Are Men Born Sinners? - Library of Theology

doctrine that Christians were now disembodied spirits. He was rather teaching that they
were no longer living to gratify their fleshly desires. They were no longer living in sin.
Our flesh and our bodies are not sinful in themselves, but they can be the occasion to
temptation, and we can give in to temptation and present our bodies as instruments to sin,
but it is we ourselves, living in our bodies, who are sinful or righteous, according to the
use we make of our bodies. Rom. 6:12, 13, 19; Rom. 12:1; I Cor. 6:12, 15, 19, 20.
Paul did not condemn the flesh of man. He did not in any way condemn the physical
nature of man. This is evident because he thought of our Lord Jesus Christ, who knew no
sin, as a real man with human flesh. He believed in the resurrection and a life in the body
afterwards. He taught that the body of man is properly the temple of the Holy Ghost, and
that the body is an offering acceptable and holy to God when consecrated to his service.
He taught, also, that the body is an instrument of righteousness for the Christian, and
finally, he said that those who are now new creatures in Christ Jesus are no longer "in the
flesh," making us understand that when he condemned the flesh and spoke of it in a
derogatory way, he was not speaking of the physical flesh. Paul uses the word "flesh" to
mean something very different from the physical flesh. He uses it to speak of the sinful
condition of men who are completely given over to worldly and fleshly desires. And the
fact that he uses the word "flesh" to speak of a past state for the Christian, telling the
Christian that he is no longer "in the flesh," shows that he is not speaking of the "flesh" in
its literal, physical sense. Rom. 7:5; Rom. 8:8-9.
The Apostle Paul uses this kind of figurative language throughout his epistle to the
Romans. He personifies both sin and grace in Rom. 5:21 and has both sin and grace
reigning at different times. He has the believer crucified and dead with Christ in Romans
chapter six, and then in the same chapter, he has the believer resurrected to new life after
his death and burial with Christ. But Paul did not intend for any of this to be understood
in a literal or physical sense. The Christian is not literally and physically crucified with
Christ. He does not literally die. He is not literally buried with Christ. Nor is he
afterwards literally raised from the dead. Paul was speaking of spiritual realities and not
physical realities here, and he uses the language of figure to express these spiritual
realities. And so, likewise in the verses that speak of sin dwelling in his members (Rom.
7:17, 18, 23), Paul is using figurative language and does not at all mean to teach the
doctrine of constitutional sinfulness.
The language of figure is used throughout the Bible. Jesus said to Peter in Matthew
16:17, "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee." Paul said in Galatians 1:16, "I
conferred not with flesh and blood." Jude said, "And others save with fear, pulling them
out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh." Jude 23. Again, Jesus said,
"Take up the cross and follow me." Mark 10:21. The writer to the Hebrews refers to "the
blood that speaketh better things than that of Abel." Heb. 12:24. These are just a few of
the numerous texts of the Bible that contain figurative language. We all know that Christ
was not speaking of a literal wooden cross when he commanded us to take up our cross
and follow him. We know, therefore, that Christ was speaking of it in a figurative sense.