Section 14
you a person who is filled with all the riches of His life. He will become in you a fourfold life, to make your spirit, mind, and body living.
OUR COOPERATION
Verse 12 says, "So then, brothers, we are debt ors not to the flesh to live according to flesh." This verse also proves that after we are saved the possibility still remains of living according to flesh. If this were impossible why would Paul remind us that we are not debtors to the flesh? We have been fully liberated from this hopeless thing called the flesh.
By Not Living according to Flesh
Paul continues, "For if you live according to flesh, you are about to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live" (8:13). The "you" here certainly denotes saved persons. Hence, this verse is further proof that a saved person may live according to flesh. If we live according to flesh, we are about to die. Of course, this kind of dying is not physical; it is spiritual. If you live according to flesh, you are about to die in your spirit. However, if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body— that is, to mortify or crucify them—you will live.