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3. He now strengthens us and will someday raise us from the dead (8:10, 12–14).” Willmington, H. L. (1999). The Outline Bible (Ro 8:4–10). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

Where is the scriptural support then, for repentance and faith before regeneration (new birth)? Let me explain: These two issues are continually, from what I have seen in my years here, ignored and avoided...

By men who don’t want to repent?

The believer is freed from indwelling sin (Ro 8:1-11). We are delivered from the bondage of sin (vv. 1-25). Repentance is described as: “turned” (Acts 9:35), “repent” (Acts 8:22), “return” (1 Sam. 7:3), “conversion” (Acts 15:3).^{^[1]} Men are convicted of their sin (Acts 2:37, 38). They receive a new heart and a new spirit (Ezek. 18:31). They repent and live (Acts 11:18).

[1] Thomas Nelson Publishers. (1996). Nelson’s quick reference topical Bible index (p. 526). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Because 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 the flesh cannot please God [Rom. 8:7–8].

This verse reveals how hopelessly incorrigible and utterly destitute the flesh really is. It is a spiritual anarchist. This demolishes any theory that there is a divine spark in man and that somehow he has a secret bent toward God. The truth is that man is the enemy of God. He is not only dead in trespasses and sins but active in rebellion against God. Man will even become religious in order to stay away from the living and true God and the person of Jesus Christ. Man in his natural condition, if taken to heaven, would start a revolution, and he would have a protest meeting going on before the sun went down! Jacob, in his natural condition, engaged in a wrestling match. He did not seek it, but he fought back when God wrestled with him. It wasn’t until he yielded that he won, my friend.
Anything that the flesh produces is not acceptable to God. The so–called good work, the civilization, the culture, and man’s vaunted progress are all a stench in the nostrils of God. The religious works of church people done in the lukewarmness of the flesh make Christ sick to His stomach (see Rev. 3:15–16).
I wonder if we are willing to accept God’s estimation of our human boasting. This is a terrible picture of man; but it is accurate. Yet there is deliverance in the Spirit of God. Are you willing, my friend, to turn it over to the Holy Spirit and quit trusting that weak, sinful nature that you have? That is the question.

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his [Rom. 8:9].

This first “if” is not casting a doubt over the Roman believers’ salvation. They are saved. Let me give you a literal translation: “But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit since the Spirit of God really dwells in you.” That is the real test. But if anyone has “not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” The true mark of a born–again believer and a genuine Christian is that he is indwelt by the Spirit of God. Even Paul could say to the carnal Corinthians: “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (1 Cor. 6:19). When Paul went to Ephesus the first time, he missed something; he missed the distinguishing mark of the believer. So he asked, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They didn’t even know what he was talking about. So he asked them, “… Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism” (Acts 19:3). Well, John’s baptism was unto repentance; it was not to faith in Jesus Christ. So he preached Christ to them. Then they received Him and were baptized in His name (see Acts 19:5). A believer is a new creation. Do you love Him? Do you want to serve Him? Are these things uppermost in your mind and heart? Or are you in rebellion against God? McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Epistles (Romans 1-8) (electronic ed., Vol. 42, pp. 145–146). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Ro 7:5 flesh. Scripture uses this term in a non-moral sense to describe man’s physical being (John 1:14), and in a morally evil sense to describe man’s unredeemed humanness (see notes on 6:6; Rom. 8; Gal. 5; Eph. 2), i.e., that remnant of the old man which will remain with each believer until each receives his or her glorified body (8:23). “In the flesh” here describes a person who is able to operate only in the sphere of fallen mankind—an unredeemed, unregenerate person (8:9). Although the believer can manifest some of the deeds of the flesh, he can never again be “in the flesh.” MacArthur, J., Jr. (Ed.). (1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed., p. 1704). Nashville, TN: Word Pub.