The Flesh

Most people are looking forward to getting their new incorruptible body when they pass on. They think, if only I could be rid of this fleshly body and have my heavenly perfect body now, and then I wouldn’t keep doing the things I know are wrong. This is the thinking behind the understanding that no can be perfect until we die. It’s because of this evil fleshly body. That’s the real problem. Is it really?

Let us take a look at the physical fleshly body and try to see if it is really evil or not.

As adults, unless some chemicals in our body are out of normalcy, we have all experienced the sexual desires. So, we should ask ourselves, is the sexual drive good or evil? God created a sexual drive in us. What if we didn’t have the sexual drive, what would be different? Even the animals have the sexual drive programmed into them by their creator. Are the animals evil or good because of this? If something can be used for either good or bad, does that make it evil?

All flesh, people and animals have the need to eat to survive. It is a requirement to eat, so is the flesh good or evil because of this? If some people eat to much, does that make the need to eat evil? If someone doesn’t eat enough, does that make the flesh evil?

Everyone needs to learn to protect their flesh from harm; otherwise a person wouldn’t last long on this earth. Why do we teach our kids to stay away from fire if we think the flesh is evil? God has put certain senses into the body to warn us from harming our bodies. If our flesh was evil, why would God build in protection systems into it? If someone intentionally wants to hurt their flesh, do we consider this self infliction action evil or good?

We can see God’s creation with our fleshly eye’s, is that somehow evil, or does God want us to share in His creation?

We can hear with our ears. Are the sounds we hear with our ears automatically evil somehow? Are the birds singing, the sounds of the waves, or a mother’s disciplining words to her child’s ears evil somehow?

With a fleshly physical body, we can do physical work and earn money to buy the food we need. Does the body make us love money or does it just help us provide for our needs? We can physically hurt other people with our flesh, but we can also help others in many ways. So is the flesh good or evil?

Does the physical flesh make us lie or is it some other force?

Does the physical flesh make us covet something that is not ours, or is it from some other force?

Is it the physical flesh that rejects God’s laws and love, or is it the love of self that rejects the goodness of God?

Is it the physical flesh that wants to be god instead of accepting the one and true God, or does the physical flesh listen to another god?

Why does God’s word say about Christians: “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?” (1 Cor 3:16 NIV) How can the physical flesh be considered God’s temple in a Christian if the flesh is evil?

God’s Word can help us sort this out. Even though the physical flesh has to eventually die, because of the fall of man, the physical fleshly body is only a temporary housing for the spirit within. The spirit that is contained within the flesh is what controls the fleshly body. The spirit within is what makes the fleshly body do it’s good or evil works. The good or evil desires are from the spirit and not from the physical flesh. The physical flesh of a person and the spirit of a person are separate from each other, but it is the spirit that controls the flesh.

I have found some faulty interpreted areas in the words of the NIV bible, but in this area of describing the “flesh”, it has the correct translation. The King James Version of the bible uses the word “flesh”, but the NIV uses “Sinful Nature” in the place of the word “flesh”. The KJV is not wrong, but must be understood correctly. See the differences below between the two versions.

NIV - Gal 5:16-21 - So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

KJV - Gal 5:16-21 - This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

The “sinful nature” is the spirit of the flesh. It is the dead spirit that is born along with the physical fleshly body. It is called a dead spirit, because it is separated from God because of the fall. Everything apart from God is considered dead. Even though the spirit of the flesh and the physical flesh were created at the same time, they are distinctly different. One is spiritual and one is physical, even though they were talked about as if they were one identity. Under the new covenant with Christ, the dead spirit in us can be replaced with God’s living Spirit, but the body is physical and is not replaced and eventually turns back to the dust from which it came.

There are only two kinds of spiritual natures, the sinful nature and God’s pure love nature. It is between these two spirits or natures that all spiritual wars are fought. The nature that wins in you will be the one you feed.

The nature/spirit of our soul when we physically die is the spirit that goes on into eternity. What eternity realm it enters, depends on which nature we have.

Draw close to God and His righteousness and His nature will be added onto you.

Michael W Reid