Hi guys! I know it’s been a while since the last post. Our second little girl was just born a month ago, so things have been busy! While taking care of the little girl, I’ve been learning more Greek, and I just read the book of Romans in Greek for the first time.

One of the most harmful and most common erroneous beliefs I’ve seen in the church is a misunderstanding of how the Bible uses the term “the flesh.” Because of this poor understanding, many Christians don’t even believe it’s possible to live a victorious Christian life of walking in the Spirit and in communion with God. They think the normal Christian life will always be a struggle with sin and there’s nothing they can do about it. And if that’s what you believe, it will probably be what you experience!

I’ve often heard Christians saying things that reflect this wrong understanding. Then when I hear them also talking about struggling with porn and lust, I’m not surprised. I want to help but not everyone has ears to hear. For those who have understood this wrongly in the past but have ears to hear, the understanding I’m about to share has the potential to revolutionize your Christian life.

Romans 7:14-25 (NKJV) We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

I have repeatedly heard Christians read this passage and interpret it as “We still have our flesh, and the Christian life is a constant struggle with it. We’ll always mess up because we are human. We’ll never really be free until we die.” Do you see how harmful such a mindset is?

The Bible uses the word “the flesh” in different ways in different passages and contexts. I want to make the case to you today that “in my flesh” in Romans 7 does NOT mean “in my human condition.” Rather, walking in the flesh is the opposite of walking in the Spirit, and we can all walk in the Spirit through the free gift of righteousness and by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

“The Flesh” in Romans 7 Does Not Mean “The Human Condition”

1 John 4:2-3 (NKJV) By this you know the Spirit of God: 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.

Many New Testament writings, especially 1st John and Colossians, contradict the claims of a heretical group called the Gnostics. The Gnostics believed that the material world was base and corrupt but the spiritual was pure.

Because of this, the gnostics denied that Jesus came as a man. How could a holy, sinless God inhabit a human body? This was impossible in the gnostic belief system. The gnostics saw salvation as the spirit being liberated from the body. Many Christians today think like gnostics because they think only death will free them from sin by freeing them from the body, instead of trusting the completed redemptive work of Jesus to free them from sin while then are still in their bodies.

“In the flesh” in Romans 7 does not mean “in the human condition.” Jesus came as a human and was sinless and holy.

Have you ever read the book of Romans in just one sitting? I have. I’ve also read chapters 1-8 in one sitting many times. The way I described above that many people interpret Romans chapter 7 contradicts many verses in other parts of Romans. You say “we are human.” But there are two kinds of humans. Some are in the first Adam, and some are in Jesus. Which human are you in? Are you in the first Adam, or in the second Adam Jesus Christ?”

Romans 5:12-21 (NKJV) Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 5 contradicts the idea that “in the flesh” means “in the human condition.” We who are saved are righteous humans found in the second Adam, Jesus Christ, so that we can reign in life through the man, Jesus Christ.

Some Bible translations interpret the Greek phrase “in the flesh” as “in the sinful nature.” Then many Christians read Romans 7 out of context and erroneously conclude “I will always struggle with sin because I just have that old sinful nature.” Because of their wrong understanding of Romans 7 and what it means to be “in the flesh,” they are considering themselves alive to sin. But that contradicts what Romans says in the previous chapter.

Romans 6:1-11 (NKJV) What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6 teaches that if we are in Christ we have died to sin. It is past tense. We must consider it a fact that we are dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus. Romans chapter 7 does NOT teach that Christians have a living, active sinful nature so the Christian life will be a constant struggle. Because of this wrong understanding, many Christians don’t even believe it will ever be possible for them to walk a victorious Christian life in the Spirit. But Paul himself, who wrote Romans 7, also wrote Galatians.

Galatians 2:19-21 (NKJV) For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.

The next chapter of Romans also makes it quite clear that “the flesh” does not mean “the human condition” and that the description of walking in the flesh in Romans 7 is not talking about what the normal Christian life should look like. If “the flesh” meant “the human condition” then Romans 8:9 would be saying that Christians are not humans!

Romans 8:9 (NKJV) But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

What Does “In the Flesh” Mean in Romans 7?

The context of Romans 7 is abundantly clear. Paul uses the term “in the flesh” to talk about living under the law.

Romans 7:1-6 (NKJV) Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Paul is not talking to Christians about their current condition when he speaks of the flesh in Romans 7. He is describing living under the law. “We were in the flesh” is the past tense. This old condition of being in the flesh contrasts with our new condition of being in the Spirit. Paul expounds on this topic quite a lot in the book of Galatians as well.

Romans 8:1-8 (NKJV) There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

The Principle of First Mention

Some people talk about “the principle of first mention” for Bible interpretation. They look for the first place a word or phrase is mentioned in the Bible for insight about its meaning. The first use of the phrase “in the flesh” in the Bible is found in Genesis 17.

Genesis 17:9-11 (NKJV) And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.…Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

This ties into one of the major themes of the New Testament, especially the books of Romans and Galatians. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees who relied on the flesh and the fact that they were circumcised and natural descendants of Abraham. When they were offended at his teaching that he was the real bread from heaven, Jesus said “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63) They were thinking of natural things (the flesh) but Jesus spoke of spiritual realities. We see the same in John chapter 3.

John 3: 3-8 (NKJV) Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

The Jews relied on the flesh, meaning that they were natural descendants of Abraham and were circumcised, but Jesus said that the flesh profits nothing and you must be born of the Spirit. The real manna from heaven was spiritual. The birth that was important was not the birth in the flesh as a descendant of Abraham, but being born from above. The circumcision that is important is also in the spirit, not in the flesh. The real children of Abraham are his spiritual descendants.

John 8:15,39-41, 44 (NKJV) You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one….They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?… They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.”… You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. 

This is exactly the subject that the book of Romans expounds on.

Romans 2:25-29 (NKJV) For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

Romans 4:1-5 (NKJV) What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.

Romans 2 explains that the real thing that makes a person a Jew and puts them in covenant with God is not the flesh or the natural things, but spiritual circumcision. Romans 4 says that Abraham was not justified by the flesh, meaning by his own works or by physical circumcision, but by faith. Multiple other New Testament references show how the term “in the flesh” refers to being under the law.

Philippians 3:1-10 (NKJV) Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.

Philippians chapter 3 makes it clear that living in the flesh is trusting in natural things and self-righteousness under the law. Living in the Spirit is living in the righteousness that is from God by faith! The book of Galatians tells us the same.

Galatians 4:21-31 (NKJV) Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written:

“Rejoice, O barren,
You who do not bear!
Break forth and shout,
You who are not in labor!
For the desolate has many more children
Than she who has a husband.”

Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.

Contrasting Life in the Spirit with Life in the Flesh

The law is good, but we are powerless to keep it. Living under the law is not living by the empowerment of the Spirit, and we have to die to the law to live by the empowerment of the spirit. (Romans 7:1-6) Paul does not describe the normal Christian life in Romans 7. He describes living by mere human ability, trusting in natural things, and seeking to establish our own self-righteousness under the law. Those who live thus are spiritually dead, spiritually blind, and spiritually deaf. They have no spiritual eyes to see or ears to hear.

The body is holy. “We will always sin because we are human” is Gnostic heresy. But we were never meant to live by only natural things. We were never meant to live apart from communion with the Holy Spirit. We who are saved are in the second Adam, Jesus Christ, so as to exercise dominion in life! If the Spirit of Christ lives in you, you are not in the flesh!

Those who try to live Christianity by mere human ability are walking in the flesh. They can never please God and life is a constant struggle. But those who receive the Holy Spirit and the Promise of the Father through faith can live a victorious life in the Spirit!

Those who try to establish their own righteousness are living in the flesh. Those who receive the righteousness of Christ by faith are empowered to walk in the Spirit! Let’s make that even more clear. Those who approach God boldly through Jesus and receive every promise and blessing of God in Jesus are living in the Spirit. Those who try to attain the promise and blessing by a way other than through Jesus are living in the flesh.

A lot of the church today is living in the flesh. A lot of the church thinks the Holy Spirit’s empowerment is optional and they can “do” Christianity on mere human ability! A lot of the church doesn’t think that Jesus is sufficient so they try to attain God’s blessing by works, by tithes and offerings, and so much more!

Those whose mind is set on the flesh focus on the outward things. Those whose mind is set on the Spirit are in inward communion with the Holy Spirit. They boast in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh! Walking in the Spirit produces power, but walking in the flesh results in powerlessness.

If your Christian life has been a constant struggle, it may be that you’ve learned human religious traditions that are keeping you walking in the flesh. Let God’s word challenge those traditions and ask the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of your heart to the gospel. You can walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit! You can live a life of victory upon victory, glory upon glory in Jesus! You can know what it’s like to live with a clean conscience. Am I saying you will never fail again? No, I’m saying that your normal experience can be unbroken communion with God, rivers of living water flowing from your innermost being, face radiant with God’s glory! And if you do fall, you get back up quickly again and overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit.