Watch our Livestream 10am Sundays at 10am on Sundays Give Online
Palm Sunday
Series: Walking in New Life
Why “mindset”?
Our points will be:
Romans 8:5 (ESV)
Paul is clearly setting up a contrast throughout these verses between living according to the flesh and the Spirit. He mentions “flesh” or “Spirit” over twenty times between verse 3 and verse 13. Within the four verses of our official text this morning we see them eight times.
If your Bible has editorial headings, you likely see something like, “Life in the Spirit” or “The Life-giving Spirit” as the heading over verses 1-11.
If we are not careful, we might easily get the wrong idea in our passage today. Actually, my guess is that many of us might have some wrong interpretive instincts about our text today.
We are perhaps accustomed to reading these verses as an admonition to set our minds on the things of God (which, of course, would be a good thing). If we successfully control what we think about, we will be able to walk in the Spirit, experience life and peace, and please God. If we are not successful in this endeavor we will walk in the flesh, experience death, and not please God.
This interpretation fits our discipleship-focused impulse to think and act rightly, to pursue holiness, to take the commands of God seriously. It also takes into account our struggle with indwelling sin and our need for God’s continued work of grace in our lives.
However, there are several problems with reading the text this way, and it is important that we understand what Paul wants us to grasp in his careful argument. Let’s approach verse 5 with three questions.
“Flesh” can sometimes mean one’s physical body. After Jesus’ resurrection, when he was trying to convince his disciples that he was not a phantom, he said:
Sometimes it can simply refer to a human being.
Here, however, Paul is using “flesh” to refer to our fallen humanness, not our physical bodies. John Murray defines this flesh as “human nature as corrupted, directed, and controlled by sin” (John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans, 284–285).
“Spirit” does not point to a higher, non-material human-spirit part of us, but to the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit. You will notice that in most modern translations “Spirit” is capitalized, referring to the divine third person of the Trinity.
Therefore, the contrast is not one of physical vs. non-physical or body vs. soul, but one of our fallen, rebellious nature vs. the Holy Spirit. If this is the case, then who are the two groups Paul is describing in these verses?
We should back up to verse 4 to catch the progression of the description of the two groups.
Romans 8:4 (ESV) — in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Verse 4
Verse 5
Verses 8-9
I would like to submit to you that the two groups must be unbelievers and believers. Here are three reasons why I think this.
First, at the end of verse four, Paul clearly is talking about all believers, not a particular group of believers who are more spiritual than others. Jesus’ righteousness is imputed to all who believe on him for eternal life.
Second, it cannot be said of believers that they “cannot submit to God’s law” or that they “cannot please God” (vv. 7-8).
Third, Paul explicitly tells the Romans that they are “in the Spirit” if the Spirit of God dwells in them. Look carefully at verses 9-10.
Romans 8:9–10 (ESV) — You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
The two groups, then, cannot refer to some Christians who live out their faith more spiritually than other Christians, or who have more victory over fleshly temptations than others.
Paul is simply contrasting the life of unbelievers versus believers.
Look carefully at verse 5 again. It’s important to get the cause and effect correct here.
Romans 8:5 (ESV) — For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
Identity (who we are) or ontology (what we are in our being) determines the mindset, not the other way around.
Unbelievers (those who live according to the flesh) set their minds on the things of the flesh.
Believers (those who live according to the Spirit) set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
The mindset is the result, not the cause.
Practically, this helps us in several ways. First, we should expect unbelievers to think and act in ways contrary to God’s law. We should not be surprised when this happens, either with the pagan who has never heard of Christ, or a member of your own family who is not a Christian. Second, it should remind you to be humble. To the extent that you have grown in holiness or devotion to Christ, this is the work of the Holy Spirit within you, and nothing for you to boast about.
Remember this when you share your Christian testimony. When you tell the story of how God saved you, remember that there was a shift in how you thought about God, His word, and His lordship in your life.
Do you remember the fundamental shift in your mindset when you became a believer?
Remind yourself and others that God brought about this change in your mindset by his grace as a gift.
Daniel mentioned the New Covenant text from Ezekiel last week, but it is appropriate here as well. Hear this unique promise of the New Covenant in Christ.
Ezekiel 36:26–27 (ESV) — And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
This is God’s gift to us, and is what Paul is describing in our text. This is part of the promise that Christ himself made to his disciples about the Helper he would send.
John 14:16–17 (ESV) — And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
Because the Holy Spirit is with us and in us, we set our minds on the things of the Spirit.
If you came to this text this morning expecting an exhortation to stop thinking in fleshly ways and grow in thinking in Spiritual ways, I don’t want you to be completely disappointed. The Bible does command us to set our minds on things above. But I do want you to feel the importance and weight of your identity coming before your mindset.
The way forward is not disciplined mindfulness exercises, but through the indwelling Holy Spirit, and living out the reality of the work of Christ in you.
Colossians 3:1–4 (ESV) — If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
There are texts that deal with the battle we face to live out this new life in Christ. Paul uses similar terminology in Galatians 5 that he uses in Romans 8, but is clearly focused on the putting off and putting on that the Christian must do.
Having shown that our mindset follows our identity, now let’s turn to point 2.
Romans 8:6 (ESV)
Just because our mindset is a fruit or result of our identity in Christ (or not), this doesn’t meant that our mindset doesn’t have real-life impacts on us.
There are two ways to read verse 6, and I think both have some warrant. The first way is to consider the eschatological (or final) end. Paul is pointing to some extent to the final destination of the unbeliever and the believer—death vs. life and peace. The mindset of the flesh ultimately leads to death and separation from God. The mind set on the Spirit will ultimately lead to life and peace in the new heavens and new earth.
Let’s not miss, though, the present experience of death and life and peace connected to these two mindsets.
The original temptation in the Garden was that sin will not really lead to death, but to a happier life.
Satan directly contradicted God’s word.
Genesis 3:4–6 (ESV) — But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
The false promise of sin is, and has always been, that your life will be better if you choose to sin. “God is holding back something good from you.” Sin promises “life and peace” but brings death. It takes faith in the midst of temptation to believe that God’s ways are the true path to life and peace.
Romans 8:13 (ESV) — For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
This lies behind every temptation we face now.
Psalm 73:1-9
Psalm 73:16-17
Psalm 73:23-26
Separation —
Isaiah 59:2 (ESV) — but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
Death
Galatians 6:8 (ESV) — For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
Life and Peace
Philippians 4:8 (ESV) — Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Romans 8:7–8 (ESV)
Sometimes, we as Christians talk about non-Christians in the nicest possible terms. This is commendable in many ways. After all, many non-Christians are nice people who seek to be friendly, helpful, and kind. You have probably met some non-Christians who act more kindly to you than some Christians. We should not unnecessarily speak ill of any individuals made in the image of God, whether they are Christians or not.
One of the ways we seek not to offend non-Christians is by how we define sin. We might say:
These are true statements about sin. However, sin is more than simply failing to meet some standard—even a divine standard. Sin in its reality is more personal than that. We feel this reality when someone sins against us. If someone slanders us, hurts us intentionally, or steals from us, we can’t dispassionately say that the person simply failed to meet some standard. We rightly acknowledge that this was an act against us not merely against a set of rules.
The same is true for God. Sin is not merely a failure to follow God’s rules. Our text makes this clear. “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God” (v. 7). This “hostility” is enmity—it is personally against God.
We have already defined the “mind that is set” or “mindset” as more than just “thinking.” It involves the aim, purpose, and striving of one’s will.
An unbeliever may agree with many of God’s laws. He may agree that stealing is bad, or murder is wrong. He may recognize that hatred and jealousy are not healthy, and that being kind to one’s neighbor is the right thing to do. This is evidence of God’s law written on man’s heart.
However, the unbeliever personally rejects the person, glory, and authority of God. The unbeliever places something else—self, secular virtue, or some other religion—in the place that only the one true God deserves. This is no minor infraction; it is personal and treasonous. In his excellent book, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands, Paul trip describes this act as us being “glory thieves.”
Sin makes us glory thieves. There is probably not a day when we do not plot to steal glory that rightfully belongs to the Lord.
- Paul David Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands, 34.
This would be bad enough if we were only stealing glory from another human being, but unbelievers are placing themselves or something else in the place of God. If God truly is the ultimate good, righteous, and worthy person in all of creation, then stealing glory from him is one of the worst sins possible.
A fleshly mindset is enmity with God. James, the brother of Jesus gets at a similar idea in chapter 4 of his letter.
James 4:4 (ESV) — You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
What Paul describes as “the mind set on the flesh” that does not submit to God’s law is sometimes called our “depravity.” It is so pervasive in the unbeliever that we even call it, “total depravity.” This doesn’t mean that unbelievers are as bad as they could possibly be, or that they cannot do good in any sense, but it does mean that by definition, they have not submitted themselves to God and his law.
According to verses 7-8, the issue is not just depravity, but inability. Look back at verses 7-8.
Romans 8:7–8 (ESV)
These are stark words. What does Paul mean that those with their minds set on the flesh cannot please God? These are certainly humbling words.
We must remember that this passage is not describing a Christian’s struggle to fight sin and obey God. Paul is not telling the weak believer that there is no hope of her pleasing God. On the contrary, the narrative of scripture is filled with God commending those with a mustard-seed-sized bit of faith.
Jesus touched and healed many whom the religious leaders rejected because they were unclean sinners, yet Jesus commended them for their faith.
Hebrews 11:6 (ESV) — And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
It’s not as if the unbeliever can simply try to please God and succeed. Apart from a gracious act of God it is impossible.
Pelagius was a popular Christian teacher in the late fourth and early fifth centuries. He taught that God does not hold man responsible or accountable for what he is not able to do. This teaching gets recycled in every generation in some way.
However, Paul in his letter to the Romans presents both our inability and our accountability before God. “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (v 8), and “if you live according to the flesh you will die” (v. 13).
Commenting on this reality, Thomas Schreiner writes:
Paul doesn’t conclude that those of the flesh are not responsible for their sins because of their inability. Rather, he holds them responsible for their sins even though they cannot keep God’s law. Paul apparently did not believe that people were only culpable for sin if they had the “moral” ability to keep commandments.
- Thomas R. Schreiner, Romans, Baker Exegetical Commentary, 407.
We are accountable and responsible before God with or without the ability to obey his commands. Theologians would remind us that this is because our “our responsibility and guilt is not our own ability to obey God but the absolute perfection of God’s moral law and his own holiness” (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 2nd Edition, 629).
In our own fallen sense of fairness, we sometimes struggle with this idea, and Paul will certainly come back to this idea again in Romans 9. For now, though, we must reckon with the reality that “those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (v. 8).
Perhaps a parenting example might illustrate the mindset of the flesh.
One of the delights and terrifying aspects of parenting is seeing responses in your children that so clearly and effectively illustrate much more significant realities.
Teaching young children to obey their parents is a high calling. I think the most significant goal of this calling is to teach children to eventually hear and obey God’s voice. But, it is also important for a well-ordered society and for parental sanity. Like many of you, we have attempted to teach our young children to obey “right away, all the way, and with a good attitude.”
The situations that we as parents require obedience are not typically complicated. “Don’t touch.” “Come here.” “Pick up your toys.” “Share with your sister.” “Eat your broccoli.”
If you, then, as a parent think that because these commands are simple, straightforward, and for their good that your child will have no problem obeying them, you’re in for a big surprise.
We learned this with one of our girls when she was three. Though she was not yet a hardened criminal, there seemed to be an adult-sized struggle in her attempts (sometimes successful) to obey our commands.
Then, one day as a three-year-old, she put theological words to her own struggle. One day, Bethany looked up at Stacey and exclaimed, “I can’t want to.” This wasn’t said in screaming defiance, but with sad, tormented agony. She knew she should obey. She knew what to do.
“I can’t want to.” Doesn’t this describe the reality of having the mindset of the flesh? God’s law is in front of us. It’s often not overly complicated. Most of the time, we can even see that it is for our good. Yet, in a fleshly mindset all we can muster is “I can’t want to.”
We need help.
Douglas Moo reminds us that:
No neutrality is possible; without the Spirit’s mind-set, found only through union with Christ (see vv. 9–10), people can only order their lives in a way that is hostile to God and that will incur his wrath.
- Douglas J. Moo, The Letter to the Romans, NICNT, 510.
Paul writes to the Ephesians that we were all “dead in our trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1). This is another way to describe our total inability. But, Paul doesn’t stop there.
Ephesians 2:5 (ESV) — even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
This means salvation must be a gift.
Romans 5:8 (ESV) — but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
We see this illustrated in our passage both before and after our specific verses for this morning.
Romans 8:3–4 (ESV) — For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
We need the mindset that comes through the Spirit. This is the promise of the new birth, that the Spirit would live in us.
Romans 8:9–10 (ESV) — You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Notice the connections.
Our hope is that Christ will dwell in our hearts by faith.
This morning, we’ve looked at:
For your evangelism…
Remember the contrast of the result of the mindset of the Spirit vs. the flesh.
For you if you’re an unbeliever this morning
Hebrews 3:7–8 (ESV) — Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,
Here are some other recent messages.
We are a church built on the Bible, guided and empowered by the Spirit, striving to make disciples, and pursuing holiness in the context of robust biblical relationships.
© 2026 Cornerstone Fellowship Church of Apex
