attended with happiness, and the exercise of evil ones with misery. To be entirely sinful, therefore, is to be entirely miserable.
(7) The ground of this assertion is, that God is the end and portion of the soul. To be separated from him is, therefore, to be separated from all that is suited to its nature and capacity. But a carnal state does effect this separation from God, and is, therefore, destructive. This idea Paul expresses by saying-,
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, &c. The words here rendered the carnal mind are the same as those which, in v. 6, are rendered to he carnally minded; of course the two expressions in our version must be considered as synonymous. This state of mind, this desire and pursuit of carnal things is said to be hostile to God. This may be understood either as though Paul employed these abstract terms for concrete ones, as with him is very common, and then the sense would be, 'Those who are thus carnally minded are opposed to God, i. e. are not subject to his law and cannot be.' Or the abstract terms may be re- tained in their proper force, and then the meaning is, ' The desire and pursuit of the things of the flesh is enmity to God.' There is no great difference; for when we say that sin is enmity to God, we at the same time say that the sinner is an enemy of God.
(8) The necessary consequence of this opposition of a mind governed by the flesh, or of a state of mind resulting from the predominance of the flesh to God is, that those who are in this state are the objects of the divine displeasure. So then they that are in the Jiesh cannot please God. To be in the Jiesh, as before remarked, is to be under the government of the Jiesh, or corrupt nature, to be destitute of the grace of God. It is an expression applied to all unrenewed persons, as those who are not in the Jiesh are in the Spirit.
The words cannot please God may mean either cannot do what is pleasing to God, or cannot be acceptable to him, i. e. are the objects of his displeasure. The latter is better suited to the context, as all that is said in vs. 7, 8 is designed to show the truth of the declaration in v. 6, " to be carnally minded is death." It is so, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, and, therefore, those who have this state of mind are hateful in his sight. But to be the object of the divine displeasure, is to be miserable. In vs. 9, 10, 11, Paul applies to the Romans what he had said generally, and shows how it is that, in the fullest and widest sense, " to be spiritually minded," or possessed of the Spirit, is life and peace, v. 6.
(9) But ye are not in the Jiesh, hut in the Spirit, if so he the Spi- rit of God dwell in you. To he in the Jiesh and in the Spirit are ex- pressions already explained. Paul was persuaded that those to whom he wrote were renewed or spiritual persons ; yet he expresses the ca?e hypothetically, ' Ye are renewed, if so he ye have the Spirit of God, for if you have not that Spirit you are none of his.'
Spirit of God dwell in you. It need hardly be remarked that Spirit
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