CLEARING THE MISCONCEPTION ABOUT THE FLESH


The Greek word translated flesh in the New testament is the word sarx. From it's usage, it can be clearly seen that it means one of the following : the human body,humanity, and the sinful nature.



John 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 6:55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 6:56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

The word flesh above refers to the human body.



1 Peter 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

The word flesh here refers to humanity.




Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

The word flesh above refers to the sinful nature. This can be clearly seen by resorting to other translations.


GNB
Romans 8:1-5
[1]There is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus.
[2]For the law of the Spirit, which brings us life in union with Christ Jesus, has set me free from the law of sin and death.
[3]What the Law could not do, because human nature was weak, God did. He condemned sin in human nature by sending his own Son, who came with a nature like sinful human nature, to do away with sin.
[4]God did this so that the righteous demands of the Law might be fully satisfied in us who live according to the Spirit, and not according to human nature.
[5]Those who live as their human nature tells them to, have their minds controlled by what human nature wants. Those who live as the Spirit tells them to, have their
minds controlled by what the Spirit wants.


Amplified
Romans 8:3
[3]For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice], [Lev. 7:37.]


NLTL
Romans 8:3-9
[3]The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.
[4]He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
[5]Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.
[6]So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.
[7]For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will.
[8]That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.
[9]But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)



The question I expect to hang in your mind right now is this: "To what end is all these?".

This is to tell all you Christian's that talk of fasting to discipline the flesh that you are just starving yourselves unnecessarily. Fasting cannot discipline the flesh because as far as sin is concerned, the flesh refers to the sinful nature.



WHERE THE FLESH IS LOCATED

For the unbeliever the flesh is located in his spirit and his body.

For the believer, the flesh is located in the body. Bible scholars believe the flesh is located in the brain.

Bible scholars believe the recreated human spirit has the nature of God( 2Cor 5:17; 2Peter 1:4.) and as such it can't have the sinful nature.

Modified

The purpose of the thread is to teach scriptural time tested approach to live a holy life that works. And it is all hinged on the fact that when talking in relation to sin, the flesh is not the same as the body and also the flesh is located in the body ( for believer, that is).

The next thing I want to talk about is the CLEARIÑG THE MISCONCEPTION ABOUT WHAT SIN REALLY IS.

Kindly drop a comment to let me know I have viewership.

nencounter10:
The question I expect to hang in your mind right now is this: "To what end is all these?".
This is to tell all you Christian's that talk of fasting to discipline the flesh that you are just starving yourselves unnecessarily. Fasting cannot discipline the flesh because as far as sin is concerned, the flesh refers to the sinful nature.

While I do agree that fasting is not meant as a way to discipline the flesh, I remain lost as to the point of this exercise.

Isaiah 58 vs 3-13 (ESV) --- The FASTING that the Lord Requires from His people
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. They say, “We fast to show honor to you. Why don’t you see us? We starve our bodies to show honor to you. Why don’t you notice us?”
But God says, “You do things to please yourselves on those special days of fasting. And you punish your servants, not your own bodies.
4. You are hungry, but not for food. You are hungry for arguing and fighting, not for bread. You are hungry to hit people with your evil hands. This is not the way to fast if you want your prayers to be heard in heaven!
5. Do you think I want to see people punish their bodies on those days of fasting? Do you think I want people to look sad and bow their heads like dead plants? Do you think I want people to wear mourning clothes and sit in ashes to show their sadness? That is what you do on your days of fasting. Do you think that is what the Lord wants?

6. “I will tell you the kind of day I want—a day to set people free. I want a day that you take the burdens off others. I want a day when you set troubled people free and you take the burdens from their shoulders.
7. I want you to share your food with the hungry. I want you to find the poor who don’t have homes and bring them into your own homes. When you see people who have no clothes, give them your clothes! Don’t hide from your relatives when they need help.”
8. If you do these things, your light will begin to shine like the light of dawn. Then your wounds will heal. Your “Goodness” will walk in front of you, and the Glory of the Lord will come following behind you.
9. Then you will call to the Lord, and he will answer you. You will cry out to him, and he will say, “Here I am.”

Stop causing trouble and putting burdens on people. Stop saying things to hurt people or accusing them of things they didn’t do.
10. Feel sorry for hungry people and give them food. Help those who are troubled and satisfy their needs. Then your light will shine in the darkness. You will be like the bright sunshine at noon.

11. The Lord will always lead you and satisfy your needs in dry lands. He will give strength to your bones. You will be like a garden that has plenty of water, like a spring that never goes dry.

12. Your cities have been destroyed for many years, but you will rebuild them and their foundations will last for a long time. You will be called “Fence Fixer” and “Builder of Roads and Houses.”

13. That will happen when you stop sinning against God’s law about the Sabbath and when you stop doing things to please yourself on that special day. You should call the Sabbath a happy day. You should honor the Lord’s special day by not saying and doing things that you do every other day of the week. 14 Then you could enjoy the Lord. As the Lord himself says, “I could carry you up to the highest mountain and let you enjoy the land that I gave to your father Jacob.”

nencounter10:

WHERE THE FLESH IS LOCATED
For the unbeliever the flesh is located in his spirit and his body.
For the believer, the flesh is located in the body. Bible scholars believe the flesh is located in the brain.
Bible scholars believe the recreated human spirit has the nature of God( 2Cor 5:17; 2Peter 1:4.) and as such it can't have the sinful nature.

Are you any way suggesting that the faculty responsible for sinning in the believer is different from that in the unbeliever?

Kobojunkie:
Are you any way suggesting that the faculty responsible for sinning is in the believer is different from that in the unbeliever?

Yes, that is exactly what I about.

2Cor 5:17
If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away all things have become knew.


Man is a spirit. The part of man that becomes born again is the real man -the human spirit. In that man all old things passed away, all things became knew. The new man does not have adamic nature ( as postulated by some denomination) . The adamic nature responsible for the urge for sin is definitely located somewhere in his body( scholars have said the location is the brain) but definitely not in his spirit, because all old things have passed away in his spirit, every thing has become knew. The same cannot, however, be said about his body.

The purpose of this thread is to clear the following misconception that for the believer the human body is faculty generating lust. The faculty generating lust is located in the human body but is not the human spirit.

An unbeliever has the sinful nature in his spirit. He, the spirit,is a child of the devil by nature.Eph 2:3.


Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.


Most Christian's interpreted the above scripture as referring to the human body which incorrect.

The fact of the matter is this anywhere the word flesh is used in the New testament in relation to sin, it is invariably referring to the sinful nature and not the human body.


Once you understand that for believers the sinful nature resides in the body, you are on your way to understanding the scriptural way to live a holy life that works all the time.

Kobojunkie:

While I do agree that fasting is not meant as a way to discipline the flesh, I remain lost as to the point of this exercise.

Perhaps you are fortunate to be one of those people who do not fast to discipline the flesh. The purpose of the thread is to teach scriptural time tested approach to live a holy life that works. And it is all hinged on the fact that when talking in relation to sin, the flesh is not the same as the body and also the flesh is located in the body ( for believer, that is).

CLEARING THE MISCONCEPTOON ABOUT WHAT SIN REALLY IS

There is a difference between sin and Sin.


sin is the transgression of the law. It is an act.

1 John 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

For old testament saint it is the transgression of the old testament law.
For the new testament saints it is the transgression of the New testament law that is the love law.
Sin is what makes people transgression the law.



Sin is what makes people transgression the law. It is a thing.

Pay close attention to how sin is personified in the following scriptures.


Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.




Romans 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 6:20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 6:23 For the wages of sin [/b]is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So, yes, there is a difference between sin an act and sin a thing.


Sin lives in the flesh ( i.e. lives in the sinful nature)

Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, [b]God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

Remember that the flesh here refers to the sinful nature. Here sin is said to live in the flesh.

Coming up next: HOW MEN COMMIT SIN

HOW MEN COMMIT SIN

James 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

This scripture explains to us how men fall into sin. It tells us that the sin process always start from lust before moving to temptation and if one yield to temptation he falls into sin.

This is clear that if one can stop lust or stop temptation, one would have invariably stopped sin

Commimg up next: HOW TO LIVE A HOLY LIFE.

Just follow the Torah... No more no less.. Psalm 119..is a long love poem about the Torah.. Quite interesting

nencounter10:
Yes, that is exactly what I about.
2Cor 5:17
If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away all things have become knew.

ok?

nencounter10:
Man is a spirit. The part of man that becomes born again is the real man -the human spirit.

Man has been promoted to status of spirit?

nencounter10:
In that man all old things passed away, all things became knew. The new man does not have adamic nature ( as postulated by some denomination) . The adamic nature responsible for the urge for sin is definitely located somewhere in his body( scholars have said the location is the brain)

The adamic nature is located somewhere in the body? of man?

nencounter10:
but definitely not in his spirit, because all old things have passed away in his spirit, every thing has become knew. The same cannot, however, be said about his body.

Where do you get that this change happened in only the spirit of man?

nencounter10:
The purpose of this thread is to clear the following misconception that for the believer the human body is faculty generating lust. The faculty generating lust is located in the human body but is not the human body.

Are you going to stop speaking in riddles soon?

nencounter10:

An unbeliever has the sinful nature in his spirit. He, the spirit,is a child of the devil by nature.Eph 2:3.

But that is the same spirit that Paul himself said the Spirit of God communicates through. Saying it is of the devil is a bit ... much, don't you think?

nencounter10:
Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

In this verse, the Spirit there refers to the Spirit of God, not man's spirit.

nencounter10:
Most Christian's interpreted the above scripture as referring to the human body which incorrect.
The fact of the matter is this anywhere the word flesh is used in the New testament in relation to sin, it is invariably referring to the sinful nature and not the human body.
Once you understand that for believers the sinful nature resides in the body, you are on your way to understanding the scriptural way to live a holy life that works all the time.

So when Jesus said something like " the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak", was He refering to the human body and the spirit?

nencounter10:
Perhaps you are fortunate to be one of those people who do not fast to discipline the flesh. The purpose of the thread is to teach scriptural time tested approach to live a holy life that works. And it is all hinged on the fact that when talking in relation to sin, the flesh is not the same as the body and also the flesh is located in the body ( for believer, that is).

By the way, do you know what it even means to live a holy life? Can you please provide your definition for that, at least to help me understand what you are refering to here when you say 'holy life'?

THE THREE SOURCES OF TEMPTATION

There are three main sources of temptation for believers:

1. The flesh (sinful nature).
2. The mind
3. The devil

Let's quickly see the scriptural reference.

Ephesians 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.


Luke 4:2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. [/b]And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.


HOW TO LIVE A HOLY LIFE

There three basic ways to live a holy life:

1. By stopping the lust of the flesh
2. By stopping the in ordinate desires of the mind.
3. By stopping temptation.



HOW TO STOP THE LUST OF THE FLESH

There two basic ways to stop the lust of the flesh:

[b]1. Walking in the spirit

KJV
Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

AMPLIFIED
Galatians 5:16
[16]But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God).

NLT
Galatians 5:16
[16]So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.

GOOD NEWS
Galatians 5:16
[16]What I say is this: let the Spirit direct your lives, and you will not satisfy the desires of the human nature.


To walk in the spirit means to live a life that is guided and controlled by the holy spirit.



2. Mortifying the flesh

KJV
Colossians 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

AMPLIFIED
Colossians 3:5
[5]So kill (deaden, deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members [those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin]: sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry (the deifying of self and other created things instead of God).

The Greek word translated mortify in Col 3:5 is the verb "nekroo" which means "to deaden by cutting off the source of power". This means you should cut of every thing that feeds the flesh like dirty books, movies, websites etc.




KJV
Romans 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

AMPLIFIED
Romans 8:13
[13]For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.

The Greek word translated mortify in Room 8:13 is the word "thanatoo" which means "to put to death" . The scripture tells us the appropriate way to carry out the mortification. It says it is "by using the power of the holy spirit." The question then is, " how does on gain access to the power of the holy spirit?" The answer can be found in the scripture below.


James 5:16
[16]Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].

The tremendous power of the holy spirit is made available by heartfelt continued prayer especially prayer in other tongues.Pray in tongues concerning those lustful feelings that trips you.





HOW YO STOP THE INORDINATE DESIRES OF THE MIND

The only way to stop the INORDINATE desires of the mind is by renewing the mind with God's word. Spend time studying and meditating on the word of God concerning sin and holy living.

This is clearly spelt out in the scripture below.

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.



HOW TO STOP TEMPTATION

There are two basic ways to stop temptation (apart from stopping lust that leads to temptation):

1. Praying to prevent temptation

Matthew 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Mark 14:38 Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.

Luke 11:4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

Luke 22:40 And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.

Luke 22:46 And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.


2. Telling Satan to stop tempting you.

The above scriptures tell us clearly that temptation is not God's will for our lives. The only reason to people still face temptation from the devil is because they are ignorant of that fact.

On reading the above, the first thing thing that will come to your mind is ," but Jesus too was tempted." Jesus chose to be tempted so that he can have a full taste of humanity. Look at it in the scripture below:


Matthew 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

The above scripture tells us that the primary reason that Jesus was led to the wilderness was " so that he could be tempted of the devil". The scripture also suggest that for the first thirty years of his life he was not tempted of the devil until then.

Look at what the Bible says concerning God's will in our lives.


Matthew 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven .


God wants his will to be done on Earth as it is done in heaven.

The devil has no right to persist that which is not God's will in our life . Exercise your God given authority over him. Tell him in the name of Jesus to stop tempting you and he will comply.

So that's it. Scriptural time tested approach to living a holy life that works all the time.

Please post a comment after reading to keep it afloat so that others can read it.