Romans 6:11-14 Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.… The Bible speaks of three kinds of deaths. 1. That which is a necessary event — the death of the body. 2. That which is a moral crime — death in trespasses and sins. 3. That which is a righteous obligation — death unto sin.This is a death which every man should die, though few men do so. It is a death which requires earnest individual effort, and involves the agonies of a self-crucifixion. What is meant by being "dead indeed unto sin"? I. NEGATIVELY. It does not mean — 1. Being dead to the existence of sin. Every soul should realise this. Without a due regard to this we shall be incompetent to appreciate the history of Providence. 2. Being dead to the memory of our own sins. We can and ought never to forget the fact that we have sinned. The memory of the fact will serve to restrain from the wrong, to stimulate to the right; it will heighten our gratitude to pardoning mercy, and swell the joys of eternity. 3. Being dead to the effects of our sin upon our own history. The pardon of sin does not free us from all the effects of sin. The law of moral causation goes on. The sins that we have in youth committed against our constitution, intellect, interests, follow us to old age. It was so in the case of Job. 4. Being dead to the ruinous workings of sin around us. David beheld the way of transgressors and was grieved. So did Jeremiah. So did Paul at Athens. So did Christ, etc. So must all good men. We are to battle against it. II. POSITIVELY. It may involve three things. 1. The death of all interest in its attractions. Sin in our world has wonderful attraction. The taste, the skill, the genius of ages, have been expended in investing it with all conceivable charms. But the holy soul sees through it, and is disgusted. To it, all its attractions are but as a spangled dress that robes an ugly theatrical. 2. The death of all desire for its pleasures. Sin has "pleasures for a season." The holy soul has higher — the pleasures of a purified imagination, as exalted hope, a God-inspiring soul, an approving conscience, a smiling God. 3. The death of all fear about its penalties. (D. Thomas, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.WEB: Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. |
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