Greek word - (sarx G4561)
Quiz - Choose the answer that is closest to what you think FLESH is.
A - meat
B - sinful nature
C - human
D - physical body
Problem - Outdated, Misused
KJV Example - "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
Explanation
Today the word, flesh, means meat or muscular and fatty tissue. That is not what flesh is in the Bible.
Some define flesh as the sinful nature in a person. One problem with this is that Jesus said that He had a flesh (John 6:51). Did Jesus have a sin nature? No.
Most of the Bible versions that do not translate the Greek word, sarx, as flesh, translate it as human, human being, or man. But the Greek word, anthropos, is human, human being, and man, not sarx.
Greek lexicons tend to agree that sarx is the body. But again there is a different Greek word for body, soma.
Sarx is close to that. It is the body with an emphasis on the physical. It is a physical body. What you see. What you touch.
In John 1:14, it says, "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." God had a "Word" for mankind, a Message. This message came to us in a physical body which was Jesus.
An examination of the passages where sarx is used supports this rendering.
In the Bible, flesh is physical body.
Modern Synonym - physical body
Bible Version Tally (how other versions translate this word) - flesh (36 of 50).
Breakthrough Version - "And the Message became a physical body and tented among us. And we viewed His greatness, greatness as of the only biological child from the Father, full of generosity and truth" (John 1:14).