18.1 The Flesh
© 2015 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
The first two HOW verses, Galatians 2:20 and Hebrews 10:19-22, position human flesh, and the life we now live in human flesh, entirely inside of God. It is essential for us to know exactly what the New Testament actually says about the flesh, and to comprehend where our own flesh fits inside the determination and intentions of God.
But first I want you to see exactly why these HOW verses must come after the WHY verses that show us God’s intention. Look at these words: Having boldness to enter the Holiest. These words can fulfill in us what God intends ONLY as we first know the WHY of God, what entering the Holiest means: being filled with all of God and releasing God to all.
The Wrong WHY
Most believers stay only with the HOW verses, limiting their lives only to what they read there. They are blessed in all things as long as their HOW’s put them inside of Jesus. But inevitably the “WHY” of “go to” heaven shuts down all further enquiry into any other WHY God might speak, and they go no further into relationship with the Father.
But those who stop in the HOWS eventually must draw back. We are not of those who draw back. But something else happens when “go to” heaven becomes the WHY of God, something even worse.
The Spirit of Anti-Christ
If the WHY of God is “going to” heaven, what prevents us from fulfilling God’s WHY right now? – These bodies of flesh. And thus early on, the Christian mind defined the body of flesh to be our enemy and death to be our savior. And the Christian mind takes that definition and FORCES it upon every occurrence of the word “flesh” in the Bible.
This way of thinking is the Gnosticism against which John wrote – it is the spirit of anti-Christ. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of anti-Christ … (1 John 4:2-3).
Gnosticism
The essence of Gnosticism claims that God is heaven only, that anything of the physical is always evil only. Gnosticism claims that God and flesh can never mix. Because Nicene Christianity is gnostic (heaven only), every reference in the Bible to God in the flesh is carefully eliminated from the mind, either by defining Jesus falsely, or by simply not seeing the reference at all.
Since Jesus is the first One of our kind, since we are flesh of His flesh, here is our defining verse regarding the flesh. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
Sarx
The Greek word sarx, translated “flesh,” is found 149 times in the New Testament in various forms. Read through the document “Sarx and Soma in the New Testament.” This is a list of all the verses containing those two words. I have highlighted those most relevant.
Without doing an actual count, we find that about half the time, the word sarx is used in a neutral manner, as in “my countrymen according to the sarx.” Then, we find that about a quarter of the time, sarx is filled with God/Spirit/Christ and is positive, whereas about a quarter of the time, sarx is treated negatively. What makes the difference?
A False Definition of Flesh
The prevailing definition of “the flesh” is that it is a fallen human nature that acts in evil ways, a nature that cannot be resolved while we remain in these present bodies. Thus “go to” heaven is the only solution offered for the horror God has left remaining as part of our construction. More than that, most Christians who do draw near to the Holiest then see the flesh as the primary force preventing them from entering in. Thus they take the popular definition of “the flesh” and force it onto all the neutral uses of the term and most of the positive. Even those who teach grace carry the same definition of the flesh, defining grace as “it doesn’t matter” (unmerited favor).
The Birds of the Air
Thus most of God’s people who draw near, remain absolutely outside the veil, weeping and wailing over their flesh, concocting every scheme in the book to get their flesh under control – flesh ruling over flesh. Among them walk the grace preachers, explaining that it’s all okay, but also refusing to enter in FOR THE SAME REASONS. God in your flesh? Flesh in the Holiest? NO POSSIBLE WAY!
This is very important for us to understand clearly and fully because when sharing Christ with our brethren, it is the Christian definition of flesh working together with the Christian definition of heaven that PREVENTS them from ever hearing Christ our only life, the birds of the air taking the seed.
What Is the Flesh?
What is the flesh? And why is it sometimes negative and sometimes positive? The answer is so obvious and simple that the darkness and blindness astonish us.
The flesh is the physical form containing as outward appearance the substance of God or not-God.
The flesh is a cup, regardless of what it looks like. A cup full of old urine is all obnoxious; both go into the trash. A cup – washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:22)– and full of pure grape juice is all good. The cup itself is 100% neutral, defined entirely by what fills it.
What We See
The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light (Luke 11:34-36).
Often, the word sarx, flesh, and the word soma, body, are interchangeable. In fact, where Luke uses the word soma, John uses the word sarx. These words of Jesus apply fully to both. What you and I see, that is, our faith, determines what fills the neutral cup. – And all flesh shall see the salvation of God (Luke 3:6).
According to the Flesh
We can understand every negative reference to the flesh in the New Testament in one way, that is, living or seeing or walking or judging “according to the flesh.” And we understand “according to the flesh” by Jesus’ words concerning what we see being light or darkness.
For we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Specifically, we walk by seeing Christ alone; we do not walk by seeing outward appearances.
Look carefully at Jesus’ words concerning the lamp of the body. There are no shades of grey in seeing. Seeing is all goodness or all evil, all Christ or all anti-Christ.
Seeing Evil
So why do our brethren choose to see evil when they look at their flesh and not God? – Because they want to. As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh … (Galatians 6:12). Isn’t that the real drive? They want to prove to God that they can be godly without God.
That no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus … (1 Corinthians 1:29b-30a).
If our brethren actually succeeded in getting their flesh under control, they would join the ranks of the serpent and his angels in hostility against God.
Appearance versus Substance
We understand the flesh entirely inside of God’s favorite ploy of casting appearance against substance and letting us pick which one we want to live by. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one (John 8:15).
We cannot embrace Christ with all our hearts in fervent WILLINGNESS unless we have an alternative to select, the same alternative placed before Adam. Outward appearance – word on the outside of us. Christ has no beauty that we should desire Him (Isaiah 53). Versus: “You can be like ‘God’ (that is, me) all by yourself; all you have to do is ‘do what God says.’” – Outward word producing outward show.
Living by the Flesh
All of our brethren who weep and wail over the flesh, who use the flesh as a reason not to enter into all of God now by faith, judge by outward appearance. They are casting the entirety of the gospel and their future with God BY the flesh; they live entirely according to what the flesh does or does not do, even twisting the Bible to exalt the flesh.
Here is the worst: But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts (Romans 13:14). Are they busy putting on the Lord Jesus Christ? – No. All their effort is towards the false translation of “make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts,” in other words, towards making the flesh the definition of their lives.
We See Christ Alone
We, on the other hand, pay no attention to what the flesh looks like; we are simply too busy in utmost excitement and glory, putting the Lord Jesus Christ upon ourselves, spirit, soul, and body, Person upon person, Flesh upon flesh. And guess what – that’s exactly what the Greek words Paul used in Romans 13:14 actually tell us to do with the flesh – pay no attention to it.
We see Christ alone in all that we are. We see all things first through Blood; thus, all things are pure.
God created human flesh to be His dwelling place forever. Empty of God, human flesh must be evil; filled with God, human flesh is perfectly normal and thus perfectly human.