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What are the Real Enemies of the Christian?- Part 2, the Flesh

by William Ryzek  
8/21/2010 / Christian Living

An important but sometimes misunderstood word in the Bible is 'flesh'. A single Greek term with multiple meanings is translated by the English word 'flesh', hence the confusion. One denotation of 'flesh' refers to the natural, physical body. Extreme forms of asceticism, self-flagellation and other practices are based on the mistaken view that the body is evil and must be 'punished'. We must be clear that the physical body is not in and of itself evil; on the contrary, it will one day be a glorified body.

The second meaning of 'flesh', which concerns us here, designates our fallen, sinful nature that expresses itself through our bodies. For example, lying requires a voice, stealing requires hands, adultery requires our entire body, gossip requires ears and mouths and so on. It is what Paul refers to frequently as the 'old man' (Eph. 4:22), the life we lived before coming to Christ. We were like walking dead people (I guess there are zombies after all!) having a soulish and physical life but no spiritual life. When we were born-again, the 'old man' was rendered impotent and we were raised in newness of life (the 'new man') through the power of His indwelling Spirit. The physical body is now the medium through which God's Spirit in us performs good works.

If you read the first article in this series, you saw that the flesh is in league with the world (1 John 2:16). 'Flesh' is that to which the world appeals and through which the world manifests itself to others in speech and action. Unlike the world, which is 'outside' of us, the flesh is an enemy on the 'inside', part of our very existence. Although Christ has set us free to choose His way and His Spirit gives us the power to accomplish His will, the flesh has its own agenda, is opposed to God's Lordship and prefers what it thinks is its autonomy, which is in fact a bondage to Hell. We struggle daily (Rom. 6:1-13; 7:15-25) over what will dominate our bodies, either sinful acts or acts of righteousness (Gal 5:17). On the one hand, we can rejoice that such a struggle exists because it testifies to our being alive in the Spirit. On the other hand, should the flesh gain dominance over the spirit we find our bodies doing things unpleasing to God.

Regarding this 'flesh-world' dichotomy, there is an odd hybrid that Paul refers to as a 'carnal' believer (the same Greek word for 'flesh' is used for 'carnal'). This Christian is 'soulish' and seeks to gratify sinful tendencies rather than overcome them by the power of the Spirit. Paul says of the Corinthian Christians, "you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?" (1 Cor. 3:3) Here two things are clear. First, being carnal means having a mind-set that denies the kind of life experience Jesus called us to (in this case, it is Christian unity) and second, actually doing things that hurt this life experience. It is to be "mere men" walking according to the flesh rather than being exceptional people of God walking according to the new life of His Spirit.

Another way of looking at this is through the phrase "natural man" used especially by Paul to show the difference between the spiritual and the carnal in the experience of a Christian. The 'natural man' is the body and the soul, with the soul further made up of emotion, will and reason. To be carnal, then, is to be directed by what is natural, i.e. our will is self will, our reason is confined to all the limits of finitude and discerns reality accordingly, and our emotions driven by pure pleasure seeking. A working description, then, of a carnal or 'worldly' Christian is someone that has no personal characteristics or life-style that would distinguish them from unsaved people. It is a Christian that is 'patterned' after the world, who in spite of their Christian confession live in harmony with the economy, morality and values of what is precisely opposite of God's kingdom. So, for example, economically speaking, they take in but never give out and use their wealth to gain the many pleasures the world offers (James 4:3). Or, morally speaking, they opt into the worldly opinion that moral issues are decided individually according to whatever is expedient at the time. In other words, there are no real absolutes, no real "thou shalt nots" applicable to all people at all times under all circumstances. They simply act in whatever way appeases their mood and desire at any given moment and are led about by the "lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16).

This problem is widespread in these days of 'easy grace' and low expectations that define the message many churches promulgate. However, lapsing into the flesh is a perilous thing if it is habitual. The flesh, the natural man, is at odds with God so we can be sure that being led by the desires of the flesh is displeasing to God. In fact, such activity is to engage in open warfare against God (Rom 8:7). In addition, James in his customary fashion makes it clear that being friends with the world is disastrous for the Christian by teaching that the world and the flesh together are enemies to God (James 4:1-4). But, for all of us engaged in this battle there is no condemnation for those walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh (Rom. 8:1). We all fail, we all lose certain battles between the flesh and the spirit but this does not mean the war is lost. In fact, the war is already won through Jesus for those who walk in the Spirit.

It is true that what we feed grows stronger and what we starve will eventually die. Feed the spirit, it will grow and dominate our lives; feed the flesh and it will dominate us (Gal. 6:8). What we watch with our eyes, the places we go with our bodies, the things we listen to with our ears, the kind of people we associate with, what we desire with our hearts all contribute to feeding either the spirit or the flesh. The question is what kind of 'diet' do we have? The two main diet sources for Christians are prayer and the Word. There are others, of course, but neglecting the Word and prayer really make these others, whatever they might be, too weak to sustain one's spiritual life. Therefore, constant immersion in God's Word and continual prayer, even when it seems like it is having no effect, insures your spiritual life has the proper nourishment for strength against contrary circumstances and hostile forces.

William Ryzek, PhD has been both a pastor and academic for several years. He has published articles in various magazines and newspapers. He can be reached at [email protected]

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