ROMANS ROAD
to RIGHTEOUSNESS |
Romans
1:18-3:20
|
Romans
3:21-5:21 |
Romans
6:1-8:39 |
Romans
9:1-11:36 |
Romans
12:1-16:27 |
|
SIN
|
SALVATION
|
SANCTIFICATION |
SOVEREIGNTY |
SERVICE |
NEED
FOR
SALVATION |
WAY
OF
SALVATION |
LIFE
OF
SALVATION |
SCOPE
OF
SALVATION |
SERVICE
OF
SALVATION |
God's Holiness
In
Condemning
Sin |
God's Grace
In
Justifying
Sinners |
God's Power
In
Sanctifying
Believers |
God's Sovereignty
In
Saving
Jew and Gentile |
Gods Glory
The
Object of
Service |
Deadliness
of Sin |
Design
of Grace |
Demonstration of
Salvation |
|
Power Given
|
Promises Fulfilled |
Paths Pursued |
Righteousness
Needed |
Righteousness
Credited |
Righteousness
Demonstrated |
Righteousness
Restored to Israel |
Righteousness
Applied |
God's Righteousness
IN LAW |
God's Righteousness
IMPUTED |
God's Righteousness
OBEYED |
God's Righteousness
IN ELECTION |
God's Righteousness
DISPLAYED |
|
Slaves to Sin |
Slaves to God |
Slaves Serving God |
|
Doctrine |
Duty |
|
Life by Faith |
Service by Faith |
|
Modified from Irving
L. Jensen's excellent work "Jensen's
Survey of the NT" |
FOR THE MIND SET ON THE FLESH IS DEATH: to gar phronema tes sarkos thanatos: (Ro
8:7,13;
6:21,23;
7:5,11;
13:14;
Gal 6:8;
Js
1:14,15)
Someone has said
"As to one's state of mind (natural or unregenerate versus regenerate),
so is its tendency; as its tendency, so is its conduct."
Godet
writes that "For"
explains the moral necessity with
which this motion constantly proceeds, from the inward moral state to
aspiration, and from aspiration to action. There is on both sides,
as it were, a fated end to be reached (death or life and peace), which
acts at a distance on the will by an attraction like that which is
exercised by a precipice on the current of a river as it approaches it.
This goal is death on the one hand, life on the other. The flesh tends
to the former; for to gain the complete liberty after which it aspires,
it needs a more and more complete separation from God; and this is
death. The Spirit, on the contrary, thirsts for life in God, which is
its element, and sacrifices everything to succeed in enjoying it
perfectly. Neither of these two powers leaves a man at rest till it
has brought him to its goal, whether to that state of death in which
not a spark of life remains, or to that perfect life from which the last
vestige of death has disappeared (Godet, F L: The Epistle of St Paul to
the Romans) (Bolding added)
Mind
set (5427)
(phronema from
phroneo = think, have a mind
set) is the what one has in mind. It is the inclination of the mind which includes
the acts of understanding
and of will. Phronema like the verb,
phroneo, refers to the content
or thought patterns of the mind rather than to the mind itself. It
describes the faculty of fixing one's mind on something and thus is a
way of thinking.
The four uses of
phronema in the Bible are all found in Romans 8 -- 2 in
Romans 8:6;
one in
Romans 8:8
and one in
Romans 8:27.
Phronema refers to one's "way of
thinking". The direction or orientation of human thought is warped by
sin. Human beings without the Spirit are both unable and unwilling to
grasp spiritual realities, and so they rebel against God.
What Paul is
saying is that the direction or orientation of human thought is warped
by sin. Human beings without the Spirit are both unable and unwilling to
grasp spiritual realities, and so they rebel against God.
Robert Haldane
notes that...
In the preceding verse the Apostle
contrasts the dispositions and practices of believers and unbelievers;
here he contrasts their opposite states and conditions. These two states
of carnal and spiritual mindedness include and divide the whole world.
All men belong either to the one or the other. They are either in the
flesh or in the Spirit; in a state of nature or in a state of grace.
For to be carnally minded is
death.—This is the awful state of the carnal mind—the mind of
the flesh without faith in Christ, and renovation of the Spirit of God.
It is death spiritual and eternal. All the works of those who are in
this state are “dead works,” Hebrews 9:14. “The sacrifice of the
wicked is an abomination to the Lord,” although the Lord commanded to
offer sacrifices, which therefore was in itself a good work. “She that
liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.” All by nature being in
this carnal state, are “dead in trespasses and sins.” Let those whose
minds are set on the things of the world consider this fearful saying,
that to be carnally minded is death, and let them look to Jesus the
Savior of the guilty, through whom alone they can escape condemnation. (Haldane,
R. An Exposition on the Epistle to the Roman. Ages Classic Commentaries)
Charles Hodge
writes that "mind set"...
expresses a state of mind. The idea
is not just that seeking the things of the flesh leads to death, but
that an unspiritual mind, which reveals itself in the desire and pursuit
of unspiritual objectives, is death. Death, of course, means
spiritual death, the absence and the opposite of spiritual life. It
includes alienation from God, unholiness, and misery.
On the other hand, the “mind
controlled by the Spirit” is that state of mind which is produced by
the Spirit and which reveals itself in the desire and pursuit of the
things of the Spirit. This state of mind is life and peace. This is
where the true life and blessedness of the soul lies. As this is the
case, there can be no such thing as salvation in sin, no possibility of
justification without sanctification. If we share the spiritual benefits
from Christ’s death, we also share in His life. If we died with Him, we
live with Him. This is pertinent to the apostle’s main purpose in this
chapter, which is to show that believers can never be condemned. They
are not only delivered from the law and justified by the blood of
Christ, but they participate in His life. They have the mind controlled
by the Spirit [which] is life and peace. (Hodge,
Charles: Commentary on Romans. 1835 Ages Classic Commentaries)
Flesh
(4561)
(sarx)
(Click
word study on
sarx) in the context of this verse refers to the evil nature present in those in Adam (and still
present even in regenerate man). The picture is of the mind possessed by
and thus controlled
or dominated by the
flesh, which is a description of the unsaved person. It means to have one’s life
determined and directed by the values of this evil world system in total
rebellion against God. This is the only way an unsaved person is able to
walk - according to the flesh. That person is dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1), dead in the sense
that he is separated from God and His life, for death is separation, and
is on his way to a final and everlasting state of death in eternity
(Rev 20:11-15).
Death (2288)
(thanatos) refers to the termination of physical life or as death
viewed transcendently in contrast to a living relationship with God. As
used in the NT thanatos is treated primarily as a destroying
power related to sin and its consequences. Death is separation from God
which ultimately terminates through physical death in eternal perdition
and eternal separation.
In short, if one's
mind is not Christ-centered and his or her interest is constantly being
place upon carnal or fleshly things, the results are the symptoms of
spiritual death!
Newell
comments that...
It is terrible to contemplate a mind,
disposition, purpose, so set on death (which is its end) that it can be
said to be death. It is a most solemn contemplation that we who are in
Christ were once in the flesh, the mind and disposition of which we
could not and would not change, and which was death itself! (Romans: Verse by Verse)
Notice that Paul does not say that the mind set on the flesh
leads to death, but that it is death. (in the original Greek
there is no verb for "is" so literally the text reads even
more dramatically "the mind set on the flesh - death"). The unsaved person is already dead
spiritually.
As John
MacArthur puts it Paul is
stating a spiritual equation, not a
spiritual consequence. The consequence involved in this relationship is
the reverse: that is, because unredeemed men are already spiritually
dead, their minds are inevitably set on the flesh. Paul reminded the
Ephesian believers that, before salvation, they were all once “dead in
[their] trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1)...The unsaved person is a
spiritual corpse and consequently is completely unable, in himself, to
respond to the things of God. Unless the Holy Spirit intervenes by
convicting him of sin and enabling him to respond to God by faith and
thus being made alive, the unsaved person is insensitive to the things
of God (MacArthur,
J: Romans 1-8. Chicago: Moody Press)
Kenneth Wuest explains
flesh (sarx) in this verse as...
"...the evil nature. It is the
genitive of possession. The mind is possessed by, thus
controlled or dominated by the evil nature, a description of
the unsaved person. That person is dead in trespasses and sins, dead in
the sense that he is separated from God and His life, for death is
separation, and is on his way to a final and everlasting state of death
in eternity."
(Wuest,
K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Studies in the
Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament: Grand Rapids: Eerdmans)
BUT THE MIND SET ON THE SPIRIT IS LIFE AND PEACE: to de phronema tou
pneumatos zoe kai eirene: (Ro
5:1,10;
14:17;
Jn 14:6,27;
17:5;
Gal 5:22)
"The mind set on the Spirit"
is literally, “the mind possessed by the Spirit,”
thus a mind controlled or dominated by the Holy Spirit ("do not get
drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with
[controlled by] the Spirit"
Ephesians 5:18). Such a
person possesses the life that God is, and peace.
Life (2198)
(zoe)
means the absolute fullness of life,
both essential and ethical, which alone belongs to God the Giver of
life. This is life as God originally intended it to be lived.
Godet adds
that...
Life, in Scripture, denotes a
fully satisfied existence, in which all the faculties find their full
exercise and their true occupation. Man's spirit, become the abode and
organ of the Divine Spirit, realizes this life with a growing
perfection to eternal life.
Peace is the inward feeling of
tranquillity which accompanies such an existence; it shows itself
particularly in the absence of all fear in regard to death and judgment
(see note
Romans 8:1).
There is no changing the nature of these two states and walks (see note
Romans 8:5),
and no arresting the latter in its onward march (ver. 6). The way of
salvation is to pass from the first to the second, and not to relapse
thereafter from the second to the first. (Ibid)
Peace
(1515)
(eirene)
in its verb form means “to bind together that which has been
separated” thus in the present context describes the believing sinner, bound together with God and His
life after having been separated by sin. It is that inward harmony and
tranquillity that results from yielding to God. Did you present yourself
to Him this morning as a living (yielded) sacrifice? (cf note
Romans 12:1)
If the interests of one's mind are placed on the things of the Spirit of
God, there is a peace in this life that passes all understanding!
Vine
comments that...
Peace is not here the act of
reconciliation, accomplished through the death of Christ, as in Ro 5:1
(cf note
Romans 5:1),
but the enjoyment of the condition of reconciliation itself. (Vine,
W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson
)
William Newell
writes that...
The KJV rendering in this verse is hopelessly obscure. God does
not say that "to be carnally minded" is death, but that the mind of the
flesh, in which they are, is death. Further, He does not say, "to be
spiritually minded is life and peace, " as if it were a state into which
the believer came; but He does say, the mind of the Spirit is life and
peace. In neither case does God speak of people, but of the flesh and of
the Spirit. If you are according to Spirit, having been born of God,
there is indwelling you a mighty One, the Comforter, whose whole mind,
disposition, and manner of being and ruling within you, is life and
peace. This "life" is the life of the Risen Christ, which the Spirit, as
"the Spirit of grace, " supplies (Heb 10:29 Gal 3:5); and this "peace" is
that of Christ as spoken of in Isaiah: "Of the increase of His
government and peace there shall be no end." (Ibid)
The mind set on the Spirit is also synonymous with spiritual peace, that
is, peace with God. The unsaved person, no matter how much he may claim
to honor, worship, and love God, is God’s enemy, a truth Paul has already
pointed out in this epistle. Before we were saved, Paul states, "we were
all enemies" of God (see note
Romans 5:10). Only the person who has new life in God has
peace with God.
The obvious corollary of that truth is that it is impossible to have a
mind set on the Spirit, which includes having spiritual life and peace,
and yet remain dead to the things of God.
As Paul has illustrated from his own life in Romans 7 (although not
everyone agrees this describes a born again believer), a true Christian
battles with the flesh because his mortal body still hangs on and tries
to lure him back into the old sinful ways. But he is no longer in the
flesh but in the Spirit. He may act like he is "in the flesh"
at times but that is no longer his position for he is now in Christ.
It is important to note that, when Paul speaks of sin in a Christian's
life, he is always careful to identify sin with the outer, corrupted
body, not with the new, inner nature. A believer’s flesh is not redeemed
when he trusts in Christ. If that were so, all Christians would
immediately become perfect when they are saved, which even apart from
the testimony of Scripture is obviously not true. The sinful vestige of
unredeemed humanness will not fall away until the Christian goes to be
with the Lord. It is for that reason that the New Testament sometimes
speaks of a Christian’s salvation in the future tense (click
here).
Referring to those who were already saved, Paul says later in this
chapter,
“Having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan
within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the
redemption of our body” (see note
Romans 8:23).
Robert Haldane
explains that life and peace...
These are the effects of being
enlightened and guided by the Spirit of God, and so having the mind
turned from earthly things to the things of the Spirit. To be
spiritually minded is life, even eternal life. This life is already
enjoyed by the believer. “Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood,
hath eternal life;” and with his Redeemer he has risen from the death
of sin to walk in this new life. It is also peace, both here and
hereafter. This peace is the harmony of all the faculties of the soul
with God, and with His will, and is altogether the opposite of that
enmity against God, which in the following verse is affirmed concerning
the carnal mind. While there is nothing so miserable for man as war with
his Creator, there is nothing so blessed as peace and communion with
God. It is peace in the conscience, in opposition to doubt, for which
the Church of Rome contends, as if the effect of being spiritually
minded, instead of peace and confidence in God, was servile fear and
harassing distrust. That church maintains that the man who is
regenerated should doubt of his salvation, and be uncertain of God’s
love to him. What, then, becomes of this peace that flows from being
spiritually minded—which passeth all understanding, keeping the heart
and mind through Christ Jesus—this peace, which is one of the fruits of
the Spirit, and a characteristic of the kingdom of God? Romans 14:17.
The peace here spoken of is opposed to the terrors of conscience which
the unregenerate experience, and to the opposition in their hearts to
God, as well as to every species of false peace by which they may be
deluded. “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” And again
it is said, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed
on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.” (Hodge,
Charles: Commentary on Romans. Ages Classic Commentaries)
Wayne Barber reminds us
that Paul
"does not say
that the mind set on the flesh ends in death but "is death" (in
the original Greek there is no verb for "is" so literally it reads
even more dramatically "the mind set on the flesh - death").
All of the aspects of death are
reflected in the mind of a lost person. In other words, there is
absolutely no possibly of partaking of that which pertains to
life. He knows nothing about the life that God offers. He thinks
he is living life but is actually living in death and doesn't know
it because he is deceived. And this describes the way we all were
in Adam. All we knew was death. So everything a lost person
is thinking, doing, looking for, etc is DEATH compared to the LIFE
that God can offer to him. There is no possibility of experiencing
anything of the LIFE that God offers to those who love Him. But
those in Christ have their mind set on the Spirit and the
result is life
and peace. Life
is the Greek word "zoe" which means the essence
of life. He's not talking about how busy you are…about what
you get to do, but what you know on the inside. In
Philippians 1:21
(see
note) Paul says "for me to
live (zoe) is Christ, to die is gain."
The very essence of
everything Paul was was found in Christ. And that's Who we
have now that we are IN HIM. You receive a sense of fulfillment
you've never know in your life. And you also get PEACE, the
beautiful word that pictures two things coming together and
absolutely cohering with nothing in between that would cause
friction. The world interprets peace as solitude, etc, but unless
Christ gives you His peace, you don't have peace. So now that we
have the Spirit of God in us, our "course" is fixed toward God
(the "Godward" life). When you stray off course, you know it
and you realize that you are back up under the Law and under the
Flesh. But you can return to life and peace, whereas the person in
Adam has their course fixed on hell and is in a downward spiral
for all he knows is death."
