Men tend to fret over the motives behind others’ actions. Instead, men should trust the Lord to deal with the motives at the judgment seat of Christ.
The world is driven by self-preservation and self-promotion. Individually, the natural man is guided by self-serving motives. This should not be true of saints.
One must choose his reward for actions taken. Would he rather receive eternal reward from God the Father, or temporary praise and recognition from his peers?
God desires for each of His children to walk in the Spirit and be spiritually minded. Yielding our minds to carnality violates God’s will. In fact, “to be carnally minded is death” (Romans 8:6). When we give our minds over to the flesh, we die spiritually. We also miss out on the things that tend toward “life and peace” (Romans 8:6). According to scripture, “the carnal mind is enmity against God” (Romans 8:7). The word enmity is associated with the word enemy demonstrating that a carnal mind is the enemy of God and His will. In fact, the carnal mind not only will not, but cannot be subject to God’s law (Romans 8:7). Christians who are actively walking after the Spirit are the only ones faithfully obeying the Lord.
The Lord frequently uses comparison and contrast to provide insight for discovering biblical definitions. For instance, our text verse contrasts the carnal with the spiritual. This truth is not limited to our text as 1 Corinthians 3:1 also sets forth this teaching and contrast. In a related study, the Bible repeatedly contrasts the spirit and flesh (Isaiah 31:3; Matthew 26:41; John 3:6; John 6:63; Galatians 5:17). By considering these truths together, we find that the Lord defined a “carnal mind” (Romans 8:7) as someone who is “in the flesh” (Romans 8:8). Based upon these verses and others, we understand the word carnal to mean that which is earthly, natural, or fleshly.
