-called 'humility' and angel-worship. Such a man busies himself with his visions, and without reason is rendered conceited by his merely human intellect.
Since, therefore, you were raised to Life with the Christ, seek for the things that are above; for it is there that the Christ is 'seated at the right hand of God.'
May God himself, the giver of peace, make you altogether holy; and may your spirits, souls, and bodies be kept altogether faultless until the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, since human nature is the common heritage of 'the Children,' Jesus also shared it, in order that by death he might render powerless him whose power lies in death--that is, the Devil--
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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And all mankind shall see the Salvation of God."'
And the Word became Man, and dwelt among us, (We saw his glory--the glory of the Only Son sent from the Father), full of love and truth.
All that owes its birth to human nature is human, and all that owes its birth to the Spirit is spiritual.
What Law could not do, in so far as our earthly nature weakened its action, God did, by sending his own Son, with a nature resembling our sinful nature, to atone for sin. He condemned sin in that earthly nature,
They who are earthly cannot please God. You, however, are not earthly but spiritual, since the Spirit of God lives within you. Unless a man has the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ;
All forms of life are not the same; there is one for men, another for beasts, another for birds, and another for fishes.
For these cravings of our earthly nature conflict with the Spirit, and the Spirit with our earthly nature--they are two contrary principles--so that you cannot do what you wish.
For no one ever yet hated his own body. But every one feeds his body and cares for it, just as the Christ for the Church; For we are members of his Body. read more. 'For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and be united to his wife; and the man and his wife shall become one.'
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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Watch and pray, that you may not fall into temptation. True, the spirit is eager, but human nature is weak."
And all mankind shall see the Salvation of God."'
Being myself an Apostle to the Gentiles, I exalt my office, in the hope that I may stir my countrymen to rivalry, and so save some of them.
With these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that pollutes either body or spirit, and, in deepest reverence for God, aim at perfect holiness.
Can you be so foolish? After beginning with what is spiritual, do you now end with what is external?
The sins of our earthly nature are unmistakable. They are sins like these--unchastity, impurity, indecency, Idolatry, sorcery, quarrels, strife, jealousy, outbursts of passion, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, read more. Feelings of envy, drunkenness, revelry, and the like. And I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who indulge in such things will have no place in the Kingdom of God.