We come now to an investigation of the anthropology displayed in the writings of the NT apart from Pauline literature. As we might expect by now, a duality is evident.

‘The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak’ (Mark 14: 38; parallel Matt 26: 41). In the Garden of Gethsemane, the spirit of the disciples, desiring to pray, has succumbed to the fatigue of the body. It is possible, on the contrary, that the contrast lies between the Holy Spirit and flesh. This would not be along Pauline lines; for there the Holy Spirit is the eschatological gift granted not until the exaltation of Jesus, and here ‘flesh’ relates to physical tiredness rather than proclivity toward evil, as in the Pauline dualism. Rather, in the manner of the OT the contrast would put the Holy Spirit as the source of divine strength opposite flesh as characterized by human weakness. Cf. the ‘willing spirit’, perhaps parallel to ‘your holy Spirit’, for which the psalmist prays in Ps 51: 14 (and 12–13).

However, in the OT ‘spirit’ and ‘flesh’ appear together without reference to the divine spirit.