Denying-the-Flesh-and-Its-Desires-in-Christian-Living
Paul's letter to the Galatians presents the conflict starkly: "For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want" [1]. This opposition defines the Christian's daily struggle, where "flesh" denotes not merely the physical body but the corruption of human nature that remains even in regenerate persons [5]. The term encompasses "that life which is fleshly and worldly, and uses self-indulgence and extravagance to the full, so making the entire man flesh" [4].
The Nature of the Conflict
The biblical usage of "flesh" carries multiple meanings. In the Old Testament it can refer to a body part, the whole body, humanity collectively, or human weakness and mutability [2]. In Paul's ethical teaching, however, "flesh" signifies the sinful element in human nature—what is "propagated by carnal generation; has for its object carnal things; its lusts and works are fleshly" [5]. This is not a dualistic rejection of embodiment itself. Paul acknowledges that believers "walk in the flesh" in the sense of living in mortal bodies with weaknesses and infirmities, yet insists they need not "war after the flesh" [7].
The Spirit's Remedy
Chrysostom identifies the remedy for fleshly desires: "Walk by the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh" [3]. The Spirit and the flesh "tendeth against" one another in mutual contrariety, such that "neither the one nor the other can be fully carried out into action" [6]. Where the Spirit prevails, the struggle's outcome shifts decisively. This walking by the Spirit is not merely negative restraint but the positive cultivation of love, which both makes duty easier and secures the Spirit's abiding presence [3].
The denial of the flesh, then, is not self-mutilation or hatred of the body but the refusal to let corrupted human nature dictate one's choices. It involves yielding the body's members to righteousness rather than to sin's instruments [5]. The Christian life requires this daily reckoning—acknowledging the flesh's persistent opposition while relying on the Spirit's power to produce what human effort cannot manufacture alone.
Sources
- Galatians “Galatians 5:17 (BSB) — For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Flesh — In the Old Testament denotes (1) a particular part of the body of man and animals (Gen. 2:21; 41:2; Ps. 102:5, marg.); (2) the whole body (Ps. 16:9); (3) all living things having flesh, and particularly humanity as a whole (Gen. 6:12, 13); (4) mutability and weakness (2 Chr. 32:8; comp. Isa. 31:3; Ps. 78:39). As suggesting the idea of softness it is used in the expression "heart of flesh" (Ezek. 11:19). The expression "my flesh and bone" (Judg. 9:2; Isa. 58:7) denotes relationship. In the New Testament, besides these it is also used to denote the sinful eleme”
- CCEL/NPNF (Eastern Orthodox) “John Chrysostom, Homilies on Galatians–Colossians–Thessalonians: between the spirit and the flesh.”—Lightfoot.—G.A.] path which makes duty easy, and secures what had been said, a path whereby love is generated, and which is fenced in by love. For nothing, nothing I say, renders us so susceptible of love, as to be spiritual, and nothing is such an inducement to the Spirit to abide in us, as the strength of love. Therefore he says, “Walk by the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh:” having spoken of the cause of the disease, he likewise mentions the remedy which confers health. A”
- CCEL/NPNF (Eastern Orthodox) “John Chrysostom, Homilies on Acts & Romans: please God, and to make our escape from the flesh? and would you have us be homicides, and so lead us to virtue? You see what inconsistencies are gendered by taking the words literally. For by “the flesh” in this passage, he does not mean the body, or the essence of the body, 435 but that life which is fleshly and worldly, and uses self-indulgence and extravagance to the full, so making the entire man flesh. For as they that have the wings of the Spirit, make the body also spiritual, so do they who bound off from this, and are the slaves of the belly”
- Galatians (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Galatians 5:16: For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit,.... By "flesh" is meant, not the carnal or literal sense of the Scripture, which is Origen's gloss, as militating against the spiritual sense of it; nor the sensual part of man rebelling against his rational powers; but the corruption of nature, which still is in regenerate persons: and is so called because it is propagated by carnal generation; has for its object carnal things; its lusts and works are fleshly; and though it has its seat in the heart, it shows itself in the flesh or members of the body, which are yielded as”
- Galatians (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Galatians 5:17: For--the reason why walking by the Spirit will exclude fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, namely, their mutual contrariety. the Spirit--not "lusteth," but "tendeth (or some such word is to be supplied) against the flesh." so that ye cannot do the things that ye would--The Spirit strives against the flesh and its evil influence; the flesh against the Spirit and His good influence, so that neither the one nor the other can be fully carried out into action. "But" (Gal 5:18) where "the Spirit" prevails, the issue of the struggle no longer continues ”
- 2 Corinthians (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 2 Corinthians 10:3: For though we walk in the flesh,.... The apostle removes the calumny of walking after the flesh, by owning that they were in the flesh, in the body, in a state of imperfection, attended with many weaknesses and infirmities, and surrounded with a variety of afflictions and sorrows; in this sense they were, and lived and walked in the flesh; but then he denies the charge exhibited against them, we do not war after the flesh: every Christian's life is a warfare with Satan, and his principalities and powers, with the world, the men and lusts of it, and with the c”