‘For the flesh-mind, death, but the breath-mind, [pneuma], life and peace’, (Romans 8 v 6).
Paul has pointed out two polarised groups within humanity and he is explaining how their speech and behaviour works out day-by-day. We have -
The ‘down from the flesh’ – those without persuasion with regard to spiritual realities, who exist thinking, judging and caring for that of the flesh
And
The ‘down from the Breath’ – those brought forth within the Messiah by God, by means of the Breath that indwells them. They exist thinking, judging and caring for that of the Breath, such that the fundamental principle of judicial approval and the rightwise-ness of the Law is beginning and continuing to be made full and complete within them
The mind-set, thoughts, purposes, aspirations and inclinations of those enslaved to their flesh is death - insensitivity, unresponsiveness, opposition and ignorance with regard to God. By contrast, the mind-set, thoughts, purposes, aspirations and inclinations of those possessing the Breath related to God, His Messiah and the heavenly realm is Life. The movement or current of the Breath dwelling in their deep inner core is vitality, animation, sensitivity, responsiveness, enlightened illumination and perception with regard to God, joining and tying together into wholeness, health, welfare and safety. ‘Being declared judicially approved and rightwise from out of entrustment and persuasion, they are possessing peace towards God by means of the Messiah’, (Romans 5 v 1).
There is the fundamental, polarising difference. ‘Outsiders’ are enslaved to constructing the ‘workings of the flesh’, (Galatians 5 v 19 - 21). But those brought forth by God within the Messiah are working out or carrying across from within the practical end result of the movement of the Breath within them – the ‘Fruit of the Breath’, (Galatians 5 v 22 - 23). In both cases the ‘mind’ is presented as an intermediary regulator. In the case of unbelievers, their mind is an intermediary regulator between the raw passions of their flesh, and their speech and behaviour. But their mind is enslaved to their fleshly desires and impulses, thinking, judging and caring for that which is of the flesh. Using their mind they plan and determine how to satisfy the impulses of their flesh.
For Christians, if they are walking within the sphere and influence of the Breath, then the Breath is enlightening their mind and the current of the Breath is in opposition to the impulses of their flesh. Using their mind, they think, judge and care for that which is of the Breath and carry this across from within into their speech and behaviour. In this way the judicial approval and rightwise acts of the Law are being made full and complete within them, (verse 4).
But sometimes the mind of the Christian is captured by the energies that are inherent and still active within their flesh, (Romans 7 v 23). The practical godly speech and behaviour of Christians does not just happen. Christians don’t merely ‘let go and let God do the work’. Rather, they are exhorted to use their enlightened mind as a regulator of their speech and behaviour. They are exhorted to ‘work to bring about your deliverance to its end point, 13 for God is working within you, namely to intend and to be active upon what is good or beneficial’, (Philippians 2 v 12, 13).
