Romans 8:6-7

“The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.”

Here is the crux of the issue with having a mind controlled by the sinful nature. There is only one outcome if we indulge in sin: death (Rom. 6:23). Sin is not only in opposition to God, but is in defiance of Him. It stems from man exercising his own will against the will of God. Where God has told us ‘do this’ and ‘don’t do this’, the sinful nature says, ‘I don’t like the sound of that’. It is drawn by the present pleasures, and disregards the eternal consequences. The sinful mind is drawn to the deeds of darkness. This is the way sin is: things that are forbidden are made to seem desirable. When God tells us to pursue things that are pure and holy, the sin nature wants to pursue things that are lewd and immoral. Sin is not limited to failing to keep God’s commands, but it seeks to find new ways to do ungodly things. We see this raw behaviour in small children, when they are told, ‘Don’t touch that!’ (a parent’s plea so that they don’t hurt themselves), they will give a mischievous look of open defiance and then reach out. This is what the sinful mind does with God. It does not submit to God’s law. But Paul goes further than this and adds, “nor can it do so”. A person may be openly defiant towards God, or they may be seeking to live a ‘good life’ by keeping as many of the commandments as they can. But without Jesus Christ, both are still dead in their sin.