12 Therefore, 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 through the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:12-14 ESV)

One day, speaking with a person whom God freed from homosexuality, he told me that he did not want to fail God, and that he felt a constant struggle. Instead of feeling sad to hear his struggle…I was happy, I explained to the person that it was a sign that he was living for God.

The daily practice of killing sin in your life is the result of being a justified person. It is the evidence that you are justified by faith. If you are at war with your flesh, and walking by the Spirit, you can deduce that you are united with Christ. And if you are united with Christ, His Blood justifies you. On the other hand, if you are living according to the flesh – if you are not at war with the flesh, and in your daily life you do not put to death the sin in your life, then there is no evidence that you are united with Christ and that you are justified. In other words, putting to death the works of the flesh is not the way to be justified, it is a way that God reveals that we are justified.