The Heathen In My Mind - I

Romans 8:
5 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 set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

I am a slave to my mind. Indeed, all of us are. The great Apostle to the Gentiles explains this to us. He does so by juxtaposing the Christian with the heathen. The heathen is the one in verse five above who lives "according to the flesh". In Paul's vernacular, the "flesh" is a metaphor for our carnal, fallen nature. The Christian, by contrast, is the one who lives "according to the Spirit". Each of these, according to Paul, lives his life in accordance with whatever his mind is set on, whether it be the flesh or the Spirit.

Here is the Christian and the heathen. The heathen is what we all were without the Spirit of God--slaves of our fallen, sinful nature.

Ephesians 2:
12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

But when the Spirit of God regenerated us, claiming us as his own and making us alive in Christ, we were freed from our bondage to sin and made slaves of the Spirit of Christ.

Romans 6:
17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

The Christian, then, is the one whose mind is set on the Spirit of God, as opposed to the heathen who is still enslaved to his sin nature.


Now, let us look at our original passage again:

Romans 8:
5 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 set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

The heathen, whose mind is set on his sinful nature, is dead spiritually (verse 6), is hostile to God (verse 7), does not submit to God, indeed cannot (for he will not, verse 7), and cannot please God in any way (verse 8).

The heathen is hostile to the teachings of God. His mind is enslaved to sin and he will not, does not wish to countenance any of the truths of the God of Scripture.

This is the heathen. He may make to himself a god fashioned after his own desires and whims. He may make to himself a multiplicity of gods. He may be willing to consider any of a host of ideas about God that are foreign to or contrary to Scripture. But he is hostile to anything true about the Holy God Who Is. This God he does not want.

The heathen is what we once were. But what are we now? This is what I want us to think about and I want us to make it personal. Is my mind "set" on the things of the Spirit of God? How so? How often? How easy is it for me to lose focus? How much of my thinking is still heathen and how much of it has been attuned to the Spirit?

Prayer: Holy Father, help us today to focus our minds upon you, your word, and what you want from us. Change our desires and appetites daily to be in line with what you would have for us. Help us to be in tune with your Spirit in this way. Give us a greater desire to know you, a hunger and thirst for you like we have never had before. May our words and our thoughts be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord our strength and our redeemer.