Lesson 17: Heirs with Christ – 8:12-17
 12 So then, brothers, 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.
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.

We continue in our verses today with a fuller picture of the new life we have been given. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that we are a new creation in Jesus Christ, old things have passed away and everything has become new. Our verses today say we owe a great debt for this – not a debt to anything that is of the flesh or of the world, but a debt to God.

God did not save us to make this life here on earth a perfect and easy life for us. To live according to the flesh means to make this life on earth our priority – we are more concerned about our jobs or career or social status or money or even food to eat than we are about our eternal life with Jesus in Heaven. Everyone who has accepted Jesus is a child of God and therefore a citizen of a new kingdom, so our priority in this life is now for that kingdom rather than our earthly life.


Verse 13 tells us if we make our earthly life our priority, we will die; but if we make our new heavenly home our priority, we will live. This is not about condemnation to hell (in our last lesson we read there is never again any condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus). The death here is the death of value. When we work only for this life on earth, it is all for nothing as everything we accomplish and gain dies when our body dies, and we enter Heaven with nothing but our eternal soul. But if we allow the Spirit to guide what we desire or dream or do, then we live. All our dreams and desires and work for His kingdom gathers and stores treasure for us in Heaven (Matthew 6:19-24).

How do we work for our new kingdom? We allow the Spirit of God to lead us in everything we do. If He gives us a job or career, we ask Him how to use it for His kingdom’s purposes. If He gives us the talent to sing or write or entertain others, then we give ourselves to Him to use every opportunity He will place at our feet to tell others about Him. If we are poor and must search for every bite of food we eat, we ask Him to give us opportunities to tell others we meet about Jesus. If He gives us families and children to raise, we ask Him for help to raise those children and love that family into His kingdom. We do all for His glory, not our own – 1 Corinthians 10:31.

We who believe and have accepted Jesus as our Savior are His children. And as His children we have the promise of being heirs of His kingdom with Him. The last verse here, however, states a qualification for being an heir – we must also suffer with Him. We will talk about this more in our next lesson.

*What is your highest priority in this life?