Charles Spurgeon Commentary Romans 8:5

"For they that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit." — Romans 8:5 (ASV)

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh;

They care for nothing else: they are satisfied so long as their appetites are gratified. They are of this world, and the things of this world fill them to the brim.

But they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

Spiritual joys, spiritual hopes, spiritual pursuits,–these belong only to those who are spiritual.

But they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

Those in whom a new life has been begotten by the Holy Spirit – these set their minds on the things of the Spirit. Each nature seeks its own things – the flesh seeks the things of the flesh, the spirit seeks the things of the Spirit. Judge, my hearers, to which category you belong by this test – for what are you living? What you live for is the true index of your nature. Do you set your mind on spiritual things, or the things of the flesh?

For 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.

Everything according to its nature. Water will rise as high as its source, but it will not naturally flow any higher. The great thing, then, is to be brought under the dominion of the Holy Spirit, and of that new nature which is the offspring of the Spirit. Then we try to rise up to our source, and we rise vastly higher than human nature ever can under any force that you can apply to it. The new nature can do what the old nature cannot do.

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; (Romans 8:5).

They live to eat and drink. They live for self-aggrandizement.

They live for the world and its pleasures alone. It is according to their nature.

Everything acts according to its nature. The wolf devours; the sheep patiently feeds.

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.

God has given us, then, the Spirit to dwell in us, and now I trust we can say that we desire holiness, and righteousness, and peace, and joy, in the Holy Ghost, for these things are the things of the Spirit.

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh;

Flesh cares for flesh. The man who is all body cares only for the body. The man, whose mind is under subjection to his body, minds "the things of the flesh."

But they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit (Romans 8:5).

Where the Holy Ghost is Supreme, where the spiritual world has become predominant over the heart and life, there, men live for something nobler than the worldly man's trinity, What shall we eat, and what shall we drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed? (Matthew 6:31). The carnal life is only fitting for a beast, or a bird, or an insect. But when a man cares for his immortal spirit, and lives for divine and spiritual things, he has attained to the life that is life indeed.