The Consequences of How We Think
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. Romans 8:5-8
At the end of 8:4 Paul introduced a contrast that governs these next four verses. The only people in whom the law’s righteous requirement can be fulfilled are those who live, not according to the flesh (NIV ‘sinful nature’), but according to the Spirit. They follow the promptings and surrender to the control of the Holy Spirit rather than the flesh. ‘Sinful nature’ is the NIV rendering of the Greek word sarx throughout this section of Romans. Sarx basically means the sinful tendencies of humanity. By the Greek word pneuma in all cases but 8:16 Paul means the personal Holy Spirit who now not only regenerates but also indwells God’s people. The tension between ‘flesh’ and ‘Spirit’ is reminiscent of Galatians 5:16-26 where they are in irreconcilable conflict with each other.
In 8:5-8 Paul presents a series of contrasts between flesh and Spirit. His overall intention is to show that sarx brings death while the Spirit brings life (8:6). Paul leads to this key claim by tracing peoples’ manner of life to their underlying way of thinking. Our mindset expresses our basic nature as Christians or non-Christians. On the one hand there are ‘those who live according to the sinful nature’ (8:5). This characterises their life. This is who they are. They ‘have their minds set on what that nature desires’ (8:5) whereas ‘those who live in accordance with the Spirit (literally: those according to the Spirit – there is no verb), have their minds set on what the Spirit desires’ (8:5). In both cases, their nature determines their mindset. They think like this because this is what they are like. Because the flesh is our inward, twisted human nature, its desires are all those things that pander to our ungodly self-centredness. Since the Spirit is the Holy Spirit, His desires are all those things which please Him, who loves above all else to glorify Christ – to show Christ to us and form Christ in us.
To set the mind on the desires of the sarx or on pneuma is to make them (sarx or pneuma) the objects of our thinking, our desires and our purpose. The question is: what preoccupies us, what drives us, what are we thinking mostly about? All this is determined by who we are, whether we’re still ‘in the flesh’ or are now by new birth ‘in the Spirit.’
Our mindset has eternal consequences. ‘The mind of sinful man’ (literally: ‘of the flesh’) ‘is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit’ (literally: ‘of the Spirit) ‘is life and peace’ (8:6). The mindset of flesh-dominated people is already one of spiritual death and leads inevitably to eternal death. It alienates them from God and makes relationship with Him impossible, either in this world or the next. The mindset of Spirit-dominated people brings life and peace. They are ‘alive to God’ (6:11) and alert to spiritual realities. They have peace with God (5:1) and peace within (Philippians 4:7 ‘the peace of God’).
Our mindset determines our fundamental attitude to God. The mind set on the flesh ‘is hostile to God’ (8:7). It is antagonistic to His name, kingdom and will, to His people, to His word, to his Son, His Spirit and His glory. In contrast to the regenerate who ‘delight’ in God’s law (7:22), the unregenerate mind ‘does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so’ (8:7). ‘Those controlled by the sinful nature (literally: ‘those who are in flesh’), the unregenerate, without the Spirit of God ‘cannot please God’ (8:8).
Here are two categories of people (the unregenerate who are ‘in the flesh’ and the regenerate who are ‘in the Spirit’) who have two completely different mindsets (‘the mind of the flesh’ and ‘the mind of the Spirit’) which lead to two ways of living (according to the flesh or according to the Spirit) and result in two spiritual states (death or life, hostile to God or at peace with Him). So our mind, its direction and what fills it, plays a key role in both our present conduct and our final destiny.