Meaning of FLESH

The Hebrew word "basar", in its physical sense, designates the body, whether human (Gen. 40:19) or animal (Lev. 6:27).

It means the exterior of man (Gen. 2:21; Ex. 4:7; Luke 24:39; 1 Cor. 15:39); his human nature, which can, at times, dominate him to the great detriment of love, and for this reason he responds for body, vitality (1 Cor. 5:5, 7:28; 2 Cor. 12:7; also in relation to redemption ; Col. 1:22; Rom. 2:28 f; Gal. 6:12 f; Jn. 6:51-56); designates the human person (Jn. 1:14; 1 Tim. 3:16; 1 Jn. 4:2).

"Flesh" means: the community of individuals: Gen. 2:23 s; Mark 10:8; 1Co 6:16; of relatives: Gen. 29:14; Thu. 9:2; of the people: 2 Sam. 5:1 and the unity of men (Is. 40:5; Jer. 25:31; Jn. 17:2; Gal. 2:16).

The expression "flesh" frequently appears when speaking of man's life and his position before God: the flesh is short-lived (Is. 40:6), it is weak (Is. 31:3), it cannot be trusted. in it (Jer. 17:5), it is condemned to death (Rom. 8:13), by itself it cannot know the mysteries of God (Mt. 16:17), it falls into temptation (Mt. 26:41 ); It is the realm of the way of thinking (1 Cor. 2:1-16; 2 Cor. 5:16) and of living (Phil. 1:22, 24) of the merely "earthly" man. human".

The expression "flesh", in a moral sense, means opposition to God. "Flesh" designates the one who wants to work out his salvation alone, by himself, without God, even though he talks a lot about Him; who places his hope in earthly advantages (2 Cor. 11:18), in his own asceticism (Col. 2:18, 23); who falls into sin at the least expected moment (Rom. 7:14), into enmity with God (Rom. 8:7), into every possible form of failure (Gal. 5:19 ff.).

Reducing the meaning of "flesh" only to lust is false and dangerous, since "flesh" rather means any action of man with which he believes he can definitively save himself without God.

Flesh and spirit are at odds (John 3:6; 1 Pet. 3:18); Paul describes the "flesh" as a personal power with feeling and activity of its own (Rom. 8:5ff; Col. 2:18), contrary to the Spirit of God (Gal. 5:17, 24); He acts arbitrarily according to his own instincts.

Christians are those who walk, not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Walking according to the flesh is opposite to living according to the spirit (Gal. 4:3; Col. 2:8-20), according to the Lord (2 Cor. 11:2), according to the love of God (Rom. 14:15). ). The elements of this world are contrary, that is, they clearly designate an attitude contrary to God.

When Paul apostrophizes to the Christians of Galatia: "Having begun in the Spirit, have you come to an end in the flesh?" (Gal. 3:3) does not refer to a fall into sensuality, but rather a return to the legalistic observances of Judaism.

The flesh, ("sarxs" in Greek), is excluded from participation in the kingdom of God, while the body, ("soma" in Greek), transformed, that is, torn from the dominion of the flesh ("sarxs" ), will be a bearer of resurrected life.

This important distinction lies in the fact that "soma" is, precisely, the man himself, while the "sarxs" is a power that subjects and enslaves him.

For this reason, Saint Paul can speak of a life "according to sarxs", but not of one "according to soma". The body will be transformed into incorruptible and immortal, but the flesh will have no share in the future life with God.