Rebekah sat in the pew and plotted her escape. As soon as the church service was over, she would walk out the doors and never return. Shame and guilt had hung over her life for years, but no matter what she did, she couldn’t overcome the sin that haunted her daily. Well-meaning friends and mentors tried to provide counsel. They prayed with her, read books, and encouraged her to memorize Scripture, but nothing she tried produced lasting change. She confessed her sin to her husband, sorrowful over the pain it caused him, but even that didn’t keep her from returning to her sin like a dog to its vomit.
The more she tried to fight the temptation, the more miserable she and everyone around her became. She was mad at herself and at God, but took out her frustration by yelling at her husband and kids—or by overeating. Trying to put an end to one sin, she took up another, and soon, to her dismay, she gained over one hundred pounds.
Rebekah felt like she was dying a slow, painful death, and since it seemed the victory she longed for eluded her, she thought she might as well give herself over entirely to her sin. After all, if God wasn’t going to free her from her addiction to pornography, she might as well walk away from the church and her faith forever.
You owe the flesh nothing!
Rebekah didn’t know it at the time, but her physical struggle to give up pornography was really a spiritual war happening between her flesh and the Spirit. The tug-of-war over her soul played out in her flesh and took its toll. Everything she experienced in her addiction vividly reminded her of the cost of her sin. Yet, her flesh, like an insatiable monster, craved more, and she foolishly believed that more would finally satisfy. Our flesh is demanding, but in Romans 8, Paul reminds those who are in Christ—we don’t owe the flesh anything!
12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 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. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Romans 8:12-14.
Beginning with a term of conclusion, “So then” in verse 12, prompts us to look back at the preceding verses. Up to this point, Paul has laid out the immense privileges we have in our union with Christ. But in verse 12, he pivots. “So then,” he says, grounding his command in what the Spirit has done and our union with Christ, don’t live according to the flesh.
But, just what has the Spirit done? Romans 8 lays out quite a list. To start, God no longer condemns us (1). Thus, the Spirit has set us free in Christ Jesus (2). The Spirit applied Christ’s saving work to our account and enabled us to live according to his will (3-4). The Spirit has changed our minds (5), given us life and peace (6), and enabled us to live in a way that pleases God (7-8). Now, the Spirit dwells in us (9), gives us spiritual life (10), and guarantees our future resurrection (11).
So then…do you see the implication? If we’re debtors, we definitely do not owe the flesh anything, but the Spirit everything! And while we might mistakenly try to repay God or earn his favor, our response to this overwhelming grace and help in the Spirit is to do what verse 13 calls us to do: keep fighting sin.
Be killing sin, or it will be killing you
When Rebekah sat down in church, she expected to hear more commands on what to do and what not to do to please God. All her life, she had heard similar messages, but she had never heard that God loved her and had made perfect atonement (or payment) for her sins. That day, she left church, not for good as she had planned, but intrigued by the gospel message she had heard for the first time.
Soon, she learned that one of the hallmarks of the Christian faith is an ongoing fight against sin. Which is what the very next verse says, “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” (Rom. 8:13).
John Owen, the Puritan preacher, wrote a whole book on Romans 8:13, and he succinctly stated the believer’s responsibility…or the “so then” response to our salvation. He said, “Be killing sin, or it will be killing you.”
Rebekah knew first-hand that living according to the flesh was killing her—both physically and spiritually. But the next part of the verse was the game-changer—“if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Suddenly, the issue below the issue became crystal clear. Even though Rebekah had been in church most of her life, she wasn’t able to kill sin because she did not (yet!) possess the Spirit or belong to Christ.
Led by the Spirit
Just as a hallmark of saving faith is a fight against sin, so is the leading of the Spirit. In verse 14, Paul says, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” We know we’re saved because we belong to God’s family as his sons and daughters—and only his children are led by the Spirit.
Doing something by the Spirit means we are led by him to do it. The power, though, is not in us—but in him. We are the responders, not the initiators, and we are moved and led by him. The Spirit is the one who leads us, and one of the ways he leads is to point out our sin and enable us to kill it. He opens our eyes to see the surpassing greatness of being in the Father’s love. And that’s exactly what Rebekah experienced. Before, she was in Christ; the lure of sin overpowered her will. But once she was in Christ, something infinitely more satisfying than her sin captured her full attention.
From captive to captivated
Where sin was killing her slowly, being in Christ and walking in the Spirit gave Rebekah new life! The sin that once defined and destroyed her was crushed at the foot of the cross, and by God’s grace, she was set free! She, like all of us, still struggles with remaining sin, but by walking in the Spirit, she fights with new power. Today, she’s not held captive to sin, but has become captivated by her Savior’s love for her.
Perhaps you see yourself in Rebekah’s story and struggle to overcome besetting sin. The answer is not to try harder, but to belong to Christ. Only the Spirit provides the power to kill the sin that’s killing you.
So then, friend, come to Jesus. Be indebted only to the Spirit who sets us free and gives us new life in Christ! Believers are not defined by their sin but by the One who killed it forever. In Christ, and by his Spirit, we can put to death the deeds of the body—and live!
Cara
P.S. This is the 5th post in this Romans 8 Series. Subscribe to follow along, or read these previous posts to catch up!
P.P.S. Memorizing Scripture bears much fruit in a believer’s life. Join me in memorizing Romans 8 with these handy memorization cards.