Desires of the Flesh are the wants that rise from the old nature and pull a person off the will of God.
John listed them first among the things in the world: the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and pride of life.
Paul said walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
The flesh here is not the body God made. It is the self that will not have God as God.
Scripture uses flesh in more than one way. Dust and bone are flesh, and the Word became flesh. That is not the enemy. The enemy is sarx as Paul preaches it: the human being curved in on himself, alive to sin, hostile to God. The desires of that flesh are not only coarse vices. Galatians names them in a heap: sexual immorality, impurity, idolatry, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, drunkenness, and more. Romans says those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, and that mind is death. James says each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire; then desire conceives and gives birth to sin. Jesus said what comes out of the heart defiles, not what goes in. The desires of the flesh therefore sit inside the person and then reach for the world. Grace does not pretend they are gone the day a person believes. It puts them to death by the Spirit. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. The body is still to be presented as a living sacrifice. The flesh is not to be given a vote.
- Flesh as fallen nature is not the same as the body as God’s work.
- Desire is not always sin. Desire that will not be ruled is.
- The list in Galatians is broader than lust. Anger and envy belong to the flesh too.
- The mind set on the flesh cannot please God.
- Crucifixion of the flesh is a fact in Christ and a daily work in the Spirit.
- Feeding the flesh is how desires grow. Walking by the Spirit is how they starve.
- Make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
- Inner Want – Not first an object outside; a pull inside.
- Against the Spirit – Flesh and Spirit oppose each other.
- Works That Follow – Immorality, idolatry, division, excess.
- Mind of the Flesh – Death, hostility, inability to submit to God.
- Conception of Sin – Desire lures; sin is born; death follows.
- Crucified in Christ – Passions and desires nailed with Him.
- No Provision – Do not budget for what you mean to kill.
- 1 John 2:16 – “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.”
- Galatians 5:16-17, 19-21, 24 – “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh… 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… And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
- Romans 8:5-8, 13 – “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh… For to set the mind on the flesh is death… For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God… 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.”
- Romans 13:14 – “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”
- James 1:14-15 – “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”
- Ephesians 2:3 – “…among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
- 1 Peter 2:11 – “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”
- 1 Peter 4:2-3 – “…so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do…”
- Mark 7:21-23 – “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
- Romans 6:12-13 – “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness…”
- Romans 7:18, 23 – “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh… but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind…”
- Titus 2:11-12 – Grace trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions.
- 2 Timothy 2:22 – “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a clean heart.”
- Colossians 3:5 – “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”
- Galatians 6:8 – “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”
- John 1:14 – “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” — the holy use of flesh, not the fallen one.
- Matthew 26:41 – “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
The desires of the flesh are against the Spirit.
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Make no provision for the flesh.
Each person is tempted when he is lured by his own desire. Desire conceives. Sin is born. Death follows.
Set the mind on the Spirit. Put to death the deeds of the body.
The Word became flesh to save those who were living in the passions of the flesh. Abstain. They wage war against the soul.
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