16. This negative construction of finitude is what Paul called "the flesh." Odd that "flesh" has become for modern readers of scripture so exclusively identified with sex, when that is only one arena for its expression. Paul's choice of language it is not a coy way of referring to the genitals. What lies in the forefront of his conception is a certain way in which we may understand and respond to our finitude. "Flesh" is the effort to escape the consequences of being fnite by seizing as much as possible for ourselves, by endeavoring to build buffers of possessions around us, by striving to control people and other beings (gods, demons, animals, property, natural resources), to take from others what they have, to place ourselves at the center of our own little universe, and to make of others mere instruments of our aggrandizement. I suspect there is no human sin that cannot be comprehended under "the flesh" thus understood.