Supernatural Freedom Series

Free to think Spiritually

Paul says in verse five,

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

The idea of setting your mind is more than mental. Those who live in accordance with the Spirit are oriented to the things of God. Your outlook is spiritual. The direction of your thinking, desiring and willing is toward the things of the Spirit. When you trust in Christ, the Holy Spirit gives you a new mind-set. You are free to think spiritually. You increasingly understand spiritual realities that were confusing before. You can be free from sinful preoccupations, addictions and ambitions. The Spirit of God frees you to be oriented to the things of Christ in a way you could not before. This does not mean you don’t sin and struggle with temptation, but you have a power you did not have before. You begin to develop the mind of Christ, to see the world as he sees it. What’s more you are free to experience life and peace.

Free to experience life and peace

In verse six Paul continues his contrast,

6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.

Death characterizes those who are not yet in Christ. Picture death in the largest sense. Those whose minds are governed by the flesh find themselves caught up in the affairs of life on this earth, death. They live under a just sentence of eternal death. A state of death rules their minds. This goes all the way to the temptation to suicide.

In contrast the Spirit frees us to experience life and peace in Christ. Picture life and peace in the fullest sense. The Spirit gives us life because we are connected to the life giver. We share in Christ’s resurrection. We live under the sure promise that we will be resurrected to eternal life with Jesus Christ. We have peace with God objectively. We are at peace with God through Christ. So we can live in peace by living what is true already. The truth is that we have been freed to experience life and peace. The Spirit gives us the power to govern our minds into life and peace. Reject the devil’s attempts to pull you back into death. He is a murderer from the beginning. Instead respond to the Spirit who can govern your mind with peace and life. Finally Paul says in verses seven and eight that we are free to please God.

Free to please God

His point is actually focused on the limitations of those in the flesh who cannot please God. Paul says,

7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. If you are not in Christ, then you do not have the Spirit of God in you.

You are still captive to the flesh. Your mind is governed by the flesh, so you are hostile to God. You do not want to submit to God’s law. And even if you wanted to do so, you cannot. Those in the Spirit obey God not as a burden imposed from without, but as a delight embraced from within as the Spirit transforms our desires. (Schreiner, Thomas R. Romans. Grand Rapids. Baker Books, 1998. (409)) We are free to please God, as we never were before.