From Lost to Loved: A 30-Day Study of Romans 8Sample

"Sin will thrill, then kill. It will fascinate, then assassinate. It will keep you longer than you wanted to stay and take you further than you wanted to go."

That saying’s origin may be uncertain, but its warning is biblical. Paul made a similar point in Romans 8:6: “the mind set on the flesh is death.” You cannot entertain the flesh and expect to inherit life. Paul gives four reasons why in verses 7-8.

First, Paul says “the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God.” The Greek word for “hostile”, echthra, means enmity, hatred, or opposition.[1] Its first appearance in the Greek Old Testament is Genesis 3:15, where God declares the deep hostility between the seed of the woman and the serpent. That moment is the first glimpse of the Gospel in Scripture. So when Paul says, the mind “set on the flesh is hostile to God,” he’s not describing a small spat. He’s describing an ancient war.

Second, Paul writes the flesh “does not submit to God’s law.” A mind set on the flesh will reject God’s authority, resist His wisdom, and put self in charge. The flesh treats God’s Word as optional, intrusive, or outdated.

Third, Paul adds the flesh “cannot” submit to God. The flesh cannot produce the fruit of the Spirit in your life. You won’t grow sequoias with watermelon seeds. No matter how you water or wish it, the fruit always matches the seed. The mind of flesh will not grow into godliness.

Finally, Paul delivers the knockout blow in verse 8: “those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” The conflict between the flesh and Spirit is irreconcilable.[2] Unless something breaks the cycle, humanity is without hope.

That something is a Someone. Jesus enters the echthra first declared in Genesis 3:15 as the promised Seed who crushes the serpent’s head. Ephesians 2:14-16 declares that the echthra is killed through the cross. The enmity of the flesh is conquered. Our minds can be made new.

New life doesn’t begin with effort. If that’s all it took, you would have figured it out by now. The fleshly mind can’t stand the solution: surrender. The Spirit gives us a new mind: one that loves God, submits to His Word, and pleases Him.

REFLECT:
Where do you see the marks of the Spirit ruling your mind, and where do you still see the fatal evidence of the flesh at work?

[1]Gerhard Kittel, Gerhard Friedrich, and Geoffrey William Bromiley, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1985), 286.

[2]Robert H. Mounce, Romans, vol. 27, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 178.