4. Though " the flesh " is not essentially sinful, it is essentially weak, and hence the word is used to describe man in his weakness, physical, intellectual, or moral.
(1) As connoting mere physical weakness " the flesh " is found in several passages of St. Paul's Epistles (2 Cor. iv. 11, vii. 5, xii. 7 ; Gal. ii. 20, iv. 13) but not in Eomans. We may remark that such a passage as GaL ii. 20, " The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God," is decisive against the notion that "flesh" is something essentially sinful. Yet mere physical weakness of the flesh may be a hindrance to man's spirit,
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as in Matt. xxvi. 41, " the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak " ; and the human spirit thus hampered by the weakness of the flesh is so far unfitted to be the organ of the Spirit of God.
(2) This opposition of "the flesh" to all that is spiritual is more clearly marked when " the flesh " is regarded as the cause of intellectual weakness. This is the case in Eom. vi. 19, " I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh," a passage which should be compared with 1 Cor. ii. 14, iii. 1.
(3) But " the flesh " is regarded by St. Paul as a dwelling- place and seat (not necessarily the only seat) of sin. This judgment is the result of practical experience, not of any specu- lative analysis of the ideas of " flesh " and " sin." He found as a fact sin dwelling in his flesh ; and he regarded this as a fact of universal experience (Eom. iii. 9-20) ; but we have no reason to suppose that he regarded sin as inseparable from the very essence of "the flesh." The flesh thus ruled by sin becomes a chief source of opposition, not only to the better impulses of " the mind," but also to the law of God and to the influence of His Spirit.
ii. The Mind of the Flesh.
The word used by St. Paul is not the ordinary word for mind. It is a word that expresses rather the contents of the mind — its thought, purpose, inclination or attitude, as in Kom. viii. 27, " God knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit."
1. That life is carnal in which our spirit, meant for God, is dragged at the chariot-wheels of our lower life; and that is spiritual which is ruled and mastered by the Spirit. We must not suppose that we shall make our religion spiritual by disparaging external acts or bodily exercises of worship. No ; that is spiritual which is ruled by the Spirit. The worship " in spirit and in truth," for us men who belong to the religion of the Incarnation, must be a worship " in body." But it will be spiritual if it is full of spiritual intention. Secular business, again, is spiritual if it is ruled by the Divine Spirit according to the law of righteousness. Politics are spiritual, commercial and municipal life are spiritual, art and science are spiritual, and everything that develops our faculties is spiritual, if we will allow the Divine Spirit to rule in all according to the law of righteousness, truth,
3QO THE CARNAL AND THE SPIRITUAL
and beauty. For the whole of our being, with all its sum of faculties, is made by God, and meant for God.
2. We see from the context of the passage before us, how the carnal mind manifests itself.
(1) It minds the things of the flesh. " They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh " (verse 5). To mind them is to be intent upon them, to be engrossed by them. They stand first in the affections ; and the " things of Jesus Christ " are nowhere. Thoughts, views, likings, desires, aims, and pursuits are all carnal.
(2) It is enmity against God. " The carnal mind is enmity against God " (verse 7). It will accept an ideal God, a God of its own invention, a God who will wink at sin, and clear the guilty. But it hates the holy God revealed in the Bible. It has no liking for His people, His day, His word, or His salvation.
(3) It is in open rebellion against God. " It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be " (verse 7). Moral indisposition and moral incapacity are here conjoined. The carnal mind is not only disinclined to render to God any such obedience as He can accept, but is incapable of doing so.
Give us the earth's whole heart but once to know But once to pierce the secret of the Spring, —
Give us our fill, — so we at end may go Into the starless night unmurmuring.
Gold lights that beckon down the dusky way,
Where loud wheels roll, impetuous, through the night;
The lamp-lit leaves, the maddening airs of May, The heady wine of living, dark and bright.
Give us of these, and we are blest in truth ;
The wandering foot, the keen, unflagging zest, One with the glorious world's eternal youth,