"For the flesh desireth against (or in opposition to) the spirit, and the spirit against "the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." "Those that are Christ's (says Paul, Gal.v.

24) have crucified the flesh, with its passions and desires." And they are commanded (Rom.vi.12 and viii.

13) "to mortify," or, according to the original, "put to death or "kill their members;" and Paul himself uses language upon this subject exceeding strong.

He represents (1 Cor.ix.

27) his mind and body as engaged in combat, and says, "I buffet my body, and subject it." The word here translated " subject," in the original, means "to carry into servitude," and is a term taken from the language of the olympic games where the boxers dragged off the arena, their conquered, disabled, and helpless antagonists like slaves, in which humbled condition the Apostle represents his body to be with respect to his mind.
From this notion of the sinfulness of "the flesh," we are enabled to apprehend Paul's reasonings about the sufferings of Jesus "in the flesh." "Since the children are partakers of flesh and blood, Christ himself also in like manner partook of them"-- Heb.