“For those who are after the flesh do mind the things of the
flesh; but those who are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.”
Romans viii. 5.
“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
Two different classes are here presented to our view, in
striking and solemn contrast. With regard to the first, a more accurate,
and at the same time a more awful, portrait of the carnal state of
man exists not in any language than this. He is described as
living after the flesh. And lest it should be supposed, as by some
it is, that a corrupt tree can bring forth good fruit, or, in other
words, that holiness is the natural product of our unrenewed
nature, it is added, who “mind the things of the flesh.” But before
we go more fully into the unfolding of this subject, we should
remark, that the term “flesh” has various significations in God’s
word, often decidedly opposite to that which it bears in the passage
before us. For example, it is sometimes used to denote a softened
disposition of mind: “I will give you a heart of flesh.” Again, it
sets forth the tender and close union subsisting between Christ and
his Church: “No man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourishes
and cherishes it, even as the Lord the Church.” A yet deeper and
more sublime signification it assumes when used to describe the
mysterious incarnation of the Son of God: “The Word was made
flesh.” But the sense in which the word is employed in the text under
consideration, is totally different to any we have quoted. It
designates the fallen and carnal state of the unrenewed man. He is
after the flesh, and his whole life is in accordance with the
dictates of the flesh. Our Lord thus describes it- “That which is
born of the flesh is flesh.” That is, it is nothing more than
carnal and corrupt. It is originally corrupt, and corrupt it
remains until it perishes. “When we were in the flesh, the motions of
sin, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth
fruit unto death.” We are thus taken to the very root of all the
depravity and crime which afflicts and degrades our common nature.
It is not so much the outbreak of sin- the wretchedness and woe
which, working upwards, floats upon the surface of society; that
presents to a spiritual eye the most afflicting view of man’s
fallen condition, as the fact, that the root of all iniquity dwells
in his nature; and that, when he hates God, and opposes his
government, and violates his laws, and injures his fellow-creatures, it
is not an accident of his nature, nor the effect of a surprisal
into sin, like that of our first parents, as it is the working out
of an original and natural principle; it is the development of an
innate and deep corruption, coursing its way upward, as we have
said, from the concealed depths of his nature to the surface of his
life. And thus, though the ethics of a man be sound, and his life
be in harmony with the morality of his creed, yet in the absence of
the Spirit’s regeneration, he is still emphatically “after the
flesh:” he bears about with him an original principle of evil, whose
existence links him to the flesh, the full development of which is
only suppressed by the laws of society, a consciousness of right
and wrong, a natural regard for his own well-being, and the
overruling power of God. Keep Reading >>>
