‘Therefore then brothers we are absolutely not existing as indebtors to the flesh, to be living down from the flesh. 13 Because if you are living down from the flesh you are at the point of dying and withering away, but if you are putting to death the actions of the body [down from] breath [pneuma] - you will live’, (Romans 8 v 12, 13).
This verse confirms that Paul is writing to Christians about how they are conducting their lives moment-by-moment at this present time. He has said that Christians exist at this present time within a dichotomy. On the one hand, the ‘inside of the cup’ – their inner self, their ‘I’ [ego], heart and mind, is now roused up from out of deadness by the Breath, and enlightened towards sensitivity and responsiveness to God.
But on the other hand, the Christian’s fleshly constitution has not been transformed. Their physical, fleshly body still retains its inherent impulses that lead towards speech and behaviour that God disapproves of. In this sense it is a ‘dead body’, grieving and weighing them down. So how is the Christian’s fleshly constitution enabled to serve God? It is enabled by the movement, influence, current and energy of the Breath of God dwelling within Christians, (verse 11) as the source of Life within the Messiah, (verse 10).
That is the theology or teaching. Paul almost always states and then reasons through theological teaching before turning to its practical application. That is nearly always how the Apostle works. He presents enlightened knowledge of unseen realities and then reasons this knowledge through to its logical conclusion as a basis for the Christian’s practical intentions, speech and behaviour.
He begins to apply the theology he has been explaining here, in verse 12 – ‘Therefore then brothers’. What is his general conclusion with regard to the present situation that Christians find themselves in? It is twofold. First – ‘We are absolutely not existing as indebtors to the flesh, to be living down from the flesh. Because if you are living down from the flesh you are at the point of dying and withering away’. Christians don’t owe their fleshly constitution anything, they are not indebted to their flesh. Not only is their fleshly constitution unable to deliver them from divine condemnation, but its inherent impulses and raw passions are continuing to oppose God. It is no use turning to divine law to oppose these passions because these impulses use the injunctions of divine law as a starting point to make self-forfeiture more extensive and more abundantly known. Paul does not say ‘putting to death the actions of the body’ by turning to divine law because divine law brings down knowledge of self-forfeiture and settled anger. Christians are under no obligation to follow their fleshly impulses or to allow their fleshly passions to lead or govern their speech and behaviour. If they do then they are at the very point of dying and withering away. They are at the point of ‘hardening their heart’, of ‘grieving the Breath’, of wandering astray into error and insensitivity, even of losing a portion of their allotted divine inheritance – not their deliverance - but a portion of their reward.
Second, ‘but if you are putting to death the actions of the body [down from] breath [pneuma] - you will live’. There it is again – the Breath as the source of Life within the Messiah. However, sometimes the Apostle writes the word ‘pneuma’ with a capital ‘P’, and sometimes not. This is something that I am only just becoming aware of and something that the translators don’t always follow, so this nuance is not always presented correctly in English translations. Because I have only recently become aware of Paul’s grammatical style in the Greek text with reference to Breath/breath, I have not commented on it before.
Assuming that the copyists have rendered the Greek text accurately, as Paul wrote it, then we see that in Romans, Paul uses lower case - ‘breath’ - in Romans 1 v 9; 2 v 29; 7 v 6; 8 v 1, 4, 5, 6, 10. But he uses an initial capital letter – ‘Breath’ – in Romans 5 v 5; 8 v 2, 9, 11. I propose that when he uses the Greek word ‘Pneuma’ - with a capital ‘P’ - the reference is definitely to ‘the set-apart Breath of God and His Messiah’. Whereas if he uses a small ‘p’ – ‘pneuma’ - then he seems more likely to be referring to the impetus or current of the Christian’s enlightened or illuminated heart and mind.
Here in verse 13, Paul uses the lower case word. If a Christian is living their life moment-by-moment down from breath, down from their enlightened heart and mind, then the practical result is that they are putting to death the actions of the body. The actions of the body are the ‘works of the flesh’ as described in Romans 1 v 18 – 32 and Galatians 5 v 19 – 21. These are the fleshly behaviours that Christians are putting to death down from breath. Down from their enlightened and illuminated heart and mind they are resisting and opposing their fleshly actions. They may not always succeed in overcoming these fleshly behaviours, as fleshly impulses sometimes take them captive, but their enlightened heart and mind is nevertheless leading and inclining Christians to oppose and avoid these fleshly behaviours. And as Christians do this ‘they will live’ – they will be responsive and sensitive to God – alive to God.
Paul states the same conclusion in his letter to the Galatians. ‘So I say, walk around within Breath [Pneuma] and absolutely do not bring to completion eager fleshly desire. 17 Because the flesh is focused on passionate desires against the Breath, [Pneuma] and the Breath [Pneuma] against the flesh. Because these resist and oppose one another in order that if you desire, you do not construct it, 18 and if you are led by the Breath [Pneuma], you are not under law’, (Galatians 5 v 16 – 18). In these verses Paul uses an initial capital letter – ‘Breath’. The source of the Christian’s enlightened heart and mind is of course the ‘Breath’ of God. Paul portrays Christians as walking around moment-by-moment by both ‘Breath’ (Galatians 5 v 16), and ‘breath’ (Romans 7 v 6; 8 v 1, 4, 9, 10). Indeed, Paul uses both grammatical styles in Romans 8 v 10 - Christians are existing ‘within breath, [pneuma], since indeed, Breath [Pneuma] of God is dwelling within you’. Their heart and mind is enlightened since the Breath of God is dwelling within them. Therefore they are exhorted to walk around day-by-day within breath – within and down from the impetus and current of their enlightened mind and heart, illuminated by the Breath of God and His Messiah.
