Romans 8:7 - Forerunner Commentary

Romans 8:7

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Articles, Bible studies, and sermons that contain Romans 8:7:

Romans 8:7
Excerpted from: Passover (Part 1)

Now, it ought to be obvious that the carnal mind (as Romans 8:7 says) is enmity against God. It lacks a quality for understanding the truth of God. Anything that is at war against God is not going to be open to accepting the Spirit of truth, nor the Word of truth. But such a mind, indeed, can come up with clever arguments that do nothing more than blur the situation.

Even though this person may be highly intelligent (having all kinds of letters behind his name, and before his name) - it does not mean a thing when we are dealing with spiritual things. And what is going to happen inevitably is that the person is going to come up with part of the truth, but they are not going to get enough of it, because they are not subject to it. It will be hidden from them. They simply do not have the tool that is necessary.

And thus it is that people of, we might say, lower intelligence level - but they nonetheless have the right childlike attitude and they have the Spirit of God, they have repented, they are obeying God as best they know how - these people will see it and get it.

God knows it; and a person having the Spirit of God can know it too. They can see it in themselves. But we have to be careful, because that spirit (that mind, that heart) still lurks in each of us. It can blur the matter too, because it wants to stick with that which is carnal.

There it is again - those who love Him. That is tied to understanding the Bible. A good understanding have all they that do His commandments. In verse 9, basically what He is saying is that the things of the spirit are not discerned by human intelligence on its own. God is not saying that intelligence is not needful; but He is saying there has to be a quality (an entity) that is added to that human intelligence - because it is simply not carnally, or physically, discernible.

Romans 8:6-8
Excerpted from: Peace, Peace (Part One): Peace with God

Put this together with what Paul has already said. Everybody, all those who have not been called, are under the penalty of death. They are the carnal-minded. And even those of us who have been called still have carnal minds that we need to improve or actually Paul tells us to kill it. Mortify the flesh, mortify all those urgings of human nature to be selfish and to turn against God's way. So from Adam's day to this very second, people have sinned, early and often. In sinning, they have become guilty and subject to death and the wrath of a just and righteous God.

Even one sin—just one sin!—puts us on the negative side of the ledger. One sin and we might as well just do the perp walk because we are guilty. What is worse, one sin makes us enemies of God because we have given in to the enmity of the carnal mind against God. One sin and we are in rebellion. And He can come down on us with His wrath anytime He chooses, and we have no recourse because we are guilty.

So, humanity has a rebellious nature against God and His law to the point that man, as it says here in Romans 8:7, man cannot be subject to God or His law, neither indeed can be. That is astounding! Carnal humans cannot do the things that please God. Because they are full of sin it taints everything they do. In fact, even if they have a desire to square the debt of sin with God, humans can do nothing to correct the situation. Not a single thing can they do to get on the good side of the ledger. They owe a debt they cannot pay.

Romans 8:7
Excerpted from: Do You See God?

We have to remember that the carnal mind is alive and kicking within us. Even though we are baptized, and even though we have the Spirit of God, it is still there. It is exerting its influence. Romans 8:7 says that it is enmity against God.

You might remember the apostle Paul, who was certainly well-schooled in the Scriptures, as far as the Hebrew people could give to him. He studied under the feet of Gamaliel, it says. He was certainly a man very intelligent and incisive of mind, a man of conviction and determination. And yet, that same man had to be physically blinded and thoroughly humbled before he could see God. Even though he had a command of the Scriptures that few people in life ever have at the time of their calling, he had that command, yet he could not see God working in the infant Christian church at that time.

Christ, in a reproach, a mild rebuke, said to Paul when He converted him on the way to Damascus, Paul, why are you kicking against the goads? That is a question that we need to ask ourselves as well. It is telling you something there - that the carnal mind will reject the evidence that God gives, even though it is suffering with pain. It will reject the evidence. So God's calling, God's Word, God's predisposing so that we can see - so that we have that ability to identify with His Son - is of no avail unless His Word becomes integrated within us.

Romans 8:7
Excerpted from: Self-Government and Responsibility (Part One)

Instead of God controlling, we see God approach the issue of government from an all together different point. He says that humanity is not subject to Him. He specifically uses the term "the carnal mind" is not subject to him. That is a great deal different from being controlled.

The word translated "subject" here, is a form of the word hupotasso. It is a military term and it means "to arrange in order under." It is something that one would ordinarily do to something else.

That is what we are dealing with here in Romans 8. The carnal mind will not submit to God, so the concept is that when man is in the flesh—that is, physically oriented, unconverted, and carnal—he cannot subject himself to God. That is what the verse says—he cannot do it. He cannot make the choice. He cannot control himself to make himself subject to God. Is that not what it says? "Neither indeed can be"—so he is not really free, is he?

Romans 8:7
Excerpted from: Government (Part One)

Chief Justice Earl Warren was quoted as saying, "Many people consider the things government does for them to be social progress; but they regard the things the government does for others as socialism." Now, speaking of socialism, Marx and Engles and other founders of Communism were aware of this ambivalence that we have toward government. And it was their theory that these constantly changing and mostly antagonistic attitudes toward government would gradually disappear if everyone just had what they needed in a classless society. Well, it failed. And it failed because there is a Devil who hates government with a passion, unless he is the one who is exercising the supreme authority.

Because of this, we find the statement in Romans 8:7 that "the natural mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." It will not be governed by God, is what God's infallible Word says.

Romans 8:7
Excerpted from: Satan (Part 3)

Again remember Genesis 1:31—God Himself said that we were very good. This is an expression of pleasure. He was pleased with what He had accomplished. If we were very good when He created us, then that must include the nature He created us with.

Does God take pleasure in a nature that is enmity against Him (Romans 8:7)? I do not think He would take pleasure in that at all, which indicates very strongly that as He created us and as we are born, we do not have the nature that we later come to have that is enmity against Him. It is something that develops. And it develops because God put a spirit in us that other spirits, either God Himself or the spirit of this world, is able to communicate with.

Romans 8:7
Excerpted from: Government (Part Four)

Whether we are in authority or under authority (and we are always under authority), each of us—male or female—has an almost overpowering unwillingness to live within the limits imposed by the "governor." Remember that! What I have done is simply rephrased, or paraphrased, Romans 8:7. "The carnal mind [the natural mind] is enmity against God." And, as we saw in last week's sermon, He is the Ultimate Source of government. So, the civil governments of men derive their authority from God—as does the authority within the family structure also derive its authority from God.

Romans 8:7
Excerpted from: Remaining Free

Paul is quite clear that it is not the law of God that brings into captivity. Protestantism generally holds that Paul teaches that the law was nailed to the stake, yet Paul himself says he delights in the law of God. Those two ideas don’t work together. Back in verse 16, he says the law is good, and in verse 14, he says the law is spiritual. In the next chapter, he says it is the carnal mind that is hostile to God’s law, which means it is also hostile to the God from whom this good, delightful, spiritual law originates. The carnal mind serves a different god.

Romans 8:7
Excerpted from: Love's Importance and Source

Now that is the spirit—the attitude, the mind, heart—that is driving humanity. For anybody whose father is Satan, it is in his or her nature to break the commandments. This is why God says that the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be (Romans 8:7). It is impossible! There has to be a change, a conversion, to the divine nature. And so Satan cannot help himself. He gathers things to himself because he is self-centered. And he gathers it for the purpose of killing it, of abusing it.

Romans 8:7
Excerpted from: Peace, Peace (Part One): Peace with God

So, humanity has a rebellious nature against God and His law to the point that man, as it says here in Romans 8:7, man cannot be subject to God or His law, neither indeed can be. That is astounding! Carnal humans cannot do the things that please God. Because they are full of sin it taints everything they do. In fact, even if they have a desire to square the debt of sin with God, humans can do nothing to correct the situation. Not a single thing can they do to get on the good side of the ledger. They owe a debt they cannot pay.

Romans 8:7
Excerpted from: Satan (Part 4)

Perceiving that we are being influenced is not always easy because yielding to his influence is what we have been doing since we were born. We've been doing it all of our life. Therefore it feels natural for us to go in that direction. But what is natural to man is enmity against God, according to Romans 8:7. Even if we are unable to catch it when it is occurring, it will still produce fruit, and we should then be able to catch it by being able to see the evidence of the fruit that is produced.

Romans 8:7
Excerpted from: Satan (Part 2)

Satan succeeded in bringing into them a spirit of competition against God. Thus Romans 8:7, "The carnal mind is enmity against God." He indirectly lied about God Himself, and he directly lied about the penalty while giving them disinformation about the reward.

Romans 8:3-9
Excerpted from: Made His Wonderful Works to Be Remembered (Part Two)

Verse 9 is the key. Christ will only dwell in those called now to live as He lives in both the letter and the spirit of the law of God. Those who are set apart, who are holy (as Ted talked about). This is a precious treasure.

The Sabbath in the Record of the Early Fathers

Articles
A Day of Lust, Not Love
Abstaining From Evil
Ask and It Will Be Given
Born Again or Begotten? (Part Two)
Born Again or Begotten? (Part Two)
Christmas, Syncretism and Presumption (1994)
Christmas, Syncretism, and Presumption  (2)
Cogitations on Christmas  (2)
Cogitations on Christmas  (2)
Cogitations on Christmas  (2)
Cogitations on Christmas  (2)
Cogitations on Christmas  (2)
Communication and Leaving Babylon (Part Three)
Communication and Leaving Babylon (Part Two)
Comparing Ourselves Among Ourselves
Damnable Heresies
Dead to the Law?
Did God Change the Law of Clean and Unclean Meats?
Do You See God? (Part One)
Does Paul Condemn Observing God's Holy Days?
Does Scripture Allow for Killing in Self-Defense?
Ecclesiastes and Christian Living (Part Twelve): Paradox, Conclusion
Eroding Religious Freedom
Fasting: Building Spiritual Muscle
Fully Accepting God's Sovereignty (Part One)
Fully Accepting God's Sovereignty, Part Three: The Fruits
How Does Faith Establish the Law? (Part One)
How Much Longer Do We Have?
Is the Christian Required To Do Works? (Part Three)
Is the Christian Required To Do Works? (Part Two)
Is the Love of Many Growing Cold?
Leadership and Covenants (Part Five)
Leadership and Covenants (Part Seven)
Leadership and Covenants (Part Seven)
Living By Faith and Human Pride
Navigating the Third Wave
Prepare to Meet Your God! (Part Eight): Seek Me and Live!
Prepare to Meet Your God! (Part Four)
Scratching Our Itches
Separation and At-One-Ment
Smyrna: Faithful Until Death
Spiritual Double Agents
The Beast and Babylon (Part Nine): Babylon the Great
The Beatitudes, Part 6: The Pure in Heart
The Beatitudes, Part 7: Blessed Are the Peacemakers
The Christian Fight (Part Five)
The Christian Fight (Part One)  (2)
The Christian Fight (Part Seven)
The Christian Fight (Part Two)
The Crown of Life
The Elements of Motivation (Part Seven): Fear of Judgment
The Final Harvest
The Four Horsemen (Part Two): The White Horse
The Fruit of the Spirit: Peace
The Fruit of the Spirit: Peace
The Fruit of the Spirit: Self-Control
The God of the Old Testament
The Nature of God— What's Love Got To Do With It?
The Offerings of Leviticus (Part Five): The Peace Offering, Sacrifice, and Love
The Seventh Commandment (1997)
The Sixth Commandment
This Body of Death
Timing Is Everything
Unity and Division: The Blessing and the Curse (Part Five)
What Is a False Prophet?
What Is the Book of Revelation?
What Is the Holy Spirit?
What Is the Second Death?
What's Going On Up There?
Why Does God Keep Secrets?
Why Hebrews Was Written (Part Four)
Why Hebrews Was Written (Part Seven)
Why Hebrews Was Written (Part Six)
Why Hebrews Was Written (Part Two)

Bible Studies
Admission of Sin
Does the Bible Contain Discrepancies?
Excellence in Character (Part One)
Excellence in Character (Part One)
Parable of the Two Sons
Parables of Luke 15 (Part Three)
Peace
Self-Control
The Miracles of Jesus Christ: Healing Malchus' Ear (Part Two)
The Miracles of Jesus Christ: Water Into Wine (Part Two)
The Model Prayer (Part Five): Your Will Be Done
The Parables of Matthew 13 (Part Five): The Parable of the Leaven
What Is Propitiation? (Part One)

Booklets
Does God Exist?
Prepare to Meet Your God! (The Book of Amos) (Part Two)
What Do You Mean . . . the Unpardonable Sin?  (4)

Essays
A Nation of Laws?
A Pattern of Persecution
Beware of Unbelief
Celebrating a Lie
Christmas Contradictions
Controlling the Gap (Part Two)
Do Not Confuse the Lessons (Part Two)
Expanding Government
Good to the Core
High Places Left Standing
How Did They Overcome? (Part Three)
Making the Cut (Part Five)
Making the Cut (Part One)
Man's Natural Spirituality
Natural Law
No Meeting of the Minds
Our Awesome Calling
Our Hidden Enemy
Past the Tipping Point
Patterns of Resistance (Part One)  (3)
Patterns of Resistance (Part Two)  (2)
Pentecost: A Test?
Pharaoh's Magicians Return
Refuting a False Proverb
Somewhere in the Middle
Spirit and Truth
Surrender
Thanking God for Jesus Christ
The Dark Side of Government
The Great Wave and God
The Nanny Church (Part Two)
The Spirit of Babylon (Part Two)
The Thin, Frail Line
The True Gospel (Part 6)
The Will of the People
The World's Moral Resentment
We Are the Enemy
We Persuade Men
What Does It Say? (2003)
What Is Real Conversion? (Part One)

Sermons
We are Called to Liberty
Strategies for Interfacing with Babylon without Becoming Assimilated (Part Seven)
Seeing is Submitting
Avoiding the Ruts of Our Carnal Mind
A Rewired Society (Part Two): A Post-Truth World
Facing Cultural Headwinds
Our Battle Against Evil Programming!
The Father's Promise of Power!
The Christian Walk (Part Four): Mutual Submission in Godly Fear
The Unleavened Sinless Life!
Liberty Under the Law
Who Do You Trust? (Part Three)
Responding to God's Pruning is Not Passive (Part Two)
Responding to God's Pruning is Not Passive (Part One)
God Expects a Return on His Investment (Part Seven)
Deuteronomy: Fear
God Expects a Return on His Investment (Part Four)
The Peacemakers
God's Merciful Course Correction
Stewardship of God's Temple (Part Seven)
The Beauty of God's Law
We Give Our Heads and Hearts
We Give Our Heads and Hearts
Stewardship of God's Temple (Part One): Controlling Our Appetites
Our Part in the Sanctification Process (Part Ten): Cultivating the Fruit of Self Control
Are You Living An Illusion?
Grace, Mercy, and Favor (Part Two)
Submitting (Part 1)
Values and Conversion
Growing Into Liberty
Leavening: The Types
We Are Unique!
Honor Before Love
Fall Feast Lessons
The Handwriting Is on the Wall (1994)
The World (Part 1)
The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part 4)
The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part 5)
The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part 6)
The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part 12)
The Covenants, Grace and Law (Part 20)
The Needed Dimension
The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part 28)
The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Twenty-Nine)
John 3:16: Does God Really Love the World?
The Sovereignty of God (Part 11)
Sin (Part 3)
Warfare!
Law and Spirit Together
Law and Spirit Together
The Christian and the World (Part One)
Real Conversion
The Christian and the World (Part 3)
From Pride to Humility
The Most Dangerous Battlefront
The Spiritual Mark of the Beast
Reconciliation and Unity
Why Does God Keep Secrets?
Conditioned Response
Liberty or Independence?
God's Rest (Part 2)
How Emotions Affect Spiritual Maturity
God's Powerful Gospel
Spirituality and True Conversion
Examining God's Judgments
New Covenant Priesthood (Part 8)
New Covenant Priesthood (Part 11)
Sovereignty, Election, and Grace (Part 2)
The Perfect Wife
The Law's Purpose and Intent
Psalm 23 (Part 2)
Powerful Effects of the Holy Spirit
Where Is the Beast? (Part 7)
How Much Does God Love You?
Liberality and Legalism
God the Father (Part 3)
Numbering Our Days
Does Doctrine Really Matter? (Part 11)
Does Doctrine Really Matter? (Part 13)
Acts (Part Nine)
Does Doctrine Really Matter? (Part 14)
Paul: Grace, Law, and Obedience
The Present and Future Crisis (Part 2)
John (Part 20)
John (Part Twenty-Six)
The Father-Son Relationship (Part Six)
Communication and Coming Out of Babylon (Part 2)
Matthew (Part Eight)
Matthew (Part Twenty-One)
Loyalty and Submission (Part 2)
Many Excuses
Our Walk Out of Darkness Into the Light
How Does God Help Us? (Part 2)
Why Many Do Not Understand
Purpose-Driven Churches (Part 1)
Liberty Through Self-Control
Liberty Through Self-Control
A Feast Message From Hebrews
Christianity Is a Fight! (Part 1)
Christianity Is a Fight! (Part 2)
Christianity Is a Fight! (Part 3)
Christianity Is a Fight! (Part 4)
Why Are We Here?
You Have Not So Learned Christ
Faith and the Christian Fight (Part 4)
Sin and Overcoming (Part 3): The Battle For Eternal Life
A New Beginning
Unity and Law
The First Commandment: Idolatry
Sincerity Without Truth Is Worthless
Is the United States a Christian Nation? (Part 3)
So Little Respect
Is the United States a Christian Nation? (Part 6)
Facing Times of Stress: Lovers of Self
Comparing
Self-Government (Part 1)
Assurance That We Know Him!
Living by Faith: Human Pride
The Spirit of Bondage
Human Nature: Good or Evil?
Clean and Unclean Meats
Persecution Edges Closer
Christ, the Chief Cornerstone
Our Bread of Life
Passionate Patience
The Millennium and Union With Christ
God's Law in Our Mouths
God's Law in Our Mouths
Elements of Judgment (Part Two)
Matthew (Part Twenty-Four)
In Search of a Clear World View (Part Five)
In Search of a Clear World View (Part Six)
We Shall Be God
Conspiracy Theory (Part Eight)
Biblical Principles of Justice (Part One)
Ecclesiastes Resumed (Part Twenty-Four)
Conspiracy Theory (Part Seventeen)
Why Is God Doing This, This Way?
The Source of Church Characteristics (Part Two)
Deuteronomy and History
Leadership and the Covenants (Part Two)
Offerings (Part Five)
Assurance (Part One): Self Examination
Assurance (Part One): Self Examination
Resistance (Part Two): Solutions
Reconciliation (Part Two): Christ's Work
Conforming to This World
Caveats About Self-Examination
Using Power Righteously (Part One)
Using Power Righteously (Part One)
Preventing the Warfare State
Outside the Normal Pattern of Order
God Works In Marvelous Ways (Part Four)
God Works in Mysterious Ways (Part One)
God Works in Mysterious Ways (Part Two)
God Works in Mysterious Ways (Part Two)
God Works in Mysterious Ways (Part Two)
The W's and H's of Meditation (Part Three)
Learning the Right Things (Part One)
God Works in Mysterious Ways (Part Four)
Boundaries, Incursions, Migrations, and God (Part One)
The W's and H's of Meditation (Conclusion)
Letters to Seven Churches (Part Eight): Overcoming
Hebrews (Part Four): Who Was Jesus?
Colossian Law-Keeping
Handpicked By God
The Doctrine of Israel (Part Two): The Old Covenant
No One Else Matters (Part Two)
Wilderness Wanderings (Part Three) - Handpicked Children
Wilderness Wanderings (Part Three) - Handpicked Children
Liberty and Justice for All
Teaching Us to Think (Part One)
Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness

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