Romans‬ ‭8:4

“that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans‬ ‭8:4‬ ‭

Before you read this verse, I recommend you first read my reflections on Romans 8:1, Romans 8:2, and Romans 8:3, so you can better understand what I’m about to share regarding what the Lord Jesus taught me about this passage.

I’ve always wondered why so many people believe they can enter God’s kingdom without meeting the requirements God Himself has established. Jesus already made this clear when He said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father” (Matthew 7:21). In earthly kingdoms, people may find ways to cross borders illegally, but that is impossible in the kingdom of God. His kingdom cannot be entered by deceit, force, or human effort. God’s kingdom is ruled in righteousness, and His kingdom is everlasting. This is why “the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9–10). And again, we’re told that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 15:50). Our flesh cannot please God, because nothing good dwells in our flesh (Romans 7:18). The works of the flesh are carnal, corrupt, and filled with unrighteousness, and they always produce death within us. Flesh cannot live forever, and it cannot stand in God’s presence.

This is why we must stop and understand the weight of our LORD Jesus Christ’s sacrifice. Why did Jesus have to die for all of us? Because apart from Him, we were already doomed. We were dead in sin, without hope, condemned and unable to enter God’s kingdom by any work of the flesh. Our flesh cannot save us, cannot produce righteousness, and cannot stand before God. Without our LORD Jesus Christ we have no entrance at all into His kingdom.

Jesus fulfilled all the righteous requirements of the law—requirements every one of us has failed to keep since the fall of Adam. Scripture says, “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). God placed our sins upon the body of His Son. On the cross, Jesus took our sins and nailed them to the cross, removing the handwriting of requirements that was against us (Colossians 2:14). In His death, He destroyed the enmity that separated us from God so that we might be reconciled to Him (Ephesians 2:16). He became sin for us, “that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21), and in His body God condemned sin in the flesh (Romans 8:3), breaking its power forever.

Through His death Jesus conquered death itself, for “through death He destroyed him who had the power of death” (Hebrews 2:14). Now the sting of death has no power over us, because His resurrection is the proclamation of liberty for all who believe. Sin and death no longer hold dominion over us. Now we understand what Paul meant when he said, “that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us” (Romans 8:4). Through our Lord Jesus Christ we obtain righteousness not by our own works, but by the finished work of Jesus. It is His obedience, His sacrifice, and His righteousness that justify us before God (Romans 5:19). In Him, the righteousness that the law demanded is fulfilled, and by faith we stand complete in Christ.

Now we can move to what Paul says: “who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” We know from the words of Jesus that the flesh profits nothing, but the Spirit gives life (John 6:63). After the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, the disciples returned to fishing. That is exactly how the flesh operates, it returns us to what is familiar, to the old life, to old habits and ways of thinking. The flesh cannot produce transformation within us. It keeps us in uncleanness and leaves us without understanding of God or His will.

But when the disciples received the Holy Spirit, everything changed. Peter, who denied Jesus three times out of fear, stood up with boldness and preached Christ openly. Transformation began the moment the Spirit came upon them. The Holy Spirit broke the power of the flesh and released His power in them. He began to manifest His fruit in their lives, bringing love, joy, peace, and all the things that produce spiritual life against such life there is no transgression in law.

When we walk in the Spirit, we begin to understand God and His nature. We begin to have fellowship with Jesus, which makes us able to hear His voice, understand His Scriptures, and gain clarity about His will. He also gives us strength to accomplish the will of God over our lives. The Holy Spirit gives us discernment to know what pleases God and what grieves Him. He seals us as God’s own (Ephesians 1:13), He intercedes for us in our weaknesses (Romans 8:26), and He comforts us so that we may comfort others (2 Corinthians 1:4).

Through the Spirit of God that Enoch and Elijah were taken. Enoch “walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (Genesis 5:24). How do you think God took him? The same way He took Elijah, who was caught up by the Spirit of God in a whirlwind into heaven (2 Kings 2:11). These men did not experience death because God brought them to Himself. And Paul tells us that a similar transformation awaits every believer. “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye… we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52). How will we be changed? By the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to our mortal bodies (Romans 8:11). He will transform our earthly bodies into glorious bodies. A bodies that can inherit and endure forever in God’s eternal kingdom.