Author : Elmer Moore (deceased)
reprinted by permission from Truth Magazine.
In Romans 8:12 the writer introduces his thought with the expression, “so then” or “therefore” (KJV). This expression tell us that he is going to reach a conclusion based on something previously written. In the immediate context, beginning in Chapter Six, the writer is discussing the obligation of the baptized to live right (Romans 6:1). In pursuing this theme in the eighth chapter he presents a contrast. In this contrast he describes two directors. One director is described as “flesh” and the other as “Spirit.” I believe that we have successfully shown, in lesson five of these articles, that the one who is walking after the flesh, minding the things of the flesh, is insubordinate to the Spirit’s law (8:7). He is allowing his fleshly desires to direct him. The one who is walking after the Spirit is allowing the Spirit’s law to direct him and the Spirit of God dwells in him because he is being subordinate to the Spirit’s law, the law of God (8:7). The force of the contrast being used by Paul demands this conclusion.
In verse l2 the writer declares that they were not debtors to the flesh “to live after the flesh.” To “live after the flesh” and to “walk after the flesh” (verse 4) are expressions that describe the same conduct. Such a one allows his fleshly desires to determine what he does. In verse 13 we read, “for if you live after the flesh, you must die.” This is not talking about physical death, for man will die physically whether he lives after the flesh or not. The dying of this passage is a result of “living after the flesh.” I am convinced that this is talking about spiritual death. In Ephesians 2:1-3 the Apostle Paul wrote that the Ephesians were dead because of “trespasses and sins” (verse 1) because they were doing the “desires of the flesh and of the mind” (verse 3). In precisely the same way those of Romans 8:13 are said to die. The one who is living after the flesh is the one who is insubordinate to the law of God, (Romans 8:7).
The one who is living after the flesh is dead spiritually. It follows that the one who is insubordinate to God’s law is dead spiritually.
In verse 13 Paul writes, “but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live.” In view of the contrast in this chapter, the passage is describing the man who is “walking after the Spirit” (verse 4). He is minding the things of the Spirit, being subordinate to the Spirit’s law, the law of God. The Spirit of God dwells in him through his obedience to the law of God (Romans 8:7-9). This man is the one whose body is dead to (separated from) sin and whose spirit lives (see article 7).
Paul writes that this man “puts to death the deeds of the body.” Man consists of more than mere flesh and bone for there is the inner man and the outer man (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). The outer man is flesh or body and the inner man is spirit or soul. Paul in describing man wrote, “While we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen” (2 Corinthians 4:18). One can see the outer man, which is the flesh or the body, but he cannot see the inner man, which is the spirit or the soul. Paul writes in Romans 8:13 that the spirit of man, the inner man, in harmony with the Spirit’s law must control the outer man. Brother Whiteside wrote, “In the life of a Christian, the mind- the inner man dominates the flesh; in the sinners life the flesh dominates the mind. But in either case the mind does the planning and the willing. In the sinful life the mind yields to the appetites and passions of the flesh, and plans for their gratification; in the Christian life the mind keeps the body under control, and uses it in acts of service to God”, (Whiteside’s Commentary page 164).
Paul is continuing his discussion of the obligation of the one who has been baptized into Christ to live a godly life. Man is indebted to God and obligated to His service, not to his own body and its gratification. Man has the right of choice. He can choose to live after the flesh; however, if he does he will be separated from God and be in a state of spiritual death. Or he can choose to put to death the deeds of the body and be in a saved relationship with God
