Romans 6:13b

...but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.  Romans 6:13b ESV

We have been looking at the commands God gives us in verse 13, and how they relate to the command in verse 12. From the last blog:

" So - the command here has to do with what we are doing with our body as God's children. Keep in mind the context here...Paul started this chapter by asking how any child of God could possibly think it's alright to live in a life of sinfulness. The command we read here also stems from a command giving right before it, in verse 12: 

 Let not sin reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.  

What is Paul doing by stacking up these commands? (and there is one more to come at the end of verse 13) - Not only is Paul driving home the importance of repentance, the turning away from sin, but Paul is also using verse 13 as instructions on how to obey the command in verse 12! We have no excuse now...look at it: 

  

vs 12: Let not therefore sin reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 

Paul...how do we make sure we are defeating sin in our lives, not allowing it control?

vs 13a: Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness

(and Paul goes even further in this verse, which we will cover later) 

vs 13b: present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. "
 

We see that if we focus on the decision we make concerning the members of our body, we will be experiencing the power of God in our lives which includes power over sin, and is in obedience to verse 12. As we focused on the first part of verse 13 in the last post, we looked at how we should approach this command, the seriousness of this command, and what the motivation for our obedience to this command should be. 

As he began verse 1, Paul told us - don't allow your body to be a part of sinful things. The question comes up then: do we occupy ourselves with not sinning? Absolutely not - or as Paul might say - by no means! Not only are we to be in control of our members by keeping them from sin, but we are to be giving ourselves entirely to God, for His service. Let's break down how Paul explained it. 

but present yourselves to God 

Paul doesn't jump right in talking about our members here, but talking about our entire being. Our focus, as God's children, should be giving ourselves over to Him entirely - starting with the heart and mind. As lost souls, our heart and mind (as Paul described in the first chapter of Romans) were satisfied with the lusts of the flesh, which were in gross opposition to God. Now, God is commanding us to present these inner parts of our being to Him as His children. 

What should be our motivation for doing this? 

as those who have been brought from death to life

Our motivation is everything that Paul talked about in the first part of chapter 6 - that he sums up here. We are to present our entire self to God, starting with our heart and mind, because God renewed both our heart and our mind by bringing us from death to life.

As humans, when we see these things described as commands from a holy God, we tend to have a negative reaction...as though these are things that we have to make ourselves do in order to please Him. This is a very dangerous way to look at God's commands because it's wrong. 

We looked, in the last post, at what God's commands do:

1. They serve to reveal Him.
2. They serve to glorify Him.
3. They are a blessing to us when we keep them! 

As God's children, who have experienced His power of regeneration that completely changes us, we should be noticing, and nurturing, a desire to know and love God more deeply, more personally - this should be the pursuit of our new heart and mind. We will battle the flesh no doubt, because it is of this world, but the battle should prove that the desire of our flesh is in opposition to the desire of our heart and mind. 

This desire to know and love God more each day is crucial, and it must be the root from which everything else grows. This is why the greatest commandment is this: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Mathew 22:37. If we focus on loving God with all of our being, His commands will be a delight to us! We will see clearly how they reveal Him, how He glorifies Himself through them, and how they bless us when we keep them!

Our effort should never be in doing 'good' things for God, but drawing close to God so that we might experience His promise in James 4:8 "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you..." As we draw near to Him, and He draws near to us, our desire to know Him will grow, our love for Him will grow, and He will work through us. The natural result of Almighty God working through His children is spiritual growth! 

We draw near to God when we do as Paul commands here in verse 13, when we present ourselves to Him as those who have been brought from death to life, making evident our new heart and mind. The result of this drawing near to God?

and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

We begin to see the power of God take over our lives. The desires of our heart and mind to pursue God and the joy of being in His presence begins to outweigh the lusts of the flesh and it's influence in our decision making. God's influence on our decision making causes us to want to present our members to Him, that we might be used by Him for righteousness - this is His righteousness being revealed through His children - what a blessing! Thank you Father!

The final thing I want to look at is the order that Paul used here. Paul lays entire books of the bible out in a very specific order, but for now I want to focus on verse 13 - if we follow this order, we will experience a relationship with God that is more powerful and more life-changing than we could imagine - and by His power we can!

1. "Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness"
Repent! That is - be moving away from sin and towards God continually. We must always be praying for God to reveal sin in our life, with the purpose of purging it from our life. We can never allow ourselves to have a nonchalant view of sin - all sin is dangerous.

2. "present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life"
As we move away from sin and towards God, we will find it possible to spend time reflecting on what made this new life possible - His Love, His Grace, His Mercy, His Power! We need to pursue God with all of our heart, mind, and soul! Presenting ourselves to Him completely, as His servants to be used by Him!

3. "and your members to God as instruments for righteousness"
As we draw close to God, and He draws close to us, it will become clear that our desire is to nurture this relationship! We need to make sure we do that! As we do, we will find joy in presenting the members of our body to God, to be used by Him to reveal His righteousness to a broken world!

 

Romans 6:13a

Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness... Romans 6:13 ESV

Our first thought when we read this line should be that we have been given a command directly from Almighty God...what do we know about commands from God?
1. They serve to reveal Him. 
2. They serve to glorify Him. 
3. They are a blessing to us when we keep them! 

This is obviously very serious, and as is true with all of God's Word, this should never be taken lightly...the things of God are never minor. 

So - the command here has to do with what we are doing with our body as God's children. Keep in mind the context here...Paul started this chapter by asking how any child of God could possibly think it's alright to live in a life of sinfulness. The command we read here also stems from a command giving right before it, in verse 12: 

 Let not sin reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.  

What is Paul doing by stacking up these commands? (and there is one more to come at the end of verse 13) - Not only is Paul driving home the importance of repentance, the turning away from sin, but Paul is also using verse 13 as instructions on how to obey the command in verse 12! We have no excuse now...look at it: 

  

vs 12: Let not therefore sin reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 

Paul...how do we make sure we are defeating sin in our lives, not allowing it control?

vs 13a: Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness

(and Paul goes even further in this verse, which we will cover later) 

vs 13b: present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 

Paul will expound on this idea of how we are to present our members a little later in chapter 6. We will look more in depth at how this plays out in our lives at that time. For now, we will look at the first part of verse 13 and how it relates to verse 12, as well as how it ties in to what Paul laid out for us in the first part of chapter 6 as a whole. 

We know, from verse 7, that we have been set free from sin, set free meaning justified. As a result, we are no longer controlled by sin, because sinfulness is no longer aligned with the desires of our heart and mind. Sin can no longer condemn us, because we have been declared righteous through the blood of Christ our Savior! 

This does not mean, however, that we are not vulnerable to sin, that we don't battle the flesh. Though we can no longer find long term satisfaction in the sinfulness that once defined us, our flesh still longs for it...and Satan is always lurking, hoping to convince us that what the flesh wants will provide satisfaction...IT WILL NOT. 

Because we still battle the flesh, we have a decision to make...as God's children are we going to be nonchalant about sin in our lives, trying to turn a blind eye to it, refusing to deal with it? If this is the case, we are in direct opposition to the command in verse 12...if we refuse to take on the sin in our life with the desire to purge it completely, we are giving sin a foothold...remember the analogy of the steep slope? We are putting a foot over the edge, and we are foolish to think we have control. The evil, demonic forces we are dealing with are much more powerful than us as mere humans - they will do with us what they want, and God will allow them some room - especially as discipline...

Paul is telling us in verse 13 that we need to take a look at what we are doing in our day to day life. I posted about this idea of the micro and the macro earlier this year, not realizing how perfectly it fits here. If we look at the macro (purge sin from your life) we can become completely overwhelmed...especially if how we see our self before God has even a small bit of accuracy.

We need to look at the micro, and allow that to shape macro. The micro here is what we are doing with our bodies on a day to day basis. Remember the song O Be Careful Little Eyes? 

O be careful little eyes what you see...
O be careful little ears what you hear...
O be careful little hands what you do...
O be careful little feet where you go...
O be careful little mouth what you say...
There's a Father up above
And He's looking down in love
So, be careful little mouth what you say

This is how we need to approach the command in verse 12 to keep sin from gaining a foothold in our lives! Take each verse, look at the part of the body, and ask yourself if you are protecting that member from sin...through the power of Christ these things ought to be under control, we are in God's hand. Jesus had stern words if we are allowing the members of our body to hinder us:

And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.  Mathew 18:8,9

This doesn't literally mean that we are to be mutilating our body, but that there is no room for a casual attitude towards sin. As God's children, we MUST exhibit control over the members of our body, and we can (Paul will explain as we study the rest of vs 13).

As we pray for God to give us a passion and power to be in control of the members of our body, to purge sin from our lives, refusing to give any control or power to the demonic forces around us, we cannot forget why we are doing this. It is NOT an attempt to earn God's love, and it is NOT an attempt to obtain salvation. Paul is very clear about this.

In the first seven verses Paul explained what has happened to us as God's children - in response to why we shouldn't live in sin. AFTER explaining this, Paul gave us the command to repent and continually be consumed with purging sin completely from our lives in verses 12 and 13 - using the very important word THEREFORE in verse 12.

 Let not therefore sin reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 

Using the word therefore reveals that we are commanded to do these things not in order to obtain a relationship with God, or eternal life, rather we are commanded to do these things because we have already been adopted into a relationship with God, which is eternal life! 

It's very important that we recognize this order, because we cannot begin to obey these commands of our own power. The only way this purging of sin and control of our members will take place is if we are in a relationship with an Almighty God, who can work His power in us as we pursue Him and submit to Him! When we seek God with a humble, sincere heart, in humility, and He will bless us with power over sin that we never knew existed.

 

Romans 6:12

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.  Romans 6:12 ESV

In verse 11, Paul explained that, as a response to the regeneration that God has worked in us, we ought to consider, or see ourselves, as dead to sin and alive to God.  Here, in verse 12, Paul explains further how this 'being dead to sin' ought to play out in our lives.

Keep in mind that these commands are very serious...they are about God getting glory for the powerful miracle that He has performed in the life of every single one of His children. We don't obey these commands as a way to earn or purchase something from God, but to reveal God, in all of His power and glory, to those around us.

When we refuse to pursue God, and instead embrace the sin that used to condemn us, we are in a terrible place. Two tragic results of our embracing sin:

ONE: When we embrace sin, we rob God of the glory He deserves, by hiding His presence in us from the world. Robbing God of His glory is not something He takes lightly. In Acts 12:22-23, King Herod was struck down and killed by an angel of the Lord...why? For one specific reason: "because he did not give God the glory" That is a pretty powerful warning!

We all fail to give God the glory like we should, and the fact that He doesn't strike us down immediately like He did Herod proves He is full of grace and mercy. As God's children, we dare not embrace sin - NO! Instead, we need to be aware that we are guilty of robbing God of His glory through our sinfulness, and repent! This repentance includes pursuing a life that displays 'death to sin'.

TWO: When we embrace sin, we give sin power. This is what Paul talks about in Romans 6:12: 

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions

Paul, leading off this command with the words 'let not', indicates that we have a choice to make...will we or won't we let sin reign? Paul says, since we have died to sin, do not let it reign.

What does Paul mean by not letting sin reign? - I think this is an important question since we are commanded not to do it. To reign means to rule over, like a king. We know that, since we have died with Christ, sin can no longer control us or condemn us - therefore any power that sin has in our lives is allowed by us. Paul is telling us, commanding us, not to give sin any power in our lives.

Giving sin any power in our lives is very, very dangerous. Satan would have us think that a little sin, sin that doesn't seem to have any lasting affects, is not a huge deal. Satan will deceive by convincing us that, by only giving in a little to sin, we are still in control...we can stop the flesh before the sin gets out of hand. This is not absolutely true...Paul says in Ephesians 6:12:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

When we embrace even a little sin in our lives, we give power to these forces that are far more powerful than we are as humans...and as humans, we have no power whatsoever to stop them. This analogy came to mind as I thought about this:

Picture yourself in the Rocky Mountains. When one visits the mountains, there is always an element of awareness while there because of the ever present steep, dangerous slopes. Of themselves, these slopes have no power to harm us. The only way they can influence what happens to us is if we allow them to by getting too close...and by getting too close, we not only allow the slopes power to harm us, but we lose any control of stopping them.

That analogy is 'speaking in human terms' as Paul says, but paints a clear picture:

When we give Satan's powerful, evil forces a foothold in our life (which would be the embracing of any sin), we are allowing them power...power beyond our control to stop them. These evil forces have the power to cloud our minds, causing us to justify actions that hinder our relationship with God (who initially freed us from these forces), and robbing Him of His glory.

Paul says here in verse 12 that if we embrace sin rather than die to it, it will reign in our lives - making us obey its passions. We do not have the power to overcome this evil...only God does...and He did, making that powerfully evident through the death and resurrection of His Son!

It's painfully obvious that we all struggle with sin, especially the longer we walk with our Lord, and He reveals who we really are in light of who He really is. BUT we don't have to embrace this sin...we don't have to let it reign, we don't have to allow it any power in our lives. Since we are now living to God in Jesus Christ, we have the power to continually move away from sin, destroying its power and influence in our lives, glorifying God as His power, grace, and mercy is revealed through us!

God has set us free from the bondage that was our sinful, lost state - completely controlled by Satan's evil forces. Spiritually, as His children, we have entered into eternal life - that cannot be taken away. If this is true, as the Bible promises it is, why would we ever think its ok to give our mortal bodies over to sinful bondage again? Why would we let sin reign in our mortal bodies, making us obey its passions?

Father, cause us to fix our eyes on YOU...for YOUR glory! Every day, remind us of Your command...to die to sin and live to You - so that our relationship with You would not be hindered, that You will be glorified through us!!!

Romans 6:11

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Romans 6:11 ESV

I had planned on moving into verse 12, but God really laid on my heart to dig a little deeper into verse 11, so that's where we will be for this post!

In verse 11, Paul transitioned from what has happened in us to how we are to respond as God's children. He introduced this transition with the phrase: "so you also must consider..." This is not an option, but a command. What is it that we are commanded to do? So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Two questions that might come to mind:

Question 1: Why are we commanded to do this? Because we are joined with Christ as one (as Paul explained in the previous verses), we have been brought into a holy communion with God, who lives in us through the Holy Spirit. Just think, anything we do, anything we see, anything we partake of...God is right there with us...are there things we do that we would rather God not see? Are there things we do that we know God would not partake of? We are forever justified by the righteousness of our Savior, but that doesn't mean God doesn't see our sinful thoughts and actions...He is right there with us, in us, all day everyday...are we showing Him how much we love Him by how we think and act daily?

Never forget the fact that every sin we have committed, are committing, and will commit, is the reason God crushed His Son physically. These sins are the reason God looked at His perfect Son as an ugly curse on a tree, completely separating Himself from His Son spiritually.  Never forget the absolute pain and agony Christ suffered in the midst of that physical brutality and spiritual emptiness, on our behalf, for our sinfulness.

Question 2: So, just how dead to sin are we supposed to be, and how alive to God? I think this is easiest understood this way...since the reason we are supposed consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God is because we are joined together with Christ, who showed us what dying to sin and being alive to God was all about, we ought to look to Him for the answer. As we go about our daily lives, we ought to ask ourselves continually, is this something Christ would find acceptable? Is what I'm thinking or doing showing that I am joined with Christ, that the holy God who has no sin lives in me? Are my thoughts and actions driven by who God is or by self satisfaction and pride? 

We are called to be completely dead to sin, so that we can be completely alive to God. Any sin we haven't let go of hinders our new life, our new relationship with God. By God's grace and mercy, perfect joy and peace have been made available to us, why do we continue to hold on to things that keep us from experiencing these blessings?

I think one of the biggest dangers for any child of God is the deception of perceiving God's view of sin as nonchalant. This plays out in so many ways, and can be so hard to see in our lives, but I know we are all guilty of it. It's so easy to justify our sinful actions with excuses like these:

- God wouldn't really consider that a sin 

- God still loves us no matter what

- Even Jesus hung out with sinners

- God's grace is bigger than my sins

- I'm saved no matter what 

There are obviously many other ways we could word these, and many other excuses like them. However, none of these excuses hold any weight...God's view of sin is absolutely not nonchalant, He views sin as sin, in Him there is no darkness - the biggest sinful action and the slightest sinful thought are both black, ugly stains - unacceptable to a God who is perfectly white and stainless.

Don't forget that Adam and Eve did not fall because they physically murdered someone, or because they committed adultery on each other, but because they disobeyed God...the same God that has commanded us to love Him with all of our heart, mind, and soul...the same God that has commanded us to love our neighbor as our self, to put others before our self...the same God who has commanded us to die to sin and live for Him...have we disobeyed any of these commands?

To sin is to miss the mark, to not live up to the standard set before us (Jesus Christ) - we all do this daily...I don't say this to get us down on ourselves, but to create an awareness, so that we can be responding the way Paul is commanding us to...consider yourselves dead to sin...sin cannot control us or condemn us, Christ has set us free and given us the power to say no to sin - this is a lifelong process as God continues to reveal areas of sin in our lives, but it is possible to continually be moving away from sin and towards God!

I think its important for all of us to spend time pondering our heart...are we living in a way that shows we are dead to sin and living for God? If not, its absolutely crucial that we implore God to address our heart, to make us hungry for Him, so hungry that it changes the way we live!

Romans 6:10,11

For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Romans 6:10,11 ESV

Death and life...the two points that Paul has really been driving home in Romans. As lost people we are a spiritually dead people...the old man that loves and pursues sin, the very sin that separates us from God, has to be put to death in order to be adopted into the family of a holy God...adoption that not only means walking in newness of life - being made spiritually alive, but life eternal!

Being joined with Jesus in His death, we experience the power of God as He regenerates us - He puts the old man to death and raises us to eternal life, joining us with Jesus in His resurrection!

Everything Paul has explained up to this point has been about how God's power takes affect in our lives, what happens to us, not what we do. God causes this death and resurrection in our lives, God causes us to be joined with His Son, God regenerates our souls, through His Son, so that we can be set free from sin - we have no power of ourselves to cause these things to happen.

Now, in verses 10 and 11, we see a transition. Paul continues to speak of Christ's death and life, but he begins to move towards our responsibility for a response - tying everything he has been saying back to the question he started with: "How can we who died to sin still live in it?"

Paul has revealed in different ways how, being joined with Christ, we have died to sin - which he repeats here in verse 10: "For the death he died he died to sin, once for all" Being baptized with Christ in His death, we need to understand that this applies to us...we, too, have died to sin, once for all. The miracle of our old man, with his sinful lusts and desires, being put to death is a death a Christian only experiences once, as we are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. If we have died to sin this way, how can we still live in it? 

Paul isn't saying that we who have died to sin no longer sin...but instead that we who have died to sin should live lives that reveal the miracle of regeneration that has taken place inside of us. Our lives should show that we have been united with Christ in newness of life - a life that is now characterized by longing to know God, desiring God to be glorified in our lives through our obedience to Him and our love for Him and others, moving away from sin and towards God, and when we do sin - conviction and repentance become our response. 

While we still battle, sin no longer has the power to control us or condemn us, and we need to grasp this in order to live confidently in Christ! We can defeat sin! 

Dying to sin means we also live...we are joined with Christ, and Paul says in verse 10: "but the life he lives he lives to God."  We, with Jesus, now live our lives to God...we used to be focused on ourselves, how we could satisfy ourselves - and we can conjure up so many different ways to do this, some seem harmless, some may even seem 'good' in the way they affect people around us - but the truth is, before we are joined to Christ in His death to sin, all of our actions are self serving and rob God of His glory. 

But now, but now....we, with Jesus Christ, live our lives to God - we are free to give all to Him, to serve Him in complete submission, wanting Him to be lifted up in our lives above all else, dying to ourselves daily in order to be used by Him for His glory. Sure, we still struggle with pride and selfishness, those poisons run deep, but we are no longer controlled or condemned by them, we are free to battle them as they are revealed to us...the beautiful power of regeneration means that, in spite of our struggles, our main desire is that God be glorified through us!!

Paul has used these two points in verse 10 as motivators as he transitions to our response. 

1. You, with Christ, have died to sin. 

2. You, with Christ, now live to God. 

"So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (vs 11)

This seems pretty basic, we already know from the previous verses that we are joined with Christ in His death and resurrection, Paul has made it a point to thoroughly drive those points home (though I would argue that we still don't understand the power of this death and resurrection). Yet, here in verse 11, as Paul once again reminds us that we are joined to Christ, there is a small phrase that is so important:  you also must consider... Paul, up to this point, has been describing things that happened to us, by the power, the grace, and the mercy of God, that changed us from who we were to who we are, but that focus has changed with this phrase, this command.

There is an expected response now, from those who have experienced God's power of regeneration in their lives. Paul will go into much more detail about it in the following verses, but it starts with this small command...you must also consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. This command is a direct response to the question in verse 2 "How can we who died to sin still live in it" and this command also begins to display how, as God's children, we can live a life that glorifies Him above all else! This should be our sole desire, that drives everything else in our lives!

So, as we get ready to dig throughout these upcoming weeks into how we are to respond to God's grace and mercy in our lives, that have changed us in such a powerful way, start by asking these very important questions:

1. Have I died to sin? Am I convicted when God reveals sin in my life? Do I repent when convicted?
2. Do I now live my life to God? Is God being glorified through me what drives me each day?

Meditate on these questions, pray over them, and allow God to mold you. Then, as we move forward, the response that is expected of God's children won't be work, or a checklist, but acts of love towards the God that set us free from eternal condemnation, giving us eternal life with Him!

Romans 6:9

We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
Romans 6:9  ESV

At the end of Chapter 5, Paul explained how the law sheds light on our sinfulness by revealing who we are in perspective to who God is - and follows that by saying that God's grace is revealed more powerfully and more abundantly where sin is revealed. God's grace overcomes sin. Expecting at least some of his readers to wonder - shouldn't we just sin more so that God's grace can be experienced more abundantly? - Paul posed this question - "How can we who have died to sin still live in it?"

Then, in verses 3-8 of chapter 6, we looked in detail at the different ways Paul described what happens when a lost person's heart is regenerated - digging in to what Paul meant when we asked "How can we who have died to sin..." The most important part of this death is that it's not at all about us, but instead it's all about being joined with Christ - in His death and His life.

Now, in verses 9, we will look a little deeper at the authority displayed by Christ's death.

We know that Christ, being raise from the dead, will never die again;

Two points being made that we need to recognize here:
Christ really died - and really came back to life
      - our old man has really died, and we really walk in new life!
Christ will really never die again.
     - this new life we live is based on a relationship with God - also described as eternal life!

Take some time and meditate on what these two points mean. The old man, in all of it's sinful lusts, empty pursuits, and pride driven actions, is really dead - completely powerless to condemn us! We have been raised in new life, with the Holy Spirit now living inside of us, with a desire to seek God's face! Our pursuits can now be pure, and focused around God's kingdom! We now have a peace available to us that is literally indescribable! Then, to top it off, this new life is eternal! It will not end! This bliss of knowing and seeking God personally is something we get to enjoy FOREVER!

If we can begin to grasp the weight of this truth, the joy will begin to build up in our hearts and then overflow into our lives, affecting others in a way that only God can! This joy is a powerful tool against Satan's attacks:

Satan is only effective when we are finding our joy and security in things other than God. 

It's crucial that we come back to these verses, and others like them, that will root our joy and security in God's power, God's work, and God's promises alone!

Paul goes on now to describe the utter power that was displayed through Christ's death. Throughout His life, Jesus revealed His authority over everything we see...over sickness and disease, over food and drink, over animals, over wind and water, and over physical death - calling people to rise. This is the most crucial and powerful statement of authority:

death no longer has dominion over him

We know that death never actually had complete dominion over Jesus (apart from His willful submission to it), in Mathew 26:53 Jesus tells us the Father would have sent 12 legions of angels to deliver Him upon His request...(that wasn't God's will but it was definitely within God's authority to do so). So, what is Paul saying here?

Jesus willingly submitted..taking on our sinfulness, which caused Him to experience true death - separation from God the Father, which He had never known before...and He did it for us.

In Romans 5:12 Paul says this: Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. Spiritual death (separation from God) is brought to existence through sin...sin that God cannot have in His presence. It's this sin that we love and pursue - that keeps us from realizing our lost state, and at the same time causes us so much anxiety, pain, emptiness, and eventually eternal condemnation. It's this very sin, heartache, pain, emptiness, condemnation, and separation that Christ experienced on the cross - for us. 

Paul Washer, in one of his sermons, really put it in perspective...when we read in God's Word the wrath that He will pour out on those who refuse to serve Him (think Old Testament judgement against evil nations and even against a rebelling Israel, think Revelation and the absolute annihilation of the anti-Christ) - when we read these thing realize that this is the wrath that Jesus experienced - crushed and separated from God.

When Jesus took on our sin, God looked down on His Son and instead of perfection saw guilt...our guilt, and poured out the just penalty. How dare we ever complain to God of being treated unfairly as we stand in the shadow of the cross...we ought not utter a sound but to say thank You.

In light of this death that Jesus experienced, Paul says that now, even the spiritual death that is brought on by sin, that entered the world through Adam so long ago and caused the entire human race to fall, has been defeated. Jesus submitted Himself to this death, and conquered it by paying the perfect penalty for it, and rising again to walk in the victory of eternal life. We, being adopted into His family, are joined with Him in His victory - never forget this: 

Through Christ, we are brought into eternal victory without ever having to pay the penalty...that is pure grace and pure mercy on a level only God can bestow.

Romans 6:8

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.  Romans 6:8 ESV

Paul has spent the last several verses explaining how, when we became believers, we were part of a miracle - the miracle of regeneration. He has laid this out as a part of his argument that, even though God's grace is more powerful than sin, we as God's children must never think that a sinful lifestyle is acceptable. Paul knows that in order for us to really understand the power of God's grace, we must also understand the power of the change that takes place inside us when we are adopted into God's family - it is so much deeper than simply making a decision, and he has described it in several ways:

1. We have been baptized with Christ into His death, now we walk in newness of life.
2. We are united with Christ in death, now we know we are united with Him in resurrection.
3. Our body of sin was crucified with Christ, sin no longer has the power to control or condemn us. 

And now Paul caps it with verse 8:

4. We have died with Christ, we now live with Christ.

We really need to spend some time reading over verses 1-8, and meditate on this miracle that happens within us when we are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.

Spend some time thinking about what it means to be baptized into Christ, and even more so baptized with Him in His death. What did Christ die to? What was defeated? Spend some time thinking about what it means to walk in newness of life...do we see this in our life?

Spend some time thinking about what it means to be united with Christ in His death, and what it means to be resurrected with Him. What died in our lives and what was resurrected? Can we see the change in our life that can only be brought on by the power of this resurrection?

Spend some time thinking about what it means for our 'old man' to be crucified with Christ...what was put to death and have we experienced this? We all battle sin every day, but has our desire for it been crucified? Does our life reveal that we have been set free from sin?

Spend some time thinking about what it means to die with Christ so that we can live with Christ. What characterizes a life lived without Christ? What characterizes a life lived with Christ? 

I would implore each and every one of us to spend the next week poring over these eight verses, pleading with God to write them on our hearts, revealing more about who He is and the miracle He has performed inside of us. We need to begin to grasp this miracle of death to life so that we can respond in the way that glorifies God. If we miss the power of this miracle, we will very tragically distort the response.

In the next couple of verses, Paul provides answers to some of the questions I just asked above by summarizing Christ's death and how it sets us free to live - something we are able to do only because we have died to our old self, the selfish desires, sinful pursuits, and lusts of the flesh. We will look a little deeper at what it means to live with Christ as we dig in to those verses.

Also, it's important to keep in mind that this dying with Christ so that we can live with Him is a miracle that happens to us, not something that we can create or make happen to ourselves. No amount of 'good works' are powerful enough to regenerate a heart, only God possesses that kind of power. As Paul explains this miracle that happens to us, he is working his way towards the response that ought to be present in our lives - and our responsibility in that response.

I'm looking forward to digging into Paul's summary of these verses next time...praying that God gives us the capacity to even begin to grasp the power of this miracle Paul has been describing! Please share any wisdom or insight that might help us understand the utter power of it all! Thank you and God bless!