Romans 8:7–8

Scripture now speaks of only two classes — those who are "in Christ," and those who are "in the flesh." All are naturally in the flesh. They may be moral, virtuous and kind, or the opposite. They may be educated or uneducated, religious in their way or not religious at all. But they are only in their natural state, so they are far from God. In Romans 8:7 we are told that "the carnal mind" — that is, the mind of man in his natural state — "is enmity against God"; quite contrary to and opposed to God. But worse than this, it is lawless and refuses to obey God: it is not subject to the law of God. Worst of all, God says it is so bad that it cannot be subject — neither indeed can it be. So God Himself does not offer to mend or improve man in the flesh. He says it cannot be subject to Him. Instead He gives him life.

Scripture declares that "the carnal [fleshly] mind is enmity against God." Not that it is at enmity. In such a case reconciliation might be effected. But it says the carnal mind is enmity, and adds "it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Surely this is final.

Here we get something deeper still than lawbreaking itself. A will that refuses to submit is always the spirit of hatred against Him whom we feel we ought to obey… The flesh has not only desires. It has a will that is not subject to the law of God, and never can be. The law does not only declare right things. It also declares the authority of the Lawgiver. That brings out the rebellion of the flesh, for the flesh says at once, I will, and I won't. If you break one commandment, you are guilty of all, for the unwillingness to submit shows itself as much in breaking one as in breaking all.

The law brings in His authority and forbids the flesh its own way, which is everything to it. So its independence proves to be enmity against God. In seeking its own will it neither does nor can subject itself to His law. Obedience can never fit together with the self-will of the flesh, which would stop being itself if it obeyed God.

This saying in verse 7 may seem hard, but it is true, for the flesh is lawless by its very nature. Not only is it not subject but it cannot be. Do we believe that? Educate the flesh, refine it, give it religion; starve it, whip it, hold it down — it is still the same old flesh. The only thing to do with it is to condemn it and set it aside, and this is just what God has done, as stated in verse 3.

What stronger pronouncement can we think of than this? Insubjection to God is enmity against Him, and the mind of flesh cannot be subject to Him: it has a fixed character of rebellion. Solemn, dreadful truth to contemplate! We must remember that this is the natural mind of man. Even a believer may act foolishly in line with it, when he does not use the mind of the Spirit that is his by right.

This must be so, since the flesh is entirely contrary to God. It is enmity to God. It loves the things that God hates, and hates the things that God loves. What is more, it rebels against the authority of God. It is not subject to the law of God, and it cannot be. So it follows that "those who are in the flesh" — who stand before God in the position of Adam — "cannot please God." The verse does not say that such people cannot please men. It does not say they cannot do a great many things that are kind and useful to the world. Besides doing evil, the flesh can do things that are morally good; but in all these things self, in some form, is the motive.

A man out of Christ is "in the flesh," and such a man cannot please God. He may be most religious, most moral, most likeable, most generous, an excellent employer, a generous friend, a liberal giver, good company, a helper of the poor, upright and honourable in all his dealings. He may be an eloquent preacher and a popular writer. And all the while he is not "in Christ," but "in the flesh," and so he "cannot please God."

Are believers, then, not in the flesh? Scripture emphatically says so. But does this mean they are not in the body? Certainly not. They are in the body, as to the fact of their existence; but not in the flesh, as to the ground of their standing before God.

Of course nobody denies that the flesh is in us; but as Christians we are not in it.

Suppose a person is not clear on this point. Suppose he has not received it as a divine revelation, or grasped it as the truth of the living God. Then he will keep thinking about mending, improving, altering — doing something or other to commend himself to God. He will be, in some way or other, looking at self; sometimes puffed up with pride, at other times cast down with despair... But believe that no efforts of the flesh can please God, and you are forced to look right outside yourself for peace. You gladly find it there, presented to you by God Himself in the death and resurrection of His beloved Son.

He may please men, and perhaps himself most of all. But nothing about men can please God except the work of His Spirit within them. Only God's own workmanship can produce what pleases God.

If a believer does not have the Spirit of God, he is in the flesh, and "those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. 8:8). That could not be said of any believer.