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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Keep awake, and pray that you may not enter into temptation: the spirit is right willing, but the body is frail."
For the cravings of the lower nature are opposed to those of the Spirit, and the cravings of the Spirit are opposed to those of the lower nature; because these are antagonistic to each other, so that you cannot do everything to which you are inclined.
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 Bar-jonah," said Jesus; "for mere human nature has not revealed this to you, but my Father in Heaven.
And the Word came in the flesh, and lived for a time in our midst, so that we saw His glory--the glory as of the Father's only Son, sent from His presence. He was full of grace and truth.
who, as regards His human descent, belonged to the posterity of David,
your human infirmity leads me to employ these familiar figures--and just as you once surrendered your faculties into bondage to Impurity and ever-increasing disregard of Law, so you must now surrender them into bondage to Righteousness ever advancing towards perfect holiness.
For whilst we were under the thraldom of our earthly natures, sinful passions-- made sinful by the Law--were always being aroused to action in our bodily faculties that they might yield fruit to death.
in order that in our case the requirements of the Law might be fully met. For our lives are regulated not by our earthly, but by our spiritual natures. For if men are controlled by their earthly natures, they give their minds to earthly things. If they are controlled by their spiritual natures, they give their minds to spiritual things.
Abandonment to earthly things is a state of enmity to God. Such a mind does not submit to God's Law, and indeed cannot do so. And those whose hearts are absorbed in earthly things cannot please God. read more. You, however, are not devoted to earthly, but to spiritual things, if the Spirit of God is really dwelling in you; whereas if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, such a one does not belong to Him.
Therefore, brethren, it is not to our lower natures that we are under obligation that we should live by their rule.
And, beyond controversy, great is the mystery of our religion-- that Christ appeared in human form, and His claims justified by the Spirit, was seen by angels and proclaimed among Gentile nations, was believed on in the world, and received up again 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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Many will say to me on that day, "'Master, Master, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name expelled demons, and in Thy name performed many mighty works?' "And then I will tell them plainly, "'I never knew you: begone from me, you doers of wickedness.'
"Blessed are you, Simon Bar-jonah," said Jesus; "for mere human nature has not revealed this to you, but my Father in Heaven.
Keep awake, and pray that you may not enter into temptation: the spirit is right willing, but the body is frail."
during the High-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, a message from God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the Desert.
Then came to Him His mother and His brothers, but could not get near Him for the crowd. But He was told, "Your mother and brothers are standing on the edge of the crowd, and want to see you." read more. "My mother and my brothers," He replied, "are these who hear God's Message and obey it."
It is the spirit which gives Life. The flesh confers no benefit whatever. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and are Life.
You judge according to appearances: I am judging no one.
"Yet it is the truth that I am telling you--it is to your advantage that I go away. For unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
So you also now have sorrow; but I shall see you again, and your hearts will be glad, and your gladness no one will take away from you.
even as Thou hast given Him authority over all mankind, so that on all whom Thou hast given Him He may bestow the Life of the Ages.
What then shall we say that Abraham, our earthly forefather, has gained?
because we know that Christ, having come back to life, is no longer liable to die. Death has no longer any power over Him. For by the death which He died He became, once for all, dead in relation to sin; but by the life which He now lives He is alive in relation to God. read more. In the same way you also must regard yourselves as dead in relation to sin, but as alive in relation to God, because you are in Christ Jesus.
For consider, brethren, God's call to you. Not many who are wise with merely human wisdom, not many of position and influence, not many of noble birth have been called.
Yet if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a maiden marries, she has not sinned. Such people, however, will have outward trouble. But I am for sparing you.
We are not again commending ourselves to your favour, but are furnishing you with a ground of boasting on our behalf, so that you may have a reply ready for those with whom superficial appearances are everything and sincerity of heart counts for nothing.
and that He died for all in order that the living may no longer live to themselves, but to Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore for the future we know no one simply as a man. Even if we have known Christ as a man, yet now we do so no longer. read more. So that if any one is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old state of things has passed away; a new state of things has come into existence.
Is it outward appearances you look to? If any man is confident as regards himself that he specially belongs to Christ, let him consider again and reflect that just as he belongs to Christ, so also do we.
Since many boast for merely human reasons, I too will boast.
From those leaders I gained nothing new. Whether they were men of importance or not, matters nothing to me--God recognizes no external distinctions. To me, at any rate, the leaders imparted nothing new.
I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me; and the life which I now live in the body I live through faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up to death on my behalf.
In Him the distinctions between Jew and Gentile, slave and free man, male and female, disappear; you are all one in Christ Jesus.
For we are the true circumcision--we who render to God a spiritual worship and make our boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in outward ceremonies: although I myself might have some excuse for confidence in outward ceremonies. If any one else claims a right to trust in them, far more may I: read more. circumcised, as I was, on the eighth day, a member of the race of Israel and of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew sprung from Hebrews; as to the Law a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the Church; as to the righteousness which comes through Law, blameless. Yet all that was gain to me--for Christ's sake I have reckoned it loss. Nay, I even reckon all things as pure loss because of the priceless privilege of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. And for His sake I have suffered the loss of everything, and reckon it all as mere refuse, in order that I may win Christ and be found in union with Him, not having a righteousness of my own, derived from the Law, but that which arises from faith in Christ--the righteousness which comes from God through faith. I long to know Christ and the power which is in His resurrection, and to share in His sufferings and die even as He died;
"Do not handle this;" "Do not taste that;" "Do not touch that other thing" -- referring to things which are all intended to be used up and perish--in obedience to mere human injunctions and teachings? read more. These rules have indeed an appearance of wisdom where self-imposed worship exists, and an affectation of humility and an ascetic severity. But not one of them is of any value in combating the indulgence of our lower natures.
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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Keep awake, and pray that you may not enter into temptation: the spirit is right willing, but the body is frail."
See my hands and my feet--it is my very self. Feel me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see I have."
who were begotten as such not by human descent, nor through an impulse of their own nature, nor through the will of a human father, but from God. And the Word came in the flesh, and lived for a time in our midst, so that we saw His glory--the glory as of the Father's only Son, sent from His presence. He was full of grace and truth.
who, as regards His human descent, belonged to the posterity of David,
who, as regards His human descent, belonged to the posterity of David, but as regards the holiness of His Spirit was decisively proved by His Resurrection to be the Son of God--I mean concerning Jesus Christ our Lord,
For we know that the Law is a spiritual thing; but I am unspiritual--the slave, bought and sold, of sin.
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!)
For what was impossible to the Law--powerless as it was because it acted through frail humanity--God effected. Sending His own Son in a body like that of sinful human nature and as a sacrifice for sin, He pronounced sentence upon sin in human nature; in order that in our case the requirements of the Law might be fully met. For our lives are regulated not by our earthly, but by our spiritual natures.
an animal body is sown, a spiritual body is raised. As surely as there is an animal body, so there is also a spiritual body. In the same way also it is written, "The first man Adam became a living animal"; the last Adam is a life-giving Spirit. read more. Nevertheless, it is not what is spiritual that came first, but what is animal; what is spiritual came afterwards. The first man is a man of earth, earthy; the second man is from Heaven. What the earthy one is, that also are those who are earthy; and what the heavenly One is, that also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne a resemblance to the earthy one, let us see to it that we also bear a resemblance to the heavenly One. But this I tell you, brethren: our mortal bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor will what is perishable inherit what is imperishable.
But this I tell you, brethren: our mortal bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor will what is perishable inherit what is imperishable.
Having therefore these promises, beloved friends, let us purify ourselves from all defilement of body and of spirit, and secure perfect holiness through the fear of God.
I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me; and the life which I now live in the body I live through faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up to death on my behalf.
This then is what I mean. Let your lives be guided by the Spirit, and then you will certainly not indulge the cravings of your lower natures.
enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of passion, intrigues, dissensions, factions, envyings;
Among them all of us also formerly passed our lives, governed by the inclinations of our lower natures, indulging the cravings of those natures and of our own thoughts, and were in our original state deserving of anger like all others.
Let no one defraud you of your prize, priding himself on his humility and on his worship of the angels, and taking his stand on the visions he has seen, and idly puffed up with his unspiritual thoughts.
If however you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, enthroned at God's right hand.
And may God Himself who gives peace, make you entirely holy; and may your spirits, souls and bodies be preserved complete and be found blameless at the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Since then the children referred to are all alike sharers in perishable human nature, He Himself also, in the same way, took on Him a share of it, in order that through death He might render powerless him who had authority over 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 then shall all mankind see God's salvation.'"
And the Word came in the flesh, and lived for a time in our midst, so that we saw His glory--the glory as of the Father's only Son, sent from His presence. He was full of grace and truth.
Whatever has been born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever has been born of the Spirit is spirit.
For what was impossible to the Law--powerless as it was because it acted through frail humanity--God effected. Sending His own Son in a body like that of sinful human nature and as a sacrifice for sin, He pronounced sentence upon sin in human nature;
And those whose hearts are absorbed in earthly things cannot please God. You, however, are not devoted to earthly, but to spiritual things, if the Spirit of God is really dwelling in you; whereas if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, such a one does not belong to Him.
All flesh is not the same: there is human flesh, and flesh of cattle, of birds, and of fishes.
For the cravings of the lower nature are opposed to those of the Spirit, and the cravings of the Spirit are opposed to those of the lower nature; because these are antagonistic to each other, so that you cannot do everything to which you are inclined.
For never yet has a man hated his own body. On the contrary he feeds and cherishes it, just as Christ feeds and cherishes the Church; because we are, as it were, parts of His Body. read more. "For this reason a man is to leave his father and his mother and be united to his wife, and the two shall be as 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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Keep awake, and pray that you may not enter into temptation: the spirit is right willing, but the body is frail."
and then shall all mankind see God's salvation.'"
trying whether I can succeed in rousing my own countrymen to jealousy and thus save some of them.
Having therefore these promises, beloved friends, let us purify ourselves from all defilement of body and of spirit, and secure perfect holiness through the fear of God.
Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now going to reach perfection through what is external?
Now you know full well the doings of our lower natures. Fornication, impurity, indecency, idol-worship, sorcery; enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of passion, intrigues, dissensions, factions, envyings; read more. hard drinking, riotous feasting, and the like. And as to these I forewarn you, as I have already forewarned you, that those who are guilty of such things will have no share in the Kingdom of God.