Romans 8 · Verse 13

Romans 8:13

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.
Romans 8:13, King James Version

Romans 8:13 in other translations

BSBFor 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.
WEBFor if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
ASVfor if ye live after the flesh, ye must die; but if by the Spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
YLTfor if according to the flesh ye do live, ye are about to die; and if, by the Spirit, the deeds of the body ye put to death, ye shall live;
DARBYfor if ye live according to flesh, ye are about to die; but if, by the Spirit, ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live:
BBEFor if you go in the way of the flesh, death will come on you; but if by the Spirit you put to death the works of the body, you will have life.
WebsterFor if ye live according to the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

What does Romans 8:13 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Romans 8:12-13

12-13. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh--"Once we were sold under sin (Ro 7:14); but now that we have been set free from that hard master and become servants to Righteousness (Ro 6:22), we owe nothing to the flesh, we disown its unrighteous claims and are deaf to its imperious demands." Glorious sentiment!

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Barnes' Notes
Verse 13. For if ye live, etc. If you live to indulge your carnal propensities, you will sink to eternal death, Rom 7:23.

Through the Spirit. By the aid of the Spirit; by cherishing and cultivating his influences. What is here required can be accomplished only by the aid of the Holy Ghost.

Do mortify. Do put to death; do destroy. Sin is mortified when its power is destroyed and it ceases to be active.

The deeds of the body. The corrupt inclinations and passions; called deeds of the body, because they are supposed to have their origin in the fleshly appetites.

Ye shall live. You shall be happy and saved. Either your sins must die, or you must. If they are suffered to live, you will die. If they are put to death, you will be saved. No man can be saved in his sins. This closes the argument of the apostle for the superiority of the gospel to the law in promoting the purity of man. By this train of reasoning, he has shown that the gospel has accomplished what the law could not do--the sanctification of the soul, the destruction of the corrupt passions of our nature, and the recovery of man to God.

(r) "do mortify" Col 3:5

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die - Though μελλετε αποθνησκειν may mean, ye shall afterwards die, and this seems to indicate a temporal death, yet not exclusively of an eternal death; for both, and especially the latter, are necessarily implied. But if ye through the Spirit - If ye seek that grace and spiritual help which the Gospel of Christ furnishes, resist, and, by resisting, mortify the deeds of the flesh, against which the law gave you no assistance, ye shall live a life of faith, love, and holy obedience here, and a life of glory hereafter.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Romans 8:10-17

If the Spirit be in us, Christ is in us. He dwells in the heart by faith. Grace in the soul is its new nature; the soul is alive to God, and has begun its holy happiness which shall endure for ever. The righteousness of Christ imputed, secures the soul, the better part, from death. From hence we see how much it is our duty to walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. If any habitually live according to…

Read the full comment on Romans 8:10-17 →

Romans 8:13 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

εἰeiIfG1487
γὰρgarforG1063
κατὰkataaccording toG2596
σάρκαsarkafleshG4561
ζῆτε,zēteyou live,G2198
μέλλετεmelleteyou are aboutG3195
ἀποθνῄσκειν·apothnēskeinto die;G599
εἰeiifG1487
δὲdehoweverG1161
πνεύματιpneumatiby [the] SpiritG4151
τὰςtastheG3588
πράξειςpraxeisdeedsG4234
τοῦtouof theG3588
σώματοςsōmatosbodyG4983
θανατοῦτε,thanatouteyou put to death,G2289
ζήσεσθε.zēsestheyou will live.G2198

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Romans 8:13

  • Galatians 6:8

    For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

  • 1 Peter 2:11

    Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

  • Colossians 3:5-8

    Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

  • 1 Corinthians 9:27

    But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

  • Titus 2:12

    Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

  • Galatians 5:24

    And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

  • Ephesians 4:22

    That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

  • 1 Peter 1:22

    Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

  • Romans 8:4-6

    That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

  • Romans 7:5

    For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

  • Galatians 5:19-21

    Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

  • Ephesians 5:18

    And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
ye live.
1,4-6; 6:21,23; 7:5; Ga 5:19-21; 6:8; Eph 5:3-5; Col 3:5,6
Jas 1:14,15
but if.
2; 1Co 9:27; Ga 5:24; Eph 4:22; Col 3:5-8; Tit 2:12; 1Pe 2:11
through.
1; Eph 4:30; 5:18; 1Pe 1:22

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Romans 8:12

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

  • Romans 8:13

    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.

  • Romans 8:14

    For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Read all of Romans 8

Romans 8:13 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Porque si viviereis conforme á la carne, moriréis; mas si por el espíritu mortificáis las obras de la carne, viviréis.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		car si vous vivez selon la chair, vous mourrez; mais si par l’Esprit vous faites mourir les actions du corps, vous vivrez.
German
Elberfelder 1871		denn wenn ihr nach dem Fleische lebet, so werdet ihr sterben, wenn ihr aber durch den Geist die Handlungen des Leibes tötet, so werdet ihr leben.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Si enim secundum carnem vixeritis, moriemini: si autem spiritu facta carnis mortificaveritis, vivetis.