Charles Spurgeon Commentary Romans 8:12

"So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh:" — Romans 8:12 (ASV)

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

Certainly not, for we owe the flesh nothing. It keeps us down and hampers us, it is a hindrance to us, but we certainly owe it nothing; so let us not be subservient to it, let us not consult or even consider it, and especially let us never come under its fatal bondage.

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

For we owe the flesh nothing by way of gratitude or service. The flesh has dragged us down. The flesh has ruined us. We owe it nothing, except mastery of it. We are not debtors to it, to live after it.

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

We owe the flesh nothing; I mean the law of sin in our members, we owe nothing to that. It has been a curse and a plague to us; we are not debtors to the flesh, so we must not live after the flesh.

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

What do we owe the old nature? Nothing, surely. Give it a decent burial. Let it be buried with Christ in baptism. Let the Spirit of God come and renew it. But we owe it nothing, and we are not debtors to it.