Romans 8:5-11: Fleshly vs. Spiritually Minded
- Lance Lefler
- Mar 6, 2011
- Series: the Gospel
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Nice haters? Generous haters? Kind haters? Selfless haters?
This passage from Romans gives us insight into human nature that is almost too strange to believe. The person who doesn't follow Jesus can't follow Jesus. Paul says they are not submitted to God's law and in fact, they can't submit to God's law. What? How is that fair?
The problem is not with God, but with people. In our natural state we are dead set against God and his rules. We may be nice, kind, generous, spiritual and moral, but it has nothing to do with Jesus. Paul gives us an insight into the human heart. To be a hater of God is not necessarily to be a mean person. Many God haters are nice. They just don't like God. It's the state of their hearts.
Romans 8:5-11 is made up of two paragraphs, both of which spring out of verse 4. In verse 4 Paul the Apostle shows that there are two kinds of people: those who walk according to the "flesh" and those who walk according to the Spirit of God.
According to Paul's usage in Romans, walking according to the flesh is another way of saying "not a follower of Jesus," while walking according to the Spirit is another way of saying "follower of Jesus."
In 8:5-8 he unpacks this idea and shows the doom of the fleshly minded, how they do not love God and indeed can't love God (because their hearts are dead set against him).
The section ends with Paul's discussion of the blessings of being inhabited by the Holy Spirit, the current struggle with our moral weakness, and the glorious future freedom from these "dead bodies" we suffer in.