Greetings!
Are you your flesh?
Since we will be using the word flesh, I want to take some time to work through a definition. In our main use of the word, flesh does not mean physical flesh. The word flesh as we will use it expresses itself through your body in actions, thoughts, words, attitudes, or responses, so the flesh includes the body, but the body is only the vehicle for the flesh to express itself.
A person without the indwelling Spirit
of Jesus is all flesh in this sense.
The person in whom Jesus has housed Himself and taken up residence
has pockets of flesh still active. Like sleeper cells, they are activated by
certain cues from the outside, but until activated, flesh might stay hidden.
Hidden or disguised flesh is wreaking havoc inside like undetected cancer
cells — free to destroy unchallenged.
We can’t go exclusively by the word flesh in the biblical text because it is
sometimes used to mean physical material — the corporeal body in which
our personalities are contained. The act of translating from one language
to another, like from Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic into English, is more than
simply replacing one word with another. It requires translating linguistic
context and cultural meaning. Depending on what translation of the Bible
you might be using, the same word or concept might be translated “flesh”
(meaning soft body-tissue) one place and then “human nature,” or “carnal
nature,” or “old man” in another. Or, the word might always be translated
“flesh,” but the textual setting interprets it as something more than the
physical body. It is usually easy to tell the difference.
We will be talking about flesh
as our unsurrendered self-life. All
of us still have active flesh. The process theologians call sanctification is the process of dragging flesh out of hiding, naming it what it is, and surrendering it to our co-crucifixion in Christ. We are going to call it altaring. Living in an altar’d state, with flesh yielded.
Flesh Has a Tell
Though we can make all kinds of excuses for flesh, dress it up in religion and piety, flesh has a “tell.” It acts like flesh. Whatever is born of flesh is flesh. Any action, attitude, emotion, word, or thought that has its roots in flesh is all flesh. Flesh and Spirit never act in harmony, One or the other, never both at the same time (Romans 8:4–8).
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
(John 3:6) NASB
"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life."
(John 6:63)
From these two statements
Jesus made, we can glean several things about flesh. In John 3:6, Jesus is having His famous conversation with Nicodemus about being born of the Spirit. In this statement, He is talking about physical flesh, but the physical flesh that comes prepackaged with unredeemed human nature. The only thing that flesh can produce is flesh.
Do you see in this statement the complete disconnect between flesh and
God’s Spirit? Either flesh or Spirit, but not both.
Then in John 6:63, Jesus says that flesh gets you nowhere, has no profit in it, conveys nothing of value. But, in contrast, Spirit gives life.
Either/or, but not both. Jesus’ words are spirit because their origins are in the Spirit. If it is born of the Spirit, then it is Spirit. If it is born of the flesh, then it is flesh.
So, what is the tell?
How does flesh give itself away and reveal its
nature?
Flesh is proud,
possessive, demanding, grabby, angry, envious, wants to own and manage and manipulate and get its way. Flesh caters to its appetites — physical and emotional. Flesh is self-conscious. Flesh demands its own way. Flesh is all about the “I.” I want. I will. I did. I feel.
Flesh’s tell is not always easy to spot in ourselves. (By the way, don’t try to spot it in others. That’s not your job.) Flesh doesn’t always look ugly on the surface. In fact, it cleans up very nicely sometimes. Flesh that has religious training can masquerade as all kinds of admirable qualities. Through this 40-day journey we’ll learn how to identify flesh. We’ll find our own flesh’s tell, and then how to surrender it to crucifixion.
Jennifer Kennedy Dean
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Jennifer Kennedy Dean 2019
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