The Carnal and Spiritual Mind

“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 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, neither indeed can be.” - Romans 8:5-7

Romans 8 has much to say about bringing who we already are in Christ into agreement with how we actually walk and live our lives. The answer to where that work is done is in the mind. Everything we do begins in our thinking, which is precisely why the mind is where the spiritual fight is fought (Rom 12:1-2, 2Co 10:3-5). The battle is not won at the level of behavior first; it is won at the level of what we choose to set our attention upon.

The word “mind” in this passage carries the sense of attending to something, fixing the thoughts upon it, and regarding it with deliberate attention. We see the two minds side by side, the carnal mind and the spiritual mind. These are two opposite directions, two different objects of attention, and they carry two very different outcomes.

The Carnal Mind and Its Object

In this passage, we first see the flesh: “they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh.” Those who set their attention on the flesh, on earthly things, will walk after the flesh, for a person becomes occupied with whatever he or she continually minds. It is worth asking ourselves honestly what we spend our time minding, because the answer shapes the direction of our whole life (Rom 1:28, Eph 2:3, Eph 4:17-19, Php 3:18-19, Col 1:21).

Every unsaved person minds only the things of the flesh; apart from the Spirit, there is no other capacity (Eph 2:2-3). The carnal mind, however, is not always crude, obviously wicked, or reserved just for unsaved people. It can clothe itself in self-righteous religion, looking respectable on the outside while remaining empty on the inside (1Co 3:1-3, Mat 23:27-28). Being outwardly religious does not equate to being spiritually minded. Christians are still just as capable of being carnally minded (that’s our sin nature after all), but now have a choice to mind the things of the Spirit. It is because of this that we must give great care to what we choose to mind and give our attention to.

The Fruit of the Carnal Mind: Death

The result of this carnal mindset is plainly stated: “to be carnally minded is death.” This is not physical death, nor is it the second death of the lost, for the believer’s salvation is settled and secure. It is a practical, spiritual barrenness, a lack of the very life that God intends for His own saints. When a believer sows to the flesh in his thinking, he reaps corruption and a withered walk (Gal 6:7-8, 1Ti 5:6).

This is where there is no lasting joy, where peace is absent, and where the fruit of the Spirit is found wanting. Not because the indwelling Spirit in believers has departed, or is ineffective, and not because anything has been forfeited in our standing, but because the mind has been turned toward what was never able to give life in the first place. A carnal mind cannot produce a spiritual harvest. It can’t produce good.

Enmity Against God

The carnal mind “is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” The fleshly mind is not merely weak; it is opposed to God by its very nature (Rom 7). It cannot be reformed, improved, or redeemed. The instruction Paul gives is never to rehabilitate the flesh but to reckon it dead and to walk in the Spirit (Rom 8:13, Php 3:3, Gal 5:16).

Positionally, we were once enemies of God, but we have been reconciled to Him by the blood of Christ and brought into a settled standing of peace as members of His body (Col 1:21, Rom 5:1-10, Eph 2:13-17). That standing does not waver because it’s on the merits of Christ. Yet when a believer walks out of a carnal mind, that walk still stands opposed to God and His will in a practical sense, even while his salvation remains entirely secure (1Co 3:1-3, 2Ti 2:24-26). Our fleshly performance of filthy rags didn’t impress God before we were saved, and it sure doesn’t afterwards either (Heb 11:6, Rom 14:23, Isa 64:6). He wants our reliance on Him, and He wants us to allow His power to work in us to produce actual goodness, not just an outward appearance to others.

The Spiritual Mind and Its Life

Contrasted to the carnal mind and the fleshly walk, we see the spiritual mind: “they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit,” and “to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” The spiritual mind is the mind that knows the things of the Spirit and sets its affection upon them, not on things on the earth, viewing all of life through the lens of God’s grace and truth in the inner man (Col 3:1-3).

But we cannot mind what we do not know. The spiritual mind is fed by the word of God. We are transformed by the renewing of the mind, and that renewing comes only as we get into the scriptures rightly divided and believe them (Rom 12:2, Eph 4:20-24, 1Co 2:9-15, 2Ti 2:15). Faith is the hinge upon which it all turns. If we are ignorant of, or do not believe, what the Spirit has spoken in His word, we will never set our affection upon it, and we will not experience the life and peace that God desires for us to experience in our Christian walk (1Th 2:13).

Where the carnal mind yields death, the spiritual mind yields life and peace. This life is not something we manufacture by effort; it is the very life of Christ at work in us (Gal 2:20, Col 3:3-4). To know God and Jesus Christ is itself eternal life (Joh 17:3, 1Jn 1:1-2). The love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance are the natural produce of God’s Spirit working through a believing mind (Gal 5:22-23, Php 4:6-9). When we trust His word, the Spirit effectually works in us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Php 2:13). Christ is our life, and as we mind Him, His life is made manifest through us (2Co 4:10-11).

True Spirituality, Not Legalism

Here we must guard against a subtle error. Legalism wants to manufacture spirituality from a checklist of outward behaviors, reasoning that since a man has done this and avoided that, he must therefore be spiritual. But that is only the flesh polished up to look presentable. True spirituality is a saved person, indwelt by the Spirit, minding the things of the Spirit in faith, while God Himself produces His life through that person. While this can and should produce a life that is transformed from the inside out, it’s not always easy to discern, which is why we shouldn’t look upon the outward appearance (2Co 10:7).

A Daily Choice

The choice set before every believer is a continual, daily one, and it is decided in the mind long before it is seen in the walk. We can set the affection on the flesh and reap death, corruption, and a barren Christian life, or we can set it on the things of the Spirit through faith in God’s word and reap the life and peace He freely gives. The fight begins in our thinking, and the victory belongs to the Spirit as we trust the word He has given. Let us give great care to what we choose to mind, for what we set our affection upon is exactly what we will produce in our walks. God is not mocked; you will reap what you sow, and carnal inputs produce a carnal output (Gal 6:7-8, 1Co 15:33).