ACC ~ Romans 8 v5 - 8

OVERVIEW:

The Fathers agreed with Paul, but they were not always in agreement on who was “setting their minds on the flesh.” For some of the Fathers, this phrase could be applied to new Christians who had not yet progressed very far in their sanctification. For others it meant the Jews. The Fathers were quite clear, however, that “flesh” here refers to a spiritual principle and not to the physical body. The substance of the flesh as such is not censured.

8:5 | Mind of the Flesh, Mind of the Spirit

SETTING ONE’S MIND ON THE FLESH. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: It is possible to think of those who have just recently been instructed in the faith and who are still little ones in Christ as carnal, for he calls those who have already believed by the Holy Spirit “spiritual” and those newly taught and not yet purified “carnal.” He speaks of these latter as carnal with good reason, for like the pagans they still mind the things of the flesh. CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 6.36.

LIVING ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT. ORIGEN: Those who live according to the flesh are the Jews, whom Paul says are Israel according to the flesh. They know what belongs to the law of the flesh because they interpret the law according to the flesh. Those who live according to the Spirit are the people whom Paul calls Jews in spirit, not in the letter. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

PUTTING THE WORLD BEHIND THEM. AMBROSIASTER: Paul says this because whoever obeys the temptation which comes through the flesh knows what the things of the flesh are. … Those who live according to the Spirit are those who have stomped on the lusts of the flesh by attacking sin. They have put the world behind them and although they still walk in the flesh they do not struggle according to the flesh. Their glory is not from men but from God. Dwelling in these spiritual works, they know what the things of the Spirit of God are and walk in his commandments. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

NO DISPARAGEMENT OF THE FLESH. CHRYSOSTOM: This is not meant to be a disparagement of the flesh. For as long as it keeps its place nothing untoward will happen. But if we let it have its own way in everything and allow the flesh to get out of hand, it will rise up against the soul and then destroy and corrupt everything. This is not because of its own nature but because it is out of proportion, and disorder will ensue. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 13.

TWO SUBSTANCES. PELAGIUS: Man is composed of spirit and flesh. When a man performs carnal deeds he is called “flesh,” but when he performs spiritual deeds he is called “Spirit.” For when one of these substances brings the other under its control, the subordinate substance in effect loses both its power and its name. For each substance desires what is connected and related to it. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

8:6 | Life and Peace

CHRIST IS LIFE. ORIGEN: Whoever interprets the law according to the flesh, i.e., according to the letter, does not come to Christ, who is life. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

SET THE MIND ON THE SPIRIT. MARIUS VICTORINUS: “To set the mind on the Spirit is life.” For error, imprudence and ignorance are impassioned, self-rebellious, self-contradictory. And because of this “to set the mind on the flesh,” which is imprudence, is death, because it does not know God. Therefore, “to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” AGAINST ARIUS 3.C.1.

THE SUPPOSED WISDOM OF THE FLESH. AMBROSIASTER: The wisdom of the flesh is death because sin is serious and it is through sin that this death comes. It is called wisdom, even though it is a foolish thing, because to worldly people sins against the law of God which are conceived, whether in thought or in deed, on the basis of what is visible appear as wisdom, especially because those who sin are full of energy and cleverness. The fact that they take so much trouble over it makes them appear wise, even though there is nothing more foolish than sinning. Moreover, there is yet another wisdom of the flesh which, puffed up as it is by earthly reasoning, denies the possibility of miracles. Therefore it laughs at the virgin birth and at the resurrection of the flesh. The wisdom of the Spirit, on the other hand, is true wisdom which leads to life and peace. … Paul did not say that the flesh is hostile but rather that “the wisdom of the flesh” is. “The wisdom of the flesh” means, in the first place, any argument about the unknown which men have come up with and, in the second place, a preference for what can be seen. Both these things are hostile to God because they make the Lord of the elements and the Creator of the world equal to what he has made and assert that nothing can happen unless there is a rational cause for it. For this reason they deny that God made a virgin give birth or that he raises the bodies of the dead. They say that it is absurd that God should do anything beyond what man can understand, and therefore he did not do it. … These people are so blinded that they do not see how greatly they are insulting God, for the work which he was pleased to do in order that his praise should be proclaimed they condemn and claim is unbelievable and absurd. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

PELAGIUS: Paul says elsewhere that it is human wisdom to repay evil for evil. Such wisdom obtains death because it transgresses the commandment. But the wisdom of the Spirit enjoys peace now because it does not repay in kind, and in the future it will obtain eternal life. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

LIFE AND PEACE. GENNADIUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE: “Death” is estrangement and punishment from God; “life” is immortality and “peace” is fellowship with him. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

8:7 | Hostile to God

THE MIND SET ON THE FLESH. GREGORY OF NYSSA: As long as the flesh lives … it is not possible for the pleasing and perfect will of God to be done expeditiously in the life of the believer. ON PERFECTION.

WHETHER FREE CHOICE IS IMPOSSIBLE. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul is not saying that it is impossible for a wicked person to become good but rather that it is impossible for one who continues in wickedness to be subject to God. For a person to change and become good and subject to God is easy. … If we give our souls up to the Spirit and persuade our flesh to recognize its proper position, we shall make our souls spiritual as well. But if we are lazy we shall make our souls carnal. For since it was not natural necessity which put the gift into us but freedom of choice, it now rests with us which way we shall choose to go. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 13.

WHY THE “WISDOM” OF THE FLESH IS HOSTILE TO GOD. AUGUSTINE: Paul explains why he said “hostile” so that no one should think that there is some nature derived from an opposing principle which God did not create and which fights against him. An enemy of God is one who does not submit to his law and who behaves this way because of the wisdom of the flesh. This means that he seeks worldly goods and is afraid of worldly evils. The normal definition of wisdom is to seek what is good and avoid what is evil. Therefore the apostle is right to describe the wisdom of the flesh as the longing for “goods” which do not remain with a man and when there is a fear for losing those things which one day will have to be left behind anyway. Wisdom of this kind cannot submit to the law of God. It must be destroyed so that the wisdom of the Spirit, which does not place its hope in worldly goods nor is afraid of worldly evils, may take its place. For the one nature of the soul has both the wisdom of the flesh when it follows lower things and the wisdom of the Spirit when it chooses higher things, just as the one nature of water freezes in the cold and melts in the heat. AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 49.

PELAGIUS: The flesh is not in itself hostile to God, as the Manichaeans say, but the carnal mind is. For everything which is not subject is hostile, and anyone who wants to clear himself may sometimes go beyond the limit of the old law. Paul says that this carnal wisdom can never be subject to the law of God in order to call men back from the desires of the flesh. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

8:8 | The Flesh Cannot Please God

THE SUBSTANCE OF FLESH AS SUCH NOT CENSURED. IRENAEUS: The apostle does not reject the substance of flesh but shows that the Spirit must be infused into it. AGAINST HERESIES 5.10.2.

TERTULLIAN: In these and in similar statements it is not the substance of the flesh which is censured but its actions. ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 10.

AMBROSIASTER: The wise of this world are in the flesh because they cling to their wisdom, by which they reject God’s law. For whatever goes against the law of God is of the flesh, because it is of the world. For the whole world is flesh and every visible thing is assigned to the flesh. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

WHETHER THE FLESH CAN PLEASE GOD. CHRYSOSTOM: Are we to cut our bodies to pieces in order to please God? Should we become murderers in order to practice virtue? You see what inconsistencies result if we take these words literally! What Paul means by the flesh in this passage is not the essence of the body but a life which is carnal and worldly, serving self-indulgence and extravagance to the full. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 13.

CHRYSOSTOM: Why is this? Is not the speaker himself clad in flesh? Paul does not mean that those clad in flesh are incapable of pleasing God but rather those who put no store by virtue, whose thoughts are totally carnal and who are caught up in pleasures of that kind, paying no attention to their soul, which is incorporeal and intellectual. HOMILIES ON GENESIS 24.6.

JEROME: If all who are carnal cannot please God, how does Paul himself, the speaker, please God? How do Peter and the other apostles and saints, whom we cannot deny were carnal, please him? … It is because they—and we—do not live according to the flesh. We … walk about on the earth, it is true, but we are hastening on our way to heaven, for here we do not have a lasting place, but we are wayfarers and pilgrims, like all our fathers. HOMILIES 63.

AUGUSTINE: In the same way, snow cannot tolerate heat. For when snow is heated it melts; it becomes warm as water, but no one can then call it snow. AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 49.

PELAGIUS: This proves that Paul did not find fault with the flesh itself but with the works of the flesh, because those to whom he was writing were undoubtedly living in the flesh in the physical sense. Once one has given himself over to the flesh (in the spiritual sense) it is impossible to avoid sin. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

THEODORET OF CYR: Paul is not telling us to leave the body but to be set free from the wisdom of the flesh. What this means, he tells us in the following verses. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.