Romans 8:8-9

8:8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 8:9 You, however, are not in ¹  the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him.

John 3:6

3:6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, ²  and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Galatians 5:16-17

5:16 But I say, live ³  by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. ⁴  5:17 For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires ⁵  that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to ⁶  each other, so that you cannot do what you want.

Galatians 5:24

5:24 Now those who belong to Christ ⁷  have crucified the flesh ⁸  with its passions ⁹  and desires.

Ephesians 2:3

2:3 among whom ¹⁰  all of us ¹¹  also ¹²  formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath ¹³  even as the rest… ¹⁴ 

Ephesians 2:11

New Life Corporately

2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh – who are called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” that is performed on the body ¹⁵  by human hands –

Titus 3:3

3:3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another.

¹ tn Or “are not controlled by the flesh but by the Spirit.”

¹ sn What is born of the flesh is flesh, i.e., what is born of physical heritage is physical. (It is interesting to compare this terminology with that of the dialogue in John 4, especially 4:23, 24.) For John the “flesh” (σάρξ, sarx) emphasizes merely the weakness and mortality of the creature – a neutral term, not necessarily sinful as in Paul. This is confirmed by the reference in John 1:14 to the Logos becoming “flesh.” The author avoids associating sinfulness with the incarnate Christ.

¹ tn Grk “walk” (a common NT idiom for how one conducts one’s life or how one behaves).

² tn On the term “flesh” (once in this verse and twice in v. 17) see the note on the same word in Gal 5:13.

¹ tn The words “has desires” do not occur in the Greek text a second time, but are repeated in the translation for clarity.

² tn Or “are hostile toward” (L&N 39.1).

¹ tc ‡ Some mss (א A B C P Ψ 0122¹ 0278 33 1175 1739 pc co) read “Christ Jesus” here, while many significant ones (Ì⁴⁶ D F G 0122*^,2 latt sy), as well as the Byzantine text, lack “Jesus.” The Byzantine text is especially not prone to omit the name “Jesus”; that it does so here argues for the authenticity of the shorter reading (for similar instances of probably authentic Byzantine shorter readings, see Matt 24:36 and Phil 1:14; cf. also W.-H. J. Wu, “A Systematic Analysis of the Shorter Readings in the Byzantine Text of the Synoptic Gospels” [Ph.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 2002]). On the strength of the alignment of Ì⁴⁶ with the Western and Byzantine texttypes, the shorter reading is preferred. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

² tn See the note on the word “flesh” in Gal 5:13.

³ tn The Greek term παθήμασιν (paqhmasin, translated “passions”) refers to strong physical desires, especially of a sexual nature (L&N 25.30).

¹ sn Among whom. The relative pronoun phrase that begins v. 3 is identical, except for gender, to the one that begins v. 2 (ἐν αἵς [en Jais], ἐν οἵς [en Jois]). By the structure, the author is building an argument for our hopeless condition: We lived in sin and we lived among sinful people. Our doom looked to be sealed as well in v. 2: Both the external environment (kingdom of the air) and our internal motivation and attitude (the spirit that is now energizing) were under the devil’s thumb (cf. 2 Cor 4:4).

² tn Grk “we all.”

³ tn Or “even.”

⁴ sn Children of wrath is a Semitic idiom which may mean either “people characterized by wrath” or “people destined for wrath.”

⁵ sn Eph 2:1-3. The translation of vv. 1-3 is very literal, even to the point of retaining the awkward syntax of the original. See note on the word dead in 2:1.

¹ tn Grk “in the flesh.”