What does it look like to live according to the Spirit (Romans 8:5)?

But as born of the Spirit we are “after the Spirit,” and we naturally mind the things of the Spirit. This is just as true as they that are “after the flesh” mind the things of the flesh. As born of the Spirit we have a new nature, new desires, and a new order of things comes before our vision; and the result of minding the things of the Spirit is that the will of God is done, righteousness is produced. Of course the Spirit is the power by which righteousness is produced. The new nature—that which is born of the Spirit—has no power in itself, but the Holy Spirit empowers the new nature that is produced by His operation, and enables us to carry out the desires of the new nature, and the effect of this is life and peace. We sow to the Spirit, and reap life everlasting. When walking in the flesh it is continual rebellion against the authority of God, the mind is in a constant state of revolt, the conscience accusing, and the heart vacant, ill at ease and hankering after that which can never satisfy it; God is at a distance from the soul, and the very remembrance of His love, that is not now enjoyed, adds to the deep misery that is only known to those who have experienced it. But in walking after the Spirit the heart is kept in the light and warmth of that heavenly love; the believer’s thoughts are diverted from himself and fixed upon the Son of God; the glory of God is bright before the eye; earth with its clouds and darkness is out of sight; and the feet press on toward the heavenly goal; the pathway teems with life, and peace rests upon the mind and heart. It is not only peace with God, which is the effect of being justified by faith, but the conscience is quiet, and the heart is happy, and satisfied with divine favour, and in the consciousness of that favour there is no fear in the soul, or apprehension of coming evil. It is a great calm, but not the calm of death with all the springs of the moral being stupefied with sin, but it is the calm of life that has its source in God, known in His infinite and changeless love; it is the calm that is found in walking after His commandments, and in the exercise of divine affections May both writer and reader know the blessedness of walking after the Spirit.

We belong now to another order; we are after the Spirit. And we mind the things of the Spirit. There are those that are after the flesh, and they mind the things of the flesh; this is the natural order. They know nothing about the things of the Spirit; they are not of that order. They that are after the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit. This is the spiritual order. We are brought into contact with a new order of things, things that are natural to us as born of the Spirit. Our minds are diverted from the lusts and pride of man and are fixed upon the love of God, the excellency of Christ and heavenly things.

And by the Spirit we mortify the deeds of the body. We are able now to tread the path marked out for us in chapter 6, we are able to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ. We are not now self-occupied, but occupied with God. The law occupied us with the sin which it told us we were not to commit, but instead of this helping us it hindered us greatly, for it directed our attention to that to which we were not to live. The Spirit on the other hand occupies us with Him to whom we are to live, and in this there is real deliverance.

Verse 5. "They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." It is "after the Spirit." the man's condition is looked at here as spiritual. Every nature has its object, which is its "mind." There are two principles here, each having its own object; the very brute creation have their desires, the flesh its more deliberate objects. The spiritual man obeys the tastes and appetites of the Spirit instead of the flesh.

85 Verse 6. "To be carnally minded is death" (or, which is better, the mind of the flesh, and the mind of the Spirit. It is what each in its nature desires, not a state). If the flesh run its course, death, the seal of condemnation, must be upon it. "As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment"; "but to be spiritually-minded is life and peace." Now we are getting the real, practical, inward thing. There are two kinds of peace - peace in the conscience, and peace in the heart. "To be spiritually-minded is life and peace." This is a far higher thing than simply peace in the conscience. It is peace in the heart and affections. The affections are at rest, and then there is the steady pursuit of things for which our consciences will not accuse us, for, delighting ourselves in the Lord, there will be peace. If you are restless and discontented in your mind, you are not at peace, you are thinking about yourselves! self has come in, so we want something for self. The Spirit turns the eye away from self towards the Lord. The things of the flesh are too small to fill the heart, and the heart likewise needs enlarging to grasp the things of the Spirit; and herein is the contrast between Ecclesiastes and Canticles on this very point.

(V. 5). Secondly, If we walk according to the Spirit we shall mind the things of the Spirit. This will take us a great way beyond fulfilling the requirements of the law. The law does not go beyond regulating our conduct on earth in the varied relationships of life. The "things of the Spirit" are heavenly things in connection with the heavenly relationships that belong to the life in Christ Jesus. He leads us "into all truth"; "things to come", the Father's things and things concerning Christ (John 14:26, 16:13-15).

They that walk according to the desires of the flesh will have their minds set on the things of this world that the flesh can alone appreciate. The Spirit has nothing to say to the things of this world apart from the interests of Christ. We may well challenge our hearts with the question, Are our minds set on the things of the flesh or the things of the Spirit?

(V. 6). Thirdly, A walk according to the Spirit will lead to life and peace. The Spirit leads the soul into the enjoyment of life, and thus keeps the soul in calm peace, amidst all the turmoil and confusion of this world. He is indeed the power of that fountain of life within, that springs up to everlasting life. To follow the mind of the flesh is to bring the sense of death upon the soul, by putting it out of touch with God. Another has said, "All the workings of the desire and will of the flesh end in death. Yes, have the principle of death in them, for it is living without God" (J.ND.). So we read, in 1 Timothy 5:6, "She that lives in pleasure (or "in habits of self-indulgence") is dead while she lives". Death is separation from God. Minding the things of the flesh will, not only hinder our communion, but will bring in the sense of separation from God in the soul of the believer.

What are "the things of the Spirit"? Could the Holy Ghost take the things of the world and make them objects for you? It would be blasphemy to say so. "To be carnally minded" is not a state of mind, but the nature. "To be spiritually minded is life and peace." There is joy and delight in these things of the Spirit; the conscience has nothing to say against them, and the heart delights in them; and the character of the Christian is formed by them. All these traits in Christ become objects on which the heart lives, and thus become characteristic of the Christian.

They, then, that are after the Spirit walk on this principle, live by this life; mind, have their minds set on, the things of the Spirit. Those after the flesh, that live taking what the flesh wills for their object and sole motive and guide, have their mind on the things of the flesh. Now the mind of the flesh is death, the mind of the Spirit life and peace. All the workings of the desire and will of the flesh end in death - yea, have the principle of death in them, for it is a living without God. It works apart from God, turns its back on Him, and passes on into death; while the free energy of divine life before God and peace of heart is the condition of those who walk in the mind of the Spirit, that is, the thoughts fixed on what the Spirit reveals and introduces into. The mind, the union of desire and will, of tile flesh, is enmity against God. It not only goes its own way with lusts contrary to God's nature, but it would not have God to control or hinder it, and, as He must, it is enmity against Him. His law claims obedience on His authority. It is not subject and cannot be, or it ceases to be flesh - is not. So "they that are in the flesh cannot please God." In its nature - will, lusts - it is against God; it is not, if it is not this: of course, it cannot please Him, but is contrary to Him. They that stand on this ground before God cannot, of course, please Him. Such is the hopeless condition of man as in the flesh. But this is not the Christian standing at all He is not in the flesh: "Ye are not in the flesh," not standing as a child of Adam in your natural place as born after the flesh, and to answer for yourself according to law. Ye are in the Spirit if the Spirit of God dwell in you.

384 Mark, now, the steps of progress. They that are after the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit: this is characteristic. Next, this is life and peace. Next, we are in the Spirit if the Spirit of God dwells in us. Further on he shews us that not only is our standing in the Spirit; not only that which we have by the Spirit dwelling in us, is what characterises us as living persons in God's sight; but that we are sons, heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, the true Son and Heir of all things. The man lives in and by the Spirit, and God sees him only as having this life; for this is what He has made him. The flesh is not himself, as we have seen; it is a mere enemy to be overcome: we are no longer in it before God.

353 But the law is not the measure of Christian walk; it only says that he who walks according to the Spirit fulfils it. When I was in the flesh I could not fulfil it, because the flesh is not subject to the law, nor can be, but only follows its own will. But the Spirit will assuredly not lead us into that which is contrary to the law of God. The law is practically fulfilled, while we are not under the law, but under the guidance of the Spirit. We are under the influence of the Spirit and it is not a question of a law outside us, but of a nature in us, which possesses an object suitable to it. They who live after the Spirit, according to the new man, desire the things of the Spirit; but they that are after the flesh set their minds on the objects of their fleshly lusts. We have not to do with an imposed law, but a new mind, the mind of a nature which is born of the Spirit, and which seeks what is spiritual; a holy liberty, in that the man, as having died with Christ, is delivered from the yoke of sin possesses a holy nature born of God, has holy objects before him, and is the habitation of the Holy Spirit, who produces holy thoughts in the heart, and reveals the things that are above. The minding of the flesh is death to the soul; it bears no fruit, and separates the soul from God, now and for eternity. But the minding of the Spirit is life, a well in us which springs up into everlasting life, and fills the soul with peace. The mind of the flesh rebels against the authority of God. Inasmuch as it makes up the activity of the natural man, it has to do with the law, which is the expression of this authority of God over man, and the rule of his responsibility as a creature of God. But it is not subject to the law, neither indeed can be, because self-will will go its own way; besides it has no love whatever for what pleases God. Thus they that are in the flesh, who are found before God in the position of the first Adam, and walk according to the life of the first Adam, cannot please God.

It is important to see that while we have a new life with spiritual faculties capable of enjoying God, yet this life is a dependent life that needs power and must have an object. In Romans 7, we see a man with the new life "delighting in the law of God after the inward man", but with neither power nor object. In these opening verses of chapter 8, there is the new life with Christ the Object for which to live, and the Spirit the power by which to live.

Thus it is with the believer to-day who desires that all his spiritual needs may be met, and that he may enter upon the fulness of life. He has the power for this life in the gift of the Holy Spirit, of whom oil in Scripture is the constant type. There is the exhortation, "Be filled with the Spirit." However, to be filled with the Spirit, God must have empty vessels. There is oftentimes with us the allowance of unjudged flesh. The heart is filled with so much that is not Christ. The world in different degrees, and the flesh in varied forms, is allowed, and thus there is little room for the oil. We need to shut the door upon the world, and the flesh, in order that the Spirit that we possess may fill our hearts and, thus walking according to the Spirit and minding the things of the Spirit, we may find life and peace, "for the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit life and peace" (Rom. 8:6, N.Tr.).

"The mind of the Spirit is life and peace" (Rom. 8:6). The secret, therefore, of a peaceful walk is to follow the gracious leading of the Divine Indweller. If flesh is habitually judged and mortified, and the Spirit of God allowed His true place, our souls thrive and grow. Things that would disturb and cause bitter sorrow, do not intrude themselves then. The Spirit has not to be occupying us with ourselves and our state, but is free to lead us on to a fuller knowledge of Christ, which is His delight.