Notes on Romans 6

The payday of sin is always death; if we born again in Christ, it means that what we were before is dead.  One of the most difficult concepts to understand in the Christian walk is that something may be true even though we can't see it with our eyes, or perhaps worse still, to see something and experience it when God's Word assures us it is already dead.  That is the case of our old sinful nature, the flesh; although we're told here and in other places that it is crucified, and the body of sin is destroyed, we still live with the reality of it every day of our lives.  Does that mean that we're not really saved, because we continue to be subject to the weaknesses of the flesh?  No; it simply means we haven't accepted the reality of what God has done.  We can, and should, spend the rest of our lives, working toward making the reality we perceive with our senses and understanding.  The flesh has power over us only to the extent we allow it to do so; we still exercise the power of choice in all other areas after the issue of our eternal destiny has been settled.  The word "yield" is vitally important; we don't have to be in bondage to sin once we're saved; if we are, it's because we've willingly yielded control to it.  If we yield instead to the Spirit of God, we can become what he wants us to be, and do what he wants us to do.

It is hard to accept the bald statement that, as we are dead to the flesh, we are freed from sin.  Most Christians act and believe as if that's not the case.  If we continue to seek the world's rewards, and follow its standards and beliefs, than we are saying, very loudly, that we do not believe we are really dead to sin.  Every outward element of our body is an instrument, and we can choose to use these members, as the Bible calls them, to carry out the desires of the flesh, or to perform acts of obedience to God.  If we turn our eyes toward pornography or less explicit worldly entertainment, if we open our ears to listen to obscenity or ungodly music, they are instruments of unrighteousness.  If we turns our eyes and ears in sympathy to the needs of others, and out hands and feet to help fill the needs, they are instruments of righteousness.  Being truly dead to sin, and alive in Christ, should mark us as different from all others who remain in bondage to sin and death.

The argument that we should be able to do whatever we want once we're saved, because God won't then send us to Hell, is as old as the Gospel itself.  The catch to that assertion is very simple and very profound; when we're saved, God changes our "want to's"; because we are dead to sin, we no longer want to do the things that so appealed to us before.  If we do, then we're really not dead to sin at all.  Christians do sin, of course, but sin should no longer be a way of life; it should represent exceptions to the rule.  If it doesn't, if nothing is really changed, then the person was probably never really saved at all.  There should be enough evidence of salvation to convict.

There is one very basic fact of human existence: we do what we want to do, at least from an eternal perspective.  If we want to remain in our sins, and reject the offer of free salvation in Christ, that's what we will do.  If we want to accept Christ, we will.  The only absolute power God has given us, as his creation, is the power to choose.  Even after we become Christians, we can choose to submit ourselves to God, or continue to follow the urges of our dead flesh, or the counsel of the world and the Devil.  If we put God after money, career, power, or family, it's because we choose to do it.  So long as we choose to remain under the power of sin, our other decisions are made for us, because we're under bondage and have surrendered our freedom of choice.  The so-called freedom to "choose" abortion or to "choose" an "alternative life style" is no more a free choice than whether we are born or die.  Once we become "slaves" to Christ, though, the ironic thing is that we truly do have the freedom to choose our actions.  When we sin, it's by our choice, not because we have to any longer.  When we forgive or fail to forgive, we freely choose to do either.  We have been freed from the bondage of our besetting sin, but we can decide, by our actions, we will continue in it anyway.  Love or hate, worry or trust, pride or humility -- all of these are within our power to choose, because God by his grace has given us the freedom to choose that is our birthright.

I have heard a multitude of sermons on how to live a Christian life, and apply the truths of scripture to daily existence.  Until we realize just how great and marvelous a gift we have been given in our freedom in Christ, none of those sermons will help, nor will any amount of Bible study or self-help books.  Only we, as individuals, can make the conscious decisions and choices that manifest our changed status, as dead to sin and the flesh.  Not to do that, not to at least begin the effort, is to shrivel away on the vine, never bearing fruit.  We become almost as useless to God then as if we were not saved at all, as far as our lives here on earth are concerned.  Certainly the reward of eternity still awaits us, and is beyond any notion of worth, but I think we also face the loss of what would otherwise have been ours.  Perhaps those are among the tears that Christ will dry just before we enter into glory.  It will not be so much regretting what we don't have, I think, as just of never knowing the blessings we missed.  I would my mansion be well-stocked with treasures I built up here, than standing empty when I come home.