Our Obligation to Live By the Spirit
Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. Romans 8:12,13
In 8:9-11 Paul has stated that having the Spirit is the distinguishing mark of God’s people, He has then begun to outline two major consequences of His indwelling. The first he describes in terms of ‘life’ (8:10,11) and the second, to be dealt with here, in terms of obligation (8:12,13).
‘Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation’ (8:12) or literally: ‘we are debtors.’ Our debt or obligation is to live a righteous life. We have no obligation ‘to the sinful nature, to live according to it’ (8:12). It has no claim on us and we owe it nothing. Our obligation is to the Spirit, to live according to His desires and will.
If the indwelling Spirit has given us life (8:10 ‘your spirit is alive’) we can no longer live according to the flesh (‘sinful nature’) because that brings certain death. We can’t have ‘life’ and go chasing death. In a sense ‘life’ is who we are. Behaving completely opposite to who we are is unthinkable. We are in debt to the indwelling Spirit of life to live out our God-given life and to put to death everything that threatens or is incompatible with it.
‘For if you live according to the sinful nature (which from 8:12 is not an obligation for us) you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live’ (8:13). There is a kind of life that leads to death and there is a kind of death that leads to life. The tension here is between the “indicative” of what God gives us and the “imperative” of what we must do. We will ultimately inherit the new eternal life God has promised us only if we actively use the Spirit to ‘put to death the misdeeds of the body’ (8:13).
This putting ‘to death the misdeeds of the body’’ is neither masochism (taking pleasure in self-inflicted pain) nor asceticism (resenting and rejecting the fact that we have bodies and natural body appetites). It is recognising that evil is evil and where found, we need to put it to death. Jesus’ own summons was ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me’ (Mark 8:34). Because the Romans compelled a condemned criminal to carry his cross to the site of his crucifixion, to carry our cross is symbolic of following Jesus to the place of execution. What we are to ‘put to death’ at this place of execution is ‘the misdeeds of the body,’ every use of our body which serves ourselves and not God and other people.
How do we do this? It doesn’t happen passively to us. It is something we do. It’s not ‘being put to death’ but ‘putting to death.’ We are responsible for putting evil to death. Paul immediately adds that we can ‘put to death the misdeeds of the body’ only ‘by the Spirit’ (8:10), by His power. Only the Holy Spirit can give us the desire, determination and discipline to reject evil but we still have to take the initiative to act.
We must repudiate everything we know to be wrong. We must, as Jesus said, gouge out our offending eye and cut off our offending hand or foot (Matthew 5:29f). If temptation comes to us through what we see, handle or visit, we must (wherever possible) ruthlessly not look, touch or go to those places where temptation has an open doorway into our life. We must set our minds on the things the Holy Spirit desires (8:5), set our hearts on things above (Colossians 3:1f) and fill our minds on what is noble, right, pure and lovely (Philippians 4:8). In this sense, putting to death and hungering and thirsting for what is good are counterparts. Both ‘set their minds’ (8:5) and ‘put to death” (8:13) are present tense verbs describing continuous activities and attitudes.
Why should we ‘put to death the misdeeds of the body’ (8:13)? In part, because we have an obligation to the indwelling Spirit of life (8:12). Paul adds another reason: ‘if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live’ (8:13). Death is the only road to life. When Paul says, ‘you will live’ (8:13) he seems to be alluding to the life of God’s children who are led by the Spirit and assured of the Father’s love, all of which he will explain in the following verses (8:14ff). This rich, abundant, satisfying life can only be enjoyed by those who put their misdeeds to death. The pain of death is worthwhile if it opens the doorway to fullness of life.
What the world calls life (self-centred indulgence) leads to being cut off from God and so death. What the world calls death (our ruthlessly dealing with known wrong in our lives) is the only pathway to authentic humanity and the true life of God.