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What Does St. Paul Mean by “The Flesh”? Msgr. Charles Pope • October 11, 2016 • In the first reading at Mass today (Wednesday of the 28th Week), St. Paul enumerates the sins that proceed from the flesh. There are many references to “the flesh” in the New Testament, especially in the letters of St. Paul. The phrase is commonly misunderstood as being synonymous with the physical body or merely with sexual sin.Although there are many places in Scripture in which the word “flesh” alone refers to the physical body, when it is preceded by the definite article (“the”),...

What Do the Scriptures Mean which speak of “the flesh?” By: Msgr. Charles PopeThere is a common misunderstanding of the meaning of the Biblical phrase “the flesh.”  There are many references to “the flesh” in New Testament Scripture, especially in the letters of St. Paul. The phrase confuses some, who think it synonymous with the physical body or merely with sexual sin.It is true that there are many times when Scripture uses the word “flesh” to refer to the physical body. However, when the definite article “the” is placed before the word “flesh” we are most often dealing with something...

There are many references to “the flesh” in New Testament Scripture, especially in the letters of St. Paul. The phrase confuses some who think it synonymous with the physical body, or sometimes with sexual sin.It is true that there are many times when Scripture uses the word “flesh” to refer to the physical body. However when the definite article “the” is placed before the word “flesh” we are dealing with something else. Only very rarely does the Biblical phrase “the flesh” (? s??? (he sarx), in Greek) refer only to the physical body (eg. John 6:53; Phil 3:2; 1 John...

There are many references to “the flesh” in New Testament Scripture, especially in the letters of St. Paul. The phrase confuses some who think it synonymous with the physical body. It is true that there are many times when Scripture uses the word “flesh” to refer to the physical body. However when the definite article “the” is placed before the word “flesh” we are dealing with something else. Only very rarely does the Biblical phrase “the flesh” (ἡ σὰρξ (he sarx), in Greek) refer only to the physical body (eg. John 6:53; Phil 3:2; 1 John 4:2) , but almost...