The Mind Set on the Flesh

I hope that you will recall from last time, that this entire section from Romans 8:5, all the way down to verse 13, comprises the second proof to establish beyond doubt the truth set forward in Romans 8:1, that “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

And this second proof is that on account of our union with Christ Jesus, our spirit is changed, such that what we once were, we no longer are. Not only are we in Christ, but that He is in us.

Now, we looked last time at verse 5, reading…

Romans 8:5 LSB

For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

We saw that there are truly only two masters, either the flesh or else the Spirit.

And part of the challenge is in realizing that we all begin life “in the flesh” and “according to the flesh” and with our minds set upon the things of the flesh. Ephesians 2:1–3 surely establishes this, saying “And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”

But then something changed within those who are now “in Christ Jesus”, such that such a person will no longer walk after their former manner of life in the flesh.

John 3:6 depicts for us of our nature from birth, quoting our Lord as He answered Nicodemus saying, ““That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit.” For the life lived according to the flesh has experienced only a first birth, and so remains under the ruling power of a corrupt nature. What is required, our Lord had told Nicodemus in John 3:3, is “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

But we dare not stop there, for our understanding would be woefully incomplete! A mind set on the things of the flesh is at odds with, and furthermore antagonistic toward any challenger against its authority, and the only real challenger it has is the Spirit. We see the obvious differences here in Romans 8:5-13 between the mind set on the flesh, but it is in Galatians 5:17 that we realize even more the antagonism the flesh has for the Spirit,

Galatians 5:17 LSB

For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you do not do the things that you want.

And that opposition on the part of the flesh toward the Spirit stretches all the way back, we saw it plainly as far as Cain and Abel, 1 John 3:12 reminding us of the opposition by “…Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.” Hebrews 11:4 begins its litany of faithful men saying “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he was approved as being righteous—God approving his gifts—and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.”

The contrast could not be more clear – a man or woman who has been left as they were in their natural condition and course of life, are even now – entirely governed by the flesh, such a person remains set down and appointed to the realm and rule of sin.

But not so, the person of true faith, a faith described in Hebrews 11. Now, we should be clear that this is not the so-called “person of faith” according to the measure of the world, for we are not using the world’s definition, but we speak of the person who possesses “faith like that of Abraham”, in the finished work of Christ Jesus, and is thereby in Christ. That person, has been “born again” and born this second time of the Spirit, he or she can and will see the kingdom of God according to our Lord’s discussion with Nicodemus. And this person’s mind has been set on the things of the Spirit.

It is not merely that they have adopted some new hobby, nor have they simply decided to “do better”. No, no… they are an entirely new creation. They are not in the natural condition and course of life as they once were, they have undergone a truly profound change.

The hard part, of course, is to determine what sort a person is, whether it is you yourself, or someone else. For there are some who are wholly carried away by the desires of the flesh. They openly and loudly despise God and what He has declared. Others, unquestionably show their minds are set on the things of the Spirit, who walk according to the Spirit. Their affections have been ordered after the will of God revealed in His word, such that they love what God loves, they hate what God hates.

The difficulty, is that although people will generally agree that they have occasionally sinned, they refuse to see themselves and first and foremost a sinner, to be a person set down under the rule and realm of sin, appointed as a sinner through the one transgression of Adam.

And so, Paul here in Romans 8:6-8 will begin revealing to us the true contrast between the person whose mind is “set on the things of the flesh”, as opposed to the person whose mind is “set on the things of the Spirit”.

Let’s pray before we begin!

O Lord our God, You, o Yahweh, look down from heaven upon the sons of men, You search to see if there is anyone who has insight, if there are any who seek after You. But Father we had all turned aside; in sin our mothers conceived us and in iniquity we were brought forth. We all turned aside, we all were worthless, and not one of us did good; we said in our hearts “there is no God”, we acted corruptly and committed abominable deeds. We praise you, Father, that Your salvation came out of Zion! That You restore Your captive people, that our Lord Jesus Christ ascended on high, that He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men, earning all glory and honor unto His precious name. Amen!

Normally, when we want to talk about or to teach about fallen, sinful men and women, we will usually go over to Romans 3, where Paul uses the Old Testament to describe everyone's sinful state in Romans 3:10 - 18, both the Jew to whom the oracles of God had been given, and also the Gentiles who had never received such a great benefit, and even all of us who are now in Christ Jesus were no different until God acted in our lives to draw us to Himself,

Romans 3:10–13 LSB

as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.” “Their throat is an open tomb, With their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The poison of asps is under their lips”;

Romans 3:14–18 LSB

“Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”; “Their feet are swift to shed blood, Destruction and misery are in their paths, And the path of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

And while this is all true and entirely appropriate, it is actually here in Romans 8:5-8 that we discover with penetrating accuracy the underlying deviations which cause such a condition, beginning with the most basic principle that "those who are [ that is, those who walk or live their lives ] "according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.”

And do make sure that you note here in verse 5 that this is a "set" in the continuing present tense, this isn't something that occurred once upon a time, or may yet occur in the future, but it is a continuing, present reality speaking to an intentional ongoing focus.

But some people are sure to claim that this cannot describe them, for although they may occasionally sin, it is never "intentional” that they aren't quite so very bad! And so Paul addresses such thinking and expands on his statement in verses 6-8, saying...

Romans 8:6–8 LSB

For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is at enmity toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh are not able to please God.

And this is the terrible indictment of all who are not “in Christ Jesus”, all whose mind is not “set on the Spirit”. We see once again the antitheses spelled out in verse 6, with the flesh on one hand and the Spirit on the other.

And it is here in verse 6 that Paul gives his plainest explanation yet – that the difference between a life in the flesh and life in the Spirit is nothing less than the difference between death and life. Romans 8:6, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace”.

And it’s important that we read this correctly and do not add anything here, because quite often I find that people tend to view this as the mind being set on the flesh leads to death, but the mind set on the Spirit leads to life and peace.

But that is not what he writes – “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.” The Greek may be perhaps a little stronger yet, “φρόνημα τῆς σαρκὸς θάνατος”, literally “mindset the flesh death”, on the one hand, and “φρόνημα τοῦ πνεύματος ζωὴ καὶ εἰρήνη”, literally “mindset the Spirit life and peace” on the other hand.

This state is the present reality of those two mindsets, not simply the resulting outcome of them.

And I would hope by now that you will recognize this is what Paul most frequently says of those outside of Christ – “And you were dead in your transgressions and sins”, we quoted just a few minutes ago from Ephesians 2, “you were dead in your transgressions and the circumcision of your flesh” he also wrote in Colossians 2. This same attitude is witnessed elsewhere in the New Testament as well: for example, the author of the Hebrews refers to our former manner of life in dead works in chapters 6 and 9 of that epistle, James writes that “the body without the spirit is dead” in James 2.

Now, of course, people will always disagree with such a statement, saying “I of course am alive, I don’t know anything of this that he is talking about.”

But what the apostle is saying, is that the man or woman in Adam, is in the flesh, and is in a state of spiritual death. When God laid out the penalty for transgression to Adam in Genesis 2:17, “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die”, a death did occur the moment Eve “gave [the fruit] also to her husband with her, and he ate.”

Even though he did not die physically that very day – living on in the flesh long enough to father Cain, long enough to father Abel, and after they both lived and died, long enough to father Seth at the age of 130, in point of fact living for a total of 930 years with many other sons and daughters, Adam nevertheless died spiritually that very day.

Romans 5:12 LSB

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—

“By the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one”, he said down in verse 17 of that same chapter.

That death we read of is not merely a physical death, but in all of these instances, it speaks even more of a spiritual death. The man or woman in the flesh is dead to all things that are truly spiritual, they have no ability in themselves to initiate or respond to matters that are truly spiritual, which is why we were so careful to not use the general definition of a “spiritual person” according to the manner of the world earlier; they can’s see it, they can’t understand or comprehend spiritual matters, because they are entirely dead to such things – there is no spark of innocence, no uncorrupted part of them that is able to shine through and respond to truly spiritual things!

1 Corinthians 2:14 sheds a little more light on this idea for us, there Paul is explaining this very same thing to the troubled Corinthian church, writing:

1 Corinthians 2:14 LSB

But a natural man does not accept the depths of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually examined.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in his usual astute manner, writes of this,

“It is not ordinary knowledge. It is not something that the unaided human intellect can understand and receive. Without the enlightenment which the Holy Spirit alone can give, gospel truths remain as dark and as hidden to us as they did to ‘the princes of this world’ when the Lord of glory was actually amongst men. But God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit… This is not ordinary truth. Whatever the power of our intellect, whatever our brilliance, it will never be enough. We must all become ‘as little children’. We need the inspiration and the anointing and the unction of the Holy Spirit before we can receive and understand divine truth.”

In other words, Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae, upon which not only the Roman Catholic but also our modern cultural view of sin is based, is entirely wrong in viewing sin, or being “in the flesh”, as an illness which in some cases may be cured as with venial sins, while other more heinous sins are mortal and incurable.

“No, no!” says Paul! Such a thing entirely misses the point!

Romans 8:5–6 LSB

For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,

Romans 8:7–8 LSB

because the mind set on the flesh is at enmity toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh are not able to please God.

There is no human faculty – our bodies, our thoughts, our affections, or our choices – which are left untouched by sin!

And this, incidentally, is the very definition of “total depravity”. The common understanding is that depravity is something that is extraordinarily bad, significantly exceeding the normal human behavior, and so then people tend to think that “total depravity” must mean that a person is as bad as they possibly can be, that they continually do the maximum amount of evil.

But that’s not what is meant by the phrase, what is meant is that there is no part of a person that is uncorrupted, in his Dogmatic Theology William Shedd aptly defines it as “the entire absence of holiness, not the highest intensity of sin.”

It’s not that a person in the flesh can’t do some humanly good things – remember, Paul had already written in Romans 2:14–15 “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law naturally do the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they demonstrate the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,” he’s affirming what our Lord had said in Luke 6:33, ““And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.” Or again in Luke 11:13, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Sinners in the flesh can do humanly good things; they can be charitable and give to others, they can help people, they can be kind, they can be merciful, Paul tells us even the worst kind of governor is even then “a minister of God to you for good” in Romans 13.

But they remain a sinner; not because they occasionally or even frequently sin, but because of what was revealed in Romans 5:19 and 18, “…through the one man’s disobedience the many were appointed sinners…”, and “…through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men…” A person is not a sinner because they sin, a person sins because they are by nature a sinner – or said another way in light of what we are learning here in Romans 8, because they are in the flesh and dead to true spirituality. From birth, every man or woman ever conceived is dead to God, and lives as if there were no God. Even when they are religious, there is no spiritual life within them!

“Now, wait, hold on just a moment there,” some will inevitably say, “we are very spiritually minded, we gather together at church, we’re members of this or that church, we think godly thoughts, we do godly things, we are of course spiritually minded!”

So were the scribes. So were the pharisees. In fact, from a humanly perspective, the pharisees were the epitome of pious, spiritual living: they were the spiritual authorities of their day, actively seeking to guide others to live a spiritual life, they visibly led and set themselves apart from the masses by things like wearing their phylacteries and fringed garments, tithing the proper amounts, paying such great heed to the Law that they had by the time of Christ developed many traditions so that they wouldn’t even approach a violation of the Law.

But in Matthew 23:27, our Lord describes the true nature of them all, declaring

Matthew 23:27–28 LSB

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. “In this way, you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

In other words, just because you look clean and holy and pure, does not mean you are clean and holy and pure. What matters to God, is the condition of your heart. A person who does the right thing for the wrong reason is still an offense to God. Paul writes in Philippians 3 that the “many walk… as enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their stomach and [whose] glory is in their shame”. Why? He ends verse 19 there saying they are those who “set their thoughts on earthly things.”

It’s the same things as what we read here in Romans 8:5-6

Romans 8:5–6 LSB

For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,

Not only will they end in destruction, but they are even now dead to all things truly spiritual, Ephesians 4:18–19 diagnoses that they walk in the futility of their mind, “being darkened in their mind, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart. And they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.”

The defining characteristic of someone who is dead is their complete inability to accomplish anything. John MacArthur has famously taught that death is best characterized as a complete inability to respond, and although this is true I think that we also need to understand that someone who is dead cannot initiate anything either – it is a complete and utter inability to accomplish anything at all, to cause any change to occur.

This is why we read in 2 Peter 1:1, “Simeon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received the same kind of faith as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:”, this is why we read in 2 Timothy 2:25, “with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may give them repentance leading to the full knowledge of the truth,”, this is why our Lord declared in John 6:44, ““No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Because “the mind [which is] set on the flesh,” – as indeed is everyone who is not in Christ Jesus – “is death.” We were all from birth completely and utterly beholden to sin, and entirely unable in ourselves to change that condition. We couldn’t even take the first step in the right direction, unless God acted supernaturally within us.

And this makes what God has done, that much more amazing. This makes what God accomplished by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin so very vital. This is why it is entirely impossible for any who are not in Christ Jesus to be anything other than “condemned”.

Very well, Lord willing we will finish our look at verse 6 next time.

Let us pray!