Blog

 
by Katie Erickson 

"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.
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.” (Romans 6:8-14)

Wait, we died with Christ? But I’m still living! What is Paul talking about here? Go read last week’s post if this is confusing you, then continue reading here. Because we are dead to sin because of Christ’s death, we are also alive because of His resurrection!

The main point of this passage comes in verse 10: “The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.” Because Jesus died once, He has conquered all sin and death. Jesus was subjected to the power of sin, just like we are. So He still had to die to sin, even though He did not give in to its power. But how does that affect Christ’s life? He lives it for God’s glory. The same should apply to us. Because Christ died for our sin, we should live our lives to God’s glory.

Starting in verse 12, Paul begins using a Greek verb tense called the imperative. This tense is used for direct commands. Paul uses it here to show how we need to put this into action in our lives; that’s not a suggestion, it’s a command. We can’t let sin reign over us any longer now that we are in Christ and living our lives with Him. We are commanded to not obey sin, to not offer any part of ourselves as an instrument of wickedness, but to offer ourselves to God as instruments of righteousness. There is a stark contrast here, between death and life and between wickedness and righteousness. Paul uses this dramatic contrast to really get his point across, about how different our lives should be from when we didn’t have Christ to when we do have Christ.

Verse 14 is significant as well: “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” The “law” here refers to the Old Testament laws given to Moses and the people of Israel. We still have to obey the laws God gives us (like the ten commandments), but we are no longer held captive to it. We don’t have to follow the 600+ laws that the people of Israel had to obey in Old Testament times, so we are not a slave to the rules but rather we live in God’s grace. John 1:17 sums this up nicely when it says, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” We are following the ways of Jesus, not the ways of Moses any longer.

When we follow Jesus, we should desire to live like Him. We should desire that all our actions point toward God’s glory, rather than the evil of the world. Take a look at your life; how well are you doing at that? Praise God for His grace when we mess up!

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  Any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will be deleted.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature, will be reported to the authorities.