Romans 8:6
in Romans 8The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace:
KJV
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
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This verse in Romans 8
Commentary
20 notes on this verseFor to be carnally minded is death - To live under the influence of the carnal mind is to live in the state of condemnation, and consequently liable to death eternal: whereas, on the contrary, he who is spiritually minded has the life and peace of God in his soul, and is in full prospect of life eternal.
This site's exposition
set their minds on the things of the flesh
on Romans 8:5-6
Two kinds of people are marked by what the mind holds. The Greek word phroneo names a settled bent of thought, the direction a life leans. The mind of the flesh ends in death and the mind of the Spirit in life and peace.
This site's exposition
the Spirit is life and peace
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown press the verb is. The mind of the flesh carries death inside it already, well before the end of the road. Gennadius of Constantinople gives the three words their sense: death is estrangement from God, life is immortality, and peace is fellowship with Him.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
The wisdom of the flesh is death because sin is serious and it is through sin that this death comes. It is called wisdom, even though it is a foolish thing, because to worldly people sins against the law of God which are conceived, whether …
Animal men, again, are instructed in animal things; such men, namely, as are established by their works, and by a mere faith, while they have not perfect knowledge. We of the Church, they say, are these persons. Wherefore also they maintain that good works are necessary to us, for that otherwise it is impossible we should be saved. But as to themselves, they hold that they shall be entirely and undoubtedly saved, not by means of conduct, but because they are spiritual by nature.
A commentator
Origen of AlexandriaCOMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS · Written before 253.
proposed
And he still dwells upon the same sense, and opens it more evidently, when he says: "For the prudence of the flesh is death, but the prudence of the spirit is life and peace." Is it not one and the same thing that he says, "The prudence of the flesh is death," and that other saying, "The letter kills"? Therefore "the prudence of the flesh is death." Death to whom? To the soul, without doubt. For he who understands the law according to the flesh, that is, according to the letter, does not come to Christ who is life, and therefore "the prudence of the flesh is death, but the prudence of the spirit is life and peace." For he has life and peace, which is Christ, who understands the law spiritually.
A commentator
Origen of AlexandriaCOMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS · Written before 253.
proposed
It is possible also, according to another exposition — if we take it up again from the beginning — that "What was impossible to the law, in that it was weakened through the flesh," be understood also of the law of the mind, which he said above wills to do good but cannot fulfill it through the infirmity and frailty of the flesh; and that on this account God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and of sin — that is, by a victim offered for sin — condemned sin. For when remission of sins was given us, sin was put to flight and driven out of our flesh, and the justification of the law began to be fulfilled in us — of that law, at least, which delights together with the law of God, which is quickly fulfilled when the law of sin that was in our members no longer resists it, if indeed we walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit. For so long as anyone is in the flesh and lives according to the flesh, he is wise in the things of the flesh; but when he has turned himself to the spirit, and has died to the law of sin and of the flesh, he is wise in the things that are of the spirit. For to be wise according to the flesh is the death of the soul; but to be wise according to the spirit is life and peace: because "the wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God" — that is, so long as the flesh resists the spirit and is not subject to the law of the mind, which is the law of God, it is at enmity with God; and therefore they who live carnally cannot please God. But "you," he says, "are not in the flesh" — that is, you do not live according to the flesh, but according to the spirit — "if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you." These things can also, as we have said, be fitted to this place according to another exposition. But let the one who reads choose, and let him follow whichever he judges the more fitting — if indeed he does judge it so.
But the condemnation of sin is the acquittal of the flesh, just as its non-condemnation subjugates it to the law of sin and death. In like manner, he called "the carnal mind" first "death," and afterwards "enmity against God; " but he never predicated this of the flesh itself.
12 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers3 voices
"To set the mind on the Spirit is life." For error, imprudence and ignorance are impassioned, self-rebellious, self-contradictory. And because of this "to set the mind on the flesh," which is imprudence, is death, because it does not know God. Therefore, "to set the mind …
A commentator
Gennadius of ConstantinoplePAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH · Written before 471.
proposed
"Death" is estrangement and punishment from God; "life" is immortality and "peace" is fellowship with him.
He does not speak of the nature of the flesh, or the essence of the body, but of being carnally "minded," which may be set right again, and abolished. And in saying thus, he does not ascribe to the flesh any reasoning power of its own. Far from it. But to set forth the grosser motion of the mind, and giving this a name from the inferior part, and in the same way as he often is in the habit of calling man in his entireness, and viewed as possessed of a soul, flesh. "But to be spiritually minded." Here again he speaks of the spiritual mind, in the same way as he says further on, "But He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit"; and he points out many blessings resulting from this, both in the present life, and in that which is to come. For as the evils which being carnally minded introduces, are far outnumbered by those blessings which a spiritual mind affords. And this he points out in the words "life and peace." The one is in contraposition to the first-for death is what he says to be carnally minded is. And the other in contraposition to the following. For after mentioning peace, he goes on...
The Medieval Church3 voices
A commentator
Bernard of ClairvauxSermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 30 · Written before 1153.
proposed
"Flesh and blood have surely revealed this wisdom to you, not the Spirit of the Father"; for this is "the wisdom of the flesh." But hear what our physicians think of it. "The wisdom of the flesh," they say, "is death"; likewise: "The wisdom of …
The mindset of the flesh he calls the coarsest way of thinking, its name being borrowed from the baser part of man. For the flesh in itself does not have its own thinking, but the mindset of the flesh is a coarse and material way …
Third, he states the major premise of the first syllogism, saying, "for the prudence of the flesh is death." To understand this, it should be noted that prudence is right reason concerning the doable, as the Philosopher says in Ethics IV. But right reason concerning …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
But to be spiritually minded, phronema tou pneumatos -- a spiritual savour (the wisdom that is from above, a principle of grace) is life and peace; it is the felicity and happiness of the soul. The life of the soul consists in its union with spiritual things by the mind. A sanctified soul is a living soul, and that life is peace; it is a very comfortable life.
Christ, as Mediator, is said to be the heir of all things ( Heb. i. 2 ), and true believers, by virtue of their union with him, shall inherit all things, Rev. xxi. Those that now partake of the Spirit of Christ, as his brethren, shall, as his brethren, partake of his glory ( John xvii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
For to be carnally minded - That is, to mind the things of the flesh. Is death - The sure mark of spiritual death, and the way to death everlasting. But to be spiritually minded - That is, to mind the things of the Spirit.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:81%@v2-7
For to be carnally minded is death,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
For--a mere particle of transition here [THOLUCK], like "but" or "now." to be carnally minded--literally, "the mind" or "minding of the flesh" (Margin); that is, the pursuit of fleshly ends. is death--not only "ends in" [ALFORD, &c.], but even now "is"; carrying death into its bosom, so that such are "dead while they live" (1Ti 5:6;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For to be carnally minded - Margin, “The minding of the flesh.” The sense is, that to follow the inclinations of the flesh, or the corrupt propensities of our nature, leads us to condemnation and death. The expression is one of great energy, and shows that it not only leads to death, or leads to misery, but that it is death itself; there is woe and condemnation in the very act and purpose of being supremely devoted to the corrupt passions, Its only tendency is condemnation and despair. Is death - The penalty of transgression; condemnation and eternal ruin; Note, Rom 5:12. But to be spiritually minded - Margin, “The minding of the Spirit.” That is, making it the object of the mind, the end and aim of the actions, to cultivate the graces of the Spirit, and to submit to his influence. To be spiritually minded is to seek those feelings and views which the Holy Spirit produces, and to follow his leadings. Is life - This is opposed to death in Rom 8:5. It tends to life, and is in fact real life. For to possess and cultivate the graces of the spirit, to be led where he would guide us, is the design of our existence, and is the only path of happiness. And peace - Note, Rom. 6.
The words behind it
14 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| τὸ | to | The | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| γὰρ | gar | for | G1063 → | 1039 times |
| φρόνημα | phronema | mind | G5427 → | 4 times |
| τῆς | tes | of the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| σαρκὸς | sarkos | flesh | G4561 → | 146 times |
| θάνατος, | thanatos | [is] death, | G2288 → | 120 times |
| τὸ | to | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| δὲ | de | but | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| φρόνημα | phronema | mind | G5427 → | 4 times |
| τοῦ | tou | of the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| πνεύματος | pneumatos | Spirit | G4151 → | 378 times |
| ζωὴ | zoe | life | G2222 → | 135 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| εἰρήνη. | eirene | peace. | G1515 → | 91 times |
τὸThe
toG3588 →19766 times
γὰρfor
garG1063 →1039 times
φρόνημαmind
phronemaG5427 →4 times
τῆςof the
tesG3588 →19766 times
σαρκὸςflesh
sarkosG4561 →146 times
θάνατος,[is] death,
thanatosG2288 →120 times
τὸthe
toG3588 →19766 times
δὲbut
deG1161 →2765 times
φρόνημαmind
phronemaG5427 →4 times
τοῦof the
touG3588 →19766 times
πνεύματοςSpirit
pneumatosG4151 →378 times
ζωὴlife
zoeG2222 →135 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
εἰρήνη.peace.
eireneG1515 →91 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Romans 6:23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
it leads to
- John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”
- Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned.
- James 1:15
Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
- John 6:40
For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
- John 3:36
Through
Romans 13:14Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.
it leads to
- 1 Peter 2:11
Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ephesians 4:24
and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
- Galatians 5:16–17
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
- Galatians 3:27
For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
- 1 Peter 2:11
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies35
On this chapter
- Abba, Father
- The God Who Gets Named
- The Binding of Isaac
- The Bronze Serpent
- Creation to New Creation
- Eternal Security, and the Five Warnings of Hebrews
Show the next 6 titles
- Firstfruits
- The Fruit of the Spirit
- Gethsemane (The Garden Called the Oil Press)
- Hebel: the word the Berean text renders futility
- How Scripture Shapes Christian Ethics
- How to Study the Bible
Show the next 6 titles
About Romans
This page draws on 18 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Epistle to the Romans; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES; Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 30; Gaius Marius Victorinus, AGAINST ARIUS 3.c.1; Gennadius of Constantinople, PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH; Irenaeus, Against Heresies Book I; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on Romans 13; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS; Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Romans and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Romans.