The True Gospel of Christ vs. The False Gospel of Carnal Christianity Part 16

Why Must a Christian Be Dead to Sin?

“That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” - Romans 5:21

“How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Rom 6:2). We have seen that the entire 6th chapter of Romans sets forth the glorious truth of the believer’s death to sin and therefore freedom from its rule, its tyranny, its reign and its entire domain. I believe the key that gives us this understanding is found in Romans 5:21: “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” We are entirely set free from sin and its power in the Lord Jesus Christ, into whose death we were baptized.

Listen as we again stress this great eternal truth: A Christian is one who is in Christ. Because he is in Christ, he has died with Him, he has been buried with Him, he has risen with Him, he is alive unto God in Him; and because of this identification with Christ, the repenting, believing sinner has been freed from sin-he has died to it.

How Have We Died to Sin?

Now the question is asked, “In what sense has the believer in Christ died to sin, thereby being freed from it?” The Scriptures are plain that we are not dead to sin’s influence, for we are told that sin influences us because we still have sin in the flesh (Rom 7:15,19; 8:10). And we are not yet dead to the presence of sin (Rom 7:21), nor will we be till we get our new bodies in the resurrection. Nor are we freed from the effects of sin in this life, because Romans 7:24 and Psalm 51:2 tell us that sin still affects us; it is still the plague of our hearts. Our Lord has taught us to pray, “Forgive us our sins” (Luke 11:4), and He has given us I John 1:9 as our confession box and the throne of grace to come to (Heb 4:16) to find grace to help in time of need.

In what sense then are we dead to sin? The Scriptures are clear that we are dead to sin as a master who rules over us; for Christ is our Lord, and where sin once reigned unto death, grace now reigns through righteousness (Rom 5:21). We are dead to sin in regard to its guilt; sin cannot condemn us, for we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, washed by faith in His blood; and we stand before God completely justified from all sin. Our sins have been imputed to Christ (Rom 4:8). “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1); “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” Again, we are dead to sin as a course of life, for we no longer walk according to the course of this world (Eph 2:2), as we did before when we walked in darkness, but we are now light and walk as children of light (Eph 5:8). Sin is not looked upon as a friend, but as an enemy, so now the child of God desires to walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh.

Now I have not told you that I believe the Bible teaches sinless perfection or the eradication of the old nature in the believer; nowhere have I said that the believer can live above sin in this life, for this is not what the Word of God teaches. But let me repeat again: (1) We are dead to sin as our master, for Christ is our Master and grace reigns in the heart. (2) We are dead to the guilt of sin, for there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. (3) We are dead to sin as the course of our life, for we no longer walk in darkness but in the light of the Lord. (4) We are dead to sin because it is no longer our friend, but our enemy; and we by the grace of God flee from it.

And this is something that God does for every soul He saves! We must never lose sight of this, for herein lies our hope, our peace, our assurance, yes, our very salvation that has been so freely given us in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Please, do not grow weary of me repeating these gracious truths, for I do it for your good. First, to you who are truly saved, that you may know what you have in Christ and rejoice in Him; and then to you who are deceived by this false gospel of carnal Christianity, that you may, by the grace of God, recover yourselves out of the snare of the devil (II Tim 2:25,26).