Focus: How God Sees The Flesh

Text: Jh.6:63

"The flesh profiteth nothing…"

The Lord Jesus Christ passes a vote of no confidence on the flesh. He says, "The flesh PROFITS NOTHING." That is an absolute verdict. Everything we do on the basis of the flesh will ultimately amount to nothing. Works done in the flesh yield no eternal gain. The flesh stands condemned before God forever. Paul declares, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth NO GOOD THING" (Rom.7:18).

The flesh is like a bad tree that yields no good fruit. The flesh is incapable of any iota of goodness that is approvable by God. Man's goodness has been tainted with evil. It is rooted in sin and self. Paul says, "So then they that are in the flesh CANNOT please God" (Rom.8:8). The flesh cannot please God. The flesh is very religious, but unfortunately, its religion is never aimed at pleasing God. Paul asserts that "they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh…" (Rom.8:5), and he makes bold to say, "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die…" (Rom.8:13).

Let's see more of Paul's declarations:

He says, "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof" (Rom.13:14). He says that God has taken care of every aspect of the human salvation so that "no flesh should glory in his presence" (1Cor.1:29). The flesh is incapable of saving itself, and so God stepped in through Christ to do for man what he couldn't do for himself, making it absolutely impossible for man to find in himself any ground for boasting. 

The flesh is always proud of self-accomplishments, but in the matter of his eternal salvation, he lacks the right to be proud and the ground on which he could do so.

It is interesting to know that in everything God does, He ensures that the flesh does not glory in His presence.

Paul says, "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God…" (1Cor.15:50), and he appeals to us, "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from ALL THE FILTHINESS OF THE FLESH" (2Cor.7:1). Even Peter says that the flesh is filthy (1Pet.3:21). The flesh is totally filthy, and no wonder Paul declares that in him dwells no good thing. For us as Christians, Paul says, "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts" (Gal.5:24). He says, "For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption…" (Gal.6:8). Paul declares that we "have no confidence in the flesh" (Phil.3:3). The flesh is unreliable. Paul says about himself, "I am carnal, sold under sin…" (Rom.7:14). "For to be carnally minded is death…" (Rom.8:6). He says that "the carnal mind is enmity against God…" (Rom.8:7). The word 'carnal' refers to the flesh or that which is devoid of spirit.

We can see that the flesh profits nothing. It is not spiritual. It cannot please God in all its religious activities. It can't worship God in spirit and in truth. It can't practice faith purely on God's terms and conditions. It can't obey God. It functions as God's enemy, and it's not committed to doing the will of God. No divine business is ever conducted or transacted on the altar of the flesh.

The good news is that the cross of Christ is the medium by which God moves us from the realm of the flesh to the realm of the Spirit. In Christ we are daily experiencing the resurrection life. By the cross of Christ we part ways with the flesh and embrace our new selves made possible by the gracious Spirit of God. We are required by God to keep mortifying the deeds of flesh on daily basis. Let's see the flesh with God's own lenses and arrive at his own conclusion on the flesh.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter