5 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.
Chapter 1
5 For those who are according to the flesh
This phrase refers to how the unsaved walk.
They order their life in the lifestyle of gratifying the flesh. This is where they feel the most comfortable, the most gratifying, the most elevating the soul out of life's discomforts.
They believe earthly things are fulfilling, but discover they bring pleasure but don't fulfill the inner need, the inner want to accomplish good. They may "try" religion but find they cannot achieve it any better than achieving "goodness" on their own.
So, they are constantly needing more and many things to add pleasure to the soul to ease the daily stresses, to forget the bad experiences, to raise the feelings above the pain. But later the memories return and remain until the next "drug" can be gotten.
They are not comfortable around Bible teaching and Christians. Why?
...because they "set their minds on the things of the flesh", not on the things of the Spirit.
...They have never really tasted a relationship with Christ. They have tasted religion and untrue things about God. Their repulsion of the spiritual keeps while tasting of the doctrinal further draws them into the arena of worldly pursuits to build a life of enjoyment.
Setting the mind on the things of the flesh means they pursue earthly things that feel good to the physical flesh, a comfortable religious belief system comfortable to the flesh but void of objectively yielding to the true God and His Truth. They are not Truth seekers. They are self-seekers..
Setting the mind on the pleasures of this life is leaves them empty of the pleasures of the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Their eyes cannot see beyond themselves and their pursuits. They will not examine what is truly profitable for the soul, but only for the body.
They have never looked at the menu from the Spirit. They will not look at it. They are spoiled children refusing to trying the nutritional side of taste. They live on the "sweets" of this world to be better than the delights of heaven; but delights they have never tried.
These tastes are earthly: media, sports, food, spending on the enticements of they eye, relationship, hobbies, music, etc.
He will criticize something he has never tried, enjoy what is corrupting, blinding, and killing his soul.
The fleshly man is never wholly satisfied. He is only an addict to this world, finding pleasures, but never enough, never long enough, and never a cure.
Therefore, his life never grows, never is able to feed himself and others, always broken and never repaired. He is like a man going to AA meetings but still drinks. He wants to change, he tries to change, but his body and soul will not let him. He is prisoner of his own body.
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