Romans 8:12 - Printer Friendly

ESV: So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

NIV: Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.

NASB: So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—

CSB: So then, brothers and sisters, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh,

NLT: Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.

KJV: Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

NKJV: Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

Prior verses described the differences between two kinds of life. One was living by the sinful, self-serving, world-following flesh, as all non-Christians do. The other was living by the Spirit of God, as all Christians do.

Paul moves next to teaching about how Christians should live since this is true. First, he writes that since saved Christians have been given spiritual life—now in the Spirit and the promise of physical resurrection later by the power of the Spirit— we have an obligation. We have a debt to pay, in a sense.

Before describing what that obligation is, though, Paul wants his readers to hear what they are not obligated to do. Christians no longer owe anything to the flesh. It's important to remember that when Paul writes "flesh," he does not mean simply "body." He does not even mean just sexual sin. He means the self-serving, self-reliant, me-first way of living in the world that all people apart from Christ follow.

We don't owe that old way of living anything. It is not who we are as Christians any longer. In fact, God specifically calls us to abandon that lifestyle and to live in the power of God's Spirit. Christians aren't meant for sin and selfishness any more.

Romans 8:12–17 describes our position in Christ as God's children; those who have been saved through faith in Christ. First, though, Paul warns us that we owe nothing to our old lives in the flesh. That's not who we are any longer. No, since we are led by God's Spirit, we are God's children. God has not given to us a spirit of slavery, but a spirit of adoption into His family. By God's Spirit, we cry out to Him as our ''Abba,'' which is an informal term for ''Father.'' He confirms in our spirit, too, that we are His children.

Romans 8 begins and ends with declarations of the Christian's absolute security before God. There is no condemnation for those in Christ, and nothing will ever be able to separate us from His love. Having believed the gospel, we now live in the Spirit of God. That allows us to call God Abba Father. We suffer with Christ, and we suffer along with all creation while we wait for God to reveal us as His sons. With the help of the Spirit, we are confident that God is for us and loves us in Christ.

In Romans 7, Paul revealed his frustration of trying to do good only to be thwarted by his sin. He begins Romans 8, though, with the triumphant statement that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. We live in the Spirit, and we relate to God as a child does to a father. The Spirit helps us in this season of suffering along with all of creation while we wait for our adoption to be complete with the redemption of our bodies. We are confident, though, that God is for us and nothing can separate us from His love.

The book of Romans is the New Testament's longest, most structured, and most detailed description of Christian theology. Paul lays out the core of the gospel message: salvation by grace alone through faith alone. His intent is to explain the good news of Jesus Christ in accurate and clear terms. As part of this effort, Paul addresses the conflicts between law and grace, between Jews and Gentiles, and between sin and righteousness. As is common in his writing, Paul closes out his letter with a series of practical applications.