When anyone is "hung up" on the flesh, and lets the mind of the flesh lead, then they are easily misled by satan. The next statement clinches it for those who go by the carnal mind, for Paul said in verse 22 that if he lived in the flesh, then fleshly things were the fruit of his labor, yet what he would choose, he didn't know.
To the carnal mind this screams loudly of suicide, for to their way of thinking he said next that he was caught between the desire to commit suicide and be with Christ which was better, or to not commit suicide for the benefit of the people who depended on him. I can assure you of this much, that if Paul was speaking on this wise, he could do no more for the people around him than mix them up, or confuse them more than they were already, for this would be the perfect example of the blind leading the blind.
Satan gives this a pretty name; it is called "walking out", or something like "doing a walk-out". Many know that this is not what Paul meant, but they do not know exactly what he did mean, so they ignore this Scripture as if it didn't exist, and in so doing they ignore one of the greatest keys of understanding.
Mostly because they can not imagine giving up the carnal ordinances which were imposed upon them until the time of reformation. Well, the time of reformation is here, and those ordinances will be discarded, if God has to pry your fingernails out of them one by one.
To those who are willing to cast aside their carnal halo, I give the true meaning here. "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1st John 3:16). This is not easy to catch. Remember, the way into the Holy of holies, or the Holiest of all is not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle is yet standing (Heb. 9:8).
We must lay down our lives, give up the flesh, and enter through our spirit, which is His flesh, into His spirit. There must of necessity be an unselfish motive for doing this, for it must be for others. The reason this is so hard to understand is because of the flesh, for to desire this for the self, no matter how much we stand to gain by it, is based upon greed and lust and pride.
An example of this is when Jesus said, concerning physical food, clothing and shelter, to seek first the kingdom of God and HIS righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. People seek the kingdom of God SO these things will be added unto them. This is NOT seeking the kingdom of God, but rather it is seeking those things and trying to use the kingdom of God to get them.
To not desire to do it because of others stems from an inferiority complex, which is still of the flesh, for those who think this way do not feel they are worthy, not realizing they are not the ones considered. Christ is.
Hebrews 10:19 says that we must have boldness to enter into the holiest, and there can be no boldness in anyone who feels self to be inferior in any way.
We must become absent from the flesh in order to enter in, then the Word can do His work, His strange work; and bring to pass His act, His strange act (Isa. 28:21), and then shall saviors (yes, plural) come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau (Obad. 1:21). You, whoever you are who enters into the Holy of holies will be those saviors, saving some who are filled with fear, even pulling them out of the fire (Jude 1:23).