Romans 8:7

Because The reasonof the radical difference of the two "minds" is now further shewn by a description of the essential condition of the "mind of the flesh."

the carnal mind Lit. the mind of the flesh; the same phrase in Gr. as that rendered "to be carnally minded," Romans 8:6.

enmity Cp. ch. Romans 5:10. The expression here is as forcible as possible. As truly as "God isLove," so truly, essentially, and unalterably isthe "mind of the flesh," the liking and disliking of unregenerate man, "enmity," "personal hostility," towards the true God and His real claims.

Nothing short of this is St Paul's meaning. It is not to be toned down, as by the theory that other impulses in the unregenerate may counterbalance, or at least modify, this enmity. We must keep clearly in view the reality of the claim of the Holy Creator to the love of the whole being. To decline this, when it is the creaturethat declines it, is not mere reserve; it is hostility.

the law In its two great Precepts. Matthew 22:37-39.

can be Again a perfectly uncompromising statement. The will of the unregenerate, as such, is incapable of cordial submission to the claim of the true God. Its essence is alienation from Him; self, not God, is its central point. When the man in reality "yields himself to God," ipso factohe is proved to be no longer "in the flesh," (see next verse,) but "in the Spirit."