“When I was growing up, we used to ‘ditch’ people. If someone got completely
absorbed in something while we were hiking or hanging out in the hallway at
school, the rest of us would quietly sneak off and hide, ditching them. Suddenly
the ditched person would look up and find themselves alone. Not very nice, I
know. But figuratively speaking, Paul is calling us to ditch our flesh; we should
pursue God so avidly, our sinful nature and its desires are left behind. As we
pursue God, we are simultaneously putting to death the deeds/desires of the
flesh. In fact, we can’t do one without the other” (Steven E. Runge, Romans,
High Definition Commentary [Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014], 143–44).
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