“To be carnally minded is death.” — Romans 8:6a
The apostle Paul spoke of the carnal mind in the book of Romans. The carnal mind can also be called the mind of the flesh, because it is attracted to earthly and sensual things. The natural man (or woman), being devoid of spiritual understanding because of the carnal mind, cannot properly discern the Bible, for it is a spiritual book. His fleshly mind has blinded him of the fact that he is accountable to God. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14).
The carnal mind is “enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7). The carnal mind hates God. It detests His authority and will not obey the dictates of His Word. The carnally minded person is spiritually dead, and will in the end suffer eternal death. “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die” (Rom. 8:13a). “To live under the influence of the carnal mind (the depraved tendencies of our fallen nature), and to yield to them, is to be headed for destruction, and to be liable any hour to be numbered among the damned. Yea, it is already moral death.” *
There will be no gratification of the flesh in the life to come (Luke 16:19-25). Instead, there will eternal and unmitigated suffering for all the carnally minded. Revelation 21:8 makes it very clear that “the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” These types of sinners, and many more besides them, are under the influence of the carnal mind.
There is only one true remedy for the carnal mind. Jesus can deliver you from the carnal mind through the power of His Spirit. “It is only by the influence of the Spirit of God that the carnal mind can be subdued and destroyed.” – A. Clarke. Jesus came into the world to destroy the works of the devil (1 Jn. 3:8b), and the carnal mind most certainly is the diabolical work of the devil. Reader, ask Jesus to deliver you from the carnal mind now before it gets rid of you forever! He can do it by His Spirit.
* A. M. Hills, Holiness in the Book of Romans, p. 71, 1951; The Foundry Publishing, Kansas City, Mo.