The Romance of Romans-Part 45

Romans Chapter 8 cont'd

5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. ESV

Comments:
Paul contrasts two possible "power centers" that believers are free to choose to live out from..."the flesh" or "the Spirit". I do not buy the popular notion that believers actually have 2 "natures"...honestly I think this is a source of much confusion and spiritual defeat. The new birth in Christ has provided for us a "new nature" that is essentially holy because it is in union with the Holy Spirit himself. The Trinity now lives within us! (And if this realization isn't "the key" to a genuine Christian life...I don't know what else could be. What could possibly trump this reality?)

However, getting God "in" our lives is one thing and letting God "out" through our lives is quite another. We are free to either progressively learn to yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit's quiet and humble lordship over our human powers and capacities or...we can lose our practical synchronization with the Person of the Spirit within us and revert to living out of our "flesh"...a "false self", if you will. It is no longer our true nature, but it huffs and puffs and poses as though it were. Our "old self" can intimidate us and deceive us into believing that we have not been essentially transformed by Christ. On the practical, moral, performance level...a true believer is capable of...at least in unholy spurts...as vile of attitudes and behaviors as any other human being.

In the passage above, the apostle refers to a central and practical method and means by which we can cooperate with the process of manifesting the life of Jesus through our lives. First and foremost, it has to do with a focus and inclination in our thinking..."setting the mind"...(as in contrast to our actions) that then naturally leads to changes in our behaviors. I like to think of it in terms of "minding" the Holy Spirit, akin to how we speak about children "minding" their parents. It's interesting to me that "minding" and "obeying" are linked in a common idiom in our culture. Are you and I "minding" our Father these days?!

Elsewhere, Paul refers to this as the renewing of our mind (Rom 12:1-3) and...even more intriguing...the renewing of "the spirit of our mind". I guess thinking is a spiritual matter after all! Meditate a bit on the passage below and see if you can discern the basic framework for understanding the nature of the battle between our new (true) self and our old (false) self. Hint: it is not a battle "between two equals"!

Eph 4:20But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. NASB