Romans 8:7

Nor do I say this so that we should be without affection, and with a dry heart move only our hands to works. I have read among the other great and grievous evils of men which the Apostle writes, this also numbered: namely to be …

In the preceding section, the Apostle had presupposed that the prudence of the flesh is death, and here he intends to prove this. And first, he proves it; second, he shows that the believers to whom he writes are immune to such prudence, at "but …

The spiritual mind produces peace, while the carnal mind produces enmity against God. Does this mean, then, that the carnal mind takes up arms against God? No, he says; but it is said to be enmity against God because it is not subject to His …

To prove this, he urges that it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. The holiness of the law of God, and the unholiness of the carnal mind, are as irreconcilable as light and darkness. The carnal man may, by the power of divine grace, be made subject to the law of God, but the carnal mind never can; this must be broken and expelled.

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God,....

Because - This is given as a reason for what is said in Rom 8:6. In that verse the apostle had affirmed that to be carnally minded was death, but he had not stated why it was. He now explains it by saying that it is enmity against God, and thus involves a sinner in conflict with him, and exposes to his condemnation. The carnal mind - This is the same expression as occurs in Rom 8:6 τὸ φρόνημα τὴς σαρκός to phronēma tēs sarkos.

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God--The desire and pursuit of carnal ends is a state of enmity to God, wholly incompatible with true life and peace in the soul. for it is not subject--"doth not submit itself." to the law of God, neither indeed can be--In such a state of mind there neither is nor can be the least subjection to the law of God.

This is a very solemn indictment which the Apostle Paul here prefers against the carnal mind. He declares it to be enmity against God. When we consider what man once was, only second to the angels, the companion of God, who walked with him in the garden of Eden in the cool of the day; when we think of him as being made in the very image of his Creator, pure, spotless, and unblemished, we cannot but feel bitterly grieved to find such an accusation as this preferred against us as a race.

This is a very solemn indictment which the Apostle Paul here prefers against the carnal mind. He declares it to be enmity against God. When we consider what man once was, only second to the angels, the companion of God, who walked with him in the garden of Eden in the cool of the day; when we think of him as being made in the very image of his Creator, pure, spotless, and unblemished, we cannot but feel bitterly grieved to find such an accusation as this preferred against us as a race. We may well hang our harps upon the willows, while we listen to the voice of Jehovah solemnly speaking to his rebellious creature. “How art thou fallen from heaven, thou son of the morning!” “Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering—the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so; thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee, and thou hast sinned; therefore, I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God; and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.” There is much to sadden us in a view of the ruins of our race.

MEN naturally mind the things of the flesh. This is as sad as if a seraph should rake upon a dunghill! It is not amazing that a brute beast cares for the flesh, for it is only flesh, but it is lamentable in the highest degree that man, in whom there is a principle infinitely superior to mere materialism, should, nevertheless, so generally give himself up to minding the things of the body—the things of time and earth. The world's catechism is, "What shall we eat? What shall we drink? With what shall we be clothed?" Men begin with these questions as soon as they leave their father's roof and they often die with them upon their lips. It is said of the peasants around Nice that they seem to have no thought of anything but how they can make a living and save a little money—and I am afraid they are, by no means, a unique people—in some form, or other, the world is in all men's hearts and thoughts. The dust of earth has blinded eyes that were meant for Heaven! You would think, from the talk of many a human being, that he, himself, was meant to walk about for a few years and then to occupy six feet of earth and never be heard of again. The creature's life seems in consistency with such a destiny and is, by no means, suggestive of a life to come, or an existence in a nobler sphere! Yet there is in us an immortal spirit—the very heathen were convinced of this! Man has an inborn consciousness that he is not to be extinguished by death. His strange longings, hopes and fears are, in a disjointed way, the proofs of this primeval knowledge which he can never quite forget. It was not necessary that Scripture should reveal the future existence of the soul. When you miss a clear statement of that Truth of God, you only miss that which is supposed to be already known! The existence of God and of an immortal soul in man is taken for granted in Scripture.

MEN naturally mind the things of the flesh. This is as sad as if a seraph should rake upon a dunghill! It is not amazing that a brute beast cares for the flesh, for it is only flesh, but it is lamentable in the highest degree that man, in whom there is a principle infinitely superior to mere materialism, should, nevertheless, so generally give himself up to minding the things of the body—the things of time and earth. The world's catechism is, "What shall we eat? What shall we drink? With what shall we be clothed?"

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God - Because it is a carnal mind, and relishes earthly and sinful things, and lives in opposition to the pure and holy law of God: therefore, it is enmity against God; it is irreconcilable and implacable hatred. It is not subject to the law of God - It will come under no obedience; for it is sin, and the very principle of rebellion; and therefore it cannot be subject, nor subjected; for it is essential to sin to show itself in rebellion; and when it ceases to rebel, it ceases to be sin. From this we learn that the design of God in the economy of the Gospel, is not to weaken, curtail, or lay the carnal principle in bonds, but to destroy it. As it is not subject, and cannot be subject, to the law of God, it must be destroyed, else it will continue to rebel against God. It cannot be mended, or rendered less offensive in its nature, even by the operations of God; it is ever sin, and sin is ever enmity; and enmity, wherever it has power, will invariably show itself in acts of hostility and rebellion.