The word flesh hath different meanings in Scripture. It is a word of general acceptation in respect to animal life. Hence the apostle to the Corinthians, chapter the fifteenth, and thirty-ninth verse, saith, "All flesh is not the same flesh; but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds." And, hence, when the Lord determined the total destruction of the world, except the church preserved in the family of Noah, he said, "The end of all flesh is come before me." (Genesis 6:13) But beside this general acceptation of the word in relation to all animal life, the Scripture hath a more confined and special sense in reference to human nature.—"Hide not thyself from thine own flesh;" meaning, thine own nature. (Isaiah 58:7)
There is another and more endearing sense of the word flesh, when spoken of in Scripture in relation to the types and affinities of families. Thus in the instance of the sons of Jacob, when some were for killing Joseph, Judah restrained from the deed, saying, "What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? Let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh." (Genesis 37:26-27) And there is yet a far more endearing sense in which the word flesh is used in Scripture, when spoken of in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ; the nearest of all types, and the tenderest of all brothers. "For we are members (saith the apostle) of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." (Ephesians 5:30) But the term flesh hath also another sense, when by of opposition to the spirit, it is taken as a comprehensive expression of our whole corrupt and carnal nature by the fall. "I know (saith Paul,) that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." (Romans 5:18) And "elsewhere the same apostle saith, The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." (Galatians 5:17) And hence when by the gracious work of regeneration wrought in the heart by the sovereign power of God the Holy Ghost, believers are then said "to be not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, it so be that the Spirit of God dwell in them." (Romans 8:9) And hence this new life of God in the soul is called union with Christ, in living upon Christ, and walking with Christ. "As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, even so he that eateth me shall live by me." (John 6:57)