The Apostle Paul used polemics in his writing, navigating two opposite ideas to lead us to a third and deeper understanding. One of his familiar polemics is when he spoke of flesh and spirit. Paul used the word sarx, commonly translated as “flesh” with a negative connotation in opposition to spirit. John’s Gospel uses this same word, sarx, in a wonderfully positive way: “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14).
However, the closest meaning to Paul’s sarx is the familiar word “ego.” What Paul meant by “flesh” is the trapped, small, and partial self. Basically, spirit is the whole self, the True Self “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3) that we fall into by grace. The problem, therefore, is not between body and spirit, but between part and whole.
The ego is the self that tries to define itself autonomously, apart from spirit, apart from the Big Self in God. It’s the self that we think we are, who is always needy and wanting something else, and is characterized by scarcity and fragility. This small self doesn’t really exist in God’s eyes as anything substantial or real. It’s nothing but a construct of our own mind. It is exactly what will die when we die.
Flesh is not bad, it is just inadequate for the final and full task while posing as the real thing. To get beyond this confusion, simply substitute the word ego every time we hear Paul use the word flesh. It will get us out of this dead-end, false, and dualistic ping-pong game between body and spirit.
The problem is not that we have a body; the problem is that we think we are separate from others—and from God, when in truth we are not!
Galatians 5:17 “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”
