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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
He does not speak of the nature of the flesh, or the essence of the body, but of being carnally "minded," which may be set right again, and abolished. And in saying thus, he does not ascribe to the flesh any reasoning power of its own. Far from it. But to set forth the grosser motion of the mind, and giving this a name from the inferior part, and in the same way as he often is in the habit of calling man in his entireness, and viewed as possessed of a soul, flesh. …
Theophylact of Ohrid
The mindset of the flesh he calls the coarsest way of thinking, its name being borrowed from the baser part of man. For the flesh in itself does not have its own thinking, but the mindset of the flesh is a coarse and material way of thinking, which one might call a mind that thinks about fleshly things. Likewise, the spiritual mindset is a mind that thinks about spiritual things. …
Irenaeus
Animal men, again, are instructed in animal things; such men, namely, as are established by their works, and by a mere faith, while they have not perfect knowledge. We of the Church, they say, are these persons. Wherefore also they maintain that good works are necessary to us, for that otherwise it is impossible we should be saved. But as to themselves, they hold that they shall be entirely and undoubtedly saved, not by means of conduct, but because they are spiritual by nature. …
Western Saints
Thomas Aquinas
Third, he states the major premise of the first syllogism, saying, "for the prudence of the flesh is death." To understand this, it should be noted that prudence is right reason concerning the doable, as the Philosopher says in Ethics IV. But right reason concerning things to be done presupposes one thing and does three things. For it presupposes a goal that functions as a principle in human actions, just as the speculative reason presupposes principles from which it proceeds to demonstration. …
Bernard of Clairvaux
"Flesh and blood have surely revealed this wisdom to you, not the Spirit of the Father"; for this is "the wisdom of the flesh." But hear what our physicians think of it. "The wisdom of the flesh," they say, "is death"; likewise: "The wisdom of the flesh is hostile to God" (Rom 8:6-7). Ought I to have set before you the opinion of Hippocrates or Galen, or surely from the school of Epicurus? I am a disciple of Christ; I speak to disciples of Christ: if I introduce a foreign doctrine, I myself have sinned. …
Gaius Marius Victorinus
"To set the mind on the Spirit is life." For error, imprudence and ignorance are impassioned, self-rebellious, self-contradictory. And because of this "to set the mind on the flesh," which is imprudence, is death, because it does not know God. Therefore, "to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace."
AGAINST ARIUS 3.c.1
Translation