罗马书 8:7

Because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be.

As Barrett noted,

(The mind of the flesh) means a mind from which God is excluded.[14]

This verse should be understood in the light of certain basic facts. There is a seat of authority within every person; it is the essential "I" whose choices and decisions determine destiny. Not merely the body, but also the intelligence itself, are both subject to this essence of the person, which is the monitor of the complete life of the individual. This inner throne of personal authority was designed by the Creator for his own occupancy, and is so created that the "I" itself cannot occupy it; although it is possible for the "I" to dethrone God and turn the occupancy of the throne over to Satan. This is what Adam did in Eden. This means that every life is under the authority of God or that of Satan. Man was so created that it is impossible for man himself to be the captain of his soul, his very nature requiring that the ultimate authority of his life shall belong to either one of two masters, and only two, God or Satan. Thus, when Paul spoke of the "mind of the flesh" in this verse as being at enmity with God, he referred to the mind of one who has put the Lord off the inner throne of his life.

It is true that Satan deceives people into the vanity of believing that they might indeed get rid of God and "live their own lives"; but it is a delusion, for, in the very act of refusing God the adoration that is rightfully his, the person becomes automatically a de facto servant of the devil; and the inevitable result of such an exchange of masters is that the very highest human faculties (as well as all others), including the intelligence itself, are incapable of serving God as long as such a condition exists. This intelligence subordinated to Satan instead of God was called "the mind of the flesh" by Paul here, because such a mind no longer has any regard or concern for eternal things and is occupied completely with the earthly life of flesh.

How utterly wrong, therefore, and how totally incredible, is the delusion that any such thing as total hereditary depravity was taught by Paul in this verse. Murray has this:

In the whole passage we have the biblical basis for the doctrines of total depravity and total inability. ... "Enmity against God" is nothing other than total depravity, and "cannot please God" nothing less than total inability.[15]

But, of course, the expressions cited by Murray refer to man's mind, not as it was by the endowment of birth, but as it became through his rebellion against God. Paul's teaching here corresponds exactly with that of Jesus regarding two masters (Matthew 6:24). If one decides to serve one, he cannot serve the other; but in the teaching both of Paul and of Jesus, the question of the soul's right to decide is never for an instant doubted. The impossibility of serving the other master cannot derive from any inborn condition, but it must always be viewed as the consequence of the soul's decision to serve one or the other, that option being the only one that God has given people.

The right of decision is never removed from man, no matter what his sins are; and therefore the "mind of the flesh" is morally accountable to God. Every gospel invitation, and even the great invitation of Jesus (Matthew 11:29,30) are grounded in the principle that even the wickedest of people have the right of decision if they elect to exercise it. The doctrines of depravity and inability cited above are inimical to the word of God, being not founded in the teachings of Christ or his apostles, but derived from the speculations of people. The question of judicial hardening is another matter, and will be discussed under Romans 11:25. Christ's teaching with regard to little children and his word that "unto such belongeth the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 19:14) is a denial of human theories of total depravity, etc.

[14] C. K. Barrett, op. cit., p. 158.

[15] John Murray, op. cit., p. 287.