Romans 6 -- Knowing Then Doing

“Too many Christians are betweeners:  they live between Egypt and Canaan, saved but never satisfied; or they live between Good Friday and Easter, believing in the cross but not entering into the power and glory o the resurrection,” my commentary said.

 

We fail to understand that resurrection doesn’t just happen someday, but that we share His resurrection power today.  It’s that resurrection power of a regenerated, new life that enables us to say no to sin.

 

Every Christian will quickly ask, “But why do I still feel tempted to sin?”  From verses 6-10, my commentary gathered,”  Sin is a terrible master, and it finds a willing servant in the human body.  The body is not sinful; the body is neutral.  It can be controlled either by sin or by God.  But man’s fallen nature, which is not changed at conversion, gives sin a beachhead from which it can attack and then control … Sin wants to be our master.  It finds a foothold in the old nature, and through the old nature seeks to control the members of the body.”  What Paul says in verse 11 is that we have to come to know in our hearts that we are dead to sin.  “Paul didn’t tell his readers to feel as if they were dead to sin, or even to understand it fully, but to act on God’s Word and claim it for themselves … God does not command us to become dead to sin.  He tells us that we are dead to sin and alive unto God, and then commands us to act on it.”

 

Then we must yield.  “There must be in the believer’s life that final and complete surrender of the body to Jesus Christ … a once-and-for-all yielding to the Lord …. These three instructions need to be heeded each day that we live.  Know that you have been crucified with Christ and are dead to sin.  Reckon this fact to be true in your own life.  Yield your body to the Lord to be used for His glory.”

 

Father, thanks for reminding me of what I already know – that I am dead to sin.  Help me to continually recall that it is a fact in my own life, not a future hope.  Then give me the strength every day to yield my body, my heart, and my mind to You.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford