For if you live according to the flesh you will die

....  but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live (Romans 8:13). “For” connects this  to the previous verse which reminds us that we under no obligation to the sinful nature to live according to it. Our obligation is to the One who loved us and gave Himself for us.  We are not our own,  we are bough with a price (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20). This morning verse outlines two equal and opposite spiritual laws that govern reality.  The first, is that if we obey the desires of our fallen nature, we will die. It's the law of sin and death (verse 2b). Receiving salvation is about choosing our masters, choosing whom we will obey. In 6:16 Paul says “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves,  whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?”  So which do you want, life or death? The default is death, for “He who sins is the slave of sin” (John 8:34).

The second of the two equal and opposite laws, the law of the Spirit of life (8:2a) is rephrased in the second half of  this morning's verse. It is “If by the Spirit, you put the death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Note that the deeds of the body are put to death by the Spirit, but it is also “you” who does it! We cannot do it without the Spirit, nevertheless we have a part to play. We are not puppets, we have been given the precious gift of free will, how will we use it? Our part has to do with cooperation, it has to do with choosing who I yield to.  It is the secret of life in the Spirit.  While I was still very much identifying with “the good that I would – the evil that I would not” (Romans 7:19), I used to pray over and over “Lord please help me to do my part in putting the death the deeds and the desires of the flesh (Romans 8:13; Galatians 5:24).  It Lord wants us to enter into rest and not be in a constant Romans 7:19 state  (Hebrews 4:1). I am not saying that I have fully arrived, but for me entering this rest was (is) very much a process.

The tenses of the verbs in Romans 8:13 and  Galatians 5:24 are interesting. In particular “put to death” is present continuous. Jesus told the disciples He had many things to tell them but they were not yet able to bear them (John 16:12). My understanding then,  is that part of the Spirit's job is, in His time, to bring things to our attention that need to be put to death. On the other hand, in Galatians 5:24 Paul says that we have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  It is past and positional. We are to reckon ourselves dead to sin (Romans 6:11). So when temptation comes, when the sinful desires threaten to draw us away,  we tell them “No, I'm dead, dead, dead, dead!”

Father, I want to thank You again this morning, that when we fully surrender to You, holding nothing back, then You not only work in us the wherewithal to do Your will, You actually change our desires to want to do it (Philippians 2:12, 13). We praise You for these things this morning Lord in Jesus Name Amen