The Holy Spirit

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The Holy Spirit

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 a...

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...at the master suffered, but I don't think that we as believers are suffering because of Christ's suffering. It is by God's grace that we are saved; we suffer because we are human, not because Christ suffered.

If Paul were to preach this passage at the Gorge, I think people would have a different reaction than those in Romans times. People nowadays would want to live in the flesh more than in the Spirit. Living in the flesh brings about more opportunity and fun, while living in the Spirit brings restrictions. People these days are more concerned about not living by the rules than by living by them.

One question that I would have for Paul in this passage would be to ask him if Living in the Spirit requires all worldly desires and possessions to be gone in you life? Will I be able to live in the Spirit while I still might desire to do something that I should not?

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