σάρκινος

From the study of 1 Corinthians 3:1

Range of meaning

An adjective built from sarx (flesh) with the ending -inos. In Greek that ending usually marks what something is made of: lithinos means "made of stone," xylinos "made of wood." So sarkinos is "made of flesh, fleshy, consisting of flesh." It is often paired with a related word, sarkikos (-ikos ending), which tends to mean "having the character of flesh, fleshly in outlook." Paul uses sarkikos two verses later (3:3). For Paul, "flesh" can mean the physical body, human nature in its weakness and mortality, or human life lived apart from God's Spirit. Here the weight falls on merely human.

Against the English

KJV "carnal" (from Latin carnalis, "of flesh") was accurate in 1611. Today "carnal" mostly suggests sexual or sensual appetite. BSB and NIV "worldly" suggests materialism or a love of luxury and entertainment. ESV and NASB "of the flesh" and WEB and YLT "fleshly" stay closest to the Greek, but a reader still has to learn what Paul means by "flesh."

How it drifted

"Carnal" narrowed in English over the centuries toward bodily lust ("carnal knowledge," "carnal desires"). "Worldly" in modern church usage tends to mean lifestyle habits (drinking, dress, entertainment). Neither is Paul's point in this paragraph, which is about status-rivalry and thinking by human standards.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Greek Old Testament (Septuagint) uses it for what is physical and humanly weak: "with him is an arm of flesh" (2 Chr 32:8, against God's help). It also uses it in a good sense for a living, responsive "heart of flesh" replacing a heart of stone (Ezek 11:19; 36:26). Paul echoes that in 2 Cor 3:3 ("tablets of human hearts," literally "fleshy hearts"). In Rom 7:14, "I am of the flesh (sarkinos), sold under sin," it means human frailty under sin's power. Heb 7:16 uses it of a commandment concerned with physical descent. Paul's own gloss in 1 Cor 3:3–4 is "walking in a merely human way (kata anthrōpon)" and "are you not mere humans (anthrōpoi)?"

From the study of 2 Corinthians 3:3

Range of meaning

Made of flesh, consisting of flesh (the -inos ending means 'made of', as in lithinos 'made of stone'). In some contexts it means 'merely human, weak' (Rom 7:14; 1 Cor 3:1).

Against the English

KJV/YLT 'fleshy'; WEB 'hearts of flesh'; BSB 'human hearts'. 'Human' keeps the sense of the material but loses the Ezekiel echo.

How it drifted

Readers of Paul know 'flesh' as the force opposed to the Spirit, so 'fleshly/fleshy' can sound bad. Here it is good.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ezek 11:19; 36:26 LXX kardian sarkinēn, 'a heart of flesh', is the promised new, responsive heart.

From the study of Hebrews 7:16

Range of meaning

An adjective formed with the Greek ending -inos, which typically marks material ('made of'). Its basic sense is 'made of flesh, consisting of flesh', so physical, bodily, and by extension human, mortal, weak. Its sister word sarkikos ('characterized by flesh') more often takes a moral sense, though Koine writers did not always keep the two apart.

Against the English

KJV 'carnal' and WEB/YLT 'fleshly' are literal but now sound like sensuality or sinfulness. BSB 'law of succession', NIV 'regulation as to his ancestry' and ESV 'concerning bodily descent' all read it as physical lineage. That is closer to the sense, though each makes a choice the Greek leaves broader.

How it drifted

In English, 'carnal' moved toward 'sexual, sensual, worldly' (as in 'carnal desires', 'carnal knowledge'). Pauline language about 'the flesh' as a power of sin (Gal 5; Rom 8) has also shaped how church readers hear every 'flesh' word. Hebrews does not use flesh that way.

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX Ezek 11:19 and 36:26 promise a 'heart of flesh' (kardia sarkinē) in place of a heart of stone. That is a positive use: living, responsive tissue. LXX 2 Chr 32:8 contrasts the Assyrian king's 'arms of flesh' (brachiones sarkinoi) with the LORD: human, mortal, limited. In the NT, 2 Cor 3:3 has 'tablets of hearts of flesh', meaning simply material. In Hebrews, 'flesh' (sarx) is consistently the physical, mortal and external side of things: 'flesh and blood' (2:14), 'the days of his flesh' (5:7), 'regulations for the flesh' (9:10), 'purity of the flesh' (9:13).