Assignment 4

Samson Covatch

BI500 Assignment 4

Dr. Wesley Hill

The word flesh is used fourteen times in the book of Galatians in twelve verses. Galatians 2:20; 3:3; 4:23, 29; 5:13, 16, 17, 19, 24; and 6:8, 12, 13.

On the surface the word “flesh” is translated according to the english equivalent, but the intent of Paul’s meaning can vary. The most obvious way in which to understand this word is in the corporal sense of our physicality. The material part of our being that displays outward sin and outward signs of an inward grace. In this sense “flesh” is a neutral medium that makes up part of our being as exampled in 2:20; 5:13, 16, 17, 19, 24.

Another understanding is within the phrase “by the flesh” as we see in 3:3; 6:12 - 13, that Paul sees as a means by which we identify our kinship for national identity with a particular group. The understanding here is that my relationship to God is not through Christ but through a group associated with God. My flesh is used in this way an identifying marker that I did and not on what Christ has done.

Flesh can be seen in a more negative way in 4:23, 29; 6:8, in that the misplaced confidence is likened to being born of a slave woman as opposed to being born of a free woman in faith. The focus is on the unnatural use of the flesh as a means toward making oneself just before God.