A deadly obligation - Romans 8:12-13

Intro

We have spent the last 3 months examining in depth the indicatives of Paul’s doctrine of the Holy Spirit.

We’ve seen that the Spirit is the one who confirms, seals, and secures our “no-condemnation” status from verse 1, and that He is the one who truly fulfills that “no-condemnation” in our regeneration and finally fulfills it in our resurrection. In other words, the indwelling of the Spirit is living, breathing, vital proof in our bodies and in our souls that all the promises of the gospel, acquired by Christ, belong also to us, and more than Christ’s promises belonging to us, Christ Himself belongs to us, and we to him, in perfect Trinitarian union, as we participate in the love of the God-head.

Paul now turns for just two brief sentences to what John Murray calls a hint of the hortatory - in other words, Paul alludes briefly to the implications of the indicatives he has just extolled.

But this exhortation is brief, so brief that Paul doesn’t quite say what’s going to say explicitly. Paul is a classic example of a passionate communicator who wants to jump right to the end, to get to the “good stuff,” as it were. But here he catches himself and as we will see in the coming weeks, circles back to the indicatives in verse 14.

And really what Paul is doing here is tying his soaring doctrines of regeneration and resurrection, articulated in verses 9-11, to real life. To the here and now of the Roman church, and the here and now of all believers who would open this book.

So let’s examine the text, and see what Paul has in store for us in these two verses:

The Exegetical Part

Paul’s opening conjunction here is so then. He is referring back to what he has just taught. At the very least, he is referencing 8:1 onward, though in a greater sense he is referencing even all the way back to 5:1 onward.

He refers to his readers as brethren. Paul does this 9 times in Romans, and every time it indicates heightened passion on Paul’s part. In other words, when he starts using brethren language, you can be assured that this is something that is near and dear to the heart of Paul.

The word translated in English brethren is adelphoi in the Greek, and it is a term of endearment. There is affection associated with this type of love. It is the love of family, and might accurately be used to describe love between siblings, parents and children, and husbands and wives. It is used here and all 8 other times in Romans in the neuter gender - in other words, it refers to both men and women. The NIV even translates this brothers and sisters, which I think is appropriate.

Next, he refers to his readers in the first person plural - the word we - in other words, he identifies his readers and himself together, as one group.

The English translates this as “we are under obligation” but that obscures the nuance of the Greek. In the original language it is actually only two words, esmen opheiletai, which translated hyper literally means exist as obligated people. Let’s unpack that. Paul’s wording here indicates that the life of all believers, all brethren, all Christian adelphoi, is to be marked perpetually by obligation. What is intended here by obligation? It’s the idea of debt. The word only occurs 7 times in the rest of the New Testament, but the concept is clear: to be under obligation is to owe a debt. And this is actually related to one of Paul’s other, more common talking points, that of the life of a Christian as a doulos, or slave. To be a slave in the doulos sense is to be indebted to someone, and as a doulos you are working to repay that opheiletai, that obligation or debt. So Paul effectively, by using this specific word here, is intending to draw us back to the argument of chapter 6, in which Paul demonstrates that because of the death of Christ, we are no longer slaves of sin, but salves of Christ, and that is the example that Paul set for the Romans all the back in 1:1 in which he referred to himself as a slave of Christ.

So who are we enslaved to? To whom do we owe a debt? To our flesh? No - that debt was paid at the cross. Paul is emphatic - we are not under obligation, we do not owe a debt to our flesh. But Paul is tricky here. He doesn’t actually tell us what we are under obligation to. Kind of frustrating. But we can safely infer back to chapter 6 and understand that we are under obligation to Christ and to righteousness, and even more directly we can infer back to 8:4 and to the rest of chapter 8 where Paul squarely plants the flesh in one corner and the Holy Spirit in the other. Therefore, we are not under obligation to the flesh, but rather to the Spirit of Christ. We are obligated to Christ by His Spirit, because of the work that He did on our behalf.

And what does the obligation, the debt look like? For Paul here in verse 10, the obligation is a life obligation. The debt we owe is the debt of a life, which again is the debt of a doulos. So the obligation of the Christian is not an obligation to the flesh, but to the Spirit, and the obligation is to live accordingly. As we have seen up to this point, the Spirit has regenerated, sealed, indwelt, and promised to resurrection us. It stands to reason that if those indicatives are true, the imperative should be a life lived accordingly. As John Owen would say, we are under obligation to live as dwellings fit for the Holy Spirit.

Paul at this point introduces the ultimate ironic contrast. If our obligation was to the flesh, and to live according to the flesh, the outcome would, ironically, be death. Flesh-life equals Spirit-death. And this wraps up Paul’s argument in the earlier portion of chapter 8 in which he detailed the development of fleshly living - you set your mind on things of the flesh which results in walking according to the flesh which results in hostility toward God, disobedience, displeasing God, and ultimately death. So Paul effectively loops back and summarizes here: if you live according to the flesh, walking according to the flesh with a mind set on things of the flesh, you will die.

But Paul then makes a contrast: if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. The contrast then is this: live according to the flesh, you die. Die according to the flesh, by the power of the Spirit, and you live. Another way of putting it is this: your sin will kill you if you don’t kill it. Yet another way would be in the words of John Owen: be killing sin, or sin will be killing you.

So the point for Paul here is this: put sinful deeds to death every day and subsequently live. Allow your sinful deeds to live and subsequently die.

It is graphic. The Authorized version gives us an even more stark picture: mortify the deeds of the flesh. Mortify your sin.

So having pored over the text, let us work our way through an outline I have unashamedly stolen from John Owen in what is perhaps his most famous work: The Mortification of Sin in the Believer, taken directly from the Authorized text of this verse.

The precondition - If

The people - Brethren

The power - The Spirit

The prerogative - Mortify the deeds of the body

The promise - You shall live

The Doctrinal Part

The pre-condition - If

The whole of Paul’s argument here is conditional, but not so much as cause and effect, in other words, your mortification causes your life. Rather, it what grammarians might call a means and end conditional. In other words, Paul links the means - mortification - to the end - life - as a matter of coherence. You cannot have one without the other. No life, no mortification, no mortification, no life.

It is this conditional that wraps up the entire statement in verse 12. Our obligation is to put to death the deeds of the body and live. Our obligation is to live and put to death the deeds of the body.

Some opposition might arise to this statement. It seems as if Paul is saying that our eternal life is predicated upon our mortification of sin. The answer to that would be, not possible, since our life in Christ is a gift freely given by grace. The key thing to understand here is that Paul is not necessarily predicating our life on our mortification, but rather clarifying that those who have been given and promised life, necessarily will, by nature, mortify their sin.

This will make more sense as we move into our next point: the people.

The people - Brethren

Paul indicates his passion for this mortification by his previous use of the word brethren, and then references back with the word you - if you are putting to death the deeds of the body, if you are mortifying.

So in order for this all to make sense, especially our previous point, we have to understand Paul’s usage of the word you here. This is not a general you. This is not you people everywhere out there in the world. Paul is referencing both generally those who are in Christ according to verse 1 and therefore have no condemnation resting upon them, and also specifically the brethren with whom he identified himself in the previous verse.

The you is the church, believers, Christians, who are not in the flesh but in the spirit according to verse 9, who have been made alive in their spirits, regenerated according to verse 10, the ones in whom the Spirit dwells. These are the ones to whom the duty of mortification is prescribed. According to John Owen, prescribing the duty of mortification to anyone other than believers is “a notable fruit of that superstition and self-righteousness that the world is full of,—the great work and design of devout men ignorant of the gospel.”

Owen summarizes with this concise and memorable statement:

Works of John Owen: Volume 6 Chapter 1: Mortification of Sin in Believers, Etc

The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin.

Notice his careful wording there. We are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, yet are still required to mortify the indwelling power of sin.

Now let’s pause for a moment here. No one, even the most devout Christian, would claim to be completely free from sin. No one in their right mind would contradict Paul in his cry of O wretched man that I am. Part and parcel of the Christian life is this daily struggle with the old man, this battle with the flesh. This is not to say that we have not been freed from our sin in it’s condemning power, for that much is certain. We have been made slaves to Christ, rather than to sin, in chapters 6 and 7. What we have not necessarily been freed from is our sin in it’s indwelling power. Despite the fact that we have our new spiritual life in us as a gift from the Spirit according to the work of Christ, we still have our sinful bodies, our flesh, to contend with. The hope of the Christian is, as we saw last week, that one day our bodies will be made new and there will be ultimate inner peace, rather than the wrestling of spirit and body that we currently experience. But until that day, according to Paul, our responsibility is, to put in the vernacular, keep that old man dead. As that pre-eminent Christian rock band Petra would say, you have to keep killing your old man.

And that is our responsibility then, according to Paul. Mortify the deeds of the flesh.

We now want to consider the power by which the mortification occurs:

The power - The Spirit

Paul is very careful in his word order here. He does not say put to death the deeds of the body by the power of the Spirit. That would be the smoother and easier way to frame the phrase. Instead he uses the clunkier rendering we see there in English - but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body. This is so Paul might make something very clear: there is no mortification where there is no Spirit-power, and more than that, the Spirit-power must be first. It must be pre-eminent. It must be central.

The same Spirit then, of Christ, of God, that dwells in us, that quickens us, that effects our adoption and intercedes for us is also the Spirit of flesh-deed mortification. And this is an exclusive power. Listen again to John Owen:

Works of John Owen: Volume 6 Chapter 1: Mortification of Sin in Believers, Etc

All other ways of mortification are vain, all helps leave us helpless; it must be done by the Spirit. Men, as the apostle intimates, Rom. 9:30–32, may attempt this work on other principles, by means and advantages administered on other accounts, as they always have done, and do: but, saith he, “This is the work of the Spirit; by him alone is it to be wrought, and by no other power is it to be brought about.” Mortification from a self-strength, carried on by ways of self-invention, unto the end of a self-righteousness, is the soul and substance of all false religion in the world.

If you want to mortify, you must do so by the power of the Spirit. All else is vain. Your reliance must be wholly and solely on the Spirit for this deadly work.

And what precisely is that work? Let’s dig further.

The prescription - Mortify the deeds of the flesh

John Owen elucidates 3 major questions that are to be inquired of this prescription or necessary duty.

What is meant by the body? The first question concerns the nature of body. What does Paul mean here? The Greek word is different than the word previously translated flesh in verse 12, and in the first line of verse 13, there the word is sarx, here it is soma. Both sarx and soma are common New Testament words, each being used over 140 times. I think Paul is doing something unique, linguistically, here. He is implementing a literary technique that he has used before, and he is wrapping together his Greek and Hebrew heritage into one packaged statement that is full of depth and profundity. Paul is using parallelism to teach us something about our sin nature. If you consider the range of New Testament usage of these two words, sarx and soma, what you will find is that sarx tends to be more metaphysical or theoretical, while soma tends to be more biological or medical. In other words, sarx refers to the body as an idea, while soma refers to the body as an object. This helps us understand Paul when he speaks of the flesh so frequently in his letters, as almost being something that takes on qualities beyond just the basics of biological reality and becomes more abstract or ideological. Soma on the other hand tends to be more of a medical or biological term, and interestingly enough, this is a favored word of the most well-known doctor in the Bible, Luke. All of this to say, when Paul says that we are not to live according to the flesh, but instead put to death the deeds of the body, he is saying that mortification must be whole-person mortification. There are internal parts of mortification and internal parts of mortification. We’ll talk about that later, but for now, we need to understand that Paul intends here for us to understand that the body and flesh he speaks of is the whole scope of natural, sinful, fallen human existence. John Owen again summarizes brilliantly: “The body, then, here is taken for that corruption and depravity of our natures whereof the body, in a great part, is the seat and instrument, the very members of the body being made servants unto unrighteousness thereby.” (John Owen, The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold, vol. 6 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, n.d.), 7.) The nature - flesh - is corrupt, and so also the seat of the nature - the body - is also corrupt.

What is meant by deeds? This is the Greek word praxis, from which we get our English word practical. These are the outward manifestations, the visible actions done in keeping with our corrupt flesh and blood. John Owen correctly draws out that Paul’s intent is not merely the fruit, but also the root, as it were. Not only are the fruits of flesh to be mortified, but the flesh itself is to be mortified.

What is meant by mortify? This is the heart of the matter for Paul in this statement, for indeed this is the principal verb of the entire sentence, the subject of the obligation mentioned in verse 12. To mortify the deeds of the body, and indeed mortify the flesh itself, is to remove it’s life-source from it, to remove all strength, vigour and power, so that it cannot act or exert or do anything of it’s own accord. It’s important to note that the true and better killing of our sin was accomplished as our old man was crucified with Christ, according to Paul in 6:6, but the full and final death of sin occurs perpetually in the life of the Christian, by the power of the Holy Spirit, as the deeds of the body are continually mortified and put to death. As Christ put sin to death, so we also, as we take up our cross and follow Him by His Spirit, put sin to death. John Owen again summarizes beautifully: “The intendment of the apostle in this prescription of the duty mentioned is,— the mortification of indwelling sin remaining in our mortal bodies, that it may not have life and power to bring forth the works or deeds of the flesh is the constant duty of believers.” (John Owen, The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold, vol. 6 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, n.d.), 8.)

And finally then we arrive at the promise - you shall live.

The promise - you will live

Finally we see the promise of mortification, namely, that if you mortify the deeds of the body, you will live. Now Paul here is referencing both types of life that he has brought up previously. The inner spirit life of regeneration, and the future physical life of resurrection. Now what’s interesting here is that contextually, the life of regeneration and the life of resurrection are given and empowered by the Spirit. The Spirit is the agent of regenerated inner life and resurrected outer life, and so also he is the agent of mortified present life. Paul is, as we have said, less concerned with a cause and effect, and more about a means and an end. What’s compelling is that, in Paul’s ordering of the different types of life, we already know that the end is guaranteed. The means is simply given as the method by which we are to operate until we get to that end. In other words, the obligation of the regenerated person who possesses an indefatigable hope of resurrection, is mortification. We are alive in Christ, by His Spirit, praise God, and so we have a mortification obligation.

And in a right here, right now practical sense, that mortification obligation brings benefits. John Owen says this: The vigour, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh. (John Owen, The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold, vol. 6 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, n.d.), 9.)

If we want spiritual vigour, spiritual power, spiritual comfort to abound in our hearts, we cannot simultaneously allow that which is utterly opposed to that vigour, power, and comfort to take up residence in our hearts.

The practical part

I would be remiss if we examined the text, considered it’s doctrinal implications, and did not speak briefly at least of the practical measures we might take to mortify sin in our own lives.

Now I am going to do something that will make you uncomfortable right now. I need you to silently, before God, consider a sin or a number of sins that beset you right now. Don’t say anything, you don’t need to write them down. But I need you to bring them to the forefront of your mind.

Now, with that indwelling sin, that specific actions or attitude which God has forbidden, in your mind, listen to John Owen’s 9 pastoral preparations for dealing with indwelling sin.

Let’s put the gloves on this morning, and consider how we might prepare and train ourselves to mortify sin.

Consider what dangerous symptoms thy lust hath attending or accompanying it,—whether it hath any deadly mark on it or no; if it hath, extraordinary remedies are to be used; an ordinary course of mortification will not do it. (John Owen, The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold, vol. 6 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, n.d.), 43.) What are Owen’s symptoms? 1) The sin has become habitual. 2) Your heart claims to be in a good state, and yet allows sin to continue within, unabated.) 3) You find delight or pleasure in the sin. 4) You do not mortify the sin for what it is, but only mortify it because you are afraid of the consequences. 5) The sin may be afflicting you as punishment from God. 6) The sin remains, even when measures have already been taken against it. We must consider this morning whether these things are true. If they are, you have identified a sin that will require intense spiritual sweat to mortify.

Get a clear and abiding sense upon thy mind and conscience of the guilt, danger, and evil of that sin wherewith thou art perplexed (John Owen, The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold, vol. 6 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, n.d.), 50.) Do you see your sin for what it is? This is a first step in mortifying that sin.

By the Word of God, load thy conscience with the guilt of the sin. If your conscience is not weighed down with the reality of your guilt, your soul will never be stirred to mortify.

Being thus affected with thy sin, in the next place get a constant longing, breathing after deliverance from the power of it. Get thy heart, then, into a panting and breathing frame; long, sigh, cry out, as given to us in the example of David in Psalms 32 and 51.

Consider whether the sin with which thou art perplexed be not rooted in thy nature, and cherished, fomented, and heightened from thy constitution. In other words, your personality may lend itself to certain sins. Let me provide a quick example: anyone who knows me knows that I am on the extroverted side of the spectrum, and that I love to talk. Just because I am an extrovert does not mean that I am absconded from my duty to be quick to listen and slow to speak. That does not vacate the truth that a fool is thought to be wise when he is silent. That does not cancel out the reality that the tongue is a flame of fire, and such a little spark can cause so great an amount of destruction. Just because my personality is inclined a certain way, doesn’t mean that I have license to excuse sin on those grounds. And this is why personality tests and such are so dangerous for the Christian. Paul doesn’t say mortify those sins that are easy for you to mortify because your enneagram number is 8. Paul doesn’t say mortify those sins that fit into the context of your Myers-Briggs number. Throw that out! Your personality is not an excuse for sin. Keep in mind that your personality may give an advantage to the world, the flesh, and the devil, and therefore you must keep careful watch on those areas of your life. And finally, often the means by which you mortify sins which you are naturally inclined toward, is the same means Paul put forth in 1 Corinthians 9: I discipline my body and make it my slave, or as Pastor Kent Hughes would say, by working up a spiritual sweat.

Consider what occasions, what advantages thy sin hath taken to exert and put forth itself, and watch against them all.

Rise mightily against the first actings of thy distemper, its first conceptions; suffer it not to get the least ground.

Use and exercise thyself to such meditations as may serve to fill thee at all times with self-abasement and thoughts of thine own vileness, and at the same with thoughts of the majesty and excellency of God. “Let us, then, revive the use and intendment of this consideration: Will not a due apprehension of this inconceivable greatness of God, and that infinite distance wherein we stand from him, fill the soul with a holy and awful fear of him, so as to keep it in a frame unsuited to the thriving or flourishing of any lust whatever? Let the soul be continually wonted to reverential thoughts of God’s greatness and omnipresence, and it will be much upon its watch as to any undue deportments. Consider him with whom you have to do,—even “our God is a consuming fire;” and in your greatest abashments at his presence and eye, know that your very nature is too narrow to bear apprehensions suitable to his essential glory.” It is worth noting that John Owen devotes as much ink to this 8th direction as he does to the previous 7, which is appropriate as it is absolutely critical in your mortification of sin.

Heed the Word of God as it speaks to your sin, and do not speak to it yourself out of turn. In other words, you need to apprehend of your sin exactly as God apprehends of it, and speaks to it in His Word.

Having thus prepared our hearts for the mortification of sin, we now turn to the specific actions that Owen lays out for mortifying sin. There are only two, and what a glorious pair they are. You’ve been waiting for it all morning, the practical implications, the obligation of mortification, how do I put to death the deeds of the body? Here they are:

Set faith in Christ at work for the killing of thy sin. His blood is the great sovereign remedy for sin-sick souls. Live in this, and thou wilt die a conqueror; yea, thou wilt, through the good providence of God, live to see thy lust dead at thy feet. Owen implores us: Look to the provision that is in Christ. Wait expectantly for His relief provided to your weary soul. Consider Christ’s mercy. Consider His faithfulness.

This whole work, which I have described as our duty, is effected, carried on, and accomplished by the power of the Spirit, in all the parts and degrees of it, as he clearly and fully convinces the heart of the evil and guilt and danger of the sin to be mortified. He alone reveals the fullness of Christ to us for our relief. He alone establishes our hearts in expectation of Christ’s relief. He alone brings the cross of Christ into our hearts with it’s sin-killing power. He alone is the author and finisher of our sanctification. He alone empowers our prayers to this end.

Remember that sin? The one I had you set on the forefront of your mind just a few moments ago? Recall it again. Christ’s blood is the remedy, and by it you will live to see the funeral of that sin. The Spirit’s work in our lives right now, as He dwells within us and among us, is the power by which we mortify sin. Our life, our vigor, our power as Christians comes by Spirit-empowered mortification. It is our deadly obligation.

Conclusion

We have a debt, an obligation to Christ to live according to the Spirit, not according to the flesh. That debt implies that we are slaves of God, slaves of Christ, slaves of the Spirit, and that is accurate. But Paul has more to speak to us regarding our relationship with the Triune God. For we have been called as more than slaves or servants in the house of God. We have been called and adopted as children. And it is to that great doctrine of adoption that we will turn our attention next week.