Paul talks lot about the Holy Spirit and the role that He plays in peoples lives in Romans 8:3-17. His main point though, is that there is a very distinct difference between people of the flesh and people of the Spirit. If the Spirit of God is alive in a person, then that person is alive because they died to sin. However, if the Spirit is not in a person then they are dead. The people of the Spirit and the people of the Flesh are completely opposite from one another, according to Paul in this passage. In verse 4 Paul talks about how before we came to know Christ, we were continually defeated by sin. "When we came to know Him and to receive the indwelling Holy Spirit, we were able to attain a standard we could never reach in our own strength, (Morris, 304)." The Holy Spirit lives among people and enables them to live on something that they could never reach by themselves. That is a difference from those who live in the flesh. People who live in the flesh don't have help from the Spirit, therefore they cannot have the Spirit enable them for anything. In verse 5, Paul is saying that the people of the flesh may have good intentions but the things of the world bound their lives. Morris talks about how the people of the flesh are the center of their lives. Morris makes a good point when he says, "Because they are concentrating on this fleshly life, they cut themselves off from the blessings that Christ offers, (Morris 305)." The fleshy people are so focused on themselves that they don't have time to look at the things around them and be thankful. In verse 6, Paul talks about the flesh bringing death and the Spirit bringing life. Morris talks about how "without peace with God there could not be the life and peace which the Spirit brings, (Morris, 305)." If the Spirit brings life, as Paul says, then how can there not be life without peace with God? Can't the Spirit bring life with us not being at peace with God at first? In verse 8, Paul tal...
