Featured Romans 8:6.....What is it getting at.

On the other hand, refusing to apply Romans 8 to our lives and instead posting so much of Owen's book is kinda a diversion as well.

The importance of Romans 8 is not how Owen applied it but what it means and how we apply it to our interactions with others.

 

My thoughts were twofold.

1. I believe that we can gain from reading Puritian writings, to include John Owen. I told you that one of my favorite books is The Valley of Vision (which is a collection of Puritian writings) and I strongly recommend The Mortification of the Flesh (which is by John Owen). I love reading Spurgeon's and Jonathan Edward's works as well. C.S. Lewis is another I have benefitted from, as is D.L. Moody.

So your claim that I believe they are not relevant today is removing my comment out of it's context. None of those mentioned are relevant to Practical Theology (I think I used the term "Applied Theology"). That does not discount their worth in general.

2. My other thought was what is meant by Romans 8:6. This is what I explained, and I am not quite sure how you can suggest I should not post my thoughts as you asked for them in the OP.

Romans 8:6 tells us a mind set on the flesh is death, but a mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.

In our shared environment how does this look? A mind set on the flesh insults brethern, causes strife, etc. A mind set on the Spirit is kind to the brethern, gentle.

Were this a thread about John Owen it would be different. You should start one. This thread is about Romans 8:6.

Here is the OP:

Here I ask how you apply the passage.

 

If you intended this to be a discussion of John Owen's book rather than Romans 8:6 then you would have done better to say so before the 13th post. The discussion was already underway by the time you introduced Owen.

That said, there is no problem introducing Owen's ideas and application. But you should not chastise others for dealing with the OP. Iron sharpens iron.

 

I find often people mistake spiritual knowledge with cognitive learning. I've done this before. But spiritual knowledge is application. Anybody can read the Bible and understand what it says. Anybody can read "the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace" and understand what the passage means by examining the context of the passage.

But spiritual knowledge is how that applies to our lives. It is not reading that we should set our minds on the Spirit but actually setting our minds on the Spirit. One cannot understand in this way except via the guidance of the Spirit

We can read John Wesley, John Owen, Irenaeus, George Miller (especially Muller), C.S. Lewis, A.W. Tozer and see how they applied Scripture - how God worked in their lives for His glory.

But without personal application it is nothing more than belief, in the sense that even the demons believe and tremble.

 

Neither was I, for the most part. Few even attempted to apply the passage to their lives.

I did think Scripture itself provided a depth that surpassed anything else posted. But that is to be expected when we compare God's Word to man's understanding.

But to be fair, you did not really give a discussion a chance. You introduced Owen on the 13th post.

Speaking of other,'s interaction, how do you apply the passage?

 

Let's continue with the OP:

Romans 8:1–13 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Galatians 5:16-26 I say, then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things—as I warned you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

1 John 1:5–7 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 2:10–11 The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

This IS depth of Scripture (which goes even deeper). Here we should dive deep.

What is the spiritual truth of these passages? How are these passages applied?

Let's look at the context of this board (with our interactions...something we all share).

How does these passages apply to our interactions among one another?

 

Sorry. I was going off post 16 (@Martin Marprelate 's post about Romans 8). I thought his connection to the surrounding verses was good.

 

John Owen is saying what I have been saying on this thread - that we need to examine ourselves. But he applies this to preachers. Romans was not written specifically to preachers but to Christians in Rome. It applies to all.

Owen is correct that we should examine ourselves.

Look at our own interactions. What does that say about our heart. What does how we interact with one another tell us about ourselves - is our mind set on the flesh or the Spirit.

Do we insult others, are we unkind, harsh? Or do we love others, are we kind, gentle?

 

I agree. We are to test ourselves. Scripture even tells us those who fail the test will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Men can quote Scripture, quote Owen, quote Wesley.....but unless they are born again they will perish. And we are not still born. Peter tells us we were saved to do good works.

Some on this board should carefully consider their interactions with the brethern. We all should. Online forums are often a better window into the heart of a man because of the level of ananominity it affords.

Christians stumble (perhaps me more often than others) but we recover. But by the grace of God we do not stay where we have fallen.

 

This is an interesting statement

There are men who set their minds on the flesh, which is death.

There are men who set their minds on the Spirit, which is life and peace.

Owen tells us there is no middle state, just varying degrees of one or the other.

I am not sure that this is correct.

Scripture tells us that those who insult, abuse, slander other people will not inherit the Kingdom.

But don't some who are truly saved have an occasion to sin?

It does not make the sin a degree of Spiritual mindfulness.


I tend to look at the believer as in a struggle with the flesh, of having to discipline the body (the desires).

A brother may insult another, and in that moment he has his mind set on the flesh. In that moment he has given sin a door. But if he is truly saved then will he not repent? Will Christ not forgive?

If he does not repent, then perhaps he is indeed Christian only by name.

 

I disagree. Romans 8 as a whole explains verse 6 very well.

Owen's book is very good as well (but he uses the verse as a theme, he is not explaining the actual verse).