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Response
In John 6:25–59, Jesus delivered a challenging message about consuming His flesh and drinking His blood. The disciples found it difficult to comprehend Christ’s words, while the Jewish religious leaders were shocked by them. Jesus then clarified that He was speaking metaphorically about spiritual truths and not literally: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” «It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is of no avail: the words that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life. », (John 6:63, NKJV).
The term flesh (sarx in Greek) refers to “the physical aspects of a person in contrast to the immaterial soul.” In a technical sense, flesh denotes the body’s soft tissue but is commonly used in the New Testament to represent the “sinful nature” or the source of sin and rebellion against God in humanity. In the Old Testament, flesh is often used to describe mortal humans in comparison to God, who is a life-giving Spirit. The word translated as “profit” in John 6:63 means “to be useful, helpful, aid, facilitate, or accomplish.”
The New Living Translation interprets Christ’s words as follows: “The Spirit gives eternal life. Human effort achieves nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life” «It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is of no avail: the words I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life. », (John 6:63).
The flesh is of no avail means that there is no possibility of salvation or any spiritual understanding or benefit that can be attained through human effort. The apostle Paul had nothing positive to say about the flesh: “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have…The desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out” «For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. », (Romans 7:18, ESV). Paul urged Christians to “put no confidence in the flesh” «For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. », (Philippians 3:3).
Our interpretation will be flawed if we try to understand the Word of God from a literal, flesh-dominated, human perspective. We must have the indwelling Spirit to comprehend God’s Word correctly: “But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. . . . No one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us” (1 Corinthians 2:10-12;NLT).
The flesh profits nothing because it relies on human wisdom. “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit” «But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. », (1 Corinthians 2:14). The “spiritual person” can understand the Word of God and the things of God’s Spirit because he has “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:15-16; CSB).
The flesh profits nothing because it hinders people from receiving “the message of the cross,” which “is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”, (1 Corinthians 1:18). The message of the cross is that Jesus died to save us and bring us into a relationship with God the Father: “Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit” “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”, (1 Peter 3:18, NLT).
Only the Spirit of God gives eternal life. In John 3:6, Jesus said, “Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life” (NLT). We must be born of the Spirit (John 3:5-8) by believing in Christ and receiving His gift of eternal life (John 5:21, 24, 26; 7:37-39).
Believers can consider “the flesh” as the symbol of our humanity, which is of no benefit to a true follower of Christ. Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Matthew
ew 16:24-27;ESV).
The phrase “The flesh profits nothing” means that, in and of ourselves, as human beings born into sin, we can never experience eternal life (Romans 3:9-12). The term “flesh” refers to human power, which is entirely incapable of generating spiritual life. Salvation can only be achieved through the power of God—through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the indwelling of His Spirit.
