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.
Parallel translations
- KJV For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
- BSB 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.
- NKJV 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.
- NASB For those who are in accord with the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are in accord with the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
- NLT Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
People are shaped by what they set their minds on—the flesh or the Spirit. The direction of one's mind reveals the governing power of one's life.
Overview
Paul contrasts two kinds of people by their fundamental orientation. Those ruled by the flesh fix their thoughts on fleshly things, while those ruled by the Spirit focus on the things of the Spirit. This mindset is not incidental but reveals where one's deepest allegiance and life truly lie.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 1 Cor 2:14Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
- Gal 5:19–25Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness,
- John 3:6That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
- Col 3:1–3If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.
- Rom 8:6–7For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;
- Phil 3:18–19For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, as the enemies of the cross of Christ,
- Rom 8:9But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.
- Mark 8:33But he, turning around, and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter, and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you have in mind not the things of God, but the things of men.”
- Rom 8:12–14So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
- 2 Cor 10:3For though we walk in the flesh, we don’t wage war according to the flesh;
- 2 Pet 2:10but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement, and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries;
- Eph 5:9for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth,
- 1 Cor 15:48As is the one made of dust, such are those who are also made of dust; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 8:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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