We Christians generally deal with our relationship to sin in two ways.
One is that we try with all our might to stop sinning (legalism). But what we find is that in spite of all our efforts, we can never, by our own efforts, free ourselves from sin. Those of us who are in this catagory end up leading miserable lives because of the awareness of our failures. This issue the Apostle Paul deals with in Romans 7.
The other is that we decide that overcoming sin is impossible and we give up (fatalism). We don’t try to overcome sin. We just continue wallowing around in the pig sty relying on God’s grace to take care of us. Those of us who are in this state are usually miserable, too. We are just in denial, because as long as we continue in our sin, we will reap death in our lives, no matter how much of God’s grace we think we have. This is what Paul is talking about in Romans 6.
The Apostle Paul says that there is another way, a way that we need to believe in and reach for. He says that we need to experience the death and resurrection in Jesus in our lives today. The death of the cross so that we can die to sin. The resurrection of Jesus so that we can experience His life. Consider yourselves dead indeed to sin but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord (6:11).
This third option solves all the problems of the two ways we Christians usually think. It provides the right living that the legalists are looking for, but without our own failed efforts. But more importantly, this option gives the fatalists hope, hope that indeed there is power to overcome sin, even if it is not within ourselves, a power that God has, by His own sovereign will, decided to bestow upon us.
So, shall we continue in sin so we can have more of God’s grace? No. Let God kill you and then bring to life inside you a new creature that is not subject to sin (6:14). Some want to stay at the cross. Die already! And move on to the resurrection and live in resurrection life today.
Listen to the song “Free From The Works Of The Devil.”
