If You Put to Death—not Otherwise

“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.” Rom. 8:13.

To live according to the flesh is the same as fulfilling the passions of the flesh (Gal. 5:16) or committing works of the flesh, which in turn is the same as committing sin, transgressing the law, breaking those laws of God which you knew beforehand.

If we continue to live according to the flesh, that is, to live in sin, then we will die. In other words, if we do not live according to the flesh we have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Then we are crucified to everything we know to be sin.

Besides this, if we then put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit, we will live. There is a difference between “the works of the flesh” and “the deeds of the body.” The former are things we know to be sin before we do them. The latter are things we realize are wrong only after we have done them, because we receive new light. Therefore, anything wrong that we do unconsciously—without our mind or our enlightened self agreeing to it—is a deed of the body.

Two things are necessary in order to “live,” to follow Christ: (1) That we no longer live according to the flesh so that the works of the flesh cease. (2) That the deeds of the body are put to death (judged, forsaken) one by one as they come to light. In other words: (1) I no longer do what I know to be wrong. (2) I cease doing things which new light reveals to be wrong.

We cannot hate—or crucify—things we do not know to be wrong. Crucifixion cannot extend any further than the light we have. However, it can and should work that far.