(Romans 8:12Romans 8:12
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
WP-Bible plugin) “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.”
What did the flesh ever do for you? What benefits did you ever get from the flesh? What do you owe the flesh? Just like Lot’s wife, we often look back over our shoulder at the life we left behind as if there was some benefit to the old thinking and the old ways before Christ. We left that “city” behind for a better life but our thinking is still dominated from time to time with traces and patterns from a lifetime of living in that way. Just like the lie we accepted before Christ that we could live spiritually independent from the life of God, the flesh will impress on us once again that we have benefited and can benefit from independence from godly thinking. And so we are left feeling guilty, in debt, and obligated to regain some sense of who we were in our old identity.
A debt is “that which is due from one person to another, whether money, goods, or services; that which one person is bound to pay or perform to another;” In this case, there is no official note or instrument of debt. Debt in this verse is the sense of obligation in the mind of the one who feels they owe. Debt places power in the hands of the one who is owed. The person who owes is powerless, weak, and in no position to exercise their full rights and liberties. The spiritual “debt collector” may be knocking at your door today. It will lie to you. It will deceive you. It will whisper from the other side calling you back to cravings and appetites wiped away by your new life in Christ. It will threaten – telling you that you will be alone, regretful, and poor unless you go back to the old sinful life. It will condemn – telling you that you won’t please God or live a holy life unless you go back to the old religious life. Don’t let your thinking go there! This is not who you are in Christ.
The flesh never provided anything for you except temporary pleasure, a false sense of identity, and ultimately a pathway to death. Your debt is erased. Your obligations are fulfilled. Your spiritual account is full. Keep the door shut on the spiritual “debt collector.”
Renewed Thought – God didn’t save us to live as spiritual paupers constantly answering the knock of the “debt collector.” We are joint-heirs with the King, the Lord of Glory.
