Romans 8:6-7 “To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
I read that this passage defines for
us both the carnal mind and the spiritual mind, not with formal definitions,
but by giving equivalent terms.
First, the carnal mind is identified
as being “enmity against God”. “Emnity is defined in the 1828 Webster’s
dictionary as: The quality of being an
enemy; the opposite of friendship; ill will; hatred; unfriendly dispositions;
malevolence. It expresses more than aversion and less than malice, and differs
from displeasure in denoting a fixed or rooted hatred, whereas displeasure is
more transient. The carnal mind is a rampant disregard for God’s law.
Furthermore, the carnal mind is equated with death, specifically eternal,
spiritual death. A physically living person may have a carnal mind, bringing
with it a spiritual deadness and eternal doom. This also serves us as a working
definition of death—being hostile toward God, or minding the things of the
flesh. The Latin word “Carne” (from
which we get the word “carnal”) translates to English as “the Flesh”. The 1828 Webster’s dictionary defines the word
“carnal” as: (1) Pertaining to flesh; fleshly; sensual;
opposed to spiritual; as carnal pleasure. (2) Being in the natural state;
unregenerate. (3) Pertaining to the ceremonial law; as carnal ordinances. Heb. 9:10. (4) Lecherous; lustful;
libidinous; given to sensual indulgence.
Romans
8:8-9 “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you”.
Next, we see that the spiritual mind
is “life and peace”. The 1828 Webster’s dictionary defines the word “spiritual”
as: (1) Consisting
of spirit; not material; incorporeal; as a spiritual substance or being. The
soul of man is spiritual. (2) Mental; intellectual; as spiritual armor. (3) Not
gross; refined from external things; not sensual; relative to mind only; as a
spiritual and refined religion. (4) Not lay or temporal; relating to sacred
things; ecclesiastical; as the spiritual functions of the clergy; the lords
spiritual and temporal; a spiritual corporation. (5) Pertaining to spirit or to
the affections; pure; holy. Gods law is spiritual; it is a transcript of the
divine nature, and extends its authority to the acts of the soul of man. (6) Pertaining
to the renewed nature of man; as spiritual life. (7) Not fleshly; not material;
as spiritual sacrifices. 1 Peter 2.
(8) Pertaining to divine things; as spiritual songs. Ephesians 5. The
spiritual mind is a
supreme preference for God and subjection to His will. This state not only
leads to eternal life but is life, along with peace, even now. There can
be no true peace for the carnally minded.
Some would wrongly teach that the physical death of the
unbeliever leads to the total annihilation of his body, soul, and spirit.
However, this passage teaches that the minding of “the things of the flesh” does
not only lead to ultimate physical death, but is death right now. Ephesians 2:1-3 tells us, “And you He made alive, who
were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all
once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of
the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the
others.”
Romans 8:13 “For
if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put
to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
Death is not the extinction of being but the alienation of
that being from Christ. “If Christ be in
you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of
righteousness” (Romans 8:10).
Blessings in Christ
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