Flesh and Humanity

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18)

Jesus, who lived perfectly and without sin, was murdered by being beaten, scourged, then nailed to a wooden crucifix.

Jesus did not sin. We did. But Jesus allowed himself to be killed so we could be reconciled and brought to God. Sin separated man from God. Jesus loved us so much that He was willing to pay the debt that He did not owe, just to give us the opportunity to be with God.

But notice Peter makes it a point to say that Jesus was, “put to death in the flesh”. To win our battle and to claim victory over sin for all of mankind, Jesus had to fight as a man, not as God. Victory as God was assured. Victory as a man, with all of his inherent passions, weaknesses and proclivities to self-service was not.

Jesus’s greatest battle was not against the devil, but against His own flesh and humanity. The weakness of the flesh is what Jesus feared and was so tormented over.

At Gethsemane Jesus decried, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death”

Jesus begged God not to put His humanity on trial by saying, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 27:39)

And finally, Jesus told His disciples, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 27:41).

Jesus knew the Hell He would confront in the skin and how difficult it would be to survive it.

When the Apostle Paul confronted the same battle with flesh he cried out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24).

The good news as we all know, is that Jesus won the battle. Sin has been defeated. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, the gateway to God is opened.

The battles we fight in the flesh, that so torment our soul, are nothing new. While we think in terms of the devil as the cause of our pain, we must look at our own weak flesh and humanity as the prime elements which allow the effect to take place. But as long as you are in Jesus and Jesus is in you, then we, “know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28).

Bill Hitchcock