Well, I didn't quite achieve my goal for last week, as I only got the first four verses of Romans 8 memorized. So this week, I'll be working on verses 5 through 8, as follows:
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, 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, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
God sees only two types of people in this world, those who don't belong to Him (who live according to the flesh) and those who do belong to Him (who live according to the the Spirit). Every person is in one of these categories; there is no middle ground. Those who are living according to the flesh are unredeemed and unforgiven, and their affections are toward earthly things, including false religions, philosophies, and carnal desires. But those who live according to the Spirit have "holy affections," deep longings for godly things. It's interesting that the Apostle Paul says that "to be carnally minded is death" instead of leads to death. We are all born spiritually dead, a spiritual corpse so to speak, completely unable to respond to or desire the things of God. Unless the Spirit of God does a work of regeneration in our hearts, we are hostile toward God and are unable to love and obey Him.
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