“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then He said to them, ‘My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.’ And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.’ And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, ‘So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak’” (Matthew 26:36-41).
Jesus prayed to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane shortly before His arrest. As was recorded in the passage above, three of His disciples (Peter, James, and John) accompanied Him. They were told to pray and to keep watch, but they fell asleep.
It was at this point when Jesus said, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). This statement applied directly to those three disciples. However, it also has applications for us today. Furthermore, the principle was illustrated in Jesus and the events that followed.
Let us see what we can learn from this statement.
Defining Terms
Before discussing what a particular phrase means, we need to make sure we understand the words that are used in the phrase.
What is the spirit? The Greek word (pneuma) refers to “the vital principle by which the body is animated” (Thayer). Without the spirit, the body is dead (James 2:26). The spirit contains our will (“the spirit is willing”). It is the part of us that thinks, feels, and decides.
What is the flesh? The Greek word (sarx) is used for our flesh and blood bodies. Our bodies are inanimate without the spirit (James 2:26). As Jesus said, the flesh is “weak” because it has natural limitations that are placed upon it.
What Jesus Did NOT Say
Before we look at the meaning of Jesus’ phrase and how to apply it, let us notice what He did not say.
- “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is unwilling.” The flesh does not have a will of its own. James said, “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). We can set our mind on the flesh (Romans 8:6) by focusing on things that are temporal, carnal, and of this world; but our flesh has no will of its own that competes with the will of our spirit.
- “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is evil.” This was the error held by the Gnostics. Because of this, they denied that Jesus came in the flesh (2 John 7). However, the New Testament clearly teaches that Jesus came in the flesh but had no sin: “For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens” (Hebrews 7:26). Flesh is not evil, sin is evil.
- “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is stronger.” The flesh does not somehow overpower our will. We sin when we choose to sin, and we cannot pass the blame to anyone or anything else (even our fleshly body). God has promised a “way of escape” whenever we are tempted (1 Corinthians 10:13). This means we can choose to do what is right in any given situation.
How This Was Illustrated in Jesus
“The spirit is willing…” – Jesus willingly went to the cross. He told His disciples earlier, “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father” (John 10:17-18). His prayer was not to escape the cross;* instead, He willingly offered His life on the cross for us.
“The flesh is weak” – Though Jesus was God in the flesh (Colossians 2:9), He did not have a superhuman body. His body had to survive the ordeal of the cross in order to complete His mission and make atonement for our sins. Yet it was not uncommon for a man condemned to crucifixion to die before reaching the place of the execution. When Jesus was in the Garden, He prayed that “the hour might pass Him by” (Mark 14:35) and that He would accomplish His mission. His prayer was answered as “an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him” (Luke 22:43).
How This Applies to Our Lives
“The spirit is willing…” – Is it? This is a question we need to ask ourselves. The Lord will not force us to follow Him. This is clear from Jesus’ statement regarding the people of Jerusalem: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling” (Matthew 23:37). We must have a willingness to serve Him. He invites us to “come to [Him],” but we must “take [His] yoke upon [us]” (Matthew 11:28-30).
“The flesh is weak” – This is not to excuse sin. We are told to “consider [ourselves] to be dead to sin” (Romans 6:11), and God has promised a “way of escape” whenever we are tempted (1 Corinthians 10:13). However, we do have limitations in the flesh. We need things like food and sleep (2 Corinthians 11:27). Our “outer man is decaying” (2 Corinthians 4:16) as our bodies wear out and we eventually pass away. So we must use the time we have in the flesh to do the will of God. As Paul told the brethren in Philippi, “If I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me” (Philippians 1:22). We should acknowledge our limitations but also focus our efforts on pleasing the Lord and doing His will.
Conclusion
We have weaknesses in the flesh, but this does not mean we excuse or ignore sin. In our spirit – our inner being – we must desire and be willing to serve the Lord, then put that into practice by obeying Him.
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* For more on this point, see the article: The Lord’s Prayer in the Garden
