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When the apostle says in 7: 18 that he knows that in his flesh dwelleth no good
thing, he is not speaking of flesh and blood physiologically, but of the carnal man, in
whom resides no moral good whatever. It is a comfort to observe the two "dwellings" of
7: 18 and 8: 9. The references to the flesh are, however, so interwoven with the
argument of the epistle that further and fuller exposition is not easy until we settle down
to a careful study of the whole teaching of the section.
Cremer, in his Biblico-Theological Lexicon, subdivides the meaning of sarx, "flesh",
into six different phases. Omitting the great mass of quotation and detail with which he
illustrates and proves his points, the reader may find the following digest of service:--
Sarx.
1:
Flesh. James 5: 3. Flesh and bone, the substance of the body, Luke 24: 39;
Eph. 5: 30.
2:
Corporeity according to its material side, which, as an organic whole, is called
soma, body. So I Cor. 15: 39. The corporal part of man, Acts 2: 26.
3:
It mediates and brings about man's connection with mature. Gen. 2: 23, 24;
I Cor. 6: 16. So the contrast between "children of the flesh", Rom. 9: 8,
and "children of the promise", Rom. 4: 19. It indicates kinship, Rom. 9: 3;
11: 14; 1: 3, and all mankind are designated "all flesh", John 17: 2.
4:
It denotes human nature in and according to its corporeal manifestation.
I John 4: 2. "Jesus Christ came in the flesh." I Tim. 3: 16. "Manifested in the
flesh."
5:
All that is peculiar to human nature in its corporeal embodiment is said to
belong to it. This is specially the aspect of Paul's epistles and his use of sarx. It
is in contrast with the new creation, II Cor. 5: 16, 17. It stands in contrast
with pneuma, Spirit, the divine nature, in a meta-physical and moral sense.
Rom. 8: 3; Gal. 3: 3; 5: 17. Thus sarx comes, at length, in distinct and
presupposed antithesis to pneuma, to signify--
6:
The sinful condition of human nature, in and according to its bodily
manifestation. So we have "the flesh of sin", Rom. 8: 3; "satisfying of the
flesh", Col. 2: 23, "an occasion of the flesh", Gal. 5: 13. such expressions as
"the mind of the flesh", Rom. 8: 6, 7; "the lusts of the flesh", Gal. 5: 16, 24,
and "the wills of the flesh", Eph. 2: 2, may be explained by the fact that sarx
denotes sinfully conditioned human nature.
In addition to sarx, "flesh", we must take note of sarkikos and sarkinos, "fleshly" and
"fleshy". Thus we have sarkinos, II Cor. 3: 3, "the fleshy tables of the heart":
sarkikos, "not as spiritual but as carnal" (fleshly) (I Cor. 3: 1). The reading in
Rom. 7: 14 is doubtful. The received text reads sarkikos, "fleshly" but the critical texts
read sarkinos, "fleshy". Textual criticism appears simple until it is attempted and then it
sometimes baffles the keenest research and intuition. We shall discuss the alternative
readings of Rom. 7: 14 in their proper place; here we give only the meanings of the
two words.