Romans 8.8-Those In The Flesh Can Never Please God
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday October 28, 2008
Romans: Romans 8:8-Those In The Flesh Can Never Please God
Lesson # 249
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 8:1.
This evening we will note Romans 8:8 and in this passage, Paul teaches that those in bondage to the flesh, i.e. the sin nature can never please God.
Romans 8:1-8, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 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. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
“And” is the “resumptive” and “adjunctive” use of the conjunction de (deV) (deh), which introduces a statement that “resumes” the discussion that Paul began in Romans 8:5 concerning those Christians who are in submission to the flesh, i.e. the sin nature and also presents “additional” information concerning these Christians.
“Those who are in the flesh” indicates that the Christian who exists in the state of being in bondage to the indwelling Adamic sin nature can never please God.
The Christian who is in bondage to his sin nature, like the unregenerate person is occupied with the various lust patterns or sinful desires that originate from the sin nature, which Paul calls the “things” of the flesh or produced by the flesh in Romans 8:5.
To be in bondage to the flesh means that you are involved with the various lust patterns of the sin nature.
This would include not only to sexual lust but also power lust, approbation lust, social lust, monetary lust, materialism lust, inordinate ambition resulting in inordinate competition, revenge lust, criminal lust, chemical lust, crusader lust, and pleasure lust.
At the heart of such lusts is the desire to live independently of the will of God.
As we have noted before in our studies in the book of Romans and in particular chapters six and seven and now in chapter eight, a Christian can be in bondage to his sin nature by submitting to it because he still possesses a sin nature.
The unbeliever is of course in bondage to the sin nature.
However, the Christian has the ability and capacity to escape from this condition by exercising his volition and confessing his sins to the Father in order to be restored to fellowship with God (1 John 1:9).
This fellowship is maintained by bringing one’s thoughts into obedience to the Spirit, whose voice is heard through the Word of God (2 Corinthians 10:5) or in other words, it is maintained by submitting to the Spirit by being preoccupied with the desires of the Spirit (Romans 8:5-6).
This constitutes being filled with the Spirit and letting the Word of Christ richly dwell in your soul, both of which are commanded of the believer in Ephesians 5:18 and Colossians 3:16 respectively.
Ephesians 5:18: “And do not permit yourselves to get into the habit of being drunk with wine because that is non-sensical behavior, but rather permit yourselves on a habitual basis to be influenced by means of the Spirit.”
Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
In Romans 8:5-6, Paul describes this process, which serves to prevent the Christian from living in bondage to his flesh.
Romans 8:5-6, “For you see those who at any time exist in the state of being in submission to the flesh are, as an eternal spiritual truth, preoccupied with the things produced by the flesh. However, those in submission to the Spirit, the things produced by the Spirit. In fact, the mind-set produced by the flesh is, as an eternal spiritual truth temporal spiritual death. However, the mind-set produced by the Spirit is, as an eternal spiritual truth life as well as peace.”
In these verses, Paul describes the filling of the Spirit as the Christian submitting to the Spirit by being preoccupied with the desires of the Spirit, which in turn results in a mind-set or mental attitude produced by the Spirit.
When this takes place, the Christian is experiencing eternal life and the peace of God.
Romans 8:8, “and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
The Christian who is in bondage to the sin nature can never please God because the sin nature always goes against the revealed will of God and thus goes against God Himself.
He can never please God because the sin nature is openly antagonistic towards God’s Word, which reveals who and what God is and His will and ways.
Therefore, if the Christian submits himself to the sin nature, he is out of fellowship with God and can never please God and thus can never receive rewards if he habitually does so.
Only those Christians who submit to the Spirit will please God because the Spirit is always guiding the Christian to submit to the will of God.
The sin nature always seeks to live independently of God.
Therefore, the Christian can never please God when he is living in bondage to the sin nature by submitting to its desires since he is living independently of the will of God.
When the Christian is submitting to the desires produced by the Spirit, which are designed to guide the Christian in doing God’s will, then he or she is pleasing God since pleasing God is based upon obedience to His will.
Therefore, in Romans 8:8, Paul is teaching the Christians in Rome that they can never please God in the sense of executing His will when they are living in their flesh.
Paul exhorted the churches throughout the Roman Empire to please God by doing His will.
The will and purpose of God originated within Himself long before any creature of any kind existed (Ephesians 1:3-5).
The Father’s purpose from eternity past is that the Christian be conformed to the image of Christ.
Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
The fact that the will of God the Father is that the believer become like Christ is illustrated by Paul in Ephesians 4:11-16.
The will of God is that the Christian experience sanctification, which leads to spiritual growth and maturity (1 Thessalonians 4:3-8).
The will of God is that the Christian gives thanks in the midst of all types of circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18), to obey civil authorities (1 Peter 2:13-15).
In Romans 12:1-2, Paul urged the Roman Christians to not be conformed to the viewpoint of the cosmic system but to be transformed in the renewing of their mind in order that they might demonstrate what the will of God is.
This renewing of the mind takes place by applying Paul’s teaching in Romans 8:5-6 to submit to the Spirit by being preoccupied with the desires produced by the Spirit, which in turn results in a mind-set produced by the Spirit.
In Romans 14:1-18, Paul taught the Gentile believers that it was pleasing to God to tolerate their Jewish brethren who were having a difficult time with the Lord’s teaching and were still abstaining from eating certain foods.
Paul taught that the Christian’s ambition should always be that of desiring to be pleasing to God whether they live or die.
2 Corinthians 5:9, “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.”
Paul reminded the Thessalonian believers that through his instruction they were taught how to please God (1 Thessalonians 4:1).
Paul prayed that the Colossian believers would be filled with an experiential knowledge of the Father’s will, which was to be conformed to the image of Christ so that they would walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and please Him in all respects (Colossians 1:9-12).
Paul commanded Christian children to obey their parents in all things because it was pleasing to God (Colossians 3:20).
The Philippians pleased God by presenting to Paul through Epaphroditus a gracious gift for Paul’s needs (Philippians 4:18).
Enoch was a man who pleased God because of his faith (Hebrews 11:5).
It is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6).
Sacrificial giving and sharing with other Christians in need is pleasing to God (Hebrews 13:16).
God equips the Christian and gives him the capacity and the means to do His will and to please Him (Hebrews 13:20-21).
Obedience to God’s commandments is pleasing to Him ( 1 John 3:21-22).