Peter Barnes | Romans 8:5-8
SERMON NOTES
IN THE FLESH OR IN THE SPIRIT?
(Romans 8:5-8)
– Robert Haldane: ‘All men belong either to the one or the other. They are either in the flesh or in the Spirit; in a state of nature or in a state of grace.’
1. There are two different mindsets.
– 8:5; the exhortation to do anything comes in v.13. Paul is just stating facts here.
– Matt.12:33 – similar point, different imagery
2. To be ‘in the flesh’.
(a) It means to be trapped – 8:5; John 3:6; 1 Cor.2:14.
(b) It means death – 8:6a; Eph.2:1.
(c) It means to be hostile to God – 8:7.
(d) It means to be totally unable to bring oneself to God – read 8:7-8. W. G. T. Shedd writes: ‘Self-recovery is not possible to the human will, though self-ruin is’. John 6:44, 65.
So much for free will, says Calvin.
3. To be ‘in the Spirit’.
(a) It is life – 8:6.
(b) It means peace – read 8:6; note Rom.5:1.