A Glorious Death

What shall we say then?  Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  Certainly not!  How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
Romans 6: 1-2 NKJV

Some people see it as just another slippery slope, another unachievable biblical passage.  For those of us who are alive each and every day in our Lords creation, it's hard to imagine that we're dead!  Now, of course the apostle Paul isn't talking about our physical death here, for that may be even harder to understand.  No, for the "Death" that Paul refers to in Romans 6:12 is  not a physical death, but a spiritual one.  Did we die for a cause?  Was our death painful?  I don't know about anyone else, but I certainly don't remember dying.  It seems that I would remember such a life event.  So, what is it that Paul tells us that we died to here?  I don't think we need a illustration to show just what Paul is refering to here.  For the death that we died was to sin itself.  WHAT?  If there's one thing that someone may be sure of is that they still continue to sin!  There's that slippery slope I mentioned.  How, if I have indeed died to sin, can I  still continue to sin?    Well congratulations, you're not alone in asking this question.   I can imagine the confusion on the faces of people in Pauls day as well.

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh.
Romans 8: 1-3 NKJV

I believe that the key passage here in Romans 8 lies in verse 3.  For it is here that Paul tells us just how God dealt with that sinful flesh that he mentions.  Make no mistake, that sinful flesh HAD to be dealt with in order for Gods children to be redeemed.  In essence, as the law required, there needed to be a blood sacrafice to wash away our sins.

'For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.'
Leviticus 17:11 NKJV

"For it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul."  Yes, I believe that Gods plan for our ultimate redemption was already in place as Moses wrote Gods instructions to the Isrealites.  What is it that God set as a requirement for the atonement for our very souls?  Blood!  What is it that he sent his one and only son to do?  Shed his blood on a Roman cross!  Believe me, alot of blood was shed over the sins of the Isrealites on the way to the cross of Jesus! It is hard for me to imagine, but as Jesus died on that cross, a part of me died with there with him.

For he who  has died has been freed from sin.  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we should also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.  Death no longer has dominion over Him.  For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He llives to God.  Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
Romans 6: 7-12 NKJV

As the apostle Paul tells us, through the death of our Lord Jesus, we no longer carry the sin nature we once had.  We are not "sinners saved by grace," but new creations in our risen Lord!  When the temptation of sin comes knocking, we can say with confidence, "YOU'RE DEAD TO ME!"

~Scott~