The Believer and His Body 647
Disciples’ love of sleep in the Garden of Gethsemane and the Lord’s
endurance of hunger by the well of Sychar present a contrasting
picture of defeat and victory over the legitimate requirement of the
body. Because we are debtors to the flesh no longer, we ought not sin
according to its lusts nor slacken in spiritual work due to physical
weakness.
“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” (v.13).
Should Christians reject God’s provision and live by the flesh
instead, they certainly will be punished.
“If you live according to the flesh you will die.” This word “die”
and the word “live” in the next clause have several meanings. We
will mention only one, which is the death of the body. According to
sin our body is “dead”; according to consequence it is a “body of
death”—that is, it is doomed to death; if we live by the flesh this
body of death shall become a dying body. In following the flesh we
on the one side are unfit to receive the life given to the body by the
Holy Spirit, while on the other we shorten the days of our life on
earth because all sins are harmful to the body. All sins manifest their
effectiveness in the flesh, and that effect is death. Through the life
given to our body by the Holy Spirit we should resist the death which
is in it; if not, death will quickly complete its work there.
“But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you
will live.” We should receive the Holy Spirit not only as the Giver of
life to our earthen vessel but also as the Executor of its deeds. How
can we expect to have Him give life to our fleshly frame if we
neglect the work of putting to death its deeds? For only by putting to
death its deeds through the Holy Spirit can we live. For the body to
live its doing must first be put to nought, or else death shall be the
immediate result. Herein do we discover the mistake of many.
Christians assume they can live for themselves—using their fleshly
frames for the things they wish to do—but at the same time expect