For those who are according to the flesh set their
minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to
the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the
flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7
because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it
does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able
to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the
Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit
of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

We must be very clear about something as we begin this morning.
Christian living is essentially supernatural living. By
supernatural I mean that powers are at work in Christian living
that are above the natural. I don't have in mind vague forces like
ESP or channeling or crystals or various forms of sorcery or
witchcraft or out-of-body experiences or reincarnation – all
of which are an abomination to God (e.g., Deuteronomy 18:9-10;
Isaiah 8:19) because they belittle the all-sufficiency of God and
his Son Jesus Christ as God's way of communication and
transformation. Instead, what I have in mind is very specifically
the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives by faith on the basis of
Christ's historical death and resurrection. This work is not vague
and general. It is clear and specific and rooted in the concrete
historical life and death of Jesus Christ who was raised from the
dead and who gives the Holy Spirit to those who trust in him.

But make no mistake, living the Christian life is not a
Dale-Carnegie-type program for how to win friends and influence
people. It is not a kind of Moral Re-Armament (MRA) movement. One
offshoot of that movement from the 1920's says today:

MRA is not a sect. It is a movement where each one of us is
rooted in our own religious tradition. . . . These ideas enable
those of different faiths to work together without any of us
compromising our beliefs. For the concepts of divine guidance and
moral standards - expressed in varying terms - are common to all
the world's major religions.(12-1-01; 7-11-03, http://www.uk.initiativesofchange.org/)

I quote this to throw into stark relief that living the
Christian life is not that sort of thing. The "concepts of divine
guidance" are not common to any other religion. We must
get an entirely different mindset. And mindset is an utterly
crucial word in this text. We must get the mindset of the Spirit of
God. That is what defines us as Christians.

Let's start right there with what a Christian is and then get an
overview of the argument of this text and then look more closely at
what it means to fulfill the law of God.

What Does It Mean to Be a Christian?

Start with me at verse 9: "However, you are not in the flesh but
in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if
anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to
Him." There is one of the clearest statements in the New Testament
of what a Christian is: "If anyone does not have the Spirit of
Christ, he does not belong to Him." We do not belong to Christ if
we do not have the Spirit of Christ. We are not Christians if we do
not have the Spirit of Christ. And in the sentence just before this
one the Spirit of Christ is called the Spirit of God. "You are not
in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells
in you." So the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ are one
Spirit, and if you "have" this Spirit, or if he "dwells" in you,
then you belong to Christ and you are in the realm or the sway or
the ruling sphere of God's Spirit. You are not governed by the
flesh – that is, the merely human sphere or merely natural
sphere. This is what I mean by saying that being a Christian and
living the Christian life are supernatural. God's Spirit, the
Spirit of Christ, lives in us and brings about changes that could
never and would never be made without him so that Jesus Christ is
glorified in what we do.

An Overview of Paul's Argument

Now let's get an overview of the argument – the train of
thought – in verses 4-8. I see five steps in the argument.
Let's read it forward first, the way Paul wrote it. Then let's read
it backward to make sure we got it.

First, in verse 4 Paul's aim is "that the requirement of the law
be fulfilled in us." We will see in Romans 13:8 that love
fulfills the law.

Second, at the end of verse 4 he says that the way this law is
fulfilled in us is that we walk not according to the flesh
but according to the Spirit. "So that the requirement of the Law
might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the
flesh but according to the Spirit."

Third, in verse 5 he explains that this walking accords with the
Spirit because of a certain spiritual mindset behind it.
The mindset behind walking according to the Spirit is a mindset
toward the truth and value of the things of the Spirit: "For those
who are [and walk] according to the flesh set their minds
on [have the mindset to love] the things of the flesh, but
those who are [and walk] according to the Spirit, [set their
minds on = have the mindset to cherish] the things of the
Spirit." So our walk (v. 4) is owing to the set or the
disposition of our minds (v. 5) toward the things of the
Spirit.

Fourth, the reason that the mindset of the Spirit produces a
walk that fulfills the law and the reason that the mindset of the
flesh doesn't is that the mindset of the flesh is death and the
mindset of the Spirit is life and peace. Verse 6: "For the mind set
on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and
peace." Remember from verse 2: It is "the law of the Spirit of
life [that] has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of
sin and death." The Spirit is effective in shaping our mind and
shaping our walk because he is alive. He imparts spiritual life. He
does not just speak laws or rules and tell us to do them. He brings
the law and writes it on our hearts and creates the life that loves
the law and delights in God and treasures Jesus. So I would
paraphrase the argument so far: the mindset of the Spirit produces
a spiritual walk that fulfills the law because that spiritual
disposition of mind is the fruit and form of the life of God's
Spirit within us.

Finally, step five in the argument, verses 7 and 8, shows why we
so desperately need the mindset of the Spirit and the life of the
Spirit. And why there is death without it. Without the Spirit and
the life of the Spirit and the mindset of the Spirit we are dead
because we are hostile to God and cannot submit to his law. Verse
7: ". . . Because the mind set on [=the mindset of] the flesh is
hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of
God, for it is not even able to do so, (8) and those who are in the
flesh cannot please God." In other words, the root of death is sin
– rebellion against God. The root is an independent spirit
that cares little for God and prefers other things to God. It has a
suicidal love affair with independence and self-determination.

That's what has to be overcome if we are going to fulfill the
requirement of the law. Do you see how the text ends with our
bondage to hostility and insubordination: We cannot submit to the
law. But everything in the argument moves to the victory over that
condition to the point in verse 4: "that we may fulfill the
requirement of the law." That's what this text is about: moving
from slavery to insubordination and hostility to the freedom of
life and obedience.

Now to make sure we grasp this argument, let's move through it
in reverse.

5) Step Five (Verses 7-8): Hostility to God

The mindset of the flesh – the way we are by nature, as
mere humans, apart from any supernatural help from the Spirit of
God – is hostile to God. It does not and cannot
submit to God or please God.

4) Step Four (Verse 6): Life of the Spirit

Therefore the mind of the flesh brings death. Hostility to God
is suicide of the worst kind. Only the Spirit gives life (verse 2).
And the mindset of the Spirit is the fruit and the form of that
life. The life of the Spirit creates the mindset of the
Spirit and shapes the mindset of the Spirit. We must have the
Spirit to conquer our suicidal bondage to rebellion against
God.

3) Step Three (Verse 5): Spiritual Mindset

Therefore, since the mindset of the Spirit is the fruit and
shape of the Spirit's life, the way God designed for us to walk and
live is to have a spiritual mindset, not a fleshly one.
From hostility to life to a spiritual
mindset. . .

2) Step Two (Verse 4b): New Walk according to the Spirit

Therefore, because we have this spiritual mindset, we walk that
way – we live that way. We "do not walk according to the
flesh but according to the Spirit." Our spiritual mindset
determines our walk. The power of the Holy Spirit to impart life
and to change what we value and treasure and desire changes the way
we live or walk. From hostility to life to a
spiritual mindset to a new walk according to the
Spirit.

1) Step One (Verse 4a): Fulfillment of the Law

Therefore,
by this walk we fulfill the requirement of the law.
We walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
From hostility to life to a spiritual
mindset to a new walk according to the Spirit to
fulfillment of the law. Oh, how crucial is the
supernatural life and work of the Spirit of Christ to get us from
inability to submit to God's law, to the very fulfillment of God's
law! Cherish this Spirit! Seek the fullness of this Spirit!

Next Week's Question

Next week we will take up the question: How can our imperfect
obedience and our imperfect love be called a fulfillment of the
requirement of the law? I do believe that Romans 8 teaches that the
law is fulfilled in us and not just for us. How
can that be? Since when does the law say, "Pretty good will do?"
Never. That's next week.

Let me close like this. I hope that one thing rings: To get from
your bondage to self to the loving fulfillment of the law takes a
mighty supernatural work of God by the Spirit. We need a mindset to
love Christ and the things of the Spirit. We need to be put out of
taste with the dainties of the world. Where does that come from? It
comes from the Spirit. And this wonderful dependence on Spirit may
be had by faith alone apart from works of the law.