The Full Manifestation to Come: Led by the Spirit, Sons and Heirs of God (Romans 8:12–15)

Rom. 8:12. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

“Debtors,” ὀφείλεται ἐσμεν, “we are not debtors to the flesh,” or we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh—according to fleshly mindset, according to the principles of self-pleasing, sensuality, and passionate selfishness. Stretching forth the restorative power in Christ Jesus to all eternity, the Apostle now stops his attention at this point and determines the conditions under which this work of God’s favor toward our race can be a true blessing for each of us, accompanied by blessed life. This is clearly expressed in the following verse: life according to the Spirit with the mortification of fleshly deeds is the condition of blessed life in the resurrection. And here it is shown that this is required by the very law of the life established in us. We, he says, are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. Debtors to whom? To Him who established in us the order of new life—Christ the Lord dwelling in us, the Spirit of God living in us, who is the source of that spirit of life in Christ Jesus which freed us from the law of sin and death. “For having received salvation from the Master Christ and having received the grace of the Spirit, we are obligated to render to Him the debt of service” (Blessed Theodoret). “After such great grace, we must live according to the will of God, and by no means according to the flesh, that is, not in sins, not in indulgence to fleshly lusts” (Oecumenius).

St. Chrysostom says: “Having shown what reward the spiritual life brings, namely that Christ dwells in us, dead bodies are quickened, we are lifted up to heaven, the path of virtue becomes easy—the Apostle naturally then adds exhortation and says: therefore, we ought not to live according to the flesh. However, he does not express it thus, but far more powerfully and forcefully, saying that we are debtors to the Spirit; for this is what he meant by the words: ‘we are not debtors to the flesh.’ And he confirms this everywhere, proving that all that God has accomplished for us has been done not out of obligation but purely by grace; on the contrary, all that we hereafter do for God is not a gift but a debt. This he makes clear when he says: ‘You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men’ (1 Cor. 7:23). He shows the same thing when he writes: ‘You are not your own’ (1 Cor. 6:19). He mentions the same thing again in another place, saying: ‘Christ died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves’ (2 Cor. 5:15). He confirms the same thing here with the words: ‘we are not debtors to the flesh,’ lest you think again that he is speaking of the substance of the flesh—he did not stop there but added: ‘to live according to the flesh.’ We are obligated to do much for the flesh: to nourish it, warm it, give it rest, heal it of diseases, clothe it, and render it many other services. Therefore, lest you think that the Apostle forbids such service to the flesh by saying: ‘we are not debtors to the flesh,’—he clarifies this by saying: ‘to live according to the flesh.’ I forbid, he says, having such concern for the flesh as leads to sin; at the same time I wish you to care for it. He revealed this thought later as well, when, having said: ‘do not make provision for the flesh’, he did not stop there but added: ‘to gratify its lusts’ (Rom. 13:14). He teaches the same thing here, saying: let the flesh be an object of care, because we are obligated to it in this; but we must not live according to the flesh, that is, we must not make it the mistress of our life. It should come behind, not in front; it should not rule our life but receive the law of the Spirit. Therefore, determining this and confirming that we are obligated to the Spirit, then, showing by what benefits we are obligated to Him, the Apostle speaks not of the past but of the future, and this shows his great wisdom. Although the past benefits were sufficient; nevertheless, he does not set them forth now and does not speak of those ineffable mercies, but points to future ones. For many are usually moved not so much by benefits already received as by the future ones expected.”

Rom. 8:13. 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.

To live according to the flesh is to live in self-pleasing and according to passions. If, he says, you live thus, you will die. From the context, here death is understood as eternal death. But temporal death in the soul precedes that death. Since the Apostle was writing to those who had come alive in the Spirit by God’s grace, there must be something to lose in order to become subject to death; so by frightening them with the ultimate, the Apostle certainly had in mind the first death as well. As a seed of corruption, so a seed of eternal death lies hidden in passions and self-pleasing. They introduce a corroding poison into both soul and body. St. Chrysostom says: “Intending to speak of future blessings, the Apostle first frightens us with the sorrowful and harmful consequences of fleshly (passionate) life and says thus: ‘if you live according to the flesh you will die,’—meaning here immortal death, that is, punishment and torment in Gehenna. If we examine this carefully—one living according to the flesh is dead even in this present life.” Blessed Theophylact combines both in a brief statement: “By death he means here not merely immortal punishment but calls death also the life conducted on earth in evil deeds.”

“But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

Spirit is life in God with zeal for pleasing Him through faithfulness to His commandments and with detachment from earthly things. The Spirit has been breathed into our nature and always requires such a life. But it has been oppressed by the fall, and its strength has been taken away. The grace that comes by faith in the Lord, being united with this spirit, restores it to its rights and gives it the power to direct all the conscious and free life of man, guiding it by its nature toward God. Whoever is deemed worthy of this, by this spirit thus graced, mortifies “the deeds of the body”—not external only, but internal as well—the actions and movements of passionate and sensual self-pleasing in general. So it is; but since this does not become a law of nature but is maintained by volition, the Apostle says: “if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body,”—regarding this as a work of volition, behind the movements of which grace follows, always ready to aid and supply our spirit with the power that mortifies passions.

“You put to death,” he says, making understood that this work is not accomplished once for all. Once for all it is only established in the resolve—never, neither in great nor in small matters, to indulge the passions of self-pleasing—but it does not destroy the possibility of these latter manifesting their movements. The Apostle says: every time these lustful, passionate, fleshly movements appear, “put them to death,” driving them away and cutting them off. For cutting them off is indeed putting them to death: they appeared and now are gone when driven away and cut off. They appeared again—drive them away again, and there will be none. So throughout your whole life “put to death,” he says, “the deeds of the body.” “They are put to death when they cease; for they are no longer once they cease” (Ambrosiaster). It has already been shown above, in the words of the holy Hesychius, how this is accomplished. As soon as a passionate movement or thought appears, repel it with aversion and then turn in prayer to the Lord Jesus Christ—and that passion which troubles will at once depart. This is putting to death by the Spirit the deeds of the flesh. “Such deeds (fleshly) are mortified only by the Spirit. As soon as the Spirit appears, all turbulence subsides, all passions are calmed, and nothing will rise up against us. The benefit of the Spirit consists not only in that He forgives us our former sins, but also in that He makes us unconquerable by sin in the future and deems us worthy of immortal life” (St. Chrysostom).

If so, he says, it will go with you, then “you will live,”—meaning eternal life; because such a life in the Spirit, always “putting to death the deeds of the body,” is the seed of eternally blessed life. This life there is revealed only in its power and radiance, but it is born here, when the grace of the Spirit of God raises up our spirit and gives man the power to live not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Born, it grows, and in the measure of its ripeness passes there. Here it is not visible, hidden—sometimes by the disorders of external life, sometimes by internal struggles; but all ripens under the cover of this invisibility. And there it will shine forth in its radiance. This is “you will live,” if here you live according to the Spirit and by the Spirit “put to death the deeds of the body.”

Rom. 8:14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Having given the instruction—to live not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit—verses 12–13—as a condition for resurrection to blessedness—verse 11—the Apostle now deepens the conviction that if this is so, they will certainly be heirs of the Kingdom. For, he says, if you live according to the Spirit, this will mean that you are led by the Spirit of God; but those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God; and if sons, then heirs. Such is the Apostle’s thought in verses 14–17. Having said “sons,”—verse 14—he could have directly concluded: “if sons, then heirs”—verse 17. But he deemed it necessary to strengthen the conviction in sonship, besides the indication of the mystical birth from God and the reception of the Spirit in the Sacraments of Baptism and Chrism, by the testimony of inner feeling, assuring us “that we are children of God.”

Why are those led by the Spirit of God led by Him? Because they are born from Him, and having been born from Him, have received Him into themselves. It is thus evident that those led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. They do not stand in an external relationship to God but in an inner, living one. But this is accomplished in the sacraments by God’s grace; the work of life should consist in the continuation of what has begun in them. But how can this be brought to pass? In such a way that those born of the Spirit are led and guided by the Spirit. True sons of God are those who are led by the Spirit of God. The Apostle has brought the whole matter to experience, to the testimony of life. It was necessary for him, in conditioning the inheritance on sonship and sonship on guidance by the Spirit, to kindle in those who desired eternal inheritance a zeal to walk according to the Spirit. For those who walk according to the Spirit are indeed led by the Spirit. You are born of the Spirit, you have received the Spirit in the sacraments; but this is not enough: you must be led by the Spirit, or walk by the Spirit—live according to the Spirit. “Led” means guided and guiding themselves. The Spirit of God imparts guiding thoughts, feelings, and movements, and the believer agrees to them, accepts them as guidance, and is led by them. The gracious guidance in a wondrous way unites the power of the Spirit with the volition of man.

Holy Chrysostom says: “Speaking thus, the Apostle expresses the wish that the Spirit of God be lord over our life, like a helmsman over a ship or a charioteer over a pair of horses. The Apostle imposes such a bridle not on the body alone but on the soul as well. He does not give the soul full authority; rather, he subjects its power to the power of the spirit. So that those encouraged by the gift of baptism should not neglect the proper ordering of their life from now on, he says: although you have received baptism, yet if you do not afterward let yourself be led by the Spirit, you will lose the dignity and right of sonship that have been granted you. Therefore he did not say: all who have received the Spirit are sons—but: all who are led by the Spirit of God. This means that those who conduct themselves throughout their entire life so as to be led by the Spirit, these are ‘sons of God.’ But since this dignity was also given to the Jews, for it is said: ‘I said, you are gods and all of you are sons of the Most High’ (Ps. 81:6); and also: ‘I have brought up sons and reared them’ (Is. 1:2); and also: ‘Israel is my firstborn son’ (Ex. 4:22); and Paul himself says: ‘theirs is the adoption as sons’ (Rom. 9:4); therefore he also explains the difference that exists between the one honor and the other. Although these names are the same, he says, yet the things are different.”

Rom. 8:15. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba, Father.

He proves that sonship is not something externally assigned but rather something that constitutes the essential content of the whole structure of life in Christ Jesus. As the leading of the Spirit is not external but comes from within, for God’s Spirit has united itself with our spirit and acts from it, so too does sonship, arising from the whole structure of spiritual life, reflect itself in feeling and consciousness and constitutes the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. To make this clearer, the Apostle compares the spirit of evangelical life to the spirit of life under the law. “You did not receive,” he says, “a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,” as was the case under the law. He speaks in this way only for comparison: for there they did not receive any spirit, but such was the spirit of the law, that it held in obedience through fear, and those who were under it obeyed it as slaves, captives, so that the spirit of their life, inspired by the entire essence of the law, was a spirit of slavery born of fear. The spirit of evangelical life is not like that: here one serves God not as a slave but as a son in a house, understanding all the purposes of the master—one’s Father—entering into them, sympathizing with them, desiring them and loving them. The difference between these spirits is evident already from this, but it is even greater from the fact that the evangelical spirit of sonship is inspired not by the content of the Gospel alone, as the spirit of Old Testament slavery was inspired by the content of the law, but, what is far more important, is built up in the depths of our spirit by the Holy Spirit, whom we receive in Christ Jesus. Bearing this Spirit, we dare to cry out to God, infinitely great and incomprehensible by the mind: Abba, Father! Our Father!—as the only-begotten Son of God and God, who has arranged all this for us, has taught us.

Holy Chrysostom expounds these two spirits at length. “Passing over what is opposed to slavery, namely the spirit of freedom, the Apostle set forth something far more important—the spirit of adoption, through which freedom of spirit is also communicated, saying: ‘but you received the Spirit of adoption as sons.’ It is clear what the spirit of adoption means; but what the spirit of slavery is—this is obscure, and therefore it needs to be explained. What the Apostle has said is not only unclear but completely incomprehensible. For the Jewish people was not given the Spirit. What then is Paul speaking of here? By the spirit of slavery he called the written law. Why then were the writings of the Old Testament writings of slavery? Consider the whole manner of life of the Jews, and this too will become clear. Among them, punishments followed deeds, and rewards were not deferred to a distant time but were dispensed in exact measure, like daily rations to servants. Everywhere their eyes were vividly presented with terrors, bodily washings were strictly observed, and caution in actions. It is not so with us; we purify thought and conscience. Christ does not say only: do not kill—but also: do not be angry; or only: do not commit adultery—but also: do not look with unchaste eyes. He desires that we gain the habit of virtue not from fear of present punishment but from love of Him, and succeed in all else. To us God does not promise a land flowing with milk and honey, but makes us co-heirs with the only-begotten and in every way tries to turn us away from present goods and promises to grant chiefly such as befit those who have become sons of God. We have nothing sensory, nothing bodily, but all is spiritual. The Jews, although called sons, were like slaves; we, having become free, received adoption and await heaven for ourselves. With the Jews God spoke through others, but with us He speaks personally. The Jews did everything driven by fear of punishment; but spiritual people do all things according to inner disposition and love, which they prove by excelling beyond what is prescribed in the commandments. The Jews, like hirelings and the ungrateful, never ceased to complain, but Christians please the Father. Those, although benefited, blasphemed; but we, even in hardship, give thanks. Although sinners even now do not remain unpunished, yet there is a great difference even in this. The priests of the Jews would beat them with stones, burn them, maim them; but us they turn otherwise; for us it is enough to be cut off from the Father’s Table, debarred from it for a certain number of days. For the Jews, adoption was a title only in words; for us it is accompanied by actuality, purification through baptism, the gift of the Spirit and the sending of other blessings. The Apostle, having indicated all this by the words: spirit of fear and of adoption, brings a new proof to confirm that we have the spirit of adoption. What then? ‘By whom we cry, Abba, Father!’ How powerful is this proof, those who are enlightened know; for this word is the first that is prescribed for them to utter in the mystical prayer. But, you will ask, did the Jews not call God Father? Do you not hear what Moses says: ‘You neglected the Rock that fathered you’ (Deut. 32:18)? Do you not hear how Malachi reproves and says that God alone created us and is Father to us all (Mal. 2:10)? But although these and many other places of Scripture are brought forth, yet nowhere shall we find that the Jews called God by this name and prayed to Him as Father. But we—and priests, and laypeople, and rulers and subjects—all are commanded thus to pray. The first word uttered after that miraculous birth, accomplished according to a new and extraordinary ordinance, is: ‘Father!’ Moreover, if the Jews at any time called God Father, they did so from their own reason; but those living by grace call Him thus, being moved by the power of the Spirit. Just as there is a spirit of wisdom, through which the unwise became wise and revealed this in their teaching; just as there is also a spirit of power, through which the weak raised the dead and cast out demons; just as there is also a spirit of healing, a spirit of prophecy, a spirit of tongues: so also is there a spirit of adoption. And as we know about the spirit of prophecy that he who has it foretells the future and speaks not from his own reason but being moved by grace, so the same must be said of the spirit of adoption, that he who has received it calls God Father, being moved to do so by the Spirit. The Apostle, desiring to show that we are sons by birth, even used the Hebrew word; he did not say only: Father—but: ‘Abba, Father!’—for so truly his own children especially call their Father.”

Regarding this last addition, blessed Theodoret remarks: “The Apostle added: ‘Abba’—showing the boldness of those who call. Small children, enjoying greater freedom with their father, since their reason is still immature, more often use this word in addressing their fathers. So too we, by His unspeakable love for man and by His immeasurable goodness, call the Creator of all things Father, as we are commanded; but we do not know how great the difference is between Him and us, and do not understand ourselves with precision, and have no knowledge whatsoever of His nature.”

To this, Ambrosiaster adds such a lesson. “Having been freed by God’s grace from fear, we have received the Spirit of adoption; so that, seeing what we were and what we have received by God’s gift, we might with utmost care order our lives well, so that the name of God our Father might not suffer offense in us, and we, becoming ungrateful, might not again fall into that from which we have been saved. Such is the grace we have received, that we dare to cry out: ‘Abba, Father!’ This very thing should impel us to be cautious, so that, having received such boldness, we do not fall into the foolishness of improper living; for if we display a life unworthy of such a cry: ‘Abba, Father!’—we shall cause offense to God every time we call Him our Father. For He permitted us this for His own goodness—something above our nature—so that we might deserve through our deeds what we are unworthy of by our essence.”

In this saying is the answer to this: how can it be—we have received the Spirit of adoption, yet we do not feel that we are sons? We do not have the life of sons; the spirit of sonship has departed. For if this misfortune does not occur, then deep within there lives a conviction that we are children of God, as the Apostle says now: