Rom. 8:13 - Eternal or daily application?

[fralo4truth]

"For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live."

Hi friends, I'm wrestling with this text and wanna get your thoughts on it.

1) Who are the 'ye' under consideration? The regenerate elect, or men in general?

2) Is the promised death and life synonymous with eternal death and life, respectively? Or, is Paul referring to the kind of spiritual death and life we may experience based on our everyday choices to be obedient or not?

Pink seems to hint toward the former: "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die"�die spiritually, die eternally" (The Holy Spirit)

Whereas, Gill leans toward the latter: "It may be further inquired, whether such an one may be so left to live after the flesh, as to die and perish eternally; Christ expressly says, such shall not die that live and believe in him; grace, which is implanted in their souls, is an incorruptible and never dying seed; grace and glory are inseparably connected together; but then such persons may die with respect to their frames, their comforts and the lively exercise of grace, which seems to be here intended; as appears from the next clause"

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[JML]

1) Who are the 'ye' under consideration? The regenerate elect, or men in general?

If we look at the context, the noun "ye" in verse 13 refers back to "brethren" in verse 12. So it would be men that Paul considered brethren.


2) Is the promised death and life synonymous with eternal death and life, respectively? Or, is Paul referring to the kind of spiritual death and life we may experience based on our everyday choices to be obedient or not?

I see it as eternal life and death referred to. It seems to me as though Paul is saying to them, if you were to live after the flesh you will die (2nd death) therefore proving yourself not to be a brother after all. In verse 14, he says that all who are led by the Spirit are sons of God. If you are a Christian, your deeds should back that up but if your deeds are the deeds of the flesh then you are not a brother and ye shall die (the 2nd death).

 

[rbcbob]

Romans 8:13 (NAS) for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.


These words were written by the apostle to the members of the church in Rome. They were professing Christians. Still the apostle soberly tells them that if they are living according to the flesh, i.e. carnality is what characterized their life, then they were on the verge of dying in their sins; they are unconverted men no matter what they profess to the contrary.
However if what characterizes their life is that, by the power of the Spirit they are putting to death the deeds of the body, then they will live eternally in the Lord.
John Owen in his masterful treatise on this (80 pages) called “The mortification of Sin in Believers” said “be killing sin or it will be killing you”.