One of the primary tasks in Exchanged Life Counseling is to take the client’s panoramic life history in order to clarify their unique version of the flesh. This helps them deny their natural source of life, and appropriate Christ as Life (Luke 9:23; Col. 3:4).

Reginald Wallace identified the devil as our infernal enemy (1 Per. 5:8,9), the world system as our external enemy (1 John 2:15), and the flesh as our internal enemy (Gal. 5:16,17).

When a prominent devotional writer was asked about “the flesh” he replied that Theology had still not defined it. That comment was made about 20 years ago. We seek to serve the Body of Christ by contributing to this definition process.

What is “the flesh”? The flesh remains in the believer’s mortal body after salvation (Rom. 7:18). It makes him vulnerable to a carnal (fleshly) condition in his personality (1 Cor. 3:3) if/when he walks according to the flesh instead of the Spirit (Rom. 8:3-5;13:14). Here is a recent paper on defining the flesh: Flesh – Body of Sin  (See also under Doctrinal Matters menu.) And here are a couple of relevant Grace Notes:

Well-Adjusted Flesh
http://www.gracenotebook.com/pub/165.html

Maladjusted Flesh
http://www.gracenotebook.com/pub/164.html

As in all matters, balance and clarity are needed. “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16).