The Flesh is the biblical term for the fallen human nature in its opposition to God and the Spirit.
It does not refer primarily to the physical body, but to the whole person as controlled by sin and self-centered desire.
Scripture teaches that the flesh is hostile to God, cannot please Him, and produces works that lead to death.
Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires and are called to walk by the Spirit rather than according to the flesh.
In the New Testament, especially in Paul’s letters, “flesh” (Greek sarx) carries a range of meanings. Sometimes it simply means physical human life or bodily existence. More often it describes the sinful orientation of fallen humanity — the life lived in independence from God and in slavery to sin. The flesh is the realm in which sin reigns; it is weak, corrupt, and opposed to the Spirit. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. When a person is united to Christ, they are no longer “in the flesh” as their fundamental position, yet the flesh remains as a present power that must be resisted. The Christian life is therefore a conflict between flesh and Spirit. Believers are to put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit, make no provision for the flesh, and walk by the Spirit so that they do not gratify its desires. The final deliverance from the flesh will come with the resurrection of the body and the full redemption of the believer.
- The flesh is not the physical body itself but the sinful nature and its desires that oppose God.
- The mind set on the flesh is death; the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.
- Those who are in the flesh cannot please God; the flesh is hostile to God and does not submit to His law.
- Believers have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires through union with Christ.
- The conflict between flesh and Spirit continues throughout this life and requires daily dependence on the Spirit.
- Victory over the flesh comes by walking in the Spirit, not by self-powered effort.
- The flesh will be fully left behind only at the resurrection when the mortal puts on immortality.
- Sinful Nature – The fallen orientation of the human heart that desires what is contrary to the Spirit.
- Hostility to God – The flesh does not submit to God’s law and cannot do so.
- Works of the Flesh – Observable patterns of sin that Paul lists as obvious and excluding from the kingdom.
- Positional Change – Believers are no longer “in the flesh” but “in the Spirit” if the Spirit of God dwells in them.
- Ongoing Conflict – The flesh continues to lust against the Spirit, requiring continual resistance.
- Crucifixion of the Flesh – Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
- Future Deliverance – Full freedom from the flesh awaits the redemption of the body.
- Galatians 5:16-17, 19-21, 24 – “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh… Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these… And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
- Romans 8:5-9, 12-13 – “For 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. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you… So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
- Romans 7:18, 25 – “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh… So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”
- Romans 13:14 – “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”
- Galatians 6:8 – “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”
- Ephesians 2:3 – “…among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
- 1 Peter 2:11 – “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”
- John 3:6 – “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
- Philippians 3:3 – “For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.”
- 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 – “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”
- Romans 6:6 – “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.”
- Colossians 3:5 – “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”
The flesh is the great internal enemy of the Christian life. It is not the body God created, but the fallen nature that wants its own way and resists the Spirit. Those who belong to Christ have already crucified the flesh with its passions and desires, yet the conflict continues. The answer is not self-powered struggle but walking by the Spirit. When we walk by the Spirit, we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Make no provision for the flesh. Put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit. Set your mind on the things of the Spirit. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in you. One day the flesh will be gone forever, and only the life of the Spirit will remain. Until then, walk by the Spirit and live in the freedom Christ has won.
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