The Slavery of Death

by Richard Beck

know exactly when and where Paul uses the word sarx. This situation is further complicated by the fact that Paul doesn’t seem to use sarx in a consistent fashion. Attempting to clarify the issue, James Dunn offers a helpful analysis that shows how Paul’s use of sarx reflects a continuum of meanings. At one end, there are verses in which sarx seems to have a benign and neutral meaning, a simple straightforward reference to our physical bodies. Consider Romans 11:14: “in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people [sarx] to envy and save some of them.” Here Paul refers to his own “flesh,” his biological relationship with the Jewish people. In this instance, nothing hints at the notion of “sinful nature.” Sarx is simply pointing to bodies, to flesh. Moving away from this neutral meaning, there are passages in which Paul suggests that sarx involves limitation, but a limitation without any moral or sinful connotation—for example, Romans 6:19: “I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves [sarx].” Here Paul suggests that sarx involves a natural limitation, but this “weakness” isn’t moral. Rather, it is a cognitive and intellectual limitation, one that makes it hard to understand certain things that Paul is trying to communicate. Paul has to work a bit harder to explain spiritual things because his listeners are sarx. Beyond these fairly benign uses of sarx, there are times when the term clearly carries a negative moral connotation. Consider the foll...