Dead To Sin

What shall we say then?  Shall we continue to sin that grace may abound?  Certainly not!  How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?  Or do you not know that as many of us were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?  Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life.  For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurection.

Romans 6: 1-5 NKJV 

The apostle Paul had come upon a issue with the resurection of Jesus.  Yes, he understood that Christ had died for the sins of all mankind, and this is indeed what he taught in his ministry.  However, there were obviously more than a few people who chose to use the deathof Jesus as permission to continue in sin.  Well, after all, hadn't Jesus cleansed them from all sins past, present and future?  Somehow, a few had gotten the idea that continuing in their sins meant that they would be forgiven anyway.  Paul saw a issue with this, and so do I.  For if the Christ Himself became sin for the forgiveness of all, why would we want to continue in such a life?  Would this not dishonor Jesus?   Of course, it would not invalidate the finished work that Jesus had done in us, but that was not the issue after all.  No, for when Jesus declared "It is Finished!" on that cross, the very spirit of sin was defeated once and for all.  

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 that the life that He lives, He lives to God.  Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6: 9-11 NKJV 

Now, if Jesus has Himself put away the sin spirit that we had inherited, why would we want to continue in such a way?  This was Pauls question.  I guess one way I could explain this would be to suggest that if a wicked ruler died, would we continue to live under his tyranny?  Of course not!  And if Jesus has put away that sin spirit that we inherited, we should not continue to live in it!  How can we continue living in something that is dead?  Realizing this, then Pauls statement in Romans 6:1 becomes all the more clear.  Of course, it takes more than a little contemplation to come to this realization.  Of course, this puts away that old christian belief that we are none other than sinners saved by grace.  Yes, for it is through our Lords grace that ultimately saved us from our own sin, but to say that we remain in sin invalidates the finished work of Christ!  If we are but sinners saved by grace, what did Jesus die for?  For as Paul tells us in Romans 6, if we indeed died, were buried and ultimately resurected with Jesus, then our former sin no longer has dominion over us.  We are dead to our former sin!  That means dead, put away and not just swept under the rug to be resurected later.  I find it hard to believe that our Lord would go through all that He did to only cover sin and not eliminate it permanently.  See, our Lord is not into the habit of blindsiding us by convicting us of sins long ago forgiven.  We are dead to those.  That "Sinner saved by grace" no longer exists in God's eyes.  

~Scott~