Filling of the Spirit-Romans 8.5-6-The Description of How to Be Filled with the Spirit
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday August 11, 2013
Filling of the Spirit: Romans 8:5-6-The Description of How to Be Filled with the Spirit
Lesson # 2
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 8:1
In Romans 8:5-6, the apostle Paul describes the mechanics of the filling of the Spirit and reveals that it is submitting to the Spirit and being occupied in one’s mind with the things of the Spirit.
When approaching this passage, we must understand that Paul is speaking in the context of the Christian’s sanctification.
Beginning in Romans 6:1 and ending in Romans 8:39, Paul is speaking of the Christian’s sanctification in its three stages: (1) Positional (2) Experiential (3) Ultimate.
In Romans 6:1-7:6, Paul taught on all three aspects of sanctification, “positional,” “experiential” and “ultimate.”
However, in Romans 7:7-25, he dealt exclusively with the Christian’s problem in “experiencing” sanctification by using his own personal experience as a Christian.
Then, in Romans 8:1-3, he reassures his readers that even though they fail at experiencing sanctification, they are still eternally secure.
Now, in Romans 8:4, he begins to teach how his readers can “experience” sanctification through the power of the Spirit and in particular occupying their minds with the desires of the Spirit rather than the desires of the sin nature.
Romans 8:1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (NASB95)
Those who contend that Paul is contrasting the believer with the unbeliever in verses 5-8 fail to see that a believer has the capacity to set his mind on the desires of the sin nature as indicated by the many prohibitions and commands in the New Testament that are designed to prevent this from happening.
A case in point is Galatians 5:16-21.
Furthermore, in Romans 7:7-25, Paul clearly illustrates through his own personal experience as a Christian that a Christian can be governed by his sin nature if he attempts to obey the Word of God apart from the enabling power of the Spirit.
In Romans 8:3-4, he taught that the Father’s purpose for sacrificing His Son on the Cross was so that the righteous requirement of the Law would be fulfilled in an “experiential” sense in those Christians who are not conducting their lives in submission to the sin nature but in submission to the Spirit.
Now, in Romans 8:5-8, Paul describes or explains what it means to be in submission to the sin nature and in submission to the Spirit, and giving this description or explanation in order that his readers might experience sanctification.
If we interpret that in these verses, Paul is presenting a contrast between the unsaved and the saved, there is never any explanation as to how to the reader is to experience sanctification.
In verse 5, the first description is that a person who is submitting to the sin nature is occupied with the desires of the sin nature whereas the person who is submitting to the Spirit is occupied with the desires of the Spirit.
Romans 8:5 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. (NASB95)
In Romans 8:5-8, Paul describes or explains what it means to be in submission to the sin nature and in submission to the Spirit and the first of these explanations or descriptions appear in verse 5.
“According to the flesh” is composed of the preposition kata, “according to” and the noun sarx, “the flesh.”
The noun sarx refers to the sin nature from the perspective of its location in the Christian, which is how the word was used in Romans 6:19, 7:5, 18, 25 and 8:3.
The root meaning of kata is “down,” which in our present context suggests submission to authority and is employed with the accusative form of the noun sarx, “flesh” and denotes conformity to a particular authority.
Therefore, those Christians who at any time exist in the state of being “in submission to” the sin nature will be occupied with the desires of the sin nature.
“Set their minds on” is the verb phroneo, which means, “to be preoccupied with” with the desires of the sin nature in the sense of concentrating and having one’s thought patterns focused upon the desires of the sin nature to the exclusion of the will of God or what God desires.
To be “preoccupied” means to be “completely engrossed in thought, absorbed.”
In Romans 8:5, the verb phroneo is used in relation to both the sin nature and the Spirit.
In relation to the sin nature, it means to be “preoccupied with” the desires of the sin nature to the exclusion of the will of God, but in relation to the Spirit, it means to be “preoccupied with” the desires of the Spirit.
Paul used it in a similar fashion in Colossians 3:2 where he commanded the Colossian believers to be “preoccupied with” the things above and not on the things that are on the earth meaning be occupied with your position in Christ where you are seated at the right hand of God (cf. Colossians 3:1).
Therefore, in Romans 8:5, the verb phroneo means, “to be preoccupied with” and is used in relation to both the desires of the sin nature and the desires of the Spirit.
The “things of the flesh” denotes the various lust patterns or sinful desires that originate from the sin nature referring to not only to sexual lust but also power, approbation, social, monetary, and materialism lust, inordinate ambition resulting in inordinate competition, revenge, criminal, chemical, crusader, and pleasure lust.
“Of the flesh” is the noun sarx, which refers to the sin nature from the perspective of its location in the Christian.
The noun sarx functions as a “genitive of production” meaning that it “produces” the substantive use of the article, “the things” to which it stands related, which indicates that these “things,” i.e. “desires,” or “various lust patterns” are “produced” by the sin nature.
So Paul is saying in Romans 8:5 that those Christians who are submitting to the sin nature are preoccupied with the desires “produced by” the sin nature which wage war against the Christian’s soul and new nature.
“But those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit” presents a contrast with Paul’s statement that those Christians who are submitting to the sin nature are preoccupied with the desires produced by the sin nature.
“According to the Spirit” is composed of the preposition kata, “according to” and the noun pneuma, “the Spirit.”
The noun pneuma refers to the Holy Spirit and is the object of the preposition kata, which is a marker of conformity to a particular authority.
Therefore, those Christians who at any time exist in the state of being “in submission to” the Spirit will be preoccupied with the desires of the Spirit.
“The things of the Spirit” refers to spiritual desires produced by the Spirit in the believer.
“The Spirit” is the noun pneuma, which refers to the Holy Spirit and functions as a “genitive of production” meaning that it “produces” the substantive use of the article, “the things” to which it stands related, which indicates that these “things,” i.e. “desires,” are “produced by” the Spirit.
So Paul is saying in Romans 8:5 that those Christians who are submitting to the Spirit are preoccupied with the desires “produced by” the Spirit.
The question then arises, “what desires does the Spirit produce in the believer?”
The answer is that the Spirit desires that the Christian take part in ministering to the body of Christ, experiencing fellowship, learning and applying the Word of God, praying, worshipping God, witnessing and growing to spiritual maturity.
He puts in the Christian the desire to become like Christ and “produces” these desires in the believer.
Therefore, the genitive of production indicates that the Spirit “produces” in the believer the desire to minister to the body of Christ, to experience fellowship, to learn and apply the Word of God, to pray, to worship God, to witness and grow to spiritual maturity and become like Christ.
Also, we need to remember that the Scriptures not only teach that the Spirit produces these desires in the believer but that He also gives the believer the capacity to fulfill these desires.
Now, when the Christian does not permit the Spirit to fulfill these desires, he is “grieving” the Spirit and “hindering” Him as well.
There are three sins by the believer against the Holy Spirit: (1) “Lying” to God the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3) (2) “Grieving” the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30) (3) “Quenching” the Holy Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19).
Now, in Romans 8:6, Paul teaches that the mind-set produced by the sin nature is temporal spiritual death, i.e. loss of fellowship with God whereas the mind-set produced by the Spirit is life, i.e. experiencing eternal life and peace.
Romans 8:6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. (NASB95)
This statement advances upon Paul’s statement in Romans 8:5 and intensifies it.
“The mind” is the noun phronema, which occurs only four times in the Greek New Testament, Romans 8:6 twice and Romans 8:7 and 8:27.
In Romans 8:6-7, the word is used with reference to the Christian since in context, Paul is teaching on the Christian’s sanctification and is contrasting the believer who is out of fellowship because he is submitting to his nature with that of the Christian who is in fellowship because he is submitting to the Spirit.
Phronema in these verses refers to the content of the Christian’s thought process and his manner of thinking rather than the mind itself and denotes the direction and orientation of human thought or a person’s “state of mind” or “mind-set.”
Thus, Paul is saying that the “mind-set” or “mental attitude” produced by the sin nature is temporal spiritual death, i.e. loss of fellowship with God whereas the “mind-set” or “mental attitude” produced by the Spirit is experiencing eternal life and peace and thus experiencing fellowship with God.
“The flesh” is the noun sarx, which refers to the sin nature from the perspective of its location in the Christian and functions as a “genitive of production” meaning that it “produces” the noun phronema, “the mind-set,” to which it stands related.
Therefore, the noun sarx as a “genitive of production” indicates that this “mind-set” or “state of mind” is “produced” by the sin nature.
Therefore, the mind-set “produced by” the sin nature is the direct result of the Christian being preoccupied with the desires produced by the sin nature, which culminates in a loss of fellowship with God.
“Death” is the noun thanatos, which refers to “temporal spiritual death” or in other words, “loss of fellowship” with God.
“But the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace” presents a contrast with Paul’s statement that the mind-set produced by the sin nature is as an eternal spiritual truth, temporal spiritual death.
“The mind” is the noun phronema, which once again means, “mind set” but this time it is used in relation to the Spirit, which functions as a genitive of production indicating that this mind-set is “produced by” the Spirit.
“On the Spirit” is the noun pneuma, which refers to the Holy Spirit and functions as a “genitive of production” meaning that it “produces” the noun phronema, “the mind-set,” to which it stands related.
Therefore, the mind-set “produced by” the Spirit is the direct result of the Christian being preoccupied with the desires produced by Spirit, which results in experiencing eternal life and the peace of God.
“Life” is the noun zoe, which refers to experiencing the eternal life the believer received from the Holy Spirit in regeneration the moment the believer exercised faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior and was regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
In Romans 8:1-8, Paul teaches that those whose minds concentrate upon the things of the Spirit, which are heard through the Word of God, will experience eternal life and fellowship with God whereas those whose minds are set upon the lusts of the sin nature will not experience fellowship with God.
“Peace” is the noun eirene, which refers to the peace of God that the believer can experience by having a mind-set produced by the Spirit as a result of being preoccupied with the desires produced by the Spirit.
These desires would include fellowship, learning and applying the Word of God, executing the Father’s will, unity, serving, and praying.
Romans 8:5 For you see those who at any time exist in the state of being in submission to the flesh are, as an eternal spiritual truth, preoccupied with the things produced by the flesh. However, those in submission to the Spirit, the things produced by the Spirit. 6 In fact, the mind-set produced by the flesh is, as an eternal spiritual truth temporal spiritual death. However, the mind-set produced by the Spirit is, as an eternal spiritual truth life as well as peace. (My translation)
Therefore, we can see from Paul’s statements here in Romans 8:5-6 that experiencing fellowship with God and the filling of the Spirit and losing the filling of the Spirit and fellowship is based upon the believer’s mental attitude.
The believer whose mental attitude is produced by the sin nature as a result of being preoccupied with the desires produced by the sin nature will experience loss of fellowship with God and the filling of the Spirit.
While on the other hand, the believer whose mental attitude is produced by the Spirit as a result of being preoccupied with the desires produced by the Spirit will experience eternal life, peace, the filling of the Spirit and thus fellowship with God.
