The mind set on the flesh is hostile to God. This is where the “sinful nature” translation really falls down. The mind set on lust, lying, hatred, thieving etc is clearly hostile to God, but that is not what Paul is saying here. The person trying to please God by his own strength has his mind set on the flesh, and he will be hostile to God. Our flesh, or our human nature, will do all it can to avoid being vulnerable, to avoid having to trust in God completely, to avoid suffering. It will subtly, and sometimes not so subtly, seek its own agenda, its own independence instead of God dependence. So such a mind will not submit to God, despite outward appearances. Indeed it is utterly incapable of submitting to God. We need to realise how unnatural it is for us to trust God, to recognises the forces within ourselves that will fight against us doing so. So if our mind is controlled by the flesh, if we are relying on human effort, we will find we are completely unable to please God. A radical change in our approach to life is needed.
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