Romans 8:5-8 by:

Dan Hill, PhD
Pastor, Southwood Bible Church
7655 South Sheridan Avenue
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74113
E-Mail: hill918@aol.com

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Romans 8:5

For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.


Paul uses the word ACCORDING TO in this verse to show that he is building upon the statement of verse 4.

The life of the child of God according to the flesh or according to the Holy Spirit.

ACCORDING TO THE FLESH is the believer out of fellowship, not living by faith and truth:

They set their minds on the things of the flesh

MIND is PHRONEW and looks at the content of the mind, the thoughts, the attitudes. As a verb it means to think a certain way, a manner of thinking or a mind set.

So then the mind that is focused on the flesh causes the believer to walk according to the flesh.

And the mind that is focused on the Spirit causes the believer to walk according to the Spirit.

1. This involves a volitional decision made out of our freewill.

2. Any decision must have an object, what is being decided.

3. Here, the choice is the flesh or the Spirit.

4. The flesh is concerned with law, we will see that in the next verses

5. The Spirit is concerned with righteousness (in relationship to God) and grace

6. To make a decision or choice to the flesh is the normal bent of man. Paul showed that in his struggle in Roman 7.

7. To make a decision or choice for the Spirit is not natural and demands a supernatural means of execution.

QUESTION: How do we have access to the Spirit?

Romans 5:2, "Through whom (The Lord Jesus Christ) also we have obtained our introduction (access) by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God."

We have access to grace through faith, that is the fulfillment of grace reigning in our lives.

Ephesians 2:18, "For through Him (the Lord Jesus) we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father."

We have access to the Father in one Spirit to the Father.

Now how do we gain access to the Spirit?

Ephesians 3:11-12, "This was (the revealing of the wisdom of God in the CA) in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him."

PRINCIPLE: We have access to all that God provides in the exact same way in which we accessed eternal like at salvation, by faith.

God provides the Holy Spirit in whom we walk. How do we do that? By faith . . .

Romans 8:6

For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,


No one is going to purposely set his mind upon that which will bring death.

So the death that is here, which is the temporal death of the believer out of fellowship is not the obvious result of the mind set on the flesh, It is a hidden failing of the mind set on the flesh.

Romans 7:5, "For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death."

Romans 7:10, "And this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;"

Romans 7:13, "Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful."

Romans 7:24, "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?"

Paul did not say I will chose that mind set that will bring death, but rather he chose to use his human ability to keep the Law and the result was death.

PRINCIPLE: The mind set on the things of the flesh is the mind of the believer who tries to fulfill the requirement of the Law (holiness) and then tries to fulfill the law (love God and others) by law, by keeping law of any kind.

The opposite of that is to set the mind on the Spirit and the end result is life and peace.

How can we add anything to the Spirit, he is God! We cannot add anything to God by way of morality, by way of obedience, by way of good deeds, by way of discipline, by way of desire, by way of knowledge.

The only way we have access to the Spirit is by faith.

The result, no the object of faith, this is not the obvious but it is where it ends up . . . life and peace.

Paul uses LIFE to bring together the Holy Spirit here with the Law of the Spirit of Life in verse 2

LIFE cannot be physical life because all men have that. It cannot be the new life in Christ because all believers have that by way of the new man.

So it must be something that all believes have the potential for but not all believers experience the reality of and that is the Spiritual Life or that which comes from the new nature which is empowered by the Holy Spirit through faith.

PEACE is used here to link back to the result of justification in Romans 5:1 Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Peace is a result of justification which is by faith and a result of walking in the Spirit which is by faith.

The peace with God is the peace of Romans 5:1 where here is the peace of God that we have as we live in the World. We have peace.

WHY?? Because we are accessing God's power not struggling in our own power.

Peace is a state of rest, and it is God's purpose to have us enter into his rest.

Hebrews 4:9-10, "There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His."

BUT NOTICE: Just like death in the flesh, Life and Peace in the Spirit are not the initial obvious results. This come about progressively as one walks in the Spirit, yes, more life, more peace.

Romans 8:6

Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so;


The mind set of flesh is hostile towards God.

HOSTILE is a word that means hostility but also enmity or active insubordination.

This hostility or enmity is established because man says he does not need God to meet the requirement of the law or to fulfill the law.

God says "be ye holy as I am holy," and man hostile to God says okay, I will do it.

He can do it in some measure himself. He can perhaps meet God part way or perform some work that will allow Go to meet him part way. But that is hostile to God being God and man being the creature.

Two reasons for the enmity:
1. For it does not subject itself to the law of God. Remember what law does, according to Paul in Romans 7:8, it produces rebellion.

Any rigid system will backfire:
a. Legalism: the proponents of legalism end up being the most lascivious

b. Emotionalism: They end up emotionally drained and often with mental and emotional problems.

c. Knowledge: They are often the ones who know the least about the Bible.

d. Rules and Law: They end up in inconsistency in their keeping of their own rules (Pharisees)

2. For it (the mind set of the flesh) is not able to do so:

The determination of the carnal believer is not able to meet the requirement of the law or fulfill the law.

Even if the desire is their, without out taking advantage of the access we have to the Spirit by way of faith, we are incapable of keeping law.

Romans 8:8

And those who are in the flesh cannot please God.


And how can we please God:

Hebrews 11:6, "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.'

Pleasing God:

I Thessalonians 4:1, "Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that, as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you may excel still more."

II Timothy 2:4, "No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier."

Colossians 1:10, "so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please {Him} in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;"

I John 3:22, "and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight"
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SUMMARY TO THIS POINT:
1. Romans 7 ended with Paul unable, even as a believer (a new man) to live unto God. Desire and knowledge could not accomplish this.

2. Romans 8 begins with the absence of condemnation for the believer. Sin is dealt with at the Cross so sin is not the issue by way of condemnation. This makes the believer at all times acceptable to God.

Remember our study in Romans 1. God never abandons you or turns you over to sin. He never leaves you nor forsakes you.

3. This absence of condemnation and our acceptance in Christ is a direct result of the Law of the Spirit of Life.

This looks back at salvation and the Work of God the Holy Spirit indwelling ever believer and creating in ever believer the human spirit which is a new disposition.

II Peter 1:3-4, "Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of {the} divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust."

4. That Work of God the Holy Spirit sets the believer free in Christ, free from the condemnation of sin here and back in Romans 6, positional free (judicial) from the power of sin.

5. That new disposition in the believer brings about the desire to please God but does not provide the power to please God. Power is not inherit to freedom. Power is not inherit to desire.

6. The power by which the new disposition functions is the power of the Holy Spirit, which is being filled with the Spirit.

Romans 15:13-14, "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able also to admonish one another."

Philippians 1:11, "Having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which {comes} through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God."

Ephesians 3:19, "And to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God."

Eph. 3:18, "That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man;"

Now Paul is praying for believers; these are not unbelievers. Paul does not pray that they will do something but that God will do something. That God will grant to then the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power (dative of advantage for you) . . .

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