Words · Greek Words · Lesson 2, word 4 of 5
σάρξsarx
Flesh: the body, human nature, or life organised against God.
Why this word is here. The word of John 1:14 ('the Word became flesh') and of Paul's flesh-Spirit conflict; few words are preached more one-sidedly.
What it means
Abbott-Smith: flesh, the soft substance of the animal body; the whole substance of the body (so, the body itself); flesh and blood as the whole human being; by extension, human nature and descent ('according to the flesh'); and, in Paul's ethical use, the flesh as the seat and instrument of sin, human life organised apart from and against God, set against the Spirit.
The same word can therefore be neutral (Jesus' flesh given for the world, John 6), creational ('one flesh', Genesis 2:24 quoted), or deeply negative (the works of the flesh, Galatians 5). Paul is arguing, not the dictionary, when sarx becomes a power.
Where you meet it
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14 (BSB)
'The Word became flesh (sarx) and dwelt among us.' The most positive use of the word in the Bible: flesh is what God was willing to become.
For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.
Galatians 5:17 (BSB)
Anchor verse 'The flesh (sarx) craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.' Paul's ethical sense in its classic statement.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Ephesians 6:12 (BSB)
'Our struggle is not against flesh (sarx) and blood.' A deliberately limited use: human opponents are not the real enemy.
“Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
Matthew 26:41 (BSB)
'The spirit is willing, but the flesh (sarx) is weak.' Note the BSB renders sarx here as 'body', the translator judged the sense to be physical frailty, and the Greek word allows it.
Why it matters
Sarx carries two of Christianity's biggest claims: the incarnation (God took real flesh) and the diagnosis of sin (life in the flesh is life turned in on itself). Keeping both senses in view protects both doctrines: flesh is not evil (God made and wore it), and flesh is not innocent (left to itself it wars against the Spirit).
Watch out
The over-claim is 'flesh in the Bible means the sinful nature, full stop', which quietly teaches that bodies are bad, an idea the Bible fights (creation is good; the Word became flesh; the resurrection is bodily). In Romans 8 and Galatians 5 Paul does use sarx for the whole self organised against God, but that is his argument in context, not the word's only meaning. Translators who render it 'sinful nature' in some verses are interpreting Paul well or badly as the case may be; the Greek word is simply 'flesh'.
In this lesson
- euangelion (εὐαγγέλιον): Good news, the gospel of the kingdom and of Christ.
- charis (χάρις): Grace: favour freely given, and the thanks it wakes.
- doxa (δόξα): Glory, honour, splendour, the translation of kavod.
- pneuma (πνεῦμα): Wind, breath, spirit, above all, the Holy Spirit.
Sources
- Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon (1889)
- STEP Bible lexicon data (Abbott-Smith)
- SBL Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
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