It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing. Much of His discourse had been about "flesh;" but flesh as such, mere flesh, and all religious notions which originate in the flesh, could profit nothing, much less impart that life which the Holy Spirit atone communicates to the soul. The words that I speak unto you - rather, 'have spoken' [for lelaleeka (G2980) is the preferable reading].
They are spirit, and they are life - the whole burden of this discourse was "spirit," not mere flesh, and "life" in its highest, not its lower sense; and the words I employed were to be interpreted solely in that sense.