8:4
“In order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us”. The fear of the Jews was that the gospel was antinomianism, that it meant the Law no longer mattered and people would live as they pleased. Paul has shown that living by the Law does not produce righteous results anyway, so it is a failed method. The gospel does produce righteous results. They are produced legally through the cross. They are produced experientially through the Spirit. We actually become people who do fulfil the Law. Anyone who thinks the gospel does away with the Law, or means we can do as we please understands nothing (Matt 5:17). This is achieved not by walking in the flesh (living out of our own strength), but by living according to the Spirit.
8:5
The urge to live out of our own strength is strong. We can even feel a moral duty to do so. This is all a fruit of the fall. For part of the root of the fall was a declaration of independence, we don’t need God! Older versions of the NIV used the term “sinful nature” where others had “flesh”, but the NOV has reverted to “flesh”. This is a very good choice. “The term “sinful nature” tends to make us think of overtly sinful things, like lust, greed , murder, lying, etc. But that is not what Paul is talking about here. Living out of the flesh means living out of our human nature, which is a corrupted human nature. So even if we start off with the best of intentions, it will eventually lead to the sort of overtly sinful things that we have mentioned (see Gal 5:19-21). Instead we need to refocus our minds on to the things of the Spirit. If we live according to the Spirit then we get reoriented on to the things that pleases God.
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