Under obligation (3781) (opheiletes from opheílo = owe, conveying the basic meaning of owing a debt) means one who owes another (of one who owes another money) having a strong moral obligation and personal duty) means a debtor, one who is bound by some duty, one who owes anything to another. It can refer to a literal debt (see Mt 18:24 below) or as used here in Romans 3 times (see below) by Paul figuratively to refer to a personal, moral obligation in contrast to that which is a necessity (which is the Greek verb dei = Click word study of dei) as dictated by the nature of the situation (such as we must eat, we must sleep. We are no longer debtors to the flesh -- what we once were no longer has any claim on us. Opheiletes can describe one who has committed a misdeed and owes it to the law to make it right - in such case this person is called a guilty person, an offender or a sinner (see Lu 13:4 below). It is one who has not yet made amends to whom he has injured. For example, it describes one who owes God penalty or whom God can demand punishment as something due (eg, a sinner) Richards writes that words in the opheilo word group (including opheiletes)... Words in this group originally expressed the idea of a legal or personal obligation. The Greeks had both financial and, later, moral obligations in mind when they used this term. (Richards, L O: Expository Dictionary of Bible Words: Regency) NIDNTT adds that... The word-group formed from the stem opheil- belongs originally to the sphere of law. Opheilo, attested since Mycenaean Greek., means: (a) when linked with an object, to owe someone something, e.g. money, a loan (cf. Egyptian sources in BGU III, 846, 16; IV, 1149, 35); and (b) with an infinitive, to owe in the sense of being indebted (Plato, Leg. 4, 717b). An opheiletes is (a) a debtor (Plato, Leg. 5, 736d); (b) someone who is under an obligation to achieve something (not found in this sense in the LXX). Opheile (rare, and not in the LXX) and the more common opheilema (in the LXX only in 10" class="scriptRef">Deut. 24:10; 1 Macc. 15:8) denote a debt, particularly of a financial nature, Ophelon, originally an aorist participle of opheilo with the addition of estin (is), became the set expression for the optative “O, that”, “would that”, “if only” (cf. Epict., Dissertationes 2, 22, 12). 2. Alongside financial there are also moral obligations in respect of people or of state laws. Thus a culprit is often punished by being required to pay compensation to the injured party (Plato, Cra. 400c: until he has made the necessary payments). Infringement of divine regulations and thanks which must be rendered in return for benefactions of the gods also make men debtors, in requiring from them some cultic penance or act. Thus in Plato, Phaedo 118, the dying Socrates says: “We owe Asclepius [the god of healing] a cock.” Correlates and formations from opheilo thus contain both the negative component of debt and the positive one of obligation. (Brown, Colin, Editor. New International Dictionary of NT Theology. 1986. Zondervan) The TDNT has a nice summary of the root word opheilo noting that it is... Etymologically obscure, this word means “to owe someone something,” e.g. loans, debts, sums, or rents. The things owed may be spiritual, and the word is also used with the infinitive for “to be under obligation to,” “to have to.” The word is common in respect of revenge or law. Transgressors are in debt to injured parties. Secular and sacral penalties are owed. God’s goodness also makes people debtors. This gives rise to the idea of moral obligation. (Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Eerdmans) Here are the 7 NT uses of opheiletes (not in the Septuagint - LXX) translated culprits, 1; debtors, 1; indebted, 1; owed, 1; under obligation, 3... 'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors (opheiletes). (see notes Matthew 6:12) (Comment: Those who sin against us are viewed as our debtors whom we are to forgive just as God Himself forgave us a sin debt we could never repay). "And when he had begun to settle them, there was brought to him one who owed (opheiletes) him ten thousand talents (such a large amount in essence it cannot be paid = Jesus is teaching about man's dependence on and responsibility to God who will settle accounts with His servants - ultimately only through the compassion of the creditor could such a high debt be remitted - and so men should forgive one another debts which by comparison are miniscule instead of insisting on their "legal" rights!). (Mt 18:24) "Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, were worse culprits (opheiletes; KJV renders it "sinners") than all the men who live in Jerusalem? (Luke 13:4) "I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish." (see notes Romans 1:14) Yes, they were pleased to do so, and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things. (see notes Romans 15:27) And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law (the law is viewed as a unit, thus obedience to it cannot be selective). (Galatians 5:3) Now we are indebted to the Holy Spirit for all He has done and will do in and through us. But don't be confused...we cannot "earn" God's favor. God gives us the power (His indwelling Spirit - Ro 8:9, 10, 11 - see notes Romans 8:9, 8:10, 8:11) to "pay Him back" with works of righteousness (not works done in the flesh...these are dead works) done out of heart of obedience (see note Romans 6:17)...now we offer back to Him our obedience (1Sa 15:22) realizing that even that would not be possible unless He had changed our hearts from their godless, hostile, helpless, sinful (Romans 5:6-10-notes) condition to a new heart with new motivation that He provides that now we might be pleasing to Him. NOT TO THE FLESH TO LIVE (habitually, continually) ACCORDING TO THE FLESH: ou te sarki tou kata sarka zon (PAN): Not (ou) is the Greek word indicating absolute negation. The point is that believers have been set free from this harsh master personified as the Flesh. Prior to our new birth we were in fact "obligated" to the flesh, and had to obey it's desires and wishes! (eg, cp notes on "enslaved to various lusts and pleasures" Titus 3:3-note) There is now no obligation to the flesh. In fact now Paul commands believers... Therefore (because believers now are "dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus" Ro 6:11-note) do not let sin reign in your mortal body (present imperative is a command preceded by a negative = "Stop letting the Sin continue to reign in your physical body!") that you should obey its lusts 13 and do not go on presenting (also present imperative with a negative) the members of your body to (the) Sin (which continues to want to "usurp" the throne which now belongs to Christ Jesus alone) as instruments of unrighteousness; but present (aorist imperative = Command to do this now and do it effectively!) yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. (see notes Romans 6:12; Romans 6:13) Believers now are debtors to and in that sense obligated to righteousness (not a legalistic obligation but a love obligation that comes from our new heart and the new covenant). It is not enough that we have received the Holy Spirit (which we have). It is now our moral/ethical obligation (motivated by our remembrance of the love of God for us as evidenced by the Cross and the love and anticipation we have of our Lord's imminent Second Coming) to walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Gal 5:16, 17, 18-see notes Galatians 5:16; 17; 18) Pritchard writes that... Why don’t we owe anything to the flesh? One, because we’ve been set free from the power of the flesh. We are no longer "in the flesh" but "in the Spirit." The flesh once controlled us, but now we are free. Two, because the flesh does us no good. Consider the "ministry" of the flesh: 1. It tempts us to do evil. 2. It pulls us away from God. 3. It wars continually against the Holy Spirit. You don’t have to live in the flesh any more because you don’t owe your flesh anything. (Romans 8:5-17: Life in the Spirit) Warren Wiersbe explains the debt this way... Our obligation is to the Holy Spirit. It was the Spirit who convicted us and showed us our need of the Savior. It was the Spirit who imparted saving faith, who implanted the new nature within us, and who daily witnesses within that we are God’s children. What a great debt we owe to the Spirit! Christ loved us so much, He died for us; the Spirit loves us so much, He lives in us. Daily He endures our carnality and selfishness; daily He is grieved by our sin; yet He loves us and remains in us as the seal of God and the “down payment” (“earnest,” 2Cor. 1:22) of the blessings waiting for us in eternity. If a person does not have the Spirit dwelling within, that person is not a child of God. (Wiersbe, W. W. Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the New Testament. Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books) Morris explains that... Paul is laying it down firmly that for Christians the flesh has no rights; as Earle puts it, “we owe the flesh nothing”. The way Paul puts it, “we are debtors, not to the flesh—”, leads us to look for “but to the Spirit” or for some other expression to indicate where our debt lies, “but this is elegantly left to be understood” (Bengel). The characteristic life of the Christian owes nothing to the flesh, though we should not ignore the force of this warning about “the flesh” in a letter to Christians. “The flesh” is not eradicated but is an ever-present reality. Paul goes on to explain that to be indebted to the flesh means “to live according to the flesh”. This is not an option for the believer. (Morris, L. The Epistle to the Romans. W. B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press) As Moule says... For a moment he turns to say what we owe “no” debt to even “the flesh,” the self-life. But it is plain that his main purpose is positive, not negative. He implies in the whole rich context that we are debtors to the Spirit, to the Lord, “to walk Spirit-wise.” (Moule, C. G. The Epistle of St Paul to the Romans. Ages) Not (3756) (ou) defines absolute negation. Paul's point is strong - the believer is no longer under moral obligation or debt to the flesh, that evil disposition inherited from Adam which is opposed to God and can do absolutely nothing to please God. The old, sinful nature may present its desires, even its demands, based upon our past, but we are now under no obligation to cooperate! Live (2198) (zao) in the present context refers to living one's life. The important truth Paul brings out with the use of the present tense is that believers are no longer those who live continually under the dominion of the evil flesh nature. Sure, none of us have arrived so to speak (that is called "glorified"!) and we are "prone to wander" as the hymn writer laments. However our wandering is for a moment or even a season but not for a lifetime and not as our continual habitual practice. According to (2596) (kata) can mean "down" and in this context can picture a person living "down under" the dominion of the flesh.