Paul in Romans 8 draws a hard line between two minds. The natural mind is in the flesh, void of the Holy Spirit, and cannot please God. The carnal mind is enmity against God, not subject to His law, and its end is death. Christ in John 3 says a person must be born again. Ephesians 2 says God must quicken the dead. When the Spirit indwells, life and peace arrive because the Prince of Peace reigns in the heart.

Paul then names three spiritual conditions: the natural, the spiritual, the carnal. The natural man will always mind the things of the flesh. First Corinthians 2 says he does not receive the things of the Spirit, counts them moría, dull and absurd, and chases what flatters the belly and the now. The very Life-giver stands in Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, yet unbelief refuses to come to Him for life.

The spiritual man is the person controlled by the Spirit of God. His affections are set on things above, not on things of the earth. He discerns with the mind of Christ and makes righteous judgments because the Spirit’s job is to glorify Christ. His fruit bears witness. “You will know a tree by its fruit.” His appetite is the Word. “A verse a day does not keep Satan away.” The Word of Christ must dwell richly because the only way the Lord reveals Himself is by His Word, and the Spirit guides into all spiritual truth.

The carnal Christian is a babe in Christ. Carnality is a lapse, not a lifelong condition. If a life runs on flesh from start to finish, it never knew God. John says God’s seed abides, and the one born of God cannot live in sin. So a sin check comes first before pointing at another. Paul requires study to show oneself approved unto God. Failure to grow in Scripture, to pray, to sit under biblical teaching, and to fellowship with the saints will stunt the soul. Company matters. Iron sharpens iron. Gathering with God’s people warms the heart that livestream cannot keep warm.

Paul’s diagnosis of Corinth seals it. Envy, strife, divisions shout carnality, so he withholds meat and gives milk. The remedy for the natural man is the cross. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin so sinners could become righteous and receive the Spirit. The remedy for the carnal is confession and cleansing. The Spirit then restores peace, removes condemnation, and gives assurance of adoption. The delights of the spiritual man are in the age to come.