Romans 8:13. 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.
The Christian life is a great paradox. God does it all, but we do it too. God’s will is being carried out in your life, but you must choose to obey God’s will.
Romans 8 is all about what God has done FOR and IN us by the Spirit of Christ:
- No condemnation
- Set free from the law of sin and death
- Sin condemned in the flesh
- The righteous requirement of the law fulfilled in us
- A new mind set upon the Spirit
- The Spirit of God dwells in us, we are in the Spirit
- The Spirit is life because of righteousness
- Life is given to our mortal bodies
- We live according to the Spirit as debtors to the Spirit and grace
But here in verse 13 we get a warning. Now that we know what God has done, here’s what YOU need to do – put to death the deeds of the body.
Our Puritan friends called this the “mortification of sin” or the “mortification of the flesh.”
“Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” – John Owen (dead Puritan).
“[Rom. 6:12] Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.” – Paul (dead Apostle).
Without the controlling influence of the indwelling life of Christ, by the Spirit, the desires, passions, and even needs of the body will dominate and ultimately destroy us. C.S. Lewis, in a letter written to a friend, called this the prison of the self. Speaking of the imagination, he saw it driving us in one of two ways. Either it keeps us from others or it drives us toward others in healthy, loving, kind relationships. The imagination can keep us locked up in a false reality away from the real world. For example, Lewis says that the lustful imagination keeps us from “uniting with a real woman.”
So this is fun (or awkward)… a little bit of Screwtape.
But Lewis’ letter falls a bit short. If my only reason to control my imagination and thus mortify the flesh, by not lusting, is so that one day I will want to get married and “unite with a real woman,” then is that not also self-serving? Mustn’t we go further than this? Doesn’t lust harm all of my relationships? Even friendships? Yes, as Lewis said, there is a prison of the self, but my motivation for escape must be bigger than me. It must be God himself, not marriage, or any other self-promotion.
This may be why mortification is so hard. God is trying to eradicate sin from our lives. He wants to destroy the flesh. We are not IN the flesh, but the flesh is in us. Why did God leave us this way? Why does the flesh still plague us so much? Why the hard work of mortification? Why the battle of Romans 7? Why the threat of death in Romans 8:13?
The answer is two words: Grace and Faith.
To obey Romans 8:13 you desperately need GRACE. You cannot mortify sin and the flesh on your own. Apart from Christ, and his love, you can do nothing. And to obey Romans 8:13 you desperately need FAITH. If the life of love and holiness, the life of the Spirit, is to be lived, you must do it by faith. Self control (faith) comes from the Spirit (grace). God has given us everything we need for life and godliness by the Spirit, by our union with Christ. But we must appropriate it by faith.
Why the need for mortification? Because God wants us to experience grace and faith. Experiencing God’s grace by faith IS what changes our hearts. It changes our imaginations. It motivates the mortification of our flesh. Nothing else will. Without a faith in the goodness of God and a reception of the grace of God, we will not fight this battle.
And the battle must be fought. Life in the Spirit is not the end of moral judgments. It’s the beginning. The indwelling life of Christ has given us the knowledge of good and evil. We have, through grace, what we tried in the Garden to obtain through effort.
We are now responsible for what we will do with this knowledge. “To live is Christ” demands surrender. And this surrender will actually bring with it a greater knowledge of good and evil. A greater freedom to respond in love by faith. This surrender will change the heart and transform the desires. It will place in check the desires of the body – those, that left unchecked, would have killed us.
To Live is Christ 
Hi ,
(Romans 8:13) says : ‘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.’
The verse is nicely
propounded in this article.
This is one way of explanation.
Living after the flesh, is known as ‘self-idolatry.’This is seen in (Colossians 3: 5) :’ Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence
& covetousness, which is idolatry. ‘
ln self-idolatry, we place our above mentioned desires,own achievements, or opinions above God’s will ;satisfying
the flesh.(Colossians 2: 23).
When the works of the flesh
are: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Envyings, murders, drunken ness & revellings
(Galatians 5 :19-20 )
Self-idolatry is also seen through other ways. The following verses state it_:
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1) “Loving the world.
(1 John 2:16) states :For all
that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,
& the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.’
2) Loving our own life, being lovers of self. (John 12 : 25)
And, going according to our
own way, (2 Timothy 3 : 2)
(Luke 9:23) states :
“Jesus said to the crowd, ‘If
any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up
your own way, take up your cross daily & follow me.’”
(2 Timothy 3:2) states :
“ People will love only them selves & their money. They
will be boastful & proud, scoffing at God, disobedient
to their parents & ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred.”
3) Resting upon our own
wisdom & not God’s.Being
wise in our own eyes .
(Proverbs 3 : 7)
(Romans 1 : 22) states :
‘Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. ‘
(Galatians 6:3) states :“ lf a
man think himself to be something, when he is
nothing, he deceiveth himself.”
4) Keeping pride & self-
exaltation ; seeking personal glory instead of God’s glory.
Trusting ourselves instead
of God. And, Thinking our
selves to be something, when we are nothing. (Gal. 6 : 3)
(Proverbs 3:5-6) States :
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his
will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”
(Matthew 23:12) states :
‘ Whosoever shall exalt him
self shall be abased.’
For example, the Scribes & Pharisees were condemned
of this idolatry.
( Matt. 23 : 2-12.)
(Pro. 16:18) states :“Pride
goes before destruction, & haughtiness before a fall.”
(1 Corinthians 10:31)states :
“So whether you eat or drink,
or whatever you do, do it all
for the glory of God.”
5) Trusting others.
(Psalm 118:8) states :“It is better to take refuge in the
Lord than to trust in people.”
(Isaiah 2:22) states :
“Don’t put your trust in mere humans. They are as frail as breath. What good are they?”
6) Seeking approval from
others instead of God.
(Matthew 6:1) states :
“Watch out! Don’t do your
good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you
will lose the reward from
your Father in heaven.”
(John 12:43) states :
“For they loved human praise more than the praise of God.”
7) Working for people &
through strife or vainglory.
(Philippians 2:3).
Maintaining a double
standard; considering some things acceptable for you but not for others. (Pro. 20:10)
(Colossians 3:23) states :
“Work willingly at whatever
you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather
than for people.”
8) Seeking to please men
(1 Thessalonians 2:4) says :
“Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.”
(Galatians 1:10 ) States :
“ If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.”
9) Loving money.
(Matthew 6:24) says :
“ You cannot serve God &
be enslaved to money.
(James 4:13) states :
‘Go to now, ye that say, today
or tomorrow we will go into
such a city, continue there a
year buy & sell & get gain.’
(1 Timothy 6:10) States :
“For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. &
some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith & pierced themselves
with many sorrows.”
10) Women adorning them
selves of plaiting the hair, wearing of gold, (1 Peter 3 : 3)
& in modest apparel.
( 1 Timothy 2 : 9)
11) Feeding the flock of God
for filthy lucre. (1 Pet. 5 : 2)
12) Following pernicious
ways of false teachers &
false prophets. (2 Peter 2 : 2).
Elders can do the same
(Acts 20 : 30)
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