• But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. (11) But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. (12) Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. (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.

The letter to the Romans was written by the apostle Paul to the Christians in that city and the theme of our verses today is the eternal security of believers in Christ; the salvation of those who renounced the law and accepted the gospel is virtually certain. God in His free mercy justified us in Christ Jesus – something the law could never do – nothing comes from the efforts of the flesh but death. All the demands of the law are filled by the sacrifice of Christ and salvation in faith is begun by the Spirit who is indwelling at the moment of faith. If we belong to Christ we are reconciled to God and all our sins are forgiven. Justification is not a matter of going to church or believing certain doctrines or by trying to live by certain moral standards; what is vital is that we are born again.
The Spirit dwells in us and we are growing in sanctity. We do and will have a sinful nature despite being in Christ – to believe otherwise is to minimize that nature. In our new position we are to behave as we believe. Because of grace in faith we have an obligation to act appropriately but we can only do this with the help of the Spirit. All who are led by the Spirit are children of God. We are debtors not to flesh; the believers are now in the Spirit and the necessity of holiness is absolute. The work of the Spirit empowers us for victory over flesh; frees us from sin and spiritual death; changes our nature and confirms our adoption. We are not condemned and will never have to pay the penalty of sin which is eternal death.
We will receive power to control the flesh after the Holy Spirit has come upon us with no caveats and no conditions. How can you tell if you are a Christian – if the sins of the flesh are foreign to your desire; if you don’t want sin and if you don’t rationalize sin.