Bible Question:
Sin and the Flesh Do our present corrupted mortal bodies in any way influence us to sin? How? What is the relationship between our mortal bodies and indwelling sin? What generated this question is that sometimes I have to be careful about what I do or say when I’m tired, and I suspect that sometimes my feelings of depression are brought on by an occasional lack of physical well-being. But is there more to it than that? Sin is spiritual, not physical. It is internal. It originates from a corrupted heart (not emotions, but intellect). Now, Paul and others use the word translated “flesh” in several senses, sometimes to mean person, sometimes to mean body, etc., but it’s curious how they sometimes uses the word to mean something sinful. If I had to pick a word or phrase to substitute for this negative meaning I would choose “fallen human nature,” although sometimes it only fits awkwardly into a sentence. But the apostolic writers inspired by the Holy Spirit chose this word, curiously enough. Could they not have chosen another? Our present bodies will not make it to glory (1 Cor. 15). They will be planted like a seed when we depart to be with the Lord. And the dissimilarity between the body that is planted and the glorious one that will be resurrected will be like that of a seed and the plant that grows from it. So do the Apostles, that is, the Holy Spirit through the Apostles, use the word flesh because there’s more to our mortal body than flesh and blood? |
Bible Answer: Lionstrong, Remember that the English is not inspired, the original is. Even so, the Gospel writers use different words to describe the same scene. Mark 1:40, uses the word gonupeteo, while Matthew 8:2 uses proskuneo. This is where a leper asks to be made clean. Using the NASB, I see the flesh and sin can be related, in Romans 7 -For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions (vs. 5) -For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin (vs. 14) -For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not (vs. 18) - Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin (vs. 25). Romans 8:3 says, For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh … then Paul continues to compare the fleas with the Spirit. Steve |