Romans 6:12-13 - 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
Message: Don't allow sin to reign in your life any more. No longer in Adam.
Time: Paul wrote Romans from Corinth as he prepared to leave for Palestine.
Phoebe (16:1,2) was given the great responsibility of delivering the
letter to the Romans believers. At this time, Rome had a population of 1
million, many of whom were slaves. The Romans church was doctrinally
sound, but it still needed rich doctrine and practical application. Rome
had massive buildings but also slums.
What the Lord is Saying:
Setting up this passage
The theme of these verses in Romans 6 has been really about the beginning of sanctification. Prior to Romans 6, the focus has been on justification, and describing it and how it occurs and the results of being justified. But, then I have turned a corner to talk about how the Christian now views his/her life in Christ. Maybe what I love about Romans so much is the constant message of sin in these passages. Sin is the reason I am in the predicament I am in needing a Savior. Sin is the problem with the Gentile in Romans 1. Sin is the reason the Jew doesn't get partial treatment with the judgment of God in Chapter 2. Sin is further described in chapter 3 and then the answer for our sin is given in the rest of Chapter 3 and 4. And it is further clarified how much I need Christ because of my sin. And so now, in Chapter 6 is the perspective I am to now have, as a Christian, toward sin. Basically, that sin was killed or crucified on the cross. God sees no sin in me. And this is how I now am to live. I live in relation to the what God now sees, that I am dead to sin and alive to Christ. The focus of the Christian life really isn't so much on doing, but rather it is me seeing that I am in fact in Christ.
It feels like that the focus I have taken in church is that I am learning how to be a better person and the reality is that in Christ I am already a better person. My problem is I mess things up. My sin messes my life up. And then I have to come to church to figure out and re-commit my life in Christ and believe that sin is dead.
I heard someone say once that the entire message in Church is "Stop It. Live it. Goodbye." This is so true. In Christ I already know who I am and church and Bible reading is really better understanding who I am in Christ which means understanding that I am a sinner. And then living life believing what God believes about me and that I am dead to sin, no longer a slave, no longer helpless, and that sin has been crucified.
It really is kind of amazing. I was driving the other day thinking about a friend that sees a nutritionist and realizing that the basic function of that job is to tell people: eat right. It's that simple. We mess things up in our life. Food is a temptation and suddenly we aren't eating right but rather indulging and we need food therapy. We need someone to tell us to, "get it right with our eating." It's kind of amazing.
Don't give sin the light of day
And so now, in verse 12, is the obvious transition to understand and continue this theme. It states, "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts." Therefore, after everything has been said and all is basically crystal clear in your understanding that we are dead to sin. That I have died with Christ. Death no longer is master over me. I am freed from sin. The body of sin of my life is done away with. I am united with Christ in His resurrection. Sin has been buried in my life. Because of all of this, I am to "not let sin reign in" my mortal body. Don't give ownership back to sin in my body. Don't give sin the ability to own my life anymore.
This is what I was in Adam: a sinner. But, now I am righteous in Christ, so don't go back to being a sinner. Just don't. Don't allow yourself to be a servant to sin and obey its lusts or what it wants.
Two big things about sin that we tend to let happen, otherwise Paul wouldn't give this warning. (1) We let it reign. In our day and age, I believe the lines between right and wrong are very blurry. And I think we have a tendency to live a sinful life calling it not sin. There is no longer a quest in society to conform to Christ. I always go back to Romans, chapter 1 and how we know God, but we start to not honor Him or give thanks. And by the end of Chapter 1 sin reigns. And I think the scary thing is we are so intertwined with the world and so closely connected to the the things it promotes that we no longer view our lives in stark contrast to the world. I think I am so accustomed to liking the world and its ways that when I have to actually take time to evaluate the sin in my life, it is a struggle to identify it.
Contrasting my life of unrighteousness with righteousness
Don't continue presenting the members of your bodies (which we have learned are dead to sin) as instruments of unrighteousness. But, remember I am alive from the dead. And so I present myself as righteous.
Promise: God sees me as alive from the dead. He sees me as righteous.
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