How do we know that an apple tree is an apple tree? If you are a biologist or a tree expert you might be able to tell by looking at the trunk, or the leaves, or the shape, or something like that. But for most of us, the most obvious way of knowing that a tree is an apple tree is that it produces apples. In fact, it will only produce a certain type of apple.
When I was a kid, life was a lot simpler. There were apples, oranges, pears, peaches. An apple was an apple, an orange an orange. Period. Now there are dozens of different varieties of all of these things. If you go to the produce section of your local grocery store, you are likely to find several different varieties of apples: macintosh, gala, pink lady, granny smith, and my favorite fuji (because they are crisp and tangy). Each of these different varieties of apples comes from its own tree. You won’t get a fuji apple from a granny smith apple tree, far less from an orange tree. And if you were to have a tree in your yard that produced fuji apples, you would be very surprised to find that it was also producing some other kind of fruit, like snozberries. Apple trees can’t produce apples and snozberries, or anything else. Apple trees can’t produce apples for a while and then change and start producing snozberries. Every kind of tree produces the fruit of that tree and no other kind of fruit. Even we city folks know that.
Well I’m sure this all seems pretty obvious but at the same time irrelevant. Yes it is true that each kind of tree produces only the kind of fruit that it produces and no other. But who cares? Well, interestingly, the apostle Paul seems to care. Because that is what today’s scripture is about. Not apples and snozberries, but fruit. And not trees either. In today’s scripture reading Paul writes about the kinds of fruits that are produced by different kinds of people. And it is relevant to us. Let’s read it.
5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:5-13 NIV)
I think the main focus of this passage is the contrast between life “in the flesh” and life “in the Spirit.” This is not a new teaching either for Paul or for us. A few weeks ago I mentioned to you that the New Testament understanding of reality is marked by two co-existing but completely separate and contradictory realities. This idea, you will recall, is called by theologians “The Doctrine of the Two Ways.”
This doctrine essentially puts forward the notion that everything has to be considered in the context of two opposing realities. One is the reality of God’s perfect love, and the other is the reality of man’s rebellion. God and Satan, Light and dark, Good and Evil, Life and Death, Spirit and Flesh, Redemption and Sin, Christ and Adam; we are all familiar with these great opposing realities. And, according to the New Testament writers, we are all in one or the other of these realms, but never outside or in between.
Paul applied this doctrine earlier, in Romans chapter 6, to the concept of slavery. You will recall that Paul told the Romans and us that we must be either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness. There is no “third way.” There is no freedom outside of our slavery to Christ. In the text we are looking at today we see pretty much the same argument. Except earlier Paul was looking at the fact of our identification with one or the other way, here we are looking at the effect of that identification.
In this case the contrast is between “life in the flesh” and “life in the Spirit.” Paul’s argument in these verses ponders these questions, “What would it look like to live in the flesh?” and “What does life in the Spirit look like?” One thing that we want to notice up front is that this part of the letter is meant by Paul to be an encouragement to the Roman church, and to us.
Life in the Flesh
What does Paul mean when he writes about “Life in the Flesh?” The first thing we have to do is to understand the word itself. The word that is translated into “flesh” in English is the Greek word sarx. This word can refer to the “flesh” or physical bodies of animals including humans, but most often in the New Testament and particularly in Paul it is used to refer to the world in general. When Paul writes about life “in the flesh” he is referring to the realm outside of the life of God. The realm of the world. The realm of sin, corruption and death.
It is important to note that because that means the “sins of the flesh” consist of more than just physical sins. When we hear the phrase “sins of the flesh” I think most of us think about sins that are committed with the body: sexual sins and sins of excess like gluttony. And it is true that there are sins of the flesh.
But sins of the flesh also consist of sins that we commit with our minds and our attitudes, if our minds and attitudes are driven by worldly things. If we are living “in the flesh.” So along with the sins that we might commit with our bodies we must include sins like pride, arrogance, hatred, envy, and covetousness. We can be very meticulous about our personal behavior and the way we conduct our physical selves and at the same time still commit grievous sins of the flesh. An example of this is the Pharisees of Jesus time. Their personal morality was beyond reproach, but their arrogance, lack of humility, and hypocrisy was so glaring that it provoked Jesus’ unwavering condemnation.
In fact, this shows us that it is quite possible to be very religious and at the same time very sinful. To have our minds set on the things that the flesh desires. It shows us that self-righteousness and sanctimoniousness are contrary to what the Spirit desires. In chapter 22 of Matthew Jesus pronounces seven woes against the Pharisees and I think people who act like them today. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, You hypocrites!” he cries. (Mt. 22:13 NIV). “Woe to you blind guides, snakes, brood of vipers!” (Mt. 22:16, 33 NIV.
So when Paul writes “those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires,” (Ro. 8:5 NIV) in contrast to “those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires,” (Ro. 8:5 NIV), he is not writing about those who sin and those who don’t. We all sin. And he is not writing about those who are driven by carnal desires vs. those who are not. We are all tempted. Even Jesus was tempted. He is really writing about those who are not “in Christ” and those who are. Between those who are “of the world,” (Jn. 17:16 NIV) as the apostle John puts it, and those who are “in Christ.”
How do we know who is “of the world,” those who live according to the flesh? What does Paul write here? “The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.” (Ro. 8:7-8 NIV).
Let’s return to our illustration of snozberries on the apple tree. Or, to stay closer to the biblical text, let’s look at chapter 7 of the gospel according to Matthew where Jesus observes, “Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.” (Mt. 7:16-18 ESV). Someone who is in the realm of the flesh must bear the fruit of being in the flesh. We can say, because we want to paint that condition in a negative light, that they are thornbushes, and therefore all they can produce is thorns. They cannot produce apples, much less snozberries.
All who are living “in the flesh” live an existence that is marked by death. They are dead to God now, and, unless they are touched by God’s grace, they will experience both spiritual and physical death forever. They could not please God if they wanted to. But, in fact, someone who is really living according to the flesh cannot even want to please God.
Life in the Spirit
In contrast to life “in the flesh” that is marked by death, Paul writes that life “in the Spirit” is marked by “life and peace.” (Ro. 8:6 NIV) What a remarkable difference! Paul himself in one of the earliest writings in the New Testament paints the full picture of the difference between the two conditions. In his letter to the churches in Galatia he writes,
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Gal. 5:19-23 NIV)
The distinction that Paul is making in our text in Romans today is that you have to be in one or the other of these conditions. You cannot straddle the fence between the two. As he pointed out earlier in the letter, either we are slaves to sin, or we are slaves to righteousness. There is no “third way.”
But let us also recall that this section of Paul’s letter is supposed to be encouraging to the Romans. And we can see that where he writes, “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit (Ro. 8:9 NIV). So this is not another place in the Bible where we are being told, “Don’t sin,” or, “Feel guilty about sinning.” It is a place that celebrates our liberation from sin.
If we are in the Spirit it is the result of our fundamental and literally miraculous change from the realm of death and corruption to the realm of life and peace. The thing we want to focus on here is not the terribleness of life in the flesh but the miracle that any of us can live in the Spirit. Going back to our illustration, the reality that Paul is pointing out here is that we have been converted from thornbushes to apple trees. And because of that, we are no longer producing thorns, but our lives start to be characterized by delicious fruit. Our lives become summarized in the phrase “life and peace.”
Now again, I don’t want to suggest here that we never sin, or that we never suffer. Of course we probably do both on a daily basis. But if we are living in the Spirit, our minds are set on different things than they were when we were living in the flesh. Paul writes, “5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” (Ro. 8:5 NIV).
What is the intention of my life? What do I want to do? It really matters. That is the way we can tell which kind of tree we are. Because if we are in the realm of the flesh, we will not be interested in the things the Spirit desires. I know there is a saying that goes, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” And there is truth in that as a warning against fruitless faith. The apostle James writes,
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead (Jas. 2:14-17).
We should heed this warning. Faith without works is dead. But I think what Paul is pointing out is that our works arise from our faith. If we are in the realm of the flesh, in the realm of death, even the desire to be of service will be absent. Someone who is in the realm of the flesh will not be bothered by the suffering around them. They will not care if others are mistreated or oppressed. They will not respond even internally to injustice. They may even promote it.
But someone who is in the Spirit will notice these things, and be bothered by them. Their minds will be set on what God desires: righteousness, justice, and love. I think almost all of the self-inflicted pain we suffer as Christians is the pain of the distance between our intentions and our actions. What did Paul write in chapter 7 of his letter to the Romans?
For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! (Ro. 7:18-24).
“What a wretched man I am!” This is not the cry of a man whose mind is set on what the flesh desires. This is the cry of one whose deeds do not match the desires that have been placed in him by being baptized into Christ, of the man who has his mind set on what the Spirit desires, but continually falls short. And, it is our cry, if we are in Christ.
How do we reconcile this? How can we claim to be apple trees when it looks like all we are producing is thorns? Partially, it can be explained by observing that thornbushes cannot produce apples and do not want to. A mind set on what the flesh desires cannot produce fruits of the Spirit and does not want to.
Partially, I think we can imagine that even though we have been changed from one kind of tree to the other, there is still a lot of the old fruit left hanging on the new frame. We are not producing thorns anymore. The thorns are all there, but they are dead. It will take a while for them to fall away from the new tree. And it will take a while for the new fruit to become evident. But it will. That is Paul’s encouraging message to us today. If we are in Christ, we will more and more produce the fruits of the Spirit, and eventually we will do it perfectly.
I’m going to close by showing a little video that illustrates this in a different way. In this video the preacher Rob Bell uses the idea of musical harmony to illustrate life “in the Spirit.” And I think the progress of the little video will do well to help us conceptualize the process that we are all undergoing as those who now find ourselves “in Christ,” because what we will experience is coming more and more into tune with the musical harmony that underlies everything; into harmony with God. Into life in the Spirit. At first we hear it only faintly. But eventually it becomes a beautiful symphony.
Let us be thankful that we can even hear God’s music, and that it is our destiny to someday be fully in tune with it.
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