Dead to sin /Alive to God!
One of the most popular tv franchises for the past few years has been the "walking dead". I have never been a fan myself, but the plot of the tv series centered around an ongoing battle between the living and the dead. Likewise, in Romans 6:1-14, Paul points out that we are in an internal battle. Our old self, which died when we were saved, was controlled by sin. And now, sin wants to control our new self which has been given eternal life. But in this scripture, Paul instructs us that we must learn to live this new life in a way that is alive to God (in Christ) and dead to sin. May you yield daily to the Holy Spirit, who will lead you in living for God.
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Rom. 6:1-4). In chapter 5, Paul asserted that “where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Rom. 5:20). In saying this, Paul wanted Christians to know that their sin was never so big that grace could not cover it and prevent it from being a roadblock to their salvation. But having said that grace increases to cover sin, here in Romans 6, Paul anticipated his readers' next thought. Well, if grace increases to cover my sins, I can just keep on sinning without consequence…right? Paul answered emphatically…”by no means!”. Paul was telling us that grace is not a license for the saved person to just keep on sinning as much as they want. Why? Because sin enslaved us, but now we’re saved and set free. We now have a new life (having spiritually died with Christ and been raised with Christ from the dead). So since we have been set free from enslavement (to sin), and have a new life, why would we want to go back and live as slaves again? I’ve been set free…why would I willingly become a prisoner (to sin) again?!
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin — because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. (Rom. 6:5-10). Paul used baptism illustration to further his point. He stated that since we (the saved) are united together with Christ, we must be united with His crucifixion and death. That means that our “old self” (our sinful nature) was crucified and put to death. It is the death of our “old self” that sets us free from the power of sin over our lives (you can’t keep a dead person in bondage!). Christ died to sin “once and for all”, meaning He didn’t go back, and neither should we. Additionally, Paul said that we are also united together with Christ in His resurrected life. Therefore our new life is to be lived for God, just as Christ is living for Him (“the life He lives, He lives to God”). Baptism symbolized that I am united together with Jesus and the “old me” is dead. The new me arose from that watery grave and now lives for God!
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. (Rom. 6:11-14). Under the law, sin had power over us because it exposed our violations of it and it condemned us. It couldn’t save us because we could never keep it perfectly (as the law requires). God’s grace saved us and set us free from the power of sin. His grace gave us life when we were dead in sin. Therefore, Paul tells us that we should offer ourselves to God, and we should use every part of ourselves as instruments (weapons) for righteousness, as opposed to instruments of sin and wickedness. God's grace means that sin no longer has to have power over my life.
Before grace, we were dead in sin. But through Christ's sacrifice, God’s grace saved us so that now we are dead to sin. With the death of the “old man”, we received not just new life…but eternal life. Paul tells us that we are not to squander our new life by returning to sin. Instead, we are to use our new life to live for God and enlist every part of ourselves (mind, eyes, tongue, hands, etc) as weapons in our battle to live right (righteously). It is an ongoing battle. But if you allow the power of the Holy Spirit to continue to do His work in you to transform you from your old self (sin nature) into your fully realized new self (Christ's image), you can truly live in the freedom from sin that salvation has given us. Because then we are not only living dead to sin... but alive to God in Christ Jesus!
Blessings,
Rev. Glenn
Listen to William McDowell singing “I Won’t Go Back”
