Romans 8 ~ Misunderstanding Romans 8:5 …we’ve had lots of help
My old man was dead, but he had left behind this body of flesh that still had to be dealt with. Romans 8:4 had shown there was still a part for me to play in walking according to the spirit and not according to the flesh. It wasn’t enough to receive my new identity while retaining my old actions.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit….you will know them by their fruits. Matthew 7:18-20
Seeing my identity as a new creature in Christ, recreated in righteousness, had brought great peace and security. Yes, He had made the tree good…now for the fruit. Good fruit was what I had been longing for all along. This had been the quest…to fulfill those first words spoken to man at creation…. “Be fruitful”. What good would it do to claim my position if it never showed up in practice. Immediately after speaking of the necessity of bearing good fruit, Jesus went on to say,
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Matthew 7:21-23
This was not what I wanted to hear when face to face with the Lord. Most definitely, my actions would have to change. I desperately needed my DO to line up with my WHO. To be honest…once again, I was nervous. I simply had no confidence whatsoever in my ability to succeed at walking according to the Spirit. I wasn’t even sure exactly what that meant. What else could I do but continue to look for answers by continuing in Romans 8…
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. Romans 8:5
In this verse Paul gives a description of those walking according to the flesh and according to the spirit so as to identify and recognize each. It is another test, of sorts, to determine our status. According to this scripture, whether one is ‘according to the flesh’ or ‘according to the spirit’ is determined by where the mind is set. That seemed simple enough. All I needed to do was judge what I was thinking on.
Every commentary I read and every teaching I heard explained this verse the same way. Most of the different versions of the Bible were similar too, but the NIV amplifies it somewhat more by translating it to say,
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. Romans 8:5 NIV
I had already seen that the term ‘sinful nature’ was misleading, as it was clear that my sinful nature had been eradicated and renewed to its original state. (Likeness Restored) Nevertheless, I could at least replace ‘sinful nature’ with ‘unredeemed body of flesh’ and get some understanding. With my own paraphrase, based on what I had learned, the verse would read:
Those who live according to the “unredeemed body of flesh” have their minds set on what that “body of flesh” desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. (Lisa’s version)
This pretty much summed up every explanation I found on the topic. Each stressed the need to stop thinking about fleshly things. All I had to do was stop setting my mind on what my flesh wanted. That was easy enough. Even I could probably get that done. But wait a minute. As long as we’re being truthful, I had to admit something. To be perfectly honest…that’s not what I spent my time thinking about! As a matter of fact, it was just the opposite. If anything, my mind was not only set on, but was fixated on how to be pleasing to God. So maybe there was something else to this. Maybe I was misunderstanding, because truly, I was not spending my time thinking about fleshly things. Or was I?
My Story continues here
Speak Your Mind