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Today's Pathway: Romans 8:12-14 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Paul starts verse 12 off with "therefore". He is going to base these next few verses on the things that he has been saying for the past chapter and half. He has shown how destructive the flesh was to us before we were saved. He showed how much trouble the flesh causes the believer after his salvation. He has shown that the flesh has nothing good in it, that it can not please God, that it is, in fact, the enemy of God, that it never produced anything in our lives that had spiritual or eternal value, and that it ultimately brings forth fruit unto death. So he states his conclusion: "we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh". The believer owes his flesh absolutely nothing. The flesh has done nothing but harm us throughout our lives. So why on earth would the believer pay a debt to the flesh by living a fleshly, carnal life? Why would he yield his members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin (Romans 6:13)? Why would he live his life as if he were still under the dominion of sin (Romans 6:14)? The answer is that any thinking Christian, and certainly any Spirit-led Christian, would never choose to do so. Unfortunately, the reality is that many professing believers live their lives as if they were in some sort of debt to their flesh, and thus under obligation to fulfill all it's demands. How foolish! What a waste! If someone walked up to you today who had mistreated you and abused you all your life and told you that you owed him money for everything that he had done for you all those years and then demanded payment, you would never start paying him. You would tell him to get lost, to go away, to never come and see you again. This needs to be the Christian's response when the flesh comes with its demands.

In verse 13 Paul warns his believing readers, "if ye live after the flesh ye shall die". Since he has already taught the principle of eternal security he is not telling them that they risk losing their salvation. It could be that he is warning them that God might take their lives if they live after a carnal fashion. The New Testament teaches that this can happen in several places (I Corinthians 11:30; (I John 5:16-17; Galatians 6:8). He could be saying that they will be killing their spiritual lives. Either way, this is not what a Christian should want. Instead of allowing his flesh to kill him, he needs to be killing (mortifying) the deeds that his flesh wants him to do so that he can live. Since Paul has already shown in chapter 7 how difficult this is, how can the believer hope to accomplish it? Paul gives the answer in verse 13: "through the Spirit". In verse 14 he says that those who are led by the Spirit are the sons of God. Since all who have received Christ are sons of God (John 1:12), it follows that all who have received Christ can and should be led by His Spirit. And if we follow His leading, we will be able to overcome the flesh and live the kind of life that pleases God.