CARNAL MIND IS ENERMY TO GODS LAW AND CARNALLY MINDED IS DEATH Isaiah 59:1-2 1 Behold, the LordS hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. Despite the fact that man is separated from God, the Bible says very little about it, mostly because the writers of the Bible assume it to be so since the separation of God and man at the very beginning of the Book (Genesis 3:22-24). Everyone who reads the Bible with any kind of understanding recognizes that man and God are not on the same wavelength. They are estranged from one another. Despite so little being written about the separation, a great deal is written about how the two will be reconciled. Isaiah 59:1-2 is one of the very few places that actually clearly states why the separation exists: because of mans hostility toward God. Paul states in Romans 8:7 that the carnal mind is enmity, hostile, against God, and that hostility, he writes in Ephesians 2:2, is motivated by the prince of the power of the air. Satan has deceived all of mankind (Revelation 12:9). John 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Jesus proclaimed to Nicodemus that one must be born again to enter the Kingdom of God. Since Adam and Eve, mankind has been cut off from God. The design of the Tabernacle, the Temple, and the worship system under the Old Covenant pictures God as distant and virtually unapproachable. Man in his natural condition, having a carnal mind and dead in his sin, is certainly shown as away from God. Though it is necessary for an individual to be born again to enter Gods Kingdom, it takes a gracious and miraculous act—completely on Gods part—to close the gap between Him and those He calls (John 6:44). No one can arbitrarily volunteer for entry and be accepted; a person cannot cause himself to be born again. Flesh does not produce redemption. Unless one is born of the Holy Spirit, whatever one does in the flesh will not make him spiritual in the biblical sense. The Bible shows that the natural mind of man is at war against God and that it is not subject to Gods law and cannot be (Romans 8:7), expressing the harsh reality of the carnal heart of mankind. When Paul writes that the unconverted are dead in trespasses and sin, he means exactly that. Regardless of how sincere or religious they might be, such people are lifeless in terms of true spiritual life that is given by God. They are part of the old, natural creation and are spiritually lifeless unless and until—and completely at His discretion—God graciously gives life by His Spirit. Paul writes, For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy (Romans 9:15-16). John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Some have mistakenly used this verse as proof that an individual is not born again until he is composed of spirit. However, Jesus is not considering a persons bodily composition at all. A Bible student can be misled by abruptly abandoning Jesus use of spiritual imagery and returning to a literal interpretation. Like the rest of the context, verse 6 must be understood spiritually and figuratively. The verse states why the new birth is necessary. Flesh can continue to give birth only to what it has always produced: flesh. Yet, Jesus states clearly in John 6:63, The flesh profits nothing. In John 8:15, He accuses the Jews of judging Him according to the flesh rather than using Gods Word—which is Spirit—as their evidence. In both of these cases, Jesus is also speaking figuratively. In Greek, flesh is sarx . Jesus and Paul commonly use the term as a metaphor for sinful mans nature, sometimes also described as carnal. Used in this way, sarx is morally negative, even though by creation a persons flesh is not intrinsically negative. Figuratively, it symbolizes the unregenerate moral and spiritual state of man that almost continuously generates sinful acts. Flesh, then, represents the inward, carnal inclination rather than muscle, skin, and bones—disposition rather than composition. Paul writes in Romans 7:18, I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells, meaning nothing good spiritually. Later, in verse 25, he admits that his flesh [serves] the law of sin. In Galatians 5:15-17, he positions the Holy Spirit as the opposite of the flesh, declaring that these two are at war: But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. Biblically, the term born or birth is used, not only to indicate coming from the womb as in mammalian birth, but also to describe the source or beginning of a thing, an event, or series of events. For example, we speak of the birth of a nation, an institution, or a concept. The womb of those births was an event or series of events that triggered the inception of a new direction, manner of life, activity, or thought. This is how Jesus is using born or birth in John 3. He is not speaking of the birth of a human child but the birth of a new nature. The events triggering this birth are the calling of God, repentance from sin, justification through faith in Christs death, and the receipt of Gods Holy Spirit. All of these are effects of the acts of the spiritual God. Conversely, human nature gives birth to more human nature and thus more of human natures sinful works. It cannot do otherwise. As Job 14:4 says, Who can bring a clean thing out of any unclean? No one! Paul makes the same point theologically: For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:6-8) The flesh expresses itself, produces, and gives birth to the works of the flesh and thus to immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, and other evils, as Galatians 5:19-21 details. Though the flesh is capable of doing some good things (Matthew 7:11), in relation to God and His way, the evil will always dominate. The natural, fleshly condition of man will always exhibit the same propensities. In contrast, the Holy Spirit gives birth to and is expressed by the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, etc. (Galatians 5:22-23). Therefore, a change must take place from a life dominated by the natural human heart to one motivated by Gods Spirit—or a person will never be prepared for the Kingdom of God. John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. This is the spirit—the attitude, the mind, the heart—that is driving humanity. For anybody whose father is Satan, it is in his or her nature to break the commandments. This is why God says that the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be (Romans 8:7). It is impossible! There has to be a change, a conversion, to the divine nature. Thus, Satan cannot help himself. He gathers things to himself because he is self-centered, and he gathers them for the purpose of killing or abusing them. 1 Corinthians 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. As the apostle Paul begins his first letter to the Corinthians, knowing that he is writing to a congregation divided among various factions, he patiently explains to them what makes them different from those in the world yet at the same time unites the members of the church. He, of course, refers to Gods Holy Spirit, given to all Christians at conversion by the laying on of hands. The apostle John calls it the anointing which you have received from Him (I John 2:27), implying that Christians have been ordained, and thus set apart or sanctified, to a task or office that others have not been given. This sets up a dichotomy. On the one side are Christians who have freely received Gods Spirit, and on the other are all other human beings who, Paul says, have received the spirit of the world (see also Ephesians 2:2). Thus, there is a clash of spirits, a collision of motivating forces, at work between the Christian and the world. The apostle writes in Galatians 5 that the two spirits are diametrically opposed, one producing the works of the flesh, while the other bears the fruit of the Spirit (verses 16-25). In fact, he declares in Romans 8:7, The carnal mind is enmity against God; the worldly person, imbibing of the spirit of this world, lives in hostility to God and cannot do what God commands. The Spirit from God, though, removes the human hostility and allows the Christian to know—that is, realize, understand, and use—the gracious gifts of God. These gifts are predominantly spiritual blessings rather than physical ones. Jesus advises His disciples not to worry about food, drink, and clothing because God knows that physical human beings need such things to live (Matthew 6:25-32). Instead, He says, Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you (verse 33). The Christians mind is to be focused on Gods goal and godly things that will propel him along the way there, and he can do this only by the many gifts bestowed through Gods Spirit. Pauls focus in this passage seems to be on knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Earlier, he had mentioned that God has chosen to spread the gospel message through preaching, which the worldly Greeks considered foolishness (I Corinthians 1:23). Yet, this only exposes the fact that the Greeks did not have the ability to understand spiritual matters, and God would ultimately confound them in their wisdom through weak and foolish people preaching a foolish message of a crucified Savior. The difference is that those weak and foolish people possess a Spirit that comes directly from the Creator God that allows them to know the truth in all its divine splendor. Thus, in terms of the apostles overall goal in persuading the Corinthians that they should be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment (I Corinthians 1:10), he emphasizes that they have this one commonality, Gods Holy Spirit, that makes all the difference to them as individuals and as a congregation. So, as he goes on to say, there is no reason for them to be so judgmental one against the other, for they all have the mind of Christ (I Corinthians 2:16). Having one mind and being all in one Body of Christ, as he later discusses (I Corinthians 12:12-27), dividing themselves into cliques is both counterproductive and contrary to Gods purpose. 2 Timothy 2:16-17 16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. 17 And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; The New English Bible translates their message will spread like cancer as the infection of their teaching will spread like gangrene. This is true because in human nature there is no natural impediment to sin. Romans 8:6 shows this very clearly: To be carnally minded is death. . . That is what carnality produces. It produces it because there is no repentance possible; in carnality—in human nature—there is no impediment to sin. All that human nature can produce is death! But all along the way, before it finally produces the death, it infects others with the death syndrome. Hebrews 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith is both a statement of fact and a command. It is not easy, but at the very least, God has gifted each member of the Body. It requires of us a great deal of focused and disciplined living to live by faith. To do it well, we must fully accept Gods sovereignty, not merely as a random fact, but as a reality working in our lives of faith. Recall that many Israelites failed along the way to the Promised Land because their faith failed at some point during their pilgrimage. But their faith in whom and in what? Of course, it is faith in God, but unlike them, have we fully accepted what He is and what He does? Jesus commands in Luke 14:26 that we must place Him before all else in our lives. What are His qualities and attributes? What is our vision of Gods place in our lives? Besides Gods warning about the world, we must often be reminded that the carnal mind is not subject to Him, as indeed it cannot be (Romans 8:7). A major reason the Israelites in the wilderness failed is that it never entered their minds at the beginning of their journey that it would be so difficult. Our positions as called children of God place us in a position in which we must determine who is regulating affairs on this earth. To whom will we submit our lives, God or Satan? It is not as though there is a struggle between them. The contest has already been decided. God won. However, He permits Satan limited leeway to test and try us. Which of these two—between whom we must choose—is supreme? Which will we choose to be sovereign over our lives? Revelation 12:9 states that Satan has deceived the entire world. He is an accuser and the author of confusion. If we take an overview of conditions on earth, we see turmoil everywhere, providing a clear picture that mankind as a whole has given itself over to Satan. Indeed, in II Corinthians 4:4 the apostle Paul names him as the god of this age who has blinded mens minds to the light of the gospel. However, this is not so with us. By Gods mercy, our minds have been opened for the very purpose of freely choosing God as our sovereign and submitting to Him. So then, how much do we truly know about His attributes, character, and judgments as shown in His Word? For instance, are we aware of what it says in Deuteronomy 28:63? And it shall be, that just as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess. This is a side of God that is not often taught, yet it is part of the whole of what He is, and we must face it and choose. Judgments are often painful. God says in Deuteronomy 8:3 that He humbled the Israelites and caused them to hunger. Will He for His purposes bring similar judgments on us so that we must choose to accept His chastening and submit to Him as our sovereign? Why might He rejoice in exercising His judgment against people? It is actually because of His merciful love. Peter reminds us, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (II Peter 3:9). Paul, in I Timothy 2:4, confirms this, saying God desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Thus, He can rejoice in punishment because He knows that the punishment will be the means of drawing men to the knowledge of the truth by which they can repent and be saved.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 11:46:53 +0000
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