Setting Your Minds on The Flesh

[Christsfreeservant]

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 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. 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. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:1-8 ESV)​

Please read this all in context. Too many people are reading just this first sentence, and they are building their own doctrine of salvation out of just one verse. Keep reading, for then you will learn who those are who are truly “in Christ Jesus,” and they are not all who merely give lip service to the Lord, who call him, “Lord,” but then do not do what he says (see Matthew 7:21-23). For, even though we are not under the liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, circumcision, dietary, and Sabbath laws of the Old Covenant, that does not make us lawless. We still have to obey God’s commands.

So, who are those who are no longer under condemnation? Who are those who are “in Christ Jesus”? We are all those who now, by the grace of God, and in the power of God, by faith in Christ, walk (live in conduct, in practice) not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Our lives are now being guided and directed by the Scriptures, taught in the correct biblical context, and by the Spirit of God living within us, leading us in the ways of holiness and of righteousness, in walks of surrender to God, in obedience to his commands, and no longer according to the patterns of our sinful flesh.

Too many people, though, are trying to insert their godless and rebellious lives inside of Christ, and then are claiming that they are no longer under condemnation, just because they made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. But they have not died with Christ to sin, and they are not walking in obedience to the Lord and to his New Covenant commands, because they have convinced themselves that God does not require that of them, even though it is what Jesus and his New Testament apostles taught throughout the Scriptures. But if sin is still our practice, we are not “in Christ.”

So, we cannot be “in Christ” by our own terms, according to our own sinful flesh. Just saying we are “in Christ,” by faith in him, does not make it true. We can put on an outward show of “Christianity,” but if our hearts have not changed, and if we are still living in conformity to our sinful flesh, and not in conformity to the righteousness of God, and not according to the teachings of the Scriptures, then we do not know Christ. For the mind which is still set on the flesh, to please the sinful flesh, is hostile to (antagonistic, belligerent, and warring against) God, for it does not submit to God’s commandments.

So, none of us are “in Christ” just by claiming that we are, by making a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus. We are “in Christ” who have died with Christ to sin and who are now walking (in conduct, in practice) according to his Spirit, and according to his commands, in the power of God, by the grace of God, and not of our own flesh. For if we live according to the flesh, still making sin our habit, and not obedience to God, the result is we will die in our sins and we will not have heaven as our eternal destiny. For those who are still living to please the sinful flesh cannot be pleasing to God.

Gospel:[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Walking in The Light

Based off 1 John 1-2
An Original Work / November 16, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

When I lift up my voice, and
Sing praise unto God,
I will fellowship with my
Lord and Savior, King.
In Him there is no darkness.
He is in the light of truth.
If we walk in His light,
From sin He purifies.

If we repent of our sins,
He’ll forgive us now,
When we humble ourselves, and
Before Jesus bow.
The man who says, “I know Him,”
But does not obey His truth,
There is no truth in him.
In darkness still he’s found.

Do not love the world of sin,
For it is hell bound.
If you follow the world, you’ll
Not in Christ be found.
The world and its desires
Will not last; they’ll expire.
The one who does God’s will,
Receives eternal life.

See that what you have heard from
Christ remains in you.
Then, you’ll remain in Christ, and
In His Father, too.
This is what He promised us –
His eternal life with God.
So, continue in Him, and
You’ll receive a crown.

Setting Your Minds on The Flesh
An Original Work / August 22, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love