The Sons of God

 

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”                                                                                                                                (Romans 8:14)

 

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh” (v. 12). — So far from being debtors to the flesh, the very reverse is the case. Because we are no longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit, we are under the strongest obligations not to live after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Being born of God, we owe the flesh nothing. We are debtors to the God of all grace, and to him alone: To God the Father who chose us, to God the Son who redeemed us, and to God the Holy Spirit who called us.

 

            “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” (v. 13.) — To live after the flesh is death. To live after the Spirit is life. Those who live after the flesh are dead while they live. They have not been born of God; and, unless they are born of God in time to come, they shall die the second, eternal death in hell. The sin that is in us, our corrupt, Adam nature, must not be allowed to have its way. Our indwelling lusts must be subdued. We cannot remove sin from our nature; but we are responsible to rule over our nature by the Spirit of God who dwells in us. That is what is meant, by mortifying “the deeds of the body.” We are, by the grace of God, to put to death (destroy) the deeds of the body, the deeds of our corrupt nature.

 

            Thus, “ye shall live.” Paul is addressing “brethren” who were already living in the Spirit, already living the life that God the Holy Spirit has given us in the new birth (Rom. 8:9). He is not here telling us that we will gain eternal life by mortifying “the deeds of the body.” His meaning is that, as we “mortify the deeds of the body,” we will enjoy the life that God the Holy Spirit has given us, the life that Christ has given us by his Spirit.

 

            “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (v. 14). — Believers enjoy eternal life in Christ, not only because we have the Spirit of life, but also because we are the sons of God. “To be led by the Spirit,” “to walk after the Spirit,” and to “live by faith” all express the idea of being under the rule and government of Christ our Lord by the Spirit, being led by the constant, efficacious influence of the God the Holy Spirit, as the children of God. As children are led by the hand and influence of their parents, so the children of God are led by the Spirit.

 

            Dealing with this same subject in Galatians 5, Paul writes, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (vv. 16-17).