Flesh, Spirit, and Paul's Vision of Sin

[For Paul,] there are no other gods, but there are demons. The `so-called gods and lords' of 1 Corinthians 8:4-6 are not really Gods and Lords, but they are something. Paul speaks of them in other ways: `beings that by nature are no gods' (Gal. 4:8); Satan, who disguises himself as the 'angel of light' (2 Cor. 11:14); 'another god', who governs `this age' (2 Cor. 4:4); `rulers of this age' (1 Cor. 2:6); `principalities' and `powers' (Rom. 8:38), or 'principalities, authorities and powers' (1 Cor. 15:24). There were knees to be bent not only on the earth, but also above and below it (Phil. 2:10). In the end, Christ will triumph (Rom. 8:38f.; 1 Cor. 15:24-6; Phil. 2:9-11), but meanwhile these beings can create a good deal of trouble.

We should pay special attention to the degree to which Sin is treated by Paul as an enemy power. This is most clearly the case when the noun

sin, is the subject of a verb other than `to be', as it is in Romans 5-7. According to Romans 5:12, Sin `entered the world'; thereafter one reads that 'Sin reigned in death' (5:21); that Sin may `reign' in one's body (6:12) or `have dominion' over one (6:14); that Sin ,; found opportunity in the commandment and `wrought in me all kinds ; of covetousness' (7:8); that it `revived' (7:9); that it found `opportunity, in the commandment, deceived me and by it killed me' (7:11); and that,: it `worked death in me through what is good' (7:13). Sin as power may be served (6:16-18), and thus it enslaves (6:20). Put another way, Sin is a 'law' which lurks in one's members and prevents the fulfilling of the law of God (7:17-23). The only escape is to leave `the Flesh' (8:8), the domain of Sin, by sharing Christ's death. Christians have died with Christ and thus to Sin (6:2-11), and they have thereby escaped not only Sin but also the law (which condemns) and the 'Flesh', the state of enmity towards God (7:4-6).

Here a few words are required in explanation of the term `the Flesh'. Paul sometimes uses it to mean 'the physical body', but in this section of Romans it often refers to the state of humanity when it opposes God. Thus, strikingly, Romans 7:5f.: `while we were living in the Flesh . . . But now we are discharged from the law . . . so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.' The `we' refers to Paul and other Christians. They are no longer `in the Flesh', though they are still in their skins with their body tissue intact. As Paul puts it in Romans 8:9, 'You are not in the Flesh, you are in the Spirit', and the contrast of Flesh and Spirit continues (8:9-13). My guess is that we see here the explanation of why Paul uses 'Flesh' to mean `humanity in the state of opposition to God': it is simply the word which is opposite `Spirit', which in turn denotes the divine power. This is, at any rate, the best way to decide when to capitalize Flesh, so that it points not to humanity as physical, but to humanity under an enemy power. It is the latter when there is a clear contrast between it and the Spirit of God. Then flesh becomes Flesh.

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