Romans 8:8 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

NIV: Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

NASB: and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

CSB: Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

NLT: That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

KJV: So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

NKJV: So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Paul has just written that non-Christians, those who live by the selfish, self-reliant, sinful flesh, are not capable of submitting to God. That makes sense. After all, living for myself, by definition, means not living for another, including God.

That's why Paul now writes what sounds like a harsh statement: Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. It's important to remember two things here. First, Christians are no longer people who are "in the flesh." Our status has been changed through faith in Christ to "in the Spirit." Second, when Paul talks about the "flesh" in Romans, he is not just talking about sexual sin, or greed. That's often how we think of sins of the flesh. The flesh includes all self-serving sins.

Paul also introduces into the conversation the idea of how God feels about people. He is pleased with those who are in Christ because He is pleased with Christ (Matthew 17:5). Our identity with Christ makes all the difference. He is not pleased with those who are only in themselves with their sinful focus on themselves.

We want to be careful here. It is true that God loves the world (John 3:16), but He has expressed that love by sending His Son to make it possible for all who believe to be included in His family. God is pleased by human faith in Him. Without faith, it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6). God's holiness does not allow for those who reject Him and His Son (John 3:18) to be part of this salvation (John 14:6)

Romans 8:1–11 begins with an enormous declaration about the grace of God: There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. After describing how this is possible, thanks to the life and death of Jesus, Paul compares two kinds of life. One is life in the Holy Spirit, for those who are in Christ, the other is a life lived according to the flesh. Those in the flesh, meaning non-Christians, are hostile to God. Christians have the Spirit; those who do not are not Christians. Because the Spirit is in us, we will be resurrected from the dead as Jesus was.

Romans 8 begins and ends with declarations of the Christian's absolute security before God. There is no condemnation for those in Christ, and nothing will ever be able to separate us from His love. Having believed the gospel, we now live in the Spirit of God. That allows us to call God Abba Father. We suffer with Christ, and we suffer along with all creation while we wait for God to reveal us as His sons. With the help of the Spirit, we are confident that God is for us and loves us in Christ.

In Romans 7, Paul revealed his frustration of trying to do good only to be thwarted by his sin. He begins Romans 8, though, with the triumphant statement that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. We live in the Spirit, and we relate to God as a child does to a father. The Spirit helps us in this season of suffering along with all of creation while we wait for our adoption to be complete with the redemption of our bodies. We are confident, though, that God is for us and nothing can separate us from His love.

The book of Romans is the New Testament's longest, most structured, and most detailed description of Christian theology. Paul lays out the core of the gospel message: salvation by grace alone through faith alone. His intent is to explain the good news of Jesus Christ in accurate and clear terms. As part of this effort, Paul addresses the conflicts between law and grace, between Jews and Gentiles, and between sin and righteousness. As is common in his writing, Paul closes out his letter with a series of practical applications.