The death the apostle speaks of here is not eternal death, for he was addressing brethren who were members of the church at Rome. God's people may fall so as to lose a close communion with Him, but they cannot fall so as to be eternally doomed and damned, for Christ has said that those to whom He gives eternal life shall never perish (John 10:28) nor be plucked out of His or His Father's hands. The death of the text is a death to the joys that accompany a life of godliness. 

    Once God's people are born of the Spirit they cannot go back into a state of unregeneracy or death in sins, but some of them have followed a fleshly course to the extent, and for such a length of time, that it greatly blunted their spiritual lives and, at least for a season, stripped them of all heavenly joys and brought them into such a state of darkness, deadness and coldness that they lost sight of the blessedness they once knew and were left to wander in gloom and virtual hopelessness. This, to a child of God, is death of the worst sort. Some have drifted so far away from God that they lost some of the gifts and abilities God had given them, and even though they later returned to the timely fold they were never again as useful in the militant kingdom as they could have been had they not strayed. 

    The only way we can avoid such an eventuality is to mortify the deeds of the body by the help of the Spirit. If we underestimate the corruption of our flesh and the danger we place ourselves in when we dally with sin, there is little chance that we will not stumble spiritually and be severely injured. We are the loser every time we walk after the flesh, but if we live after the flesh for any length of time there is a death awaiting us that will bring us much anguish of soul and can possibly even issue in corporeal death. My the Lord help us to live close to Him, seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness, for if we do not we will be on dangerous ground, and we will pay a high price for our folly.