While still on the topic of original sin, its advocates say, “Our bodies are made of sin and cause us to sin.” However, remember that sin is a violation of God’s law (1 Jn. 3:4), not what type of body or nature we should or not have.

   The Greek word “sarx” is translated as flesh. In scriptures it is overwhelmingly described as the flesh of humans and animal life. In the New Testament alone, the word is used approximately 150 times.

   God is the author of our flesh (Exodus 4:11, Isaiah 44:2, Jer. 1:5), who made man from the dust of the earth (Gen. 2:7, Gen. 3:19). It is true that our flesh can be the occasion or the source of temptation (James 1:14), but sinning is a choice because of our own selfish desires and we are told not to sin (John 5:14, John 8:11, Rom. 6:12; Rom. 6:19 Eph. 4:26 etc.).

   Since flesh is nothing more than an inanimate conglomerate of biological tissue, it has no moral quality. However, when we use our body to indulge in sinful behavior, then the flesh is full of sin and the bible calls it “sinful flesh” (not “sinful nature”). The flesh is not sinful by nature, it becomes sinful because, as moral agents, we have made choices to sin.

   There are also times when Paul uses the word flesh in the figurative sense. For instance, he says:

For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. (Romans 7:18).

   And in Romans 7:23 he talks about “sin which is in my members” (Romans 7:23). He is not speaking literally about the physical body made up of sin. Remember, sin is not a substance, it is not a virus with personality. Paul is discussing the matter of a sinful condition, because of the choices made to sin. We never read Paul condemning the physical nature of man. Thus, it is sinful to walk according to the flesh (2 Cor. 10:2), which one involves himself in sinful behavior, but it is not sinful to walk in the flesh (2 Cor. 10:3.).

   If flesh is sinful, then we would have to conclude Jesus had sinful flesh since Jesus had flesh (Luke 24:39, John 1:14, 2 Jn. 1:7). It is the same type of flesh as ours. (Heb. 2:14; Heb. 2:17).

   In Romans 8:3 it says Jesus was made in the likeness of “sinful flesh” (i.e., flesh that had sinned). It does not mean in the likeness of sinful nature as falsely taught.

   The word “flesh” is also at times synonymous with men (Gen. 6:12). Jesus was in a world where the human race had corrupted themselves, not that Jesus was sinful. Our flesh is an instrument that we can use for sin or for righteousness (Rom. 6:13, Rom. 6:19). It would be heresy to say that Jesus appeared in the likeness of sinful nature, which is how the NIV translates the word “sarx” at times.

   Also note the following how living according to the flesh has to do with deeds of the body:

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Rom. 8:13

   And in Galatians 5 Paul talks about the “works of the flesh,” and he goes on to name the works (5:19-21):

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. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

   When Paul speaks about those who live according to the flesh, he is not speaking as though the flesh in itself is doing these things independent of the person. He is referring to the fact that those who live according to the flesh are those who are slaves to their own lusts and ruled by their own selfish passions and desires, which manifest itself in the deeds of the body.

   The modern definition of “flesh,” according to mainstream Christianity, has nothing to do with anyone fighting some mysterious “other self” that coexists, striving for supremacy. This is pure philosophy.

   We are the ones who can control our body. What manifests in the body is what comes out from the heart (Matt. 12:35). We must choose not to sin. We need to purify our hearts and clean up our lives. As James says:

Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Clean up your lives, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you people who can't make up your mind. (James 4:8)

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