Flesh
We all live in "flesh and blood" bodies. We know that Jesus came "in the flesh". His resurrected body was "flesh and bone".
I believe it is a mistake to view our flesh, or body, as somehow sinful. I don't believe it is possible for sin to inhere in any physical object, including the human body. Sin cannot be constitutional. For "all wrongdoing is sin". And, "sin is lawlessness".
What does Paul mean, then, when he says in Romans 7:18, "For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it." ? Or in Romans 8:3, "For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,"?
I understand such uses of "flesh" (Gr. sarx) to be metaphorical. Our fleshly desires are certainly the occasion for sin. But they are not, in themselves, nor is the flesh, properly speaking, sinful.
The good news regarding our flesh is that since we have God's promises, we may cleanse ourselves of every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God (cf. 2 Cor. 7:1). Do we do this by bathing frequently, eating organically, breathing filtered air? Obviously not. We do this by loving God supremely and our neighbor as ourselves, by offering ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. And by arming ourselves with right thinking concerning suffering in the flesh:
"Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same thought, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer by human passions but by the will of God." (1 Pet 4:1-2)
I believe it is a mistake to view our flesh, or body, as somehow sinful. I don't believe it is possible for sin to inhere in any physical object, including the human body. Sin cannot be constitutional. For "all wrongdoing is sin". And, "sin is lawlessness".
What does Paul mean, then, when he says in Romans 7:18, "For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it." ? Or in Romans 8:3, "For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,"?
I understand such uses of "flesh" (Gr. sarx) to be metaphorical. Our fleshly desires are certainly the occasion for sin. But they are not, in themselves, nor is the flesh, properly speaking, sinful.
The good news regarding our flesh is that since we have God's promises, we may cleanse ourselves of every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God (cf. 2 Cor. 7:1). Do we do this by bathing frequently, eating organically, breathing filtered air? Obviously not. We do this by loving God supremely and our neighbor as ourselves, by offering ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. And by arming ourselves with right thinking concerning suffering in the flesh:
"Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same thought, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer by human passions but by the will of God." (1 Pet 4:1-2)
posted by John Barry at 6:32 PM
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