Answers from church history on today's questions
What Christian writers said, from about AD 397 to 1930.
37 passages · 22 writers · 8 centuries
Augustine, Calvin, and Wesley describe the lust of the flesh as the craving for bodily pleasures and ease. The lust of the eyes is curiosity in Augustine, libidinous looks and vanity in Calvin, and the fixing of the imagination on what the eyes convey in Owen. Augustine says the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life cover everything by which human desire is tempted, and that Christ was tempted by all three. Watson names the three as pleasure, money, and honour, and Murray as the craving for pleasure, property, and glory. Calvin and Fausset say the fleshly lusts of 1 Peter 2:11 are more than gross appetites, and Spurgeon says they war against the soul.
12 passages · 11 writers · 400s to 1900s
Calvin describes it as worldly men seeking to live softly and delicately, Barnes as what pampers the appetites, and Augustine as craving for things of the flesh such as food and carnal cohabitation. Wesley says it takes in all the pleasures of sense, and Luther says it includes carnal lust.
c. 407 · Augustine of Hippo, Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John (In Epistulam Iohannis ad Parthos Tractatus X) 2.12
Is it not better to love that which thou losest not, than to lose thyself by iniquity? Thou seest the gain of gold, the loss of faith thou seest not. This then, saith he to us, is “the lust of the flesh,” i.e. the lusting after those things which pertain to the flesh, such as food, and carnal cohabitation, and all other such like.
c. 419–421 · Augustine of Hippo, On Marriage and Concupiscence (De nuptiis et concupiscentia) 2.7.17
A man is God’s work; but carnal concupiscence (without which, if sin had not preceded, man would have been begotten by means of the organs of generation, not less obedient than the other members to a quiet and normal will) is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1265–1273 · Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica I-II, q. 77, a. 5, co.
Hence it is evident that inordinate desire of good is the cause of every sin. Now good is, in two ways, the object of the sensitive appetite, wherein are the passions which are the cause of sin: first, absolutely, according as it is the object of the concupiscible part; secondly, under the aspect of difficulty, according as it is the object of the irascible part, as stated above (Q[23], A[1]). Again, concupiscence is twofold, as stated above (Q[30], A[3]). One is natural, and is directed to those things which sustain the nature of the body, whether as regards the preservation of the individual, such as food, drink, and the like, or as regards the preservation of the species, such as sexual matters: and the inordinate appetite of such things is called "concupiscence of the flesh." The other is spiritual concupiscence, and is directed to those things which do not afford sustentation or pleasure in respect of the fleshly senses, but are delectable in respect of the apprehension or imagination, or some similar mode of perception; such are money, apparel, and the like; and this spiritual concupiscence is called "concupiscence of the eyes," whether this be taken as referring to the sight itself, of which the eyes are the organ, so as to denote curiosity according to Augustine's exposition (Confess. x); or to the concupiscence of things which are proposed outwardly to the eyes, so as to denote covetousness, according to the explanation of others.
1531 · Martin Luther, Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians (abridged) 5
The scholastics take the lust of the flesh to mean carnal lust. True, believers too are tempted with carnal lust. Even the married are not immune to carnal lusts. Men set little value upon that which they have and covet what they have not, as the poet says: “The things most forbidden we always desire, And things most denied we seek to acquire.” I do not deny that the lust of the flesh includes carnal lust.
1551 · John Calvin, Commentary on 1 John 2.16
What, then, is the lust or desire of the flesh, but when worldly men, seeking to live softly and delicately, are intent only on their own advantages? Well known from Cicero and others, is the threefold division made by Epicurus; for he made this difference between lusts; he made some natural and necessary, some natural and not necessary, and some neither natural nor necessary. But John, well knowing the insubordination (ἀταξία) of the human heart unhesitantly condemns the lust of the flesh, because it always flows out immoderately, and never observes any due medium.
c. 1714 · John Reynolds, Commentary on 1 John 2.12-17
The things of the world therefore are distinguished into three classes, according to the three predominant inclinations of depraved nature; as, (1.) There is the lust of the flesh. The flesh here, being distinguished from the eyes and the life, imports the body. The lust of the flesh is, subjectively, the humour and appetite of indulging fleshly pleasures; and, objectively, all those things that excite and inflame the pleasures of the flesh.
1823 · Robert South, Sermons Preached Upon Several Occasions, Volume 7 53
In the mean time by flesh we are to understand the whole entire body of sin and corruption, that inbred proneness in our nature to all evil, in one word expressed by concupiscence, usually called by the schoolmen fomes; that fuel, or combustible matter in the soul, that is apt to be fired by every temptation; the womb that conceives and brings forth all actual impurities, styled in the next words affections and lusts. By which we are not to understand only the brutish affections of carnal sensuality, but indifferently all the actual eruptions of that accursed principle, all the streams that issue from that impure fountain; for as by the flesh is denoted the original depraved disposition of the heart, so by the other is signified the drawing forth of that propensity or principle into the several commissions of sin through the course of our lives; flesh is the fuel, and lust the flame.
1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: 1 John 2.16
The lust of the flesh - The word "lust" is used here in the general sense of desire, or that which is the object of desire - not in the narrow sense in which it is now commonly used to denote libidinous passion. See the notes at Jam 1:14. The phrase, "the lust of the flesh," here denotes that which pampers the appetites, or all that is connected with the indulgence of the mere animal propensities.
1872 · John Wesley, Sermons on Several Occasions 87
“The desire of the flesh” is generally understood in far too narrow a meaning. It does not, as is commonly supposed, refer to one of the senses only, but takes in all the pleasures of sense, the gratification of any of the outward senses. It has reference to the taste in particular. How many thousands do we find at this day, in whom the ruling principle is, the desire to enlarge the pleasure of tasting! Perhaps they do not gratify this desire in a gross manner, so as to incur the imputation of intemperance; much less so as to violate health or impair their understanding by gluttony or drunkenness. But they live in a genteel, regular sensuality; in an elegant epicurism, which does not hurt the body, but only destroys the soul, keeping it at a distance from all true religion. 14. experience shows that the imagination is gratified chiefly by means of the eye: Therefore, “the desire of the eyes,” in its natural sense, is the desiring and seeking happiness in gratifying the imagination. Now, the imagination is gratified either by grandeur, by beauty, or by novelty: Chiefly by the last; for neither grand nor beautiful objects please any longer than they are new. 15. Seeking happiness in learning, of whatever kind, falls under “the desire of the eyes;” whether it be in history, languages, poetry, or any branch of natural or experimental philosophy: Yea, we must include the several kinds of learning, such as Geometry, Algebra, and Metaphysics.
1889 · William Alexander, The Expositor's Bible: The Epistles of St. John Part II, Discourse VI. The World Which We Must Not Love
First, "the lust of the flesh"—of which flesh is the seat, and supplies the organic medium through which it works. The flesh is that softer part of the frame which by the network of the nerves is intensely susceptible of pleasurable and painful sensations; capable of heroic patient submission to the higher principles of conscience and spirit, capable also of frightful rebellion. Of all theologians St. John is the least likely to fall into the exaggeration of libelling the flesh as essentially evil. Is it not he who, whether in his Gospel, or in his Epistles, delights to speak of the flesh of Jesus, to record words in which He refers to it? Still the flesh brings us into contact with all sins which are sins that spring from, and end in, the senses. Shall we ask for a catalogue of particulars from St. John? Nay, we cannot expect that the virgin Apostle, who received the virgin Mother from the Virgin Lord upon the cross, will sully his virgin pen with words so abhorred. When he has uttered the lust of the flesh his shudder is followed by an eloquent silence. We can fill up the blank too well—drunkenness, gluttony, thoughts and motions which spring from deliberate, wilfully cherished, rebellious sensuality; which fill many of us with pain and fear, and wring cries and bitter tears from penitents, and even from saints.
1902 · Alexander Maclaren, The Expositor's Bible: Colossians 18
The “lusts of the flesh” are in the one aspect kindled by outward temptations which come with terrible force and carry men captive, acting almost irresistibly on the animal nature. In the other aspect they are excited by the voluntary action of the man himself. In the one the evil comes into the heart; in the other the heart goes out to the evil.
1930–1933 · A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament: Galatians 5.16
The lust of the flesh (επιθυμιαν σαρκος). Bad sense here as usual in Paul, but not so in 1Th 2:17; Php 1:23 . The word is just craving or longing (from επι, θυμος, yearning after).
6 passages · 5 writers · 300s to 1800s
Augustine calls the lust of the eyes a vain and curious longing that works through the senses, chiefly sight. Calvin includes libidinous looks and vanity in it, and Barnes says it is what is designed to gratify the sight. Owen says it is the fixing of the imagination on what the eyes convey.
c. 397–401 · Augustine of Hippo, Confessions 10.35.54
In addition to this there is another form of temptation, more complex in its peril. For besides that concupiscence of the flesh which lieth in the gratification of all senses and pleasures, wherein its slaves who “are far from Thee perish,” there pertaineth to the soul, through the same senses of the body, a certain vain and curious longing, cloaked under the name of knowledge and learning, not of having pleasure in the flesh, but of making experiments through the flesh. This longing, since it originates in an appetite for knowledge, and the sight being the chief amongst the senses in the acquisition of knowledge, is called in divine language, “the lust of the eyes.”
c. 397–401 · Augustine of Hippo, Confessions 10.34.51
There remain the delights of these eyes of my flesh, concerning which to make my confessions in the hearing of the ears of Thy temple, those fraternal and devout ears; and so to conclude the temptations of “the lust of the flesh” which still assail me, groaning and desiring to be clothed upon with my house from heaven. The eyes delight in fair and varied forms, and bright and pleasing colours. Suffer not these to take possession of my soul; let God rather possess it, He who made these things “very good” indeed; yet is He my good, not these. And these move me while awake, during the day; nor is rest from them granted me, as there is from the voices of melody, sometimes, in silence, from them all. For that queen of colours, the light, flooding all that we look upon, wherever I be during the day, gliding past me in manifold forms, doth soothe me when busied about other things, and not noticing it. And so strongly doth it insinuate itself, that if it be suddenly withdrawn it is looked for longingly, and if long absent doth sadden the mind.
1551 · John Calvin, Commentary on 1 John 2.16
The lust of the eyes He includes, as I think, libidinous looks as well as the vanity which delights in pomps and empty splendor. In the last place follows pride or haughtiness; with which is connected ambition, boasting, contempt of others, blind love of self, headstrong self-confidence. The sum of the whole is, that as soon as the world presents itself, our lusts or desires, when our heart is corrupt, are captivated by it, like unbridled wild beasts; so that various lusts, all which are adverse to God, bear rule in us.
1655–1662 · William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour Part 4. DIRECTION VIII.—SECOND GENERAL PART. [Argument pressing the exhortation.]
By ‘the lust of the eyes,’ the apostle means those temptations which are drawn from the world’s pelf and treasure. [It is] called so, in the first place, because it is the eye that commits adultery with these things. As the unclean eye looks upon another man's wife, so the covetous eye looks upon another's wealth to lust after it. In the second place it is called so, because all the good that in a manner is received from them is but to please the eye. ‘What good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?’ Ecc. 5:11. That is, if a man hath but to buy food and raiment enough to pay his daily shot of necessary expenses, the surplusage serves only for the eye to play the wanton with. Yet we see how pleasing a morsel they are to a carnal heart. It is rare to find a man that will not stoop, by base and sordid practices, to take up this golden apple.
1668 · John Owen, The Nature, Power, Deceit, and Prevalency of the Remainders of Indwelling Sin in Believers 11
John tells us that the things that are “in the world” are “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” 1 John ii. 16. The lust of the eyes is that which by them is conveyed unto the soul. Now, it is not the bodily sense of seeing, but the fixing of the imagination from that sense on such things, that is intended. And this is called the “eyes,” because thereby things are constantly represented unto the mind and soul, as outward objects are unto the inward sense by the eyes.
1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: 1 John 2.16
The lust of the flesh - The word "lust" is used here in the general sense of desire, or that which is the object of desire - not in the narrow sense in which it is now commonly used to denote libidinous passion. See the notes at Jam 1:14. The phrase, "the lust of the flesh," here denotes that which pampers the appetites, or all that is connected with the indulgence of the mere animal propensities. A large part of the world lives for little more than this. This is the lowest form of worldly indulgence; those which are immediately specified being of a higher order, though still merely worldly. And the lust of the eyes - That which is designed merely to gratify the sight. This would include, of course, costly clothes, jewels, gorgeous furniture, splendid palaces, pleasure-grounds, etc. The object is to refer to the frivolous vanities of this world, the thing on which the eye delights to rest where there is no higher object of life.
12 passages · 11 writers · 400s to 1800s
Augustine says human desire is tempted only by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life, and that Christ was tempted by each. Watson names them as pleasure, money, and honour, and Murray as the craving for pleasure, property, and glory. Owen says these things are principally in the heart, not in the object.
c. 407 · Augustine of Hippo, Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John (In Epistulam Iohannis ad Parthos Tractatus X) 2.14
These three there are, and thou canst find nothing whereby human cupidity can be tempted, but either by the lust of the flesh, or the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life. By these three was the Lord tempted of the devil. By the lust of the flesh He was tempted when it was said to Him, “If thou be the Son of God, speak to these stones that they become bread,” when He hungered after His fast. But in what way repelled He the tempter, and taught his soldier how to fight? Mark what He said to him: “Not by bread alone doth man live, but by every word of God.” He was tempted also by the lust of the eyes concerning a miracle, when he said to Him, “Cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” He resisted the tempter, for to do the miracle, would only have been to seem either to have yielded, or to have done it from curiosity; for He wrought when He would, as God, howbeit as healing the weak.
1265–1273 · Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica I-II, q. 77, a. 5, s.c.
On the contrary, It is written (1 Jn. 2:16): "All that is in the world is concupiscence of the flesh, or [Vulg.: 'and'] pride of life." Now a thing is said to be "in the world" by reason of sin: wherefore it is written (1 Jn. 5:19): "The whole world is seated in wickedness." Therefore these three are causes of sin.
1605–1610 · Johann Arndt, True Christianity 2.7
But since the world, which thou art to strive against, is not without thee, but within thee, it follows, that it is also to be conquered not without, but within thee. For what is the world, but “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life?” 1 John 2:16. As these are in thee, so in thee they are to be subdued, that thus thou mayest worthily bear the name and character of a true child of God.
1651 · Thomas Manton, Works, vol. IV A Practical Commentary, or an Exposition with Notes on the Epistle of James, Chapter I
It is very observable that of the apostle Peter: 2 Pet. i. 4, ‘The corruption that is in the world through lust.’ The world is only the object; the cause is lust. The reason why men are covetous, or sensual, or effeminate, is not in gold, or wine, or women, but in men's naughty affections and dispositions. So also it is very observable, that when the apostle John would sum up the contents of that world which is opposite to the love of God, he doth not name the objects, but the lusts; the fault is there. He doth not say, Whatsoever is in the world is pleasures, or honours, or profits, but ‘the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, and addeth,’ These are not of the Father, but of the world, 1 John ii. 16; that is, not of God, as riches, and honour, and other outward things are, but these are parts of that world that man hath made, the world in our own bowels, as the poison is not in the flower, but in the spider's nature.
1658 · John Owen, Of Temptation: the Nature and Power of It; the Danger of Entering into It; and the Means of Preventing That Danger 3
John tells us, 1 Epist. ii. 16, that the things that are “in the world” are, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life.” Now, it is evident that all these things are principally in the subject, not in the object,—in the heart, not in the world. But they are said to be “in the world,” because the world gets into them, mixes itself with them, unites, incorporates. As faith and the promises are said to be “mixed,” Heb. iv. 2, so are lust and temptation mixed: they twine together; receive mutual improvement from one another; grow each of them higher and higher by the mutual strength they administer to one another. Now, by this means temptation gets so deep in the heart that no contrary reasonings can reach unto it; nothing but what can kill the lust can conquer the temptation. Like leprosy that hath mingled itself with the wall, the wall itself must be pulled down, or the leprosy will not be cured. Like a gangrene that mixes poison with the blood and spirits, and cannot be separated from the place where it is, but both must be cut off together. For instance, in David’s temptation to uncleanness, ten thousand considerations might have been taken in to stop the mouth of the temptation; but it had united itself with his lust, and nothing but the killing of that could destroy it, or get him the conquest.
1692 · Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity, Contained in Sermons upon the Westminster Assembly's Catechism 3.11
The apostle names the wicked man's trinity, ‘The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life,' I John 2:16: the lust of the flesh is pleasure; the lust of the eye, money; the pride of life, honour.
1693 · Thomas Manton, Works, vol. XX Sermons on Several Texts of Scripture, Sermons upon Philippians iii. 7-21, Sermon XIV. Phil. iii. 19
We read, 1 John ii. 16, ‘For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.’ By the lust of the flesh is meant sensual pleasures; by the lust of the eyes, inordinate desire of riches; by pride of life, ambition, or affectation of honour and glory. Again we read, James iii. 15, ‘This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.’ The wisdom which descendeth not from God is the wisdom of the flesh; that is, earthly, such as carrieth us to the profits of the world; sensual, to the delights of the flesh; devilish, aspiring after greatness and esteem in the world; for pride is ‘the condemnation of the devil,’ 1 Tim. iii. 6; that is, the sin for which the devil was condemned. So here is covetousness expressed by ‘minding earthly things;’ sensuality, ‘their god is their belly;’ pride, ‘whose glory is in their shame.’ The fruit whereby the devil tempted our first parents, Gen. iii. 6, was ‘good for food;’ by that he tempted the lusts of the flesh; ‘pleasant to the eyes,’ and so came in the lust of the eyes; and ‘to be desired to make one wise,’ and that was the pride of life, affecting a higher condition than that wherein God had placed them. And with these kind of weapons he sets upon the second Adam, our Lord Christ, in the wilderness, Mat. iv., tempting him to the lusts of the flesh, when he would have him ‘turn stones into bread;’ to the lusts of the eyes, when he ‘showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;’ to pride of life, when he persuaded him ‘to cast himself down,’ out of vainglory, and tempting God, to show some extraordinary miracle in his preservation.
c. 1714 · John Reynolds, Commentary on 1 John 2.12-17
This love or lust is not appointed of God (he calls us from it), but it intrudes itself from the world; the world is a usurper of our affection. Now here we have the due consideration and notion of the world, according to which it is to be crucified and renounced. The world, physically considered, is good, and is to be admired as the work of God and a glass in which his perfections shine; but it is to be considered in its relation to us now in our corrupted state, and as it works upon our weakness and instigates and inflames our vile affections. There is great affinity and alliance between this world and the flesh, and this world intrudes and encroaches upon the flesh, and thereby makes a party against God.
1729 · William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life 24
St. John tells us, that all in the world (that is, all the tempers of a worldly life) is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Let us therefore consider, what wisdom or excellency of mind there is required to qualify a man for these delights. Let us suppose a man given up to the pleasures of the body; surely this can be no sign of a fine mind, or an excellent spirit: for if he has but the temper of an animal, he is great enough for these enjoyments. Let us suppose him to be devoted to honours and splendours, to be fond of glitter and equipage: now if this temper required any great parts, or fine understanding, to make a man capable of it, it would prove the world to abound with great wits. Let us suppose him to be in love with riches, and to be so eager in the pursuit of them, as never to think he has enough: now this passion is so far from supposing any excellent sense, or great understanding, that blindness and folly are the best supports that it hath.
1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: 1 John 2.15
Neither the things that are in the world - Referred to in the next verse as "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." This explanation shows what John meant by "the things that are in the world." He does not say that we are in no sense to love "anything" that is in the material world; that we are to feel no interest in flowers, and streams, and forests, and fountains; that we are to have no admiration for what God has done as the Creator of all things; that we are to cherish no love for any of the inhabitants of the world, our friends and kindred; or that we are to pursue none of the objects of this life in making provision for our families; but that we are not to love the things which are sought merely to pamper the appetite, to please the eye, or to promote pride in living. These are the objects sought by the people of the world; these are not the objects to be sought by the Christian.
1871 · A. R. Fausset, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on 1 John 2.16
The world's awful antitrinity, the "lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life," similarly is presented in Satan's temptation of Eve: "When she saw that the tree was good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise," Ge 3:6 (one manifestation of "the pride of life," the desire to know above what God has revealed, Col 2:8, the pride of unsanctified knowledge).
1891 · Andrew Murray, The New Life: Words of God for Young Disciples 42
The word of God gives the answer: ‘All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the vainglory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.’ The craving for pleasure or the desire to enjoy the world; the craving for property, or the desire to possess the world; the craving for glory, or the desire to be honoured in the world: these are the three chief forms of the spirit of the world.
7 passages · 6 writers · 400s to 1900s
Barnes, Spurgeon, and Merrill say fleshly lusts war against the soul. Calvin and Fausset say they include every thought of the unrenewed nature, not only gross appetites.
440–461 · Leo the Great, Sermons (Tractatus) 74.5
Minds that have heard the call to be uplifted must not be pressed down by earthly affections, they that are fore-ordained to things eternal must not be taken up with the things that perish; they that have entered on the way of Truth must not be entangled in treacherous snares, and the faithful must so take their course through these temporal things as to remember that they are sojourning in the vale of this world, in which, even though they meet with some attractions, they must not sinfully embrace them, but bravely pass through them. For to this devotion the blessed Apostle Peter arouses us, and entreating us with that loving eagerness which he conceived for feeding Christ’s sheep by the threefold profession of love for the Lord, says, “dearly-beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.” But for whom do fleshly pleasures wage war, if not for the devil, whose delight it is to fetter souls that strive after things above, with the enticements of corruptible good things, and to draw them away from those abodes from which he himself has been banished?
1551 · John Calvin, Commentary on 1 Peter 2.11
For the lusts of the flesh hold us entangled, when in our minds we dwell in the world, and think not that heaven is our country; but when we pass as strangers through this life, we are not in bondage to the flesh. By the lusts or desires of the flesh he means not only those gross concupiscences which we have in common with animals, as the Sophists hold, but also all those sinful passions and affections of the soul, to which we are by nature guided and led. For it is certain that every thought of the flesh, that is, of unrenewed nature, is enmity against God.
c. 1714 · Zech. Merrill, Commentary on 1 Peter 2.4-12
The mischief and danger these sins do: "They war against the soul; and therefore your souls ought to war against them." Learn, (1.) The grand mischief that sin does to man is this, it wars against the soul; it destroys the moral liberty of the soul; it weakens and debilitates the soul by impairing its faculties; it robs the soul of its comfort and peace; it debases and destroys the dignity of the soul, hinders its present prosperity, and plunges it into everlasting misery. (2.) Of all sorts of sin, none are more injurious to the soul than fleshly lusts. Carnal appetites, lewdness, and sensuality, are most odious to God, and destructive to man's soul. It is a sore judgment to be given up to them.
1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: 1 Peter 2.11
Abstain from fleshly lusts - Such desires and passions as the carnal appetites prompt to. See the notes at Gal 5:19-21. A sojourner in a land, or a pilgrim, does not give himself up to the indulgence of sensual appetites, or to the soft pleasures of the soul.
1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: 1 Peter 2.11
The meaning is, that indulgence in these things makes war against the nobler faculties of the soul; against the conscience, the understanding, the memory, the judgment, the exercise of a pure imagination. Compare the notes at Gal 5:17. There is not a faculty of the mind, however brilliant in itself, which will not be ultimately ruined by indulgence in the carnal propensities of our nature.
1871 · A. R. Fausset, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on 1 Peter 2.11
fleshly lusts—enumerated in Ga 5:19, &c. Not only the gross appetites which we have in common with the brutes, but all the thoughts of the unrenewed mind. which—Greek, "the which," that is, inasmuch as being such as "war." &c. Not only do they impede, but they assail [Bengel]. the soul—that is, against the regenerated soul; such as were those now addressed. The regenerated soul is besieged by sinful lusts.
1908 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 54 (1908) 3112
Dearly Beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Fleshly lusts always hurt the soul. They do serious injury to the body, for they are contrary to the laws of health. But the main point for you to consider is that they "war against the soul." No men or women can ever commit an act of uncleanness of the body without grievously injuring the soul. It leaves a weakness, a defilement, a wound, a scar upon the soul—so may God graciously keep us from it altogether!
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