Romans 8:5-8
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Tag: Set Your Mind of the Things of the Spirit
I seldom in my blog simply quote someone else on a verse, but this commentary makes too many great observations to ignore:
World Biblical NT Commentary Series:
“The antithesis of Spirit and flesh is to this day often mistaken as a dichotomy in morals (good and bad), or in religion (dos and don’ts), or in personality (mind and body, spirit and matter, etc.). But Spirit and flesh are not descriptive of a theological or ethical schizophrenia, or of higher and lower principles in the same person, one Christian, the other unchristian, or one saved, the other unsaved. Spirit and flesh are rather two exclusive realms, two authorities or governing powers. One is either in the Spirit or in the flesh, but not in both at the same time. The language indicates a sense of sovereignty and totality of the one or the other: to live according to the sinful nature / Spirit (v. 5), “controlled by the sinful nature / Spirit” (v. 9), “belonging to Christ” (v. 9), “if the Spirit … is living in you” (v. 11), in “obligation … not to the sinful nature / Spirit” (v. 12–13). In verses 5–8 Paul speaks of the mind of the Spirit or flesh. PhronÄ“ma means “thought,” conveying the idea of the sum total of inner dispositions, literally a “mindset” that leads to a goal. “Flesh” then connotes not base instincts or the material side of life, but that which human nature in its rebellion against God has made of itself. Spirit, likewise, is not a noble or ideal self, but God’s transmitting of the effects of Christ’s salvation to believers and God’s infusing himself into them.
We noted that there are twenty-one references to the Spirit in chapter 8. Only slightly less important is sarx, “flesh,” which occurs thirteen times in the first thirteen verses of the chapter. Paul sets the two in opposition, like flint sharpened by flint, in verse 6: The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life. Flesh and Spirit, and death and life are polar opposites. The disposition controlled by sin leads to death, and is death even in life. The disposition controlled by the Spirit participates even now in the life and peace that will be fully realized in the world to come.”
To be in the “flesh” is to be in our natural mindset, what we are born with in mind. Our “flesh” is what we are, absent Christ. To set our mind on the Spirit, it is to allow Christ to rule our thoughts. We can’t live in both realms. By faith, we ask Christ to change our mind. We want to allow the Spirit of God to rule our minds. Later Paul will tell us to “renew” our minds. This means our minds can be reprogrammed. We can’t, by ourselves, change our minds. But, by submitting ourselves to God, we can allow the Spirit, by faith, to change our minds. To reprogram each thought and to bring it into captivity for Christ. With the mind of the Spirit we don’t let our minds run wild:
2 Corinthians 10:5
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
Walking in the Spirit is to allow the Spirit to figure things out; to live with the Spirit’s mindset, not the old mindset of the flesh.
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