{"id":1741,"date":"2010-05-27T20:15:46","date_gmt":"2010-05-28T02:15:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=1741"},"modified":"2010-05-27T20:15:46","modified_gmt":"2010-05-28T02:15:46","slug":"romans-88-please-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/romans-88-please-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Romans 8:8 – Please God!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Romans 8:8<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Only those who are walking in the Spirit can please God.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cCannot<\/span>\u201d is translated from \u201cou dounanti<\/span><\/em>.\u201d Ou<\/span><\/em> expresses absolute negation (there is a different word, me<\/span><\/em>, which implies conditional or hypothetical negation). Dounanti<\/span><\/em> is a form of dounamai<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cto be able\u201d or \u201cto have the power to do something.\u201d In other words, those who are in the flesh do not have the ability or the power to please God.<\/p>\n

The word \u201cplease<\/span>\u201d is from aresk\u014d<\/span><\/em>, which is thought to be derived from an old verb ar\u014d<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cto fit, adapt, or please.\u201d The notion of aresk\u014d<\/span><\/em> is \u201cto be content with\u201d or \u201cto soften one\u2019s heart toward\u201d someone else. Those who are in the flesh are not able to soften God\u2019s heart toward themselves.<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Paul now takes this argument one step further. He has just said that the person who is fleshly minded, the one who is preoccupied with and controlled by the desires of the flesh, is openly hostile toward God and is not subject to His laws. Therefore, He says, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.<\/p>\n

Now we have to ask ourselves, \u201cWhat does Paul mean by the expression, \u201cin the flesh<\/span>?\u201d He is not talking about everyone who has a body of flesh. He is talking about those who are fleshly minded. Their every waking moment is occupied with satisfying the desires and needs of the flesh. This is a description of unregenerate mankind, those who are not saved. We know this because in the following verse he will contrast them with the Roman Christians who are saved.<\/p>\n

Paul is telling us that unsaved people, who are controlled by their own flesh, cannot possibly please God. It doesn\u2019t matter how many \u201cHail Mary\u2019s\u201d they say, and it doesn\u2019t matter how many good works that they do \u201cfor God.\u201d It doesn\u2019t matter how often they pray or read their Bible. It doesn\u2019t matter how many years they have been a member of a church or how regularly they attend the services. If they are not genuinely saved, it is not possible for them to please God, and they are, therefore, God\u2019s enemies.<\/p>\n

In the previous chapter Paul bemoaned the fact that he didn\u2019t always do the things that please God. He told us that the law is spiritual but that he is carnal (fleshly). He then opened this chapter with:<\/p>\n

T<\/span>here is<\/span><\/em> therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.<\/span><\/p>\n

His point is that unsaved people are always controlled by their sin nature (their flesh) and are not able to please God. Those who are saved, however, can please God, but we don\u2019t do it all the time. When we are walking \u201cin the Spirit\u201d we are pleasing to God, but when we are walking \u201cin the flesh,\u201d we are not pleasing to God.<\/p>\n

Application<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We should always strive to be pleasing to God, so our aim should be to walk in the spirit. Let\u2019s all recommit ourselves to spending more time walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh!<\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"signature\"<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romans 8:8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Truth to Learn Only those who are walking in the Spirit can please God. Behind the Words \u201cCannot\u201d is translated from \u201cou dounanti.\u201d Ou expresses absolute negation (there is a different word, me, which implies conditional or hypothetical negation). Dounanti is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[908,909,910,104,911,912,913],"class_list":["post-1741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-aresko","tag-cannot","tag-dounamai","tag-flesh","tag-ou","tag-ou-dounanti","tag-please"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-s5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}