In this section, Paul compares the behaviors and attributes of those who are Christians (in his words, "those who walk according to the Spirit"), with those who are not Christians ("those who walk according to the flesh").
The following bullets are the Cliff Notes version of this text and are followed by my more thorough analysis.
Do you walk according to the Spirit? Paul gives us a simple 10-part quiz with 8 bonus questions to find out.
If you walk according to the Spirit, the following 10 things are true according to Paul:
- Your mind is set on what the Spirit desires
- Your mind is life and peace
- Your body is dead because of sin
- Your spirit is alive because of righteousness
- You will be given life in your mortal body by the same Spirit who raised Jesus
- You have an obligation to live according to the Spirit in you
- You have no obligation to sin nature
- You will live when the misdeeds of the body are put to death (by the Spirit)
- You are adopted as a child of God
- You have the Spirit to testify (confirm) that you are a child of God
Here's an 8-part quiz to determine if you live according to your flesh:
- Your mind is set on what the sinful nature desires
- Your mind is death
- Your mind is hostile to God
- You cannot please God
- You do not belong to Christ
- Your mind does not and cannot submit to God’s law
- You live according to your sin nature and will therefore die
- You are a slave to fear
5 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. 6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
Paul tells us in these verses what it means to "live in accordance with the Spirit."
V.5, Notice that Paul contrasts what people "have their minds set" on - fulfilling the flesh's desires or fulfilling the spirit's desires.
It is a matter of one's “mindset.” It comes down to
what your mind is fixed on.
Most New Age and some charismatic Christian teachers teach people to "escape" their minds in order to have the fullest spiritual experience. But genuine Christianity is not a mindless faith.
In fact, later in
Romans 12:1 Paul will say that our minds is where our transformation begins. Absence of mind would impede that process. Paul is beginning that "mind renewal" thread right here, and he will continue to develop it through chapter 12.
After we become Christians and have the Holy Spirit living in us, righteous living is simply (though not easily!) a matter of fixing our minds on the desires of the Spirit rather than on the desires of the flesh.
I tried to think of examples of fleshly desires that could occupy our mindsets. Here are a few:
- Food
- Sex
- Sensation
- Companionship
- Outward beauty
- Money
- Fun
- Rest
- Pleasure
- Fame
- Power
- Self-fulfillment
Romans 8:6-8 says that desires for these things are "death." They are "hostile toward God," and they "cannot please God." As
Galatians 5:17 says, “
The sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other.”Does this mean these things are bad in themselves? No. Only when our minds are set on them; only when they become our desires rather than our circumstances; only when they are what we pursue rather than results.
I also tried to think of some spiritual desires that could occupy our mindsets. Here are a few from my own list:
- Pleasing God
- Eternal Life
- The good of others
- Love
- Honesty
- Righteousness
- Genuineness
- Humility
- Truth
- Faithfulness
Our flesh desires self-gratification and self-glory.
Our spirits desire God’s gratification and God’s glory.
One-word descriptions of what spiritual mindsets and carnal mindsets seek (money, pleasure, rest, power, etc.) can look exactly the same, but their sources and purposes are vastly different. Through the Spirit, money, pleasure, rest, power (as examples) can be used to further God's kingdom.
It is impossible for a mind set on the desires of the flesh to submit to God’s law; therefore, such a mind cannot please God. If a man’s primary mindset is the self-centered things of the flesh, how could he simultaneously desire the selfless things of the Spirit – exalting God, restoring creation, and upholding God’s standards?
Romans 8:9
9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
If God’s Spirit lives in you, He controls you. And if He doesn’t live in you, you don’t belong to Christ.
As Christians, our minds are controlled by the Spirit. But watch out! It’s too easy to think that all we have to do is "start thinking differently." But that is what the Jews already thought, and it didn’t work. It only leads to the plight of the Law’s system!
The preceding context (Romans 7:7-11; Romans 7:21, 25) just explained it:
A natural mind (a mind of flesh) that desires to please God will fall even harder into sin when it discovers what pleases Him.
As you minister to others, do not allow the focus to be on changing the way they think. That will often lead to misguided forms of evangelism that do not stick. A complete change in the individual must take place, not just a change in his thinking.
Romans 8:10-11
10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
At the end of v.9 Paul defined belonging to and not belonging to Christ: It’s all about whether God’s Spirit does or doesn’t live in you. Our bodies are dead, but God gives them life through His Spirit in us.
V. 10-11, Here he describes what it is like to belong to Christ, to have His Spirit living in you:
- Firstly, your body still has to die because of your sin.
- Secondly, your spirit will live because of God’s righteousness, which He gave to you.
- Thirdly, God will give life to your mortal body through His Spirit. This statement in V. 11 refers to now, not at the resurrection.
After the resurrection, the Holy Spirit will no longer need to indwell us because we will be fully changed. We have Him in us right now only “as a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession” (Ephesians 1:14; also 2 Corinthians 1:22 and 2 Corinthians 5:5).
8:12-14
12 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation--but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Vv.12-13a, Because God has done all of this for us, we have an obligation. We owe Him something.
You see, way back in
Romans 4:4 Paul pointed out that when Bob works for Sally, Sally is obligated to pay Bob or, as he put it “
Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.”
Well, now God has done the work for us. So we are obligated to Him. But he quickly points out that we can’t pay that obligation through our sinful natures. That will only result in death.
V.13b-14, Instead, our obligation to God is to use the Spirit of God to kill the misdeeds of the body. If we do this we will live, because it demonstrates that we are truly sons of God.
8:15-16
15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ""Abba," Father." 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.
V. 15, If you’re using the NIV, you’ll need to look at your footnote for v. 15. It offers an alternative word for “sonship” – adoption. That is more accurate, and it is how the NASB and others translate it.
Realizing the significance of this word choice is critical to getting the full meaning of this passage.
The full thought here is that we were slaves to fear – that is, in our flesh. But now God - by giving us His Spirit - purchased us, brought us into His family, and adopted us as his children.
Vv. 15-16, His Spirit does two things in us:
- He allows us to cry out “Daddy! Father!” and thank Him for rescuing us.
- He testifies with our own spirits that we are indeed God’s children.
- We no longer fear God’s wrath. His Spirit inside us prompts us to cry out “Daddy!” As Chuck Swindoll once said, “God, in His great mercy, has allowed us, not only to stand before Him, but even to sit on His lap.”
