“The flesh” is seen here in three ways:—
1. Where a man is in the third heaven, and there is no consciousness of it at all (vv. 1-6).
2. In the activities of its own will in sin (vv. 20, 21).
3. In conflict, but disallowed. The saint made to feel it as a real hindrance, because of its tendency to self-confidence, and that the Lord alone can do the work Himself—in his weakness (vv. 7-10).