It is often said that
the three enemies of the human soul are the world, the flesh and the devil. The
first and last members of this triad are instantly understood; the middle one ...
well, not always.
In the New Testament, the
word “flesh” (Gk: sarx) possesses a range of related meanings from merely natural (“the two will become one flesh”) to expressly wicked (“Now
the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery,
enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries,
dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these”).
This being the case, when we come across references
to “the flesh” we may find it helpful to ask ourselves in which sense it is
being used.