Romans 8:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

What then? Shall we, they say, cut off the body and separate ourselves from the flesh in order to please God? In leading us to virtue, do you command us to become suicides? Do you see how many absurdities arise if we understand the Apostle's words literally? By flesh Paul here too means not the body, nor the substance of the body, but a fleshly and worldly life filled with luxury and licentiousness, which makes the whole man flesh. As those winged by the Spirit make even the body spiritual, so those who withdraw from the Spirit and serve the belly and pleasures make even the soul flesh. They do not change its essence, but ruin its nobility. This manner of speech is often found in the Old Testament.

That is, those who have the mind of the flesh cannot please God while they remain such. For by flesh he did not mean the substance of the flesh, but a coarse, fleshly life that makes the whole man fleshly. So also in the Old Testament it was said, "My Spirit shall not be despised by men forever, for they are flesh" (Gen 6:3).

When earthly desire takes possession of a person's mind, then he is in the flesh, since he thinks fleshly things, and he cannot please God. But if the mind has been enriched with grace through Christ, filled with power from on high, burning in spirit, and hastening toward virtue, then such a person is understood to abide not in the flesh but in the Spirit. He easily does what is pleasing to God.

You, who were then opposed to the law, have now become spiritual and have submitted to the law, although the circumcised and the keepers of the Sabbath would consider us opponents of the law because the unnecessary commandments of the law have been abolished from above. For if the law not only killed but also saved, it would first have had to be written in hearts. But notice that it is neither complete righteousness, nor does it contain that righteousness which says, "What seems evil to you, do not do to your neighbor" (Acts 15:20, 29; Tob 1:10; Tob 4:15).

If all who live in the flesh cannot please God, then how did Paul himself, who says this, please Him? How did Peter and the other holy apostles please Him, when it cannot be denied that they lived in the flesh? And further Paul says, "But you do not live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." They lived in the flesh; why then does he say, "You do not live according to the flesh"? Because you do not live in conformity with the flesh, since "our conversation is in heaven." Therefore, although in this age we are "absent from God" and wander upon the earth, we hasten toward heaven. For here we have no dwelling place, but live as strangers and pilgrims, like all our forefathers (cf. Heb 11:13). Jerome is playing on the multiple meanings of in carne, Greek ἐν σαρκί: "in the flesh," "according to the flesh," and "by the flesh."

The wise of the world are in the flesh because they strive after the wisdom of the world, through which they reject the law of God. Everything contrary to the law of God is from the flesh, because it is from the world. For the whole world is flesh, and everything visible belongs to the flesh.

The Apostle does not command us to become outside the body, but to be freed from the mind of the flesh. The following words teach this as well.

Paul does not reject the nature of the flesh, but draws in the inspiration of the Spirit.

In divine Scripture the name flesh is used in two senses: sometimes for the very nature of flesh, and sometimes for its mindset and corruption. Here is an example of the first meaning: "A spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have" (Lk 24:39). And here is an example of the second: "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor 15:50). Therefore whoever intends to correct its corruption and mindset quenches within himself the burnings of the flesh and pleases God while still remaining in the flesh. With the body, as one bodiless, he inherits His kingdom.

"Those who are in the flesh cannot please God." Chrysostom says: "By the name of flesh Paul here means a fleshly and worldly life, spent in amusements and luxury, which makes the whole man flesh. This manner of expression is also found in the Old Testament: 'My Spirit shall not abide in these men, for they are flesh'" (Gen 6:3). They cannot please Him because they do not have faith (Heb 11:6).

Second, with the removal of the heavy responsibility and condemnation from those "who are in Christ Jesus," the strong "Spirit of Christ" is also granted to them, so that they may rule over the flesh. Yet this too is on condition of their free striving not to think on fleshly things, and to live not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Rom 8:5-10. "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh" (Rom 8:5). "The mind of the flesh is death" (Rom 8:6), "enmity against God" (Rom 8:7). "Therefore those who live according to the flesh cannot please God" (Rom 8:8). "Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him" (Rom 8:9). "But if Christ is in you," and this is plainly conditioned by our free will and our seeking of Christ, "the body is dead because of sin" (Rom 8:10).

Again contrasting the carnal life with the gracious life of the spirit, the Apostle says that those who live according to the flesh are constantly focused on sinful works. Those who live according to the spirit think on spiritual things.

As the thoughts of the first are directed toward self-will, so the thoughts of the second are directed toward pleasing God. Thus they are dead to sin, and the Spirit of God lives in them.

He guides them on the path toward holiness and life according to the Spirit of Christ.

Explaining from the Apostle’s words the direct opposition between the characteristic properties and manifestations of carnal and spiritual life, Bishop Theophan says: “To be according to the spirit is the norm of man’s life as he was created.

The particle "but" is adversative and does not connect directly with what immediately precedes. If one were linking the present text with the previous one, one would have to use "thus" or "therefore." Since Saint Paul did not use them, he did not place this verse in connection with the preceding one. With what, then, is it connected? With Rom 8:4. Having said that the righteous requirement of the law, its goal of making us holy and pleasing to God, is fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit, Saint Paul in Rom 8:5, 6, and 7 sets forth the characteristic marks of walking according to the Spirit and according to the flesh.

Although the Apostle says that nothing good dwells in his flesh, and although he affirms that those who live according to the flesh cannot please God because the body desires what is contrary to the spirit, and even if he says something similar elsewhere, he nevertheless condemns not the substance of the flesh, but its actions.