We Have Died to Sin
Oh, what a subtle trick Satan has pulled on the vast majority of Christendom today!-so subtle that many are deceived and cannot see that they are deceived, thinking that it is possible to be saved without the power of sin being broken (its reigning power); believing that they can live a life in the flesh and sow to the flesh. Yet all is well with their never-dying souls because they have made a decision and are living the best they can! But listen to Romans 5:19-21: “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” Hear what the Holy Spirit is telling us: “As sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” This is what I have been setting forth: that when God saves us, He breaks the reigning power of sin, and now grace reigns! How?- through righteousness, and not apart from righteousness; so by the grace of God we can walk in righteousness and true holiness.
You see, my friend, this false gospel of carnal Christianity has so permeated our churches today that no one questions his interest in Christ, because he is told that the believer can still live in the flesh, sow to the flesh, and have hope of heaven when he dies. But this is a lie out of hell, for as we have shown you, God’s Word teaches differently. From the verses we have read in Romans 5, we see that when the law enters in convicting us of the awfulness, guiltiness and offensiveness of sin before God, then we find sin abounding and reigning in our hearts and lives, and cry out unto God for mercy. When God saves us in Christ, giving us His new nature and sending His Spirit to dwell in us, then His grace abounds and reigns in the heart and life of His redeemed child.
Then Romans 6 opens with the question, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” And the answer comes back in verse 2, “God forbid”-By no means, of course not! Heaven forbid, perish the thought!-for: “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” If we have been delivered from the penalty and power of sin, shall we live any longer in it? No! For we have died to sin.
Before we go any further, let us define the word “dead,” for “dead, died and death” are used 14 times here in Romans 6. And what does it mean? Physical death is spoken of in the Scriptures as the separation of the individual from his physical body, while spiritual death is spoken of as separation of the individual from the life of God in salvation. So the Holy Spirit is here telling us that we have died to sin once for all-we have been separated from sin as the reigning monarch of our lives-and that now the principle of grace reigns, and reigns as monarch. Therefore we walk in newness of life (v 4) with the power of sin broken, never again to come under its reigning power. Why? Because the power of grace does much more abound; therefore this is the true Gospel-the Gospel of the grace of God in Christ.
“Well,” he asks, “since this principle of grace reigns, shall we then sin that grace may abound?” And again the answer is “God forbid!” For being what we are-justified, blood-washed and cleansed sinners-can we who are dead to sin live any longer therein? The answer is no, because as Titus 2:11,12 tells us, the grace of God which now reigns, teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.
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