So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.
Parallel translations
- WEB For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;
- KJV For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
- BSB The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace,
- NKJV For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
- NASB For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
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
A mind set on the flesh ends in death, but a mind set on the Spirit brings life and peace. Our mindset has eternal consequences.
Overview
Paul states the outcomes of the two orientations described in the previous verse. The fleshly mind leads to death, both spiritual and eternal, while the Spirit-led mind yields life and peace with God. This sober contrast underscores the necessity of the Spirit's renewing work in the believer.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Gal 6:8For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
- Rom 8:7because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.
- Rom 8:13For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
- Rom 13:14But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts.
- Rom 6:23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Jas 1:14–15But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.
- Gal 5:22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,
- John 14:27Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, give I to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.
- Rom 6:21What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
- John 14:6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
- Rom 7:5For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were through the law, worked in our members to bring out fruit to death.
- Rom 14:17for God’s Kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
- Rom 7:11for sin, finding occasion through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.
- John 17:5Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.
- Rom 5:1Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;
- Rom 5:10For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 8:6 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.