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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Romans 8:8

Romans 8:8. And. Not, ‘so then,' but a simple continuation of the thought of Romans 8:7.

They that are in the flesh. Substantially the same as: ‘they that are according to the flesh' (Romans 8:5), but stronger, and presenting a better contrast to the full gospel phrases: ‘in Christ' ‘in the Spirit'

Cannot please God, because of the character of the mind of the flesh. By this negative expression, ‘it is said, in a mild way, that they are objects of Divine displeasure, children of wrath' (Lange).

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See also Romans 8:8 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Romans 8:8. _SO THEN_] Because this carnal mind is enmity against God, _they that are in the flesh_-who are under the power of the workings of this carnal mind, (which every soul is that has not...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    SO THEN - It follows; it leads to this conclusion. THEY THAT ARE IN THE FLESH - They who are unrenewed sinners; who are following supremely the desires of the flesh; Romans 7:18. Those are meant here...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 8 _ 1. In Christ; no Condemnation but Deliverance. (Romans 8:1 .)_ 2. Flesh and Spirit. (Romans 8:5 .) 3. The Body and the Spirit. (Romans 8:9 .) 4. Sons and Heirs of God. ...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    THE NEW MAN IN CHRIST JESUS. Romans 8:1. Therefore now sin's captive escapes! No condemnation: Romans 1:18 to Romans 3:20; Romans 7:14 was _all_ co

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    THE LIBERATION OF OUR HUMAN NATURE (Romans 8:1-4)...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    Those who live according to the dictates of sinful human nature are absorbed in worldly human things. Those who live according to the dictates of the Spirit are absorbed in the things of the Spirit. T...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    SO, &C. Compare Romans 7:15; Galatians 1:5; Galatians 1:17. CANNOT. are not (Romans 8:7) able to....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _So then_ Lit. BUT; and perhaps better thus. The _opposition_is to the _idea implied_by the _previous clauses_of a condition which _can_love and submit. _in the flesh_ Of course in the _moral_sense of...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    The power is the indwelling spirit. (1) It follows from this examination of man’s state under law, that in our present state, as effected by GOD, those who are made one with Christ Jesus are not under...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    ΟἹ ἘΝ ΣΑΡΚῚ ὌΝΤΕΣ, those whose being is wholly involved in flesh, not = those who are living in this passing life....

  • Charles Rose Commentaries

    ΌΝΤΕΣ _praes. act. part. от_ ΕΊΜΊ (G1510) быть. Part, в роли _subst._ выражает характерную особенность. _Praes._ выражает идею длительности, ΆΡΈΣΑΙ _aor. inf. act. от_ ΆΡΈΣΚΩ (G700) доставлять удовол...

  • Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae

    DISCOURSE: 1861 VILENESS AND IMPOTENCY OF THE NATURAL MAN Romans 8:7. _The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    SO THEN THEY THAT ARE IN THE FLESH, &C.— This is the conclusion drawn from what went before; and _in the flesh_ here, must mean the same as _to be carnally-minded,_ &c. above;—to be under the governme...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    _TEXT_ Romans 8:1-11. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of deat...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. SO THEN ('AND SO;') THEY THAT ARE IN (AND, THEREFORE, UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF) THE FLESH CANNOT PLEASE GOD - having no obediential principle,...

  • Concordant Commentary on the New Testament by A. E. Knoch

    __ Conciliation-Individual 13 From the supposition that the law being holy and just and good, involved him in death. it seems that what is good may become the cause of death. But such is not the cas...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    THE NEW LIFE IN CHEIST IN RELATION TO GOD AND THE SPIRIT It was shown in Romans 5:12. that condemnation for the _guilt_ of sin is done away by justification through faith in Christ. The question as to...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    IN THE FLESH] cp. Romans 7:5. PLEASE GOD] cp. Malachi 3:4....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    PAUL’S LETTER TO THE *ROMANS ROMANS _HILDA BRIGHT AND KEITH SIMONS_ CHAPTER 8 THE *HOLY SPIRIT AND GOD’S CHILDREN 8:1-39 FREEDOM FROM *SINFUL NATURE 8:1-4 V1 Therefore the people who belong to...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    (1-11) A result is thus attained which the law of Moses could not accomplish, but which is accomplished in the gospel. The Christian is entirely freed from the law of sin and death, and from the conde...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    (5-8) Further description of the antithesis between flesh and spirit in regard to (1) their object, Romans 8:5; (2) their nature, Romans 8:7; (3) their end, Romans 8:6....

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    SO THEN ... — Rather, _and._ Neither can it be expected that those who are absorbed in the things of sense should be able to please God....

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER 17 THE JUSTIFIED: THEIR LIFE BY THE HOLY SPIRIT Romans 8:1 THE sequence of the eighth chapter of the Epistle on the seventh is a study always interesting and fruitful. No one can read the tw...

  • Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

    The Spirit as the principle of righteousness and life....

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    NEW LIFE IN THE SPIRIT Romans 8:1 This may fitly be called the “chapter of the Holy Spirit.” The Apostle has carefully kept this great theme in the background till he has well prepared the ground, by...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    The opening sentences of this chapter show a remarkable contrast with the previous chapter. From the fearful sense of condemnation we pass into the consciousness of no condemnation. Having shown the n...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    (10) So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. (10) The conclusion. Therefore they that walk after the flesh cannot please God: by which it follows that they are not grafted into Christ....

  • Godet's commentary on Luke, John, Romans, 1 Corinthians

    “ _Because the aspiration of the flesh is enmity against God: for it doth not submit itself to the law of God, neither indeed can it. And they that are in the flesh cannot please God._ ” The flesh ten...

  • Godet's commentary on Luke, John, Romans, 1 Corinthians

    On the other hand, God is no more the friend of the flesh than the flesh is of Him. The δέ has been understood in all sorts of ways, from Meyer, who understands it in the sense of _now then_, to Calvi...

  • Godet's commentary on Luke, John, Romans, 1 Corinthians

    THIRD SECTION (8:1-39). THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE JUSTIFIED BELIEVER. At the close of the preceding section, the apostle had contrasted the _oldness of letter_, a term by which he denotes the...

  • Godet's commentary on Luke, John, Romans, 1 Corinthians

    SEVENTEENTH PASSAGE (8:1-11). THE VICTORY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT OVER SIN AND DEATH....

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (7) Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. ...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    The circumstances under which the epistle to the Romans was written gave occasion to the most thorough and comprehensive unfolding, not of the church, but of Christianity. No apostle had ever yet visi...

  • James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary

    _ON PLEASING GOD_ ‘They that are in the flesh cannot please God.’ Romans 8:8 In the second collect for Evening Prayer we ask that ‘our hearts may be set to obey’ God’s commandments. It is a thoroug...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    8._They then who are in the flesh, etc. _It is not without reason that I have rendered the adversative δὲ as an illative: for the Apostle infers from what had been said, that those who give themselves...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    "There is therefore now no condemnation to those which are in Christ Jesus" (Chapter 8). He does not here speak of the efficacy of the blood in putting away sins (all-essential as that blood is, and t...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    SO THEN THEY THAT ARE IN THE FLESH,.... They that are in the flesh are the same who are said to be after it, Romans 8:5, and are there described. Such CANNOT PLEASE GOD; men, whilst unregenerate, and...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Ver. 8. _Cannot please God_] Their best works are but dead works, saith the author to the Hebrews; but silken sins, saith Augustine. Lombard cite...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _So then_, &c. The inference to be drawn from the principles just laid down, is, _they that are in the flesh_ In the sense explained in the preceding verses, and especially Romans 7:5, where see the n...

  • Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament (1851)

    THEY THAT ARE IN THE FLESH; in a fleshly state; the same as "they that are after the flesh," as verse Romans 8:4. CANNOT PLEASE GOD; because a fleshly state is contrary to that spiritual state which G...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    SO, THEN, THEY THAT ARE IN THE FLESH CANNOT PLEASE GOD....

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    The difference between the carnal mind and the spiritual mind:...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    DELIVERANCE SIMPLY BY GOD'S TRUTH We come now, in the first four verses here, to the deliverance itself. Is this to be by means of experience? A mere glance at the verses will show us it is decidedly...

  • Manly Luscombe Commentary on New Testament

    Now - present tense no condemnation - conditional walk- multiple choice a] after Spirit b] after flesh 2 Two laws - Spirit of life, Sin and death 3 The law - (of sin and death) weak in the flesh Go...

  • Mark Dunagan Commentaries

    AND THEY THAT ARE IN THE FLESH CANNOT PLEASE GOD....

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    1-9 Believers may be chastened of the Lord, but will not be condemned with the world. By their union with Christ through faith, they are thus secured. What is the principle of their walk; the flesh o...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    SO THEN; this verse is a consectary, or it follows from that which went before. THEY THAT ARE IN THE FLESH; not they which are married, as a pope once expounded it; the next verse refels such an absur...

  • McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries

    and they that are in the flesh cannot please God....

  • NT Verse References in the Ante-Nicene Fathers

    Tertullian Against Marcion Book V In other passages also he is accustomed to put the natural condition instead of the works that are done therein, as when he says, that "they who are in the flesh can...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Romans 8:8 then G1161 are G5607 (G5752) in G1722 flesh G4561 cannot G3756 G1410 (G5736) please...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    ‘Because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.' And this is because having the m...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    THE CONTRAST BETWEEN FLESH AND SPIRIT IS CONSIDERED, LEADING UP TO THE ASSURANCE OF LIFE THROUGH THE TRIUNE GOD AND A DECLARATION OF OUR SONSHIP AND HEIRSHIP (8:5-17).  Reference to ‘walking not after...

  • Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament

    CANNOT PLEASE GOD (θεω αρεσα ου δυναντα). Because of the handicap of the lower self in bondage to sin. This does not mean that the sinner has no responsibility and cannot be saved. He is responsibl...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Romans 8:8 Man's Inability to Please God. I. How comes it to pass that man in his natural state cannot please God? We reply that the very fact of our being creatures of God, as we undoubtedly are, pl...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Romans 8:1 In the verses before us three points are touched on regarding the gospel as God's power to sanctify. These are: (1) The preliminary work which had to be done by the coming of Christ, or the...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Romans 8:1. _There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit._ My hearers, we are each of us, by nature, under the condemn...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    This wonderful chapter is the very cream of the cream of Holy Scripture. What a grand key-note the apostle strikes in the first verse! Romans 8:1. _There is therefore now no condemnation to them whic...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    This precious chapter reminds us of the description of the land of Havilah, «where there is gold, and the gold of that land is good.» Romans 8:1. _There is therefore now no condemnation to them which...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Romans 8:1. _There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit._ To my mind one of the sweetest words of that verse is that...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Romans 8:1. _There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,_ Observe that Paul writes «There is therefore,» for he is stating a truth which is founded upon solid argument....

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    The words we are about to read follow a passage in which the Apostle describes the conflict of his soul. It is rather singular that it should be so. To catch the contrast, let us just begin at the en...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Romans 8:1. _There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit._ «No condemnation»: that is the beginning of the chapter. No...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: The new law of the Holy Spirit in the believer, giving deliverance from sinful nature. The full result of the Gospel in the believer and his security. CHARACTERS: God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, P...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    The first four verses of this chapter belong to the preseding one, and deduce the just conclusions therefrom, that the state of fallen man is a state of condemnation and legal bondage that he cannot e...

  • The Bible Study New Testament

    CANNOT PLEASE GOD. No one, in all ages of time, could ever please God by allowing the evil desires of human nature to control himself....

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Because the carnal mind is enmity against God._ THE CARNAL MIND I. Its attitude towards God. 1. Enmity. (1) Hating the thought of God. (2) Resisting the grace of God. 2. Insubordination--transg...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God._ PLEASING GOD Men’s happiness is to please them upon whom they depend, and upon whose favour their wellbeing hangs. It is the servant’s happines...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    ROMANS—NOTE ON ROMANS 8:8 Because unbelievers (THOSE WHO ARE IN THE FLESH) are captured by sin and unable to do what God commands, they fail to please God. ⇐

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    ROMANS—NOTE ON ROMANS 8:1 Paul celebrates the new life of the Spirit that Christians enjoy as a result of Christ’s saving work. ⇐...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _CRITICAL NOTES_ Romans 8:5.—The state is indicated in Romans 7:25, when the mind can serve the law of God, and only the flesh is subject to the law of sin. Romans 8:6. CARNALLY MINDED (φρόνημα τῆς σ...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION ROMANS 8:1 (_c_) _The blessed condition and assured hope of such as are in Christ _Jesus. The summary of the contents of this chapter, which follows the Exposition, may be referred to in...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Let's turn to the eighth chapter of Romans. Fasten your seatbelts as we take off. In the seventh chapter of the book of Romans, Paul has come to the realization that the law is spiritual. While he was...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 Corinthians 7:32; 1 John 3:22; 1 Thessalonians 4:1; Colossians 1:10;...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    They who are in the flesh — Under the government of it....

  • William Burkitt's Expository Notes

    To be IN THE FLESH, is not barely to have the flesh in us, but prevailing in us: to be wholly possessed by the flesh, to be drenched and drowned in sin; instead of fighting under Christ's banner again...

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Old Testament