What did Paul mean when He said we are debtors? He clarified it wasn’t to the flesh, so to whom? This devotion looks at how we are debtors and how we are to mortify sin to determine life or death.
Nuggets
- While we are expected to maintain the bodies God created for us, we don’t have to live our lives buried in debt to our human nature.
- Instead, we are to be crucified with Christ.
- Death is associated with sin.
- There is only one way to gain spiritual life – through Jesus.
- Jesus had to die on the cross so that His blood could pay the penalty for sin.
- We need to crucify the sin in our lives.
We’ve just talked about how God, when breathing life into us, placed spirit within us. Because He created us – and will one day call us back – we are on loan from Him.
Paul explained that in Romans 8: 12-13. Let’s take a look at what nuggets these two verses have for us.
Let's Put It into Context
“and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecc. 12: 7 ESV)
When I looked up the word debt in the Holman Bible Dictionary, it took me to the word loan. We all know what a loan is. It is when someone allows us to us something on a temporary basis. In other words, they want it back.
Raikes explained the rights the money lender had over the debtor. It made me think of indentured servants.
We generally think money — mortgages, credit card debt, car loan, etc. But then neighbors can load us tools, luggage — stuff. There are times the loan is a vehicle.
Did you know we are on loan? We are here on earth a short amount of time in the scheme of things. We talked a couple of devotions ago how God breaths life into us — but it is temporary.
- “Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person” (Gen. 2: 7 NLT).
- “and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecc. 12: 7 ESV).
Paul used the term debtor to make his point in Romans 8: 12-13. Let’s take a look.
We Are Debtors
“Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh” (Rom. 8: 12 KJV)
There is a way we are indebted to our flesh. After all, God created us with bodies that we have to maintain. Remember when Paul was in the throes of being shipwrecked? “So I urge you to take some food. For this is for your survival, since none of you will lose a hair from your head” (Ac. 27: 34 CSB).
There are ways we have to take care of our bodies.
- Feed
- Cloth
- Maintain health
- Provide shelter
- Exercise self-control
- Practice cleanliness
Horton’s point — like Paul’s — was that, while we are expected to maintain the bodies God created for us, we don’t have to live our lives buried in debt to our human nature.
Flesh is considered our human nature and under Satan’s control. “But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil” (I Jn. 3: 8 NLT).
Instead, we are to be crucified with Christ. Remember back in Ephesians, Paul wrote, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2: 10 ESV). We were created in the flesh for a heavenly purpose.
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So, to whom are we debtors? We are quick to say we are debtors to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirt.
Spurgeon felt that, since we are God’s creations, we are indebted to obey Him. He explained disciples go from being indebted to His justice to being indebted to His love, power, and mercy.
However, Spurgeon did list others to whom we are indebted.
- “… great a cloud of witnesses …” (Heb. 12: 1 ESV) who came before us. He also felt we are indebted to the present and to the future.
- the poor. He wrote, “The rich are indebted to them, for while the one hoard wealth the other make it.” He noted that, even though the poor struggle in their daily life, many are faithful in serving the church.
Winslow made a great point. Why would we be in debt to Satan? He didn’t approach Adam and Eve to make their lives better. His motive was to let sin and its consequences (spiritual death and separation from God) and its results (poverty, crime, disease, death just to name a few) into the world.
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Death and Life
“For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die …” (Rom. 8: 13 KJV)
The flesh is our human nature. “… live after the flesh …” (Rom. 8: 13 KJV) means we keep on sinning. Paul gave us a partial list in Galatians 5: 19-21.
“Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things — as I warned you before — that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” Gal. 5: 19-21 CSB).
Not too long ago we did a huge study on what sin was and the different things considered sin. Sin is when we disobey God and break one of His laws and commandments.
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Burder gave a great description of living after the flesh. He described it as “to obey the orders of our corrupt nature; to gratify its sinful desires without regard to or in contradiction of the will of God.”
What Burder described is a willful disobedience of God’s laws and commandments. It is choosing to disobey God.
Death is associated with sin. We’ve talked a couple of different ways this is true. Let’s look at the nuggets associated with those devotions.
Many times, the sinful state is referred to as being dead. Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
Even if we do not feel that we have sinned (but we have), those who have not been given salvation are separated from God. All mankind, at birth, are spiritually dead because Adam and Eve’s original sin condemned mankind to spiritual death. Because mankind chose to not follow God’s laws and commandments, mankind is the subject of divine wrath.
When we ask God to take control of our lives, we pass from eternal death into eternal life. We need Jesus to be our Savior.
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There is only one way to gain spiritual life – salvation through Jesus. Salvation is the deliverance from the consequences of sin. It is about obeying and submitting to God.
Where the law couldn’t save us, Jesus could, changing us from spiritually dead to spiritually alive. Becoming spiritually alive is a part of regeneration. Regeneration is the change in us that God brings about when we go from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
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Mortification
“… but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Rom. 8: 13 KJV)
Ooo, baby. Isn’t the last part of Romans 8: 13 a mouthful? But I think once we get into it, we’ll say, “Oh, yeah. We know what that means.”
Burder noted that “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.” See. Told you.
Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
Back up a couple of devotions. We said that Jesus had to die on the cross so that His blood could pay the penalty for sin.
- Jesus shed His blood for us so that payment could be given for our sins (Does God Help Those Who Help Themselves?).
- What God needed was a Sacrifice Who’s blood could pay the price for sin once and for all (Completion from the Cross).
- Only His blood made the perfect sacrifice to make the payment for our sins (Jesus, the Good Shepherd).
- In order to shed His blood, Jesus was sentenced to die on the cross so that His blood could pay the price for our sins (Completion from the Cross).
- Jesus’ blood provided the atonement that purified us (Why Jesus Became a Man).
- If Jesus hadn’t paid the price for our sins with His blood — and we hadn’t accepted the gift of salvation — we wouldn’t have access to God. We access this grace through faith (Is Thankfulness Different from Praise?).
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Winslow had a good explanation of mortification. He said, since it leads to holiness, it was the opposite of the flesh.
We need to crucify the sin in our lives. We need to put it to death so that we submit to God and obey Him.
Making the Connections
I could probably go on talking about this a while, but I think we need to start wrapping this up.
It is really interesting. Instead of “… we are debtors …” (Rom. 8: 12 KJV),
some of the newer translations have some version of “… we are not obligated to …” (Rom. 8: 12 CSB, HCSB, NLT). They don’t tell us to what we are obligated.
True, they get it right that we are not obligated to the flesh. But they miss the “we are obligated to …” part (Rom. 8: 12 ESV, GNT, NASB, NIV, NKJV).
The “My dear friends, we must not live to satisfy our desires” (Rom. 8: 12 CEV) is only part of the story.
How Do We Apply This?
The rest of the story is how we live our lives after we become disciples. We need to humbly submit to God so that we give Him all the reverence due Him.
Most of all, we need to obey God’s laws and commandments. That how we traverse the sanctification road to become holy and righteous as He is.
Lord. Help us put sin to death so that we may always imitate and obey You. Amen.
What do you think?
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