Key verse: '...and those who deal with this world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away' (1 Corinthians 7:31).
In Romans 8:1-17, the apostle Paul describes, the depletion, destruction and passing away of the believer potential life in Christ, because of the inappropriate dominion of the mind of the flesh in their thought life, relationships, actions and lives. In 1 Corinthians 7:29-31, Paul describes redeeming the time, by following Jesus Christ in living the Paschal Mystery, in the mind of the spirit. Like the prophet Joel, Paul summarizes restoring, what the locust of the mind of the flesh has eaten in these words, "So then brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh - for if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body. For all who are lead by the spirit of God are children of God" (Joel 2:25, Romans 8:12).
With a sense of great urgency and knowing that our human incarnation does not last long, Paul tells all Christ centered, spiritually resurrected believers, they should repent of their sins of spiritual sleep, spiritual blindness, spiritual deafness and hardness of heart. Paul seems to recall and reiterate Jesus admonition to the apostle Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things, but on human things" (Mark 8:33). Paul recommends that they cast down and cross out the inappropriate dominion of the mind of the flesh, in their personal lives and within their witnessing paschal faith communities (Mark 8:34). He admonishes Christ-centered believers to clothe their souls, hearts, minds, relationships and lives in the mind of the spirit. Paul recommends they give highest priority to divine order and divine thing, in their daily lives and affairs (1 Corinthians 7:29).
Paul reminds believers in all traditions, religions, cultures, ethnic and secular groups that inappropriate dominion of the mind of the flesh brings unbelief, rejection of God's presence and promises, and spiritual death. The mind of the flesh distorts the true meaning of human mourning as well as human rejoicing. He suggest that God's divine order and divine plan of redemption for human lives are distorted in our experiences and relationships, when believers live their lives in the mind of the flesh (1 Corinthians 7:30).
To Paul, for believers to redeem the time, they must discern, affirm and appropriate the Christ-centered, Holy Spirit-based meaning of these words of Jesus to Pilate, when following Jesus in living the Paschal mystery, "My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would by fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here" (Luke 17:20-21, John 3:7, 18:36; 1 Corinthians 7:31).
We conclude this discussion with Paul's summary of redeeming the time, by living the Paschal Mystery, in the mind of the spirit. "But you (spiritually awake believers), are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies, also through his Spirit that dwells in you" (Romans 8:9-11).
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