Why does living after the flesh lead to death?
Living after the flesh leads to death because it follows the old Adamic nature and its sinful results. God's original admonition to Adam and Eve was that the day they ate they would surely die, and that has not changed. Life comes instead through the Spirit putting to death the deeds of the body.
Les explains that the word "sin" singular refers to the old Adamic nature, while "sins" plural are the results it produces. He uses the whiskey still analogy: the still itself does not make people drunk; what it produces does. Likewise, Adam is like the still, producing sins. Romans 8:12-13 says we are debtors not to the flesh, to live after the flesh; if you live after the flesh, you will die. This echoes God's first admonition to Adam and Eve in the garden—that the day they ate, they would surely die—and it hasn't changed. But if through the Spirit you put to death, or mortify, the deeds of the body, you shall live. Les stresses that the Christian life involves discipline, but it is not merely giving up things you love; rather, your appetites change—things you once loved you begin to hate and vice versa.
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
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.
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
More Questions
What happens if you live after the flesh?
Living after the flesh brings death, and this warning has not changed since God first gave it to Adam and Eve in the garden.