Romans 8:13

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die--in the sense of Rom 6:21.

but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body--(See on Rom 7:23).

ye shall live--in the sense of Rom 6:22. The apostle is not satisfied with assuring them that they are under no obligations to the flesh, to hearken to its suggestions, without reminding them where it will end if they do; and he uses the word "mortify" (put to death) as a kind of play upon the word "die" just before. "If ye do not kill sin, it will kill you." But he tempers this by the bright alternative, that if they do, through the Spirit, mortify the deeds of the body, such a course will infallibly terminate in "life" everlasting. And this leads the apostle into a new line of thought, opening into his final subject, the "glory" awaiting the justified believer.

Note, (1) "There can be no safety, no holiness, no happiness, to those who are out of Christ: No "safety," because all such are under the condemnation of the law (Rom 8:1); no holiness, because such only as are united to Christ have the spirit of Christ (Rom 8:9); no happiness, because to be "carnally minded is death" (Rom 8:6)" [HODGE]. (2) The sanctification of believers, as it has its whole foundation in the atoning death, so it has its living spring in the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ (Rom 8:2-4). (3) "The bent of the thoughts, affections, and pursuits, is the only decisive test of character (Rom 8:5)" [HODGE]. (4) No human refinement of the carnal mind will make it spiritual, or compensate for the absence of spirituality. "Flesh" and "spirit" are essentially and unchangeably opposed; nor can the carnal mind, as such, be brought into real subjection to the law of God (Rom 8:5-7). Hence (5) the estrangement of God and the sinner is mutual. For as the sinner's state of mind is "enmity against God" (Rom 8:7), so in this state he "cannot please God" (Rom 8:8). (6) Since the Holy Ghost is, in the same breath, called indiscriminately "the Spirit of God," "the Spirit of Christ," and "Christ" Himself (as an indwelling life in believers), the essential unity and yet Personal distinctness of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, m the one adorable Godhead must be believed, as the only consistent explanation of such language (Rom 8:9-11). (7) The consciousness of spiritual life in our renewed souls is a glorious assurance of resurrection life in the body also, in virtue of the same quickening Spirit whose inhabitation we already enjoy (Rom 8:11). (8) Whatever professions of spiritual life men may make, it remains eternally true that "if we live after the flesh we shall die," and only "if we through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body we shall live" (Rom 8:13, and compare Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:6; Phi 3:18-19; Jo1 3:7-8).

SECOND: The Sonship of Believers--Their Future Inheritance--The Intercession of the Spirit for Them (Rom 8:14-27).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rom_8:13

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.

Sin and death, or grace and life

I. If sin live in us, we shall die.

1. To live after the flesh is to obey the orders of our corrupt nature; to gratify its sinful desires without regard to or in contradiction of the will of God. And this will appear if we consider--

(1) The actions of a carnal man (Gal_5:19; Eph_5:12; Heb_13:4; 1Co_6:10).

(2) His words (Mat_12:34; Eph_5:4; Jam_3:6).

(3) His thoughts (Pro_23:7; Mat_15:18; Psa_10:4; Php_3:19; 1Jn_2:15).

2. Now, mark the consequence of living after the flesh; ye shall die I (Rom_8:6; 1Ti_5:6; Eph_2:1; Rom_6:2). What else could be reasonably expected? There are but two eternal states, and every man is training up for one of these. The carnal man is unfit for heaven; for all the joys and employments of the blessed are spiritual.

II. If sin die in us, we shall live.

1. To mortify sin is to put it to death, as the magistrates put a felon to death by due course of justice; he is suspected, apprehended, tried, and executed. Crucifixion is the manner of killing it which God has appointed (Gal_5:24). This is--

(1) A violent and painful death.

(2) A scandalous death.

(3) A slow and lingering death.

2. By what means may we effectually mortify sin? Through the Spirit. We must first have the Spirit, that we may experience His sanctifying power. The Spirit helps us to mortify sin--

(1) By enabling us to discover it, and by showing us its abominable nature; filling our souls with a sincere dislike to it, and a holy determination to destroy it.

(2) By giving us faith, and leading us to Christ for pardon, righteousness, and strength.

3. This promised help of the Spirit does not exclude the use of means on our part. The Spirit so works in us, as also to work by us. The duty is ours; the grace is His.

4. Thus doing, we shall live. There is no condemnation to persons of this character. This is an evidence that they have passed from death unto life (Joh_5:24). They live indeed, for Christ liveth in them. They live to God; and in this, their gradual sanctification, consists their meetness for heaven, where sin shall be all done away. But, oh sinner, what will be the end of thy present pursuits? (Rom_6:21). (G. Burder.)

Grace the only source of goodness

I. Without God, endless conflict.

1. The body or the flesh (Rom_7:25; Gal_5:17) or the earthly members (Col_3:5; Rom_8:23).

(1) Is regarded as the source of--

(a) Our animal appetites (Gal_5:19, fornication, etc.).

(b) Our selfish passions (Gal_5:20, hatred, etc.).

(c) Our mental perversities (Gal_5:20, idolatry, etc.)--

all those false notions which are called (Eph_2:3) the working of the understanding that judges according to sense, as distinguished from the pure reason (Rom_1:21).

(2) All these workings of the flesh are sinful, i.e. abnormal, contrary to the end for which God has made us (Rom_7:14; Rom_7:18).

2. The spirit, the mind, the inward man (Rom_7:22-23) is the source of our--

(1) Moral principles (Rom_7:22; Mat_26:41).

(2) Social affections (Gal_5:22).

3. These workings of the Spirit are in endless conflict with the workings of the flesh (Gal_5:17; Rom_8:7-25), but with no sufficient power to overcome them (Rom_7:18-19; Mat_26:41); so that the result is only self-contradiction, self-condemnation, misery, and death (Rom_7:24).

II. With God, final victory (Rom_8:2-4). The deeds of the body, or works of the flesh (Gal_5:19), mean the products of our lower nature, whether of thought, or feeling, or act. To mortify, crucify (Gal_5:24), deaden them (Col_3:5), is to reduce them to impotence. Observe the antithesis: If ye put to death your animal nature, you yourself, who are spirit, shall live. And this death of sin is to be effected by the life of God in the soul.

1. Raise us above sin. Gods Spirit in us raises us into the region of spirit. And in this atmosphere sin cannot reach us (1Jn_5:18). The thought of sin is most alien when the thought of God is most vivid. In fellowship with holy men, how hateful sin appears! How much more, therefore, when in fellowship with the Holy One? Aaron down in the plain was soon seduced from Gods commandments. Moses in the mount grasped them firmly with both hands. Whence the importance of prayer (Mat_17:21).

2. Hearten us against sin (Rom_8:15). Knowing that we are on Gods side, we know also that God is on our side (Gen_6:24; Num_19:9; 2Ki_6:16; Isa_41:10). And so the animation of Moses fills us: Fear not I Stand still, and see the salvation God can work (Exo_14:13-14). Jesus, full of the spirit of Sonship, put back easily all the suggestions of the tempter.

3. Make us triumphant over sin. The things impossible to man by himself are possible to him with God (1Jn_4:4; Eph_6:10; Php_4:13). (Preb. Griffith.)

Mortification a Christian duty

In the text itself there are two general parts considerable. First, a conditional threatening or dreadful commination upon supposition of miscarriage: If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. When it is said of such persons that they shall die, we must take it in the full latitude and extent of death, that is--First, as to temporal death, or natural, which consists in the mere separation of soul and body. This it holds good, according to a twofold account. First, in the course of Gods justice, who hath so ordained it and appointed it (Rom_1:32). Secondly, from a connection of the cause with the effect. Sin, and especially a living and conversing in the ways of it, brings death. Secondly, spiritual death, which consists in deprivation of grace, and holiness, and peace, and spiritual comfort. If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. Thirdly, there is another death, and that is death eternal. The separation of soul and body from God for ever in hell. And this is also consequent upon living after the flesh. The second is the conditional promise or comfortable intimation upon supposition of repentance and new obedience in these: But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh, etc. Wherein again we have four particulars. First, to speak of the duty itself, which is mortification. If ye, etc. This is a duty which lies upon every Christian, to exercise and inure himself to mortification, that is, to the killing and crucifying of sin in him. For the better opening of this present point unto us, there are two things especially which are here to be declared by us. First, wherein this mortifying of sin, whereof we now speak, does mainly and principally consist. And this we may take according to these following explications. First, it does imply an active and spontaneous opposition of sin of our own accord. Secondly, it does imply difficulty and trouble in the performance of it. Dying, it is usually with some pain: as being that which nature does struggle with and strive against, especially violent death and that which follows upon killing. This, it is painful, especially. Created nature does not more abhor natural death, the death of the body, than corrupted nature does abhor this mystical death. The killing of sin. Oh, it is that which a carnal person cannot endure to hear or think of. This arises from that strength and settlement which sin hath in the heart. As we see it is again in nature, that those who have the strongest constitutions, they have commonly the painfullest deaths. Even so is it likewise in grace: those who have the strongest corruption, they have the hardest mortification. Thirdly, this mortification, it does imply a weakening of the power and vigour of sin in us. That look as a body which is dead, it is thereby made unserviceable and unfit for the actions of life. So a man also, that is spiritually mortified, sin is in him made unactive and unfit for the former services and performances which proceeded from it. Fourthly, it implies universality, that is, a resisting of all kind of sin, without exception. Killing, it is a destroying of life in every part. There must not be only a restraining of some sins, but a fighting against all. Where any one reigns there is no true mortification. Fifthly and lastly, it implies continuance and the often renewing of this act time after time. The second is the grounds or reasons which do make for the performance of it, which may be reduced to these heads. First, the nature of sin and the thing itself, which is to be mortified, and that is our mortal and deadly enemy. If a man find his enemy, says Saul, will he let him go well away? Enmity, it invites destruction as well as threatens it. Secondly, there is reason for it also from that power which is wrought in a Christian by Christs Spirit tending thereto, and the special virtue which is contained in the death and sufferings of Christ to this purpose. Because ye are dead and risen with Christ, therefore mortify your earthly members, etc. Thirdly, it is requisite also from that obedience which we owe to God in the whole course of our lives. No man can be alive to God, that is, perform lively service to Him, but he that is first dead to sin, that is, that hath sin and corruption first crucified and mortified in him. Fourthly, as an evidence of our justification and the forgiveness of our sins unto us. No man can be so comfortably assured that his sin is pardoned that does not find his sin mortified. Wherever sin remains in the power of it, it remains also in the guilt of it. To quicken and provoke us so much the more hereunto, let us take in these considerations with us. First, the command of God, who has laid this duty upon us. Secondly, our own interest and the great good which we reap from it, both in point of grace and comfort, and at last of salvation itself, as it follows afterwards in the text, where it is said, Ye shall live. Thirdly, the evil of the contrary, and the great disparagement which lies upon sin unmortified. Sin it is an odious business in many respects, and hath sundry inconveniences with it. First, there is no true pleasure or contentment in it. Secondly, sin is also insatiable, and the more that men give way unto it the more it prevails still upon them. Thirdly, sin is deceitful and dangerous. It makes us slaves to Satan; it makes us enemies to God; it crucifies Christ; it fights against the soul. Now for the right performance of this duty, and that we may do it so as we should do, it is requisite for us to take notice of these three following rules, or directions, which conduce hereto. First, there must be a steadfast purpose of opposing and resisting of sin with might and main. Secondly, there must be a diligent heed for the avoiding of all occasions of sin and all inducements which lead thereunto. Thirdly, there must be a conscionable use of all such means as serve to the subduing of sin in us. What are they? First, a sober and moderate use of the creatures in those things which in their own nature are lawful and warrantable. Secondly, prayer and fasting; that is another help likewise. Thirdly, and principally, an act of faith in the death and sufferings of Christ. The second is the object of this duty, or the matter which it is conversant about. And that is here expressed to be the deeds of the body. What is the meaning of this? that is, indeed, the sins and miscarriages of the whole man. We are not here to take it in the limited sense only, but in the extended. This work of mortification, it begins first of all in the inward man, and so ends in the outward; only the outward is here mentioned and named. And it is said the deeds of the body expressly, because the body it is that wherein sin does especially show and discover itself; whereas the mind is not so easily discerned in the corruptions of it. So 2Co_5:10. The things which are done in the body, though comprehending the soul likewise, the actions of the whole person; and Col_3:9, the old man with his deeds. The third particular is the principle whence this duty doth proceed in us, or the means whereby we perform it. And that is here expressed to be the Spirit. If ye by the Spirit, etc. By the Spirit we are here to understand the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit which is called so emphatically. Mortification of sin is the proper work of this Spirit in us, and is effected in no other way. The same Spirit that is active in quickening of us and in infusing of grace into us; the same Spirit is also active in mortifying of us and in killing of sin in us. This must needs be so upon these following considerations. First, from the strength and power of sin, and that rooting which it hath in the soul. None can overcome the strong man, but some one that is stronger than he indeed is. Secondly, from the proper means of the killing of sin in us, which, as we showed before, is the application of Christs death unto us. Now, this is done only by the Spirit which is active in us to this purpose. Thirdly, from the covenant of grace which God hath made with all believers, which is to bestow His Spirit upon them to this purpose, as Eze_36:27. The fourth, and last, is the benefit or reward consequent upon it. That is in these words, Ye shall live. It holds good in all the notions and specifications of life whatsoever. First, of natural life, Length of days is in her right hand (Pro_3:16). Secondly, of spiritual life, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith, etc. Thirdly, of eternal life (Rom_6:22), Ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. And Gal_6:8, He that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption. (Thomas Horton, D.D.)

Mortification

I. The act--Mortify.

1. Sin is active in the soul of an unregenerate man. Justification supposeth guilt, sanctification filth, mortification life, preceding those acts.

2. Nothing but the death of sin must content a renewed soul. No indulgence to be shown to it; not the loss of a member, but the loss of its life. As nothing but the death of Christ mould satisfy the justice of God, so nothing but the death of sin must satisfy the justice of the soul.

3. Do mortify. The time present. As sin must have no pardon, so it must have no reprieve. Dangerous enemies must be handled with a quick severity.

4. Do mortify. It notes a continued act. It must be a quick and an uninterrupted severity,

II. The object--The deeds of the body.

1. Mortification must be universal; not one deed, but deeds, little and great. Though the main battle be routed, yet the wings of an army may get the victory.

2. The body signifies corrupt nature, deeds are the products of it; all the sparks issue from the furnace within.

3. The greatest object of our revenge is within us. Our enemy has got possession of our souls, which makes the work more difficult. An enemy may better be kept out than cast out when he has got possession.

III. The agents--ye, the Spirit.

1. Man must be an agent in this work. We have brought this rebel into our souls, and God would have us make as it were some recompence by endeavouring to cast it out.

2. Through the Spirit.

(1) Mortification is not the work of nature; it is a spiritual work. We must engage in the duel, but it is the strength of the Spirit only can render us victorious. The duty is ours, but the success is from God. We can sin of ourselves, but not overcome sin by ourselves.

(2) The difficulty of this work is manifested by the necessity of the Spirits efficacy. Not all the powers on earth, nor the strength of ordinances, can do it.

IV. The promise--Ye shall live.

1. Heaven is a place for conquerors only (Rev_3:21). He that will be sins friend, cannot be Gods favourite. There must be a combat before a victory, and a victory before a triumph.

2. The more perfect our mortification, the clearer our assurance of glory. The more sin dies, the more the soul lives.

3. Mortification is a sure sign of saving grace. It is a sign of the Spirits indwelling and powerful acting, a sign of an approach to heaven. (S. Charnock, B.D.)

The mortification of sin

I. What mortification is.

1. A breaking of the league naturally held with sin (Eph_5:11; Hos_14:8).

2. A declaration of open hostility. When leagues between princes are broken war ensues. This hostility begins in cutting off all the supplies of sin (Rom_13:14, etc.).

3. A powerful resistance, by using all the weapons of the Christian armoury (Eph_6:13-14, etc.).

4. A killing of sin.

II. How we may judge of our mortification.

1. Negatively.

(1) All cessation from some particular sin is not a mortification. It may only be--

(a) An exchange. It may be a divorce from a sin odious to the world, and an embracing another that hath more specious pretences.

(b) A cessation from some outward gross acts only, not from a want of will to sin. There may be pride, ambition, covetousness, uncleanness, when they are not externally acted; which is more dangerous, as infectious diseases are when they are hindered by cold from a kindly eruption, and strike inward to the heart, and so prove mortal.

(c) A cessation merely because of the alteration of the constitution. Lust reigns in young men, but its empire decays in an old withered body; some plants which grow in hot countries will die in colder climates. Ambition decays in age when strength is wasted, but sprouts up in a young man. A present sickness may make an epicure nauseate the dainties which he would before rake even in the sea to procure.

(d) A cessation may be forced by some forethoughts of death, some pang of conscience, or some judgment of God; which as a pain in one part of the body may take away a mans appetite, but when removed, his appetite returns.

(e) A cessation from want of opportunity.

(2) Restraints from sin are not mortification of it.

(a) Mortification is always from an inward principle, restraints from an outward. A restraint is merely a pull back, by a stronger power, but mortification is from a strength given, a new mettle put into the soul (Eph_3:16).

(b) Mortification proceeds from an anger with, and a hatred of, sin, whereas restraints are from a fear of the consequents of sin; as a man may love the wine, which is as yet too hot for his lips.

(c) Mortification is a voluntary, rational work of the soul; restraints are not so.

2. Positively. The signs are--

(1) When the beloved lust doth not stir upon a temptation that did usually excite, as it is a sign of the clearness of a fountain when after the stirring of the water the mud doth not appear; or as it is with a man that is sick--set the most savoury meat before him, if his appetite be not provoked, it is an argument of the strength of his distemper, and where it is lasting, of his approaching death. None will question the deadness of that tree at the root which doth not bud upon the return of the spring sun; nor need we question the weakness of that corruption which doth not stir upon the presenting a suitable temptation.

(2) When we meet with few interruptions in duties of worship. Easy compliance with diversions is a sign of an unmortified frame; as it is the sign of much weakness in a person, and the strength of his distemper, when the least blow or jog makes him let go his hold of anything.

(3) When we bring forth the fruits of the contrary graces. The more sweet and full fruit a tree bears, the more evidence there is of the weakness of those suckers which are about the root to hinder its generous productions.

III. The reasons why there can be no expectation of eternal life without mortification. An unmortified frame is--

1. Unsuitable to a state of glory (Col_1:12). Conformity to Christ is to fit us for heaven, He descended to the grave before He ascended; so our sins must die before our souls can mount. It is very unsuitable for sins drudges to have a saints portion. Every vessel must be emptied of its foul water before it can receive that which is clean. No man pours rich wine into old casks.

2. Such as God cannot delight in. To delight in such would be to have no delight in his own nature. To keep sin alive is to defend it against the will of God, and to challenge the combat with our Maker.

3. Against the whole design of the gospel. Rather than sin should not die, Christ would die Himself; it is therefore a high disesteem of Christ to preserve the life of sin, and if we defend what He died to conquer, how can we expect to enjoy what He died to purchase? For what the grace of the gospel doth more especially teach, read Tit_2:4; Psa_5:4. It is an inseparable character of them that are Christs, that they have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Conclusion: Let us labour to mortify sin. If we will not be the death of sin, sin will be the death of our souls.

1. Implore the help of the Spirit.

2. Listen to His convictions.

3. Plead the death of Christ, the end of which was to triumph over sin.

4. Often think of Divine precepts.

5. Be jealous of our own hearts. Venture not to breathe in corrupt air, for fear of infection.

6. Bless God for whatsoever mortifying grace we have received. (S. Charnock, B.D.)

Life in mortification of the flesh

I. What it is to mortify. This word occurs but twice in the whole Scriptures--in the text, and in Col_3:5.

1. To mortify is now commonly used in a far less extreme sense than its original signification. Thus we speak of mortified pride, which has been simply disappointed of its passing object; whereas to mortify is to be in a process of death, though joined to something living--as a diseased limb may be mortified, while the other parts of the body are healthy; and it is only by the process of the healthy part of the body casting off from itself the mortified flesh, that the whole system can escape dissolution. In this sense we are to understand the mortification of the carnal and ungodly desires, which the power of Divine grace, the vital energy of the new creature, will enable it to cast from itself, and thereby save the soul alive, which the process of moral putrefaction had otherwise corrupted and slain. Hence the striking force of the injunctions--Crucify the flesh; put away the old man; cast out the bondwoman; cut off the offending right hand, or pluck out the right eye.

2. Then to mortify sin is not to deal equivocally with it, to fight against its practices and leave untouched the principle, as Saul slew the Amalekites, but spared Agag. To mortify sin is not merely to smite and oppose it, but to put it to death--to have no confidence in the flesh--to yield no member to uncleanness--to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts--to avoid the very appearance of evil--to let it not be so much as named among you as becometh saints. It means, that if sinners entice, we are to consent not; but in every sense to be not overcome with evil, but to resist the devil, and he will flee from us, clinging hard and fast by the God of peace, who shall bruise Satan under our feet shortly.

II. What is to be mortified? The deeds of the body--that is, not one deed, but all, whether of the inward or of the outward man. This may be illustrated by the injunction--If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out; not that Jesus would have us literally maim the body which He created perfect. But as He had just been speaking of the adultery of the eye, as distinguished from, yet identified in guilt with the actual sin, and there called it the adultery of the heart, His meaning is, that we should begin the cure of sin at the seat of the disease, the corrupt heart--that we should destroy the fruits of sin by plucking up the lust at its roots. What so delicate, so useful, or so expressive a feature as the right eye! But if rather than sin, and imperil the whole body, the right eye is to be plucked out, then we learn that the tenderest affections and the most necessary comforts that would impair the beauty of holiness are all to be sacrificed. Again, If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off. The right hand is the emblem of dignity--Joseph sits at the right hand of Pharaoh; of power Thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things; of friendship--To me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship; of covenants--Though Coniah were the signet on My right hand; of industry and business--Let my right hand forget her cunning.If, then, the right hand that casts a stumbling-block in our way is to be cut off, then is the place of secular dignity to be resigned, if we find it lifting up our hearts above humility. And the post of power must be renounced if we discover that it has led us to forget our weakness apart from God. And the bond of friendship, if it has led us to soften down the points of distinction between the worldling and the believer, must be broken. And the covenant with ungodliness must be dissolved. Even industry in business may be in our way, and if so we must consent to mortification here. Better cut off the hand than lose the head; rather maim the body than mar the soul. If religion be worth anything, it is worth everything; therefore sacrifice anything but Christ.

III. By whom the deeds of the body are to be mortified? There are two agents--the one active, the Holy Spirit; the other passive, the believer himself. If ye through the Spirit do mortify. We can do nothing without Him; He will do nothing without us.

IV. The animating result of the successful conflict with the flesh. Ye shall live a life of grace and holiness, of estrangement from the world and communion with God; of happiness, usefulness, and comfort on earth, and of glory and blessedness in heaven. (J. B. Owen, M.A.)

Higher or lower: which shall win

1. We shall all agree, who have tried to do right and avoid wrong, that there goes on in us a strange struggle. We wish to do a right thing, and at the very same time long to do a wrong one, as if we were a better and a worse man struggling for the mastery. One may conquer, or the other. We may be like the drunkard who cannot help draining off his liquor, though he knows that it is going to kill him; or we may be like the man who conquers his love for drink, and puts the liquor away, because he knows that he ought not to take it. We know too well, many of us, how painful this inward struggle is. We all understand too well how Paul was ready at times to cry. Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? We can understand too the parable of Plato, who says, that the soul of man is like a chariot, guided by a mans will, but drawn by two horses--the one horse white, beautiful and noble, well-broken and winged, always trying to rise and fly upward with the chariot toward heaven; but the other black, evil, and unmanageable, always trying to rush downward, and drag the chariot and the driver into hell.

2. In the text St. Paul explains this struggle. First, there is a flesh in us--that is, an animal nature. We come into the world as animals do-eat, drink, sleep as they do--have the same passions as they have--and our carnal bodies die exactly as they die. But are we nothing more? God forbid. We know that to be a man we must be something more than a mere brute--for when we call any one a brute, what do we mean? That he has given himself up to his animal nature till the man in him is dead, and only the brute remains. Our giving way to the same selfish, shameless passions, which we see in the lower animals, is letting the brute in us conquer. The shameless and profligate person--the man who beats his wife--or ill-treats his children--or in any wise tyrannises over those who are weaker than himself, gives way to the brute within him. He who grudges, envies, tries to aggrandise himself at his neighbours expense--he too gives way to the brute within him, and puts on the likeness of the dog which snatches and snarls over his bone. He who spends his life in cunning plots and mean tricks, gives way to the brute in him, just as much as the fox or ferret. And those, let me say, who, without giving way to those grosset vices, let their minds be swallowed up with vanity, always longing to be seen and looked at, and wondering what folks will say of them, they too give way to the flesh, and lower themselves to the likeness of animals. As vain as a peacock, says the old proverb. And what shall we say of them who like the swine live only for eating and drinking and enjoyment? Or what of those who like the butterflies spend all their time in frivolous amusement? Do not all these in some way or other live after the flesh? And do they not fulfil St. Pauls words, If ye live after the flesh ye shall die?

3. But some one will say--Of course we shall all die--good and bad alike. Then why does our Lord say, He that liveth and believeth in Me shall never die? And why does St. Paul say, If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live? Let us look at the text again. If ye live after the flesh ye shall die. If you give way to those animal passions you shall die; not merely your bodies--they will die in any case--the animals do--for animals they are, and as animals die they must. But over and above that, you yourselves shall die--your character, your manhood or your womanhood, your immortal soul will die. There is a second death to which that first death of the body is a mere trivial and harmless accident, and that may begin in this life, and if it be not stopped and cured in time, may go on for ever.

4. This is the dark side of the matter. But there is also a bright side. If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. If you will be true to your better selves, if you will listen to and obey the Spirit of God, when He puts into your hearts good desires, and makes you long to be just and true, pure and sober, kind and useful. If you will cast away and trample under foot animal passions, low vices, you shall live. You shall live, your very soul and self for ever--all that is merciful, kind, pure, noble, useful--in one word, all in you that is like Christ, like God, that is spirit and not flesh, shall live for ever. So it must be, for As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Those who let the Spirit of God lead them upward instead of letting their own animal nature drag them downward, are the sons of God. And how can a son of God perish? How can he perish, who like Christ is full of the fruits of the Spirit?--of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance? The world did not give them to him, and the world cannot take them from him. They were not bestowed on him at his bodily birth--neither shall they be taken from him at his bodily death.

5. Choose, especially you who are young and entering into life. Remember the parable of the old heathen. Choose in time whether the better horse shall win or the worse. And let no one tell you, We shall do a great many wrong things before we die. Every one does that; but we hope we shall be able to make our peace with God before we die. That kind of religion has done more harm than most kinds of irreligion. It tells you to take your chance of beginning at the end. Common sense tells you that the only way to get to the end is by beginning at the beginning, which is now. Do not talk about making your peace with God some day--like a naughty child playing truant till the last moment, and hoping that the schoolmaster may forget to punish it. (Charles Kingsley, M.A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8:13 you will die: Death is the consequence of sin. Those who consistently yield to sin will suffer spiritual death (eternal condemnation). The presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers makes it possible for them to turn away from sin. The result is eternal life (you will live).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rom 8:13.[91] Τοῦ σώματος) Others read, Τῆς ΣΑΡΚΌς. Baumgarten defends the former, I leave it undetermined.[92]—ζήσεσθε, ye shall live) He does not say, μέλλετε ζῇν, you are about (thereby) to obtain life, but ζήσεσθε, you will remain in life. In the repentance of those, over whom the flesh had dominion, and in the temptations of those, over whom the spirit reigns, the flesh and the spirit are, so to speak, evenly balanced; grace preventing [i.e. in the old English sense of prevent: going before, so as to give a good will to] the former, sin, preventing [going before, so as to get the advantage over] the latter; to whichsoever side a man turns himself, from it he receives his denomination. Beginning with this passage, Paul entirely dismisses the carnal state, and now that he has finished that part, which he had begun at ch. Rom 6:1, he describes the pure and living state, which is the inheritance of believers.

[91] γὰρ, for) the flesh repays with the worst retribution [or is a very bad paymaster]: and is there a man, who would wish to owe anything to it?—V. g.

[92] ABC Orig. 1, 616a; 721b; 732b; 3, 591b read τοῦ σώματος. But (Δ) DGfg Vulg. Orig. 2, 26b; 3, 170b Iren. and Cypr. read τῆς σαρκός.—ED.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_8:13. Reason for Rom_8:12for so ye would attain the opposite of your destination, as specified in Rom_8:10-11. The μέλλειν (comp. Rom_4:24) indicates the certum et constitutum esse secundum vim (divini) fati. Ellendt, Lex. Soph. II. p. 72.

ἀποθνήσκειν] The opposite of the ζωή in Rom_8:10 f.; consequently used of the being transferred into the state of eternal death; and then ζήσεσθε in the sense of eternal life (see Rom_8:17). Comp. Rom_7:10; Rom_7:24, Rom_8:6; Rom_8:10. This dying does not exclude the resurrection of the body (Rückert), but points to the unblissful existence in Hades before (Luk_16:23) and after (comp. Mat_10:28) the judgment. If it were true that Paul did not believe in a resurrection for unbelievers, he would stand in direct antagonism to Joh_5:28 f.; Act_24:15; Mat_5:29 f., Mat_10:28; and even 1Co_15:24 (see on that passage). Here also Philippi combines bodily, spiritual, and eternal death; but see above, on Rom_5:12. And here it may be specially urged against this view, that the dying and living are assigned purely to the region of the future. Oecumenius aptly says: τὸν ἀθάνατον θάνατον ἐν τῇ γεέννῃ.

πνεύματι] i.e. by means of the Holy Spirit, comp. Rom_8:4-6; Rom_8:9, and the following πνεύματι Θεοῦ; consequently here also not subjective (Philippi and others: pneumatic condition of mind).

τὰς πράξεις τοῦ σώμ.] The practices (tricks, machinations, see on Col_3:9; Luk_23:51; Act_19:18; Dem. 126. 22; Polyb. ii. 7, 8, ii. 9. 2, iv. 8. 3, v. 96. 4; and Sturz, Lex. Xen. III. p. 646) which the body (in accordance with the νόμος ἐν τοῖς μέλεσι, Rom_7:23) desires to carry out. These we make dead (θανατοῦτε), when the Ego, following the drawing of the Holy Spirit, conquers the lusts that form their basis; so that they do not come to realization, and are reduced to nothing. Σῶμα is not used here for σάρξ (Reiche and others); Paul has not become inconsistent with his own use of language (Stirm in Tüb. Zeitschr. 1834, 3, p. 11), but has regarded the (in itself indifferent) σῶμα as the executive organ of the sin, which, dwelling in the σάρξ of the body, rules over the body, and makes it the σῶμα ἁμαρτίας (Rom_6:6), if the Spirit does not obtain the control and make it His organ. The term πράξεις, further used by Paul only in Col_3:9 (not ἔργα), is purposely selected to express the evil conception, which Hofmann (acts) without any ground calls in question. It is frequently used thus by Greek authors, as also πράγματα.

The alternating antithesis is aptly chosen, so that in the two protases living and putting to death, in the apodoses death and life, stand contrasted with one another.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_8:13

The necessity of thus living is enforced by a repetition of the sentiment of Rom_8:6. To live after the flesh is death; to live after the Spirit is life. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit, etc. The necessity of holiness, therefore, is absolute. No matter what professions we may make, or what hopes we may indulge justification, or the manifestation of the divine favor, is never separated from sanctification. Ye shall die; μέλλετε ἀποθνήσκειν, ye are about to die; death to you is inevitable. Compare Rom_4:24; 1Th_3:4; Jam_2:12. The death here spoken of, as appears from the whole context, and from the nature of the life with which it is contrasted, cannot be the death of the body, either solely or mainly. It is spiritual death, in the comprehensive scriptural sense of that term, which includes all the penal consequences of sin here and hereafter, Rom_6:21, Rom_8:6; Gal_6:8. But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. The use of the word mortify, to put to death or destroy, seems to have been suggested by the context. Ye shall die, unless ye put to death the deeds of the body; see Col_3:5. The destruction of sin is a slow and painful process.

Deeds of the body.‹37› It is commonly said that body is here equivalent to flesh, and therefore signifies corruption. But it is very much to be doubted whether the word ever has this sense in the New Testament. The passages commonly quoted in its behalf, Rom_6:6, Rom_7:24; Rom_8:10, Rom_8:13, are very far from being decisive. If the common reading, therefore, is to be retained, (see footnote,) it is better to take the word in its literal and usual sense. The deeds of the body is then a metonymical expression for sinful deeds in general; a part being put for the whole. Deeds performed by the body, being the deeds which the body, as the organ of sin, performs.

The destruction of sin is to be effected through the Spirit, which does not mean the renewed feelings of the heart, but, as uniformly throughout the passage, the Holy Spirit which dwells in believers: see Rom_8:14, where this Spirit is called Spirit of God. Ye shall live, that is, enjoy the life of which the Spirit is the author; including therefore holiness, happiness, and eternal glory.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Another reason of the profit that ensueth: for such as strive and fight valiantly, shall have everlasting life.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 13. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die] Though μελλετε αποθνησκειν may mean, ye shall afterwards die, and this seems to indicate a temporal death, yet not exclusively of an eternal death; for both, and especially the latter, are necessarily implied.

But if ye through the Spirit] If ye seek that grace and spiritual help which the Gospel of Christ furnishes, resist, and, by resisting, mortify the deeds of the flesh, against which the law gave you no assistance, ye shall live a life of faith, love, and holy obedience here, and a life of glory hereafter.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. For if ye will live after the flesh, etc. He adds a threatening, in order more effectually to shake off their torpor; by which also they are fully confuted who boast of justification by faith without the Spirit of Christ, though they are more than sufficiently convicted by their own conscience; for there is no confidence in God, where there is no love of righteousness. It is indeed true, that we are justified in Christ through the mercy of God alone; but it is equally true and certain, that all who are justified are called by the Lord, that they may live worthy of their vocation. Let then the faithful learn to embrace him, not only for justification, but also for sanctification, as he has been given to us for both these purposes, lest they rend him asunder by their mutilated faith.

But if ye by the Spirit, etc. He thus moderates his address, that he might not deject the minds of the godly, who are still conscious of much infirmity; for however we may as yet be exposed to sins, he nevertheless promises life to us, provided we strive to mortify the flesh: for he does not strictly require the destruction of the flesh, but only bids us to make every exertion to subdue its lusts.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(13) If ye through the Spirit . . .—If under the influence of the Spirit you reduce to a condition of deadness and atrophy all those practices to which the impulses of your material nature would prompt you.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. ye shall die] Lit. ye are about to die; on the way to die. The phrase indicates a sure effect from the given cause.

through the Spirit] The Holy Spirit; see next verse, and note above on Rom_8:4.

mortify] put to death; an antithesis to the “death” just mentioned as the result of sin. The verb is in the present tense, and indicates a continued process of resistance and self-denial. For the metaphor, so strong and stern, cp. Gal_5:24; Col_3:5.

the deeds of the body] the doings, almost the dealings. (“Praktiken, Machinationen;” Meyer.) On “the body,” as used here, see note on Rom_6:6. Cp. also the instructive parallel, Col_3:5, where “your limbs that are on the earth” = “the body of sin.”—This passage, and the parallels, shew how fully St Paul recognized the element of sinfulness as present still in the regenerate—so present as to call for intense resistance.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die,.... Such persons are dead, whilst they live, and shall die a second or an eternal death, if grace prevent not. It may be asked, whether one that has received the grace of God in truth, can live after the flesh; flesh, or corrupt nature, though still in such a person, has not the dominion over him: to live in sin, or in a continued course of sinning, is contrary to the grace of God; but flesh may prevail and greatly influence the life and conversation, for a while; how long this may be the case of a true believer, under backslidings, through the power of corruptions and temptations, cannot be known; but certain it is, that it shall not be always thus with him. It may be further inquired, whether such an one may be so left to live after the flesh, as to die and perish eternally; Christ expressly says, such shall not die that live and believe in him; grace, which is implanted in their souls, is an incorruptible and never dying seed; grace and glory are inseparably connected together; but then such persons may die with respect to their frames, their comforts and the lively exercise of grace, which seems to be here intended; as appears from the next clause,

but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. This is not to be understood of the mortification of the body itself; nor does it design any maceration or afflicting of it by any severities of life; nor of the destruction of the body of sin by Christ: or of the being and principles of sin in the saints by the Spirit of Christ; which is contrary to Scripture, to the experience of the saints, who find it in them, alive in them, and to their expectations, whilst in this world: nor is this mortification to be considered as a part of regeneration, which by some divines is made to consist in a sense of sin, grief for it, and hatred of it, in avoiding it, and in an expulsion of vicious habits and inclinations; but it should be observed, that the apostle is writing to persons that were already regenerate; nor does he ever exhort persons to regenerate themselves, which he would do here, if this was the sense; regeneration is a work of the Spirit of God, in which men are passive, whereas in the mortification here spoken of the saints are active, under the influence of the Spirit of God; besides, regeneration is done at once, and does not admit of degrees; and in and by that, sin, as to its being and principle, is so far from being destroyed, that it seems rather to revive in the sense and apprehension of regenerated persons: but it is a mortification of the outward actings of sin in the conversation, called, "the deeds of the body": and in the Claromontane exemplar, and in the Vulgate Latin version, "the deeds of the flesh": or as the Syriac version renders it, "the conversations", or manners of it, and so the Ethiopic version; that is, its outward course of life: and it signifies a subduing and weakening the vigour and power of sin in the lives and conversations of the saints, to which the grace and assistance of the Spirit are absolutely necessary; and such who are enabled to do so, "shall live" comfortably; they shall have communion with Christ here, and shall live a life of glory with him hereafter. Such a way of speaking as this is used by the Jews; say they (a),

"what shall a man do that he may live? it is replied, , "he shall mortify himself";''

which the gloss explains by "he shall humble himself"; walk humbly before God and men, in his life and conversation.

(a) T. Bab. Tamid, fol. 32. 1. Vid. T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 63. 2. Raya Mehimna in Zohar in Exod. fol. 65. 3.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

13 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.

Ver. 13. If we live after the flesh] We must not think to pass E coeno ad Caelum, from the mire to heaven, to dance with the devil all day, and sup with Christ at night, to fly to heaven with pleasant wings. Beetles love dunghills better than ointments; and swine love mud better than a garden; so do swinish people their lusts, better than the lives of their souls. At Paris ut vivat regnetque beatus, Cogi posse negat. (Horat.) That carnal cardinal said, that he would not part with his part in Paris for Paradise.

But if ye mortify the deeds, &c.] Either a man must kill here, or be killed, Aut fer, aut feri, as Queen Elizabeth often sighed and said to herself concerning the Queen of Scots. Valentinian the emperor dying, gloried about one victory above the rest, and that was his victory over the flesh. Inimicorum nequissimum devici, carnem meam, said he. Be always an enemy to the devil and the world, but specially to your own flesh, said Robert Smith, martyr, in a letter to his wife. Surely, as the Prince of Orange said to his soldiers at the battle of Newport when they had the sea on the one side and the Spaniards on the other; If, saith he, you will live, you must either eat up these Spaniards, or drink up this sea; so must men either eat up their fleshly lusts, or drink of the burning lake: Fire and brimstone shall be else the portion of their cup, Psa 11:6.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For if you live ... - If you live to indulge your carnal propensities, you will sink to eternal death; Rom 7:23.

Through the Spirit - By the aid of the Spirit; by cherishing and cultivating his influences. What is here required can be accomplished only by the aid of the Holy Spirit.

Do mortify - Do put to death; do destroy. Sin is mortified when its power is destroyed, and it ceases to be active.

The deeds of the body - The corrupt inclinations and passions; called deeds of the body, because they are supposed to have their origin in the fleshly appetites.

Ye shall live - You shall be happy and saved. Either your sins must die, or you must. If they are suffered to live, you will die. If they are put to death, you will be saved. No man can be saved in his sins. This closes the argument of the apostle for the superiority of the gospel to the Law in promoting the purity of man. By this train of reasoning, he has shown that the gospel has accomplished what the Law could not do - the sanctification of the soul, the destruction of the corrupt passions of our nature, and the recovery of man to God.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; viz. eternally, and never partake of the glorious resurrection before spoken of. The godly themselves need this caution; they must not think, that because they are elected and justified, &c., that therefore they may do and live as they list.

Through the Spirit; i.e. by the grace and assistance of the Spirit.

Mortify; i.e. kill and put to death. It is not enough to forbear the actings of sin, but we must kill and crucify it. Sin may be left upon many considerations, and yet not mortified.

Evil deeds are called

the deeds of the body, because the body is so instrumental in the doing thereof. There are some, that by body here do understand the corrupt nature, the same that before in many places he calls the flesh: this was called, Rom 8:6, the body of sin, and here it is called the body.

Ye shall live; viz. eternally. See a parallel place, Rom 6:22; Gal 6:8; see Rom 8:6.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. Die—The fulness of death that arises from carnality.

The body— Analogous to but not identical with the flesh. The very definition of appetites is those desires that spring from the body or physical system. To mortify them is to kill them so far forth as they are enmity to God. The flesh is a depravity not confined to the body, but including the entire tendency to sin.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If we do not, then (notwithstanding our redemption) we must needs die yea, die the death beyond the grave (whatever it may be), which is the doom of sin; but if we do, then we shall live yea, live at last (as the sequel shows to be implied) in the eternal life of Christ with God.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The deeds of the flesh - Not only evil actions, but evil desires, tempers, thoughts. If ye mortify - Kill, destroy these. Ye shall live - The life of faith more abundantly here, and hereafter the life of glory.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

mortify

make to die the doings of the body.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Our apostle here adds a farther reason why a Christian should not live after the flesh; before, an arguement was drawn a debito, now a damno: He told us in the former verse we owed nothing to the flesh, here he acquaints us what losers we shall be by living to the flesh, If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; which words are a dreadful commination, and severe threatening.

In which observe, 1. The persons threatened, ye, the believing Romans, called to be saints, Rom 1:7. even they are threatened with hell, who were candidates of heaven; he threatens them with death, to keep them from death.

Learn hence, That the ministers of God may use arguments drawn from hell torments, to dissuade the holiest and best saints from sin, and to persuade them to duty; If ye live after the flesh, &c.

Observe, 2. The threatening itself, Ye shall die.

Learn thence, That Almighty God threateneth all those that live after the flesh, with nothing less than eternal death and damnation: To live after the flesh, is to have the flesh our governing principle, our work and trade, our scope and end; and to die for living after the flesh is to undergo a temporal, spiritual, and eternal death; an everlasting banishment from the blessed presence of him in whose presence is fulness of joy: But if ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. The former words were a threatening to excite our industry; these are a promise to prevent our dejection.

In which observe, 1. The act specified, or duty enjoined, and that is, mortification; If ye mortify, that is, kill every sin: it is not enough to oppose sin, but we must destroy sin, nothing but the destruction of sin must content us.

Note also, the continuance of the act, If ye do mortify, though they had already mortified sin, yet they are called upon to proceed in the work: The ax must be daily laid to the root, and the knife must still stick in the throat of sin, till it drop down dead.

Mortification must be continual, and it must necessarily be painful; nothing that has life will be put to death without pain and struggling; the longer we delay to mortify sin, the more painful shall we make it to ourselves.

Observe, 2. The proper object of this duty, The deeds of the body, by which all sin is to be understood, relating both to the inward and outward man, though the latter only be mentioned, becuase the body is that which is manifestativum pecatti, it is that wherein sin doth especially shew and discover itself.

Learn hence, Mortification must be universal as well as continual, not one deed, but deeds; not the deeds of the body only, but of the soul also must be mortified; all evil dispostiions, depraved habits, corrupt affections, as well as irregular actions, must be watched against, and the whole body of sin become the object of mortification.

Observe, 3. The agents in this work, and they are two:

1. The more principal agent is the Holy Spirit.

2. The less principal is the Christian himself, If ye, through the Spirit, we can do nothing without him, he will do nothing without us.

Learn hence, That in mortifying sin, the Spirit’s assistance and our endeavours must concur: Mortification indeed, is not the work of nature, yet man must be an agent in it, not in his own, but in God’s strength; we have brought sin, that rebel, into our own souls, and we must use our own endeavours to cast it out: True, it cannot be done alone by ourselves, but it will never be done without ourselves; we can sin of ourselves, but cannot overcome sin by ourselves; we know how to be slaves, but are unable of ourselves to be conquerors. The believer is principium activum, but the Spirit is principium effectivum.

Observe, 4. The reward promised to the performers and performance of this duty; Ye shall live; namely, a life of grace and holiness, a life of joy and comfort, a life of glory and happiness.

Our life of grace is an evidence and an earnest of the life of glory: Grace is glory in the bud, and glory is grace in the fruit.

Learn, That a life of grace and comfort on earth, together with a life of glory and happiness in heaven, is and shall be the assured portion and privilege of all those, who by the Spirit’s assistance, and their own concurring endeavours, do mortify sin, and crucify the deeds of the body: If ye mortify, &c. ye shall live; that is holily, comfortably, and eternally; ye shall live a life of exemplary graciousness, a life of highest delight and pleasure on earth, and of eternal blessedness and glory in heaven.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. “For if you live after the flesh, you are about to die; but if through the Spirit you kill out the habits of the body, you shall live.” This life is an irrepressible conflict between the spirit drawing us upward and the flesh gravitating earthward, sinward and hellward. Our only hope of victory is by the power of the Holy Spirit to literally and actually exterminate all the evil habits of the animal body, becoming pre-eminently and victoriously spiritual in life, conversation, aspiration and anticipation.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

for if ye live after the flesh, ye must die; but if by the Spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live . [So then, brethren, because of the relation which we sustain to Christ, and because of the opposite effects of living fleshly and spiritual lives, we, though free from the law, are under no obligation to be lawless, and to live after the flesh: for if ye so live ye must pay the penalty of such a course by dying; but if, by the exercise of your will, and the aid of the Holy Spirit, ye put an end to the sinful practices of your fleshly nature, ye shall live. The testimony of Christian experience is that the aid of the Holy Spirit, though real and effectual, is not so obtrusive as to enable the one aided to take sensible notice of it. To all appearance and sensation the victory over flesh is entirely the Christian's own, and he recognizes the aid of the Spirit, not because his burdens are sensibly lightened, but because of the fact that in his efforts to do right he now succeeds where lately he failed. The success, moreover, though habitual, is not invariable, for invariable victory over temptation breeds self-consciousness and self-righteousness, and other sins perhaps more dangerous than the ordinary lusts of the flesh.]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. But if through the Spirit. By following the Spirit, “minding the things of the Spirit,” we secure life. This is shown in verse 11. The deeds of the body are the sinful deeds suggested by the fleshly desires. We cannot in our own strength mortify, i. e., put an end to, the deeds of the body. It is accomplished by the aid of the Spirit, helping our spirit in the effort.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

13. μέλλετε ἀποθνήσκειν. The periphrastic future of the durative present—you will continue in or be in a state of death; ἀποθανεῖσθε = you will die, of the single event; cf. Moulton, p. 114; Burton, § 72. Consequently the reference is the same as in Rom 7:10-11.

θανατοῦτε. Sc. διὰ ἁμαρτίαν, Rom 8:10; the durative present. Cf. νέκρωσις, 2Co 4:10; νεκροῦν, Col 3:5, ct[157] aor. Rom 7:4. τὰς πράξεις τοῦ σώματος, in a bad sense, because of the |[158] κατὰ σάρκα, and in antithesis to πνεῦμα: the body’s practices independent of spirit are bad.

[157] ct. contrast

[158] | parallel to

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13.] So then, brethren, we are (inference from the assurance in the last verse) debtors (we owe fealty: to what or whom, he leaves the reader to supply from ver. 11), not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh (Chrysostom well explains the qualification, τοῦ κατὰ σ. ζ.,—καὶ γὰρ πολλὰ αὐτῇ ὀφείλομεν, τὸ τρέφειν αὐτήν, τὸ θάλπειν, τὸ ἀναπαύειν, τὸ θεραπεύειν νοσοῦσαν, τὸ περιβάλλειν, καὶ μυρία ἕτερα λειτουργεῖν. ἵνʼ οὖν μὴ νομίσῃς ὅτι ταύτην ἀναιρεῖ τὴν διακονίαν, εἰπὼν οὐκ ἐσμ. ὀφ. τῇ σαρ., ἑρμηνεύει αὐτὸ λέγων τοῦ κ. σ. ζῇν· … τουτέστι μὴ ποιῶμεν αὐτὴν κυρίαν τῆς ζωῆς τῆς ἡμετέρας. Hom. xiv. p. 576): for if ye live according to the flesh, ye [must (or,] will, μέλλετε of the certain end of your present course) die (ζῆν and ἀποθν. here in their full and pregnant sense, involving body and soul here and hereafter: but not to be understood as excluding the carnal from any resurrection—only from that which is truly ζῆν,—any more than the spiritual are exempted from all death, but only from that which is truly θάνατος): but if by the Spirit ye slay (abolish, annul) the deeds (hardly as Thol. ‘sensu obscœno,’ but as Col 3:9, the whole course of habits and action which has the flesh for its prompter) of the body (= τῆς σαρκός, but here concrete to give more vivid reality: compare τὰ ἔργα τῆς σαρκός, Gal 5:19), ye shall live (not μέλλετε ζῆν, this Life being no natural consequence of a course of mortifying the deeds of the body, but the gift of God through Christ: and coming therefore in the form of an assurance, ‘ye shall live,’ from Christ’s Apostle. On ζῆν, see above).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. πνεύματι. The antithesis to σάρξ seems to show that this is still, as in vv. 4, 5, 9, the human πνεῦμα, but it is the human πνεῦμα in direct contact with the Divine.

τὰς πράξεις: of wicked doings, as in Luk 23:51.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ye shall die [μελλετε αποθνησκειν] . The expression is stronger than the simple future of the verb. It indicates a necessary consequence. So Rev., ye must.

Mortify [θανατουτε] . Put to death.

Deeds [πραξεις] . Habitual practices. See on ch. Rom 7:15; Joh 3:21.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vv. 13. In this way the regenerate man himself would go on to death. So the flesh will reward us for our fidelity in discharging our debt to it.—Μέλλετε: “there is nothing for you but to die; such is the only future which awaits you.” Now was the time to resume the sentence which had been begun: “Ye are under obligation...to the Spirit.” But the apostle supposes this idea to come out clearly enough from the expressed contrast: not to the flesh, and continues as if he had expressed it: “But if through the Spirit,” etc. Whither does this principle, whose impelling power takes the place of the flesh, lead us? To death also; to the death of the flesh, and thereby to life: ye shall live. The rhythm of this verse is quite similar to that observed by Calvin in Rom 7:9-10; Romans 13 a, the life of the flesh is the death of Man 1:13 b, the death of the flesh is the life of man. Why does the apostle say: the works of the body, and not of the flesh? This difference already struck certain Greco-Latin copyists, who have sought to correct the text in this direction. But it is unnecessary. The complement: of the body, is not here the genitive of the instrument, but that of the author. The acts of which the body is the simple instrument are not its own. Paul would suppress those of which it is the independent author, and wherein, consequently, it withdraws from the dominion of the Spirit. These should come to an end, because in the Christian the Spirit should direct and penetrate all, even his eating and drinking, according to the example quoted by the apostle, 1Co 10:31. In all these acts of life the body should not guide, but be guided. Every act of sacrifice whereby the independence of the body is denied, and its submission to the spirit forcibly asserted, secures a growth of spiritual life in man. It is only as a void is cleared in the domain of the flesh, that the efficacy of the Spirit shows itself with new force. Thus is explained the ye shall live, which applies to every moment of the believer’s existence on to the state of perfection.

This last word: ye shall live, becomes the theme of the following passage. For the two attributes son and heir of God, which are about to be developed, the one in Rom 8:14-16, the other in Rom 8:17, exhaust the notion of life.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.