Paul declares Believers Dead to Sin but Alive now to
God Part 1
Romans
6:1-2 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly
not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? NKJV
Paul after unveiling all of the benefits of
salvation from our Lord Jesus Christ through His free grace given to spiritually
dead sinners to quicken us to God the Father and how His grace is far superior
to sin, he asked and answers a question that he must have been asked many times
by people who were unclear about what it meant to be saved simply by God’s
grace apart from any human works or efforts to be good in the sight of God. Paul
knew that by him declaring the grace of God to increase more than sin increased
that this truth would be twisted by many to advocate a license to indulge the
flesh and the spirit in the abundant continuance of sinning that God’s grace
would increase to cover such willful sinning. The Apostle Jude spoke about such
people who had crept into the visible church during his days on the earth when
he said this in his letter, Jude 1:4 For
certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this
condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny
the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. NKJV We have no way of knowing
with complete certainty, but it appears according to the historical
documentation that Paul wrote this letter to the believers in Rome maybe 3 -10
years before Jude’s letter. Paul’s question of whether a person who has
received our Lord Jesus Christ should continue in the willful committing of sin
of any kind is answered by him with his favorite way of response and that is “God
Forbid” or “Certainly Not” (1 Peter 1:13-16).
Paul wanted no one to be left with the false
impression from his previous statements in Chapter 5 of Romans that he taught
such a way of life or that this is what he received from our Lord Jesus through
the Holy Spirit. Paul’s conclusion is that the true believer and receiver of
our Lord Jesus Christ has died with our Lord when He died on the cross 2,000
years ago. Our death was not a literal physical death, but it was a figurative
death to the ways of our old life before Christ saved and redeemed us. Paul had
already been falsely accused by many people of teaching and living by a grace
that licensed people to freely live in sin (Romans 3:7-8) and he wanted to continue in this letter to refute
such lies and falsehood. Paul wants all to know that through our new birth we
are loosed by the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ from sins power in and over
our daily lives in stark contrast to our lives before the Lord and to the lives
of the unbeliever (2 Peter 1:3-4 & Revelation
1:5). Paul’s firm argument is that if it is true that we have died with
Christ, then our daily lives should reflect a dramatic change that stands apart
from those still alive to sin and spiritually dead (Colossians 3:3). Paul declares that the understanding of all he
wrote and taught in the previous 5 Chapters was to show forth man’s depraved
nature and the things that so freely flow from such a nature minus Christ and
to shout and exalt the glorious truth of the new nature received from Christ
and the subsequent attitude and heart desire of every redeemed soul to stand against
continuing in bearing those sinful, hurtful, and destroying works all because
of what Christ has done for us, to us, and is doing in us daily to will and to
do according to His good pleasure (1
Peter 2:24).
Love for and expressed to our Lord Jesus Christ will
keep us from living our daily lives in the continual indulgence of sin, but
instead His love poured out in us motivates us to put to death our members (Colossians 3:5). For example, if a man
truly loves his wife, then his actions daily to her, around her, and his words
spoken to her will reflect the love he declares to have for her in his heart.
The husband will treat her gently and kindly, not with willful words to hurt
her feelings and cause her anguish and the pain of feeling rejected and unloved
by him. A husband who abuses his wife verbally or physically can tell her with
his words all he wants about how much he loves her, but his actions are
speaking so much louder than his words that she has not, does not, or will not
hear or receive any of them. The truth of his heart toward her is revealed in
and by what he does to her not by what he says to her. So it is with a true
believer who truly loves our Lord Jesus Christ, it is not what we say to Him that
resonates with Him, but it is what the fruit of our daily lives reflect in His
presence that shows forth our love for Him (John 14:15).
Psalms
119:104 Through Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false
way. NKJV
1
Peter 4:3 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the
will of the Gentiles --- when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness,
revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. NKJV
1
John 3:9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in
him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. NKJV
“Only as we reckon on these twin facts - that I am dead to sin and its reign over me and
that I am alive to God, united to Him who strengthens me - can I keep sin from reigning in my mortal
body.” Jerry Bridges 1929-present
“Do you mortify? Do you make it your daily work? Be
always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.” John Owen 1616-1683
“There are only two kinds of persons: those dead in sin and those dead to sin.” Leonard Ravenhill 1907-1994
“We must desire to be separated unto the Lord from
the world and its evil system. We must reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. This is
true positionally, but it can be made true in our spiritual life only as we
yield to the Holy Spirit’s control. Theodore Epp 1907-1985
If you do not
know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your
heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus,
I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You
shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead
proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my
sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my
life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...
Sincerely
in Christ,
Author
of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and
Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into
Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s
Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod,
Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners,
Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…
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