Carnal versus Spiritual in Romans 8
This radio pastor totally ignored the greater light given us in other parts of God’s Word. Romans 8:5-9: “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded [fleshly minded] is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal [fleshly] mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”
Now the first thing that can be said about these verses is they do not teach that the apostle is drawing a line between fleshly (carnal) Christians and spiritual Christians. No! He is drawing the line of demarcation between the regenerate and the unregenerate, the wicked and the righteous, the unsaved and the saved, the children of the devil and the children of God!
Many are taught that these verses do teach there are fleshly or carnal Christians, who walk habitually “after the flesh,” and spiritual Christians, who walk habitually “after the Spirit.” No, such teaching is error according to Romans 8:3-4, “God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” -for what reason? “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us” And who is the “us”?-Those “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” You see, the righteousness of the law will be fulfilled in the children of God, for this was the reason Christ died and rose again. And I ask again, in whom is this righteousness fulfilled?-Only those who are born again by the Spirit of God and are in the Spirit, walking after the Spirit and not after the flesh!
Again, “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh” (Rom 8:5). What does the word “flesh” mean here? The word “flesh” means fallen human nature, human nature as it is before the Spirit of God begins His work in a person. It is man left to himself-born, developing, and growing in life in this world outside the activity of God upon him. He is habitually dominated by the nature with which he was born. This fleshly, or carnal man, is said here to “mind the things of the flesh.” He does not think of them occasionally, but these are the things he minds and thinks of habitually, and the trend or bent of his thinking is toward earthly things. Why? Because they please him most of all. These are the things that give him the greatest satisfaction, and therefore are the things which he seeks after wholeheartedly. So a man who minds the things of the flesh is a man who knows not God and His Christ, whose understanding is darkened, and who is alienated from the life of God. But the trend and bent of the lives of the children of God is after righteousness and holy living, by the grace of God.
Now, Romans 8:6, “For to be carnally minded [or fleshly minded] is death.” What is the apostle telling us here?-that the man who minds fleshly or earthly things as described in verse 5, is in a state of spiritual death. He is not a carnal Christian, going to heaven when he dies because he made a profession of faith and joined a church. No! He is dead in trespasses and sins, and is on his way to hell, to abide under the just wrath of God for ever, unless sovereign grace lays hold of him and makes him a spiritual man. Yes, he is alive physically, but spiritually he is a dead man. He is completely dead to God, so God is not in all his thoughts; he lives as if there were no God. Spiritual death is to be outside the life of God! Therefore, he is in a living death; he is merely existing. That is why he minds the things of the flesh, those worldly things out of which God is shut, and is governed and controlled by his fallen nature. He is shut out from the life of God; and if he dies in that condition, he will to all eternity be shut out from the life of God. Nothing more terrible can be contemplated. That is the meaning of spiritual death.
Notice now what verse 6 says about the spiritual man: He is “spiritually minded,” and has eternal “life and peace.” He is alive unto God. “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). Now verse 7: “Because the carnal [fleshly] mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” This explains why the mind of the flesh is death: If a man is at enmity against God, that is, in active rebellion against God, he is obviously outside the life of God. This means he is dead spiritually.
I see in these verses positive proof that the apostle is not comparing and contrasting two types of Christians, but rather is comparing and contrasting the non-Christian and the Christian, the child of the wicked one, unsaved and lost, and the child of God who is saved and kept in Christ. You see, a man cannot be at enmity against God and be a Christian at the same time! No, there is no such thing as a “carnal” Christian, for all Christians are spiritual men who have been born of the Spirit, given a new heart and the very nature of God. Thus we see why we cannot build a doctrine like carnal Christianity upon such a passage of Scripture as I Corinthians 3:1-4. God has given greater light in Romans 8:5-9 that no such doctrine exists.
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