hat ye lay under the wrath of God and had incurred
death, and that it was because ye lived after the flesh that ye
deserved condemnation. Most assuredly Christ has not died for those
who are determined to remain in their sins; he has died that he might
rescue from their sins those who would gladly be released but cannot
liberate themselves.

6. Therefore, let him that is a Christian take care not to be guilty
of such nonsense as to say: I am free from the Law, therefore I may
do as I please. Rather let him say and do the contrary. Let him,
because he is a Christian, fear and shun sin, lest he fall from his
freedom into his former state of bondage to sin under the Law and
God's wrath; or lest the life, begun in God, lapse again into death.
For here stands the express declaration, "If ye live after the flesh,
ye must die;" as if the apostle meant: It will not avail you that ye
have heard the Gospel, that ye boast of Christ, that ye receive the
sacraments, so long as ye do not, through the faith and Holy Spirit
received, subdue your sinful lusts, your ungodliness and impiety,
your avarice, malice, pride, hatred, envy and the like.

7. For the meaning of "living after the flesh" has been repeatedly
stated and is readily understood. It includes not only the gross,
sensual lust of fornication or other uncleanness, but everything man
has inherited by his natural birth; not only the physical body, but
also the soul and all the faculties of our nature, both mental and
corporal--our reason, will and senses--which are by nature without
the Spirit and are not regulated by God's Word. It includes
particularly those things which the reason is not inclined to regard
as sin; for instance, living in unbelief, idolatry, contempt of God's
Word, presumption and dependence on our own wisdom and strength, our
own honor, and the like. Everything of this nature must be shunned by
Christians (who have the Holy Spirit and are hence able to judge what
is carnal) as a fatal poison which produces death and damnation.

PUTTING TO DEATH SIN.

"But if by the Spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall
live."

8. Here the apostle confesses that even in the Christian there is a
remnant of the flesh, that must be put to death--all manner of
temptation and lusts in opposition to God's commandments. These are
active in the flesh and prompt to sin. They are here called the
"deeds of the body." Of this nature are thoughts of unbelief and