Victory Over Sin

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? (6:1). Since grace overflows wherever sin abounds, should we live in sin so we might see more of the abounding grace of God? Perish the thought!

God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? (6:2). Here Paul states a fundamental principle about our walk with Christ. The new life in Christ has brought death to the old. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (II Corinthians 5:17). We're dead to sin so we might be alive to God through the Spirit. How can a Spirit-filled being live any longer in sin?

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (6:34). When you went down in the waters of baptism, you were actually buried with Christ. As you came up from the waters, you were a new creature - ruled no longer by the flesh but by the Spirit.

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: knowing this, that our old man was [past tense in the Greek] crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin (6:5-6). The word translated "destroyed" means "put out of business." My body of sin has been put out of business! If I want forgiveness for my sins, I must see Christ on the cross dying for me. If I want power over sin in my life, I must see myself crucified and risen again with Him.

Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2:20a). Your old flesh-dominated nature was crucified, died, and was buried with Christ. Now you're living after the Spirit-dominated life. As a child of God, you cannot serve sin and follow after the weakness of your flesh. God has freed you from its tyranny, and you need to reckon your old nature as dead.

For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord (6:7-1 1).

We're to reckon ourselves to be dead unto sin. The word "reckon" means "to account." This accounting is a position of faith. As long as we're in this body of flesh, we have to deal with our flesh which desires to rule over us. Our old nature was crucified with Christ, and we constantly have to assert this position of faith. Crucifixion is a slow and tortuous death, as the flesh doesn't die easily. So, the two positions of faith we must take are that the old sinful nature is dead and that we're now spiritually alive unto God through Christ.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof (6:12). Man is an inferior trinity made of body, soul, and spirit. These are set in a vertical order. In the natural man the body is on top, dominating the soul (mind), and the spirit lies underneath, dead, because it's alienated from God. When a man becomes born again by the Spirit, his spirit comes alive and takes reign over the soul, and the desires of the body yield to the spirit. The true child of God is no longer ruled by his flesh.

Neither yield ye your members as instruments [tools or weapons] of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God (6:13). You have the option of serving the flesh or the Spirit. As a child of God you must yield to the influences of the Spirit and allow your body to be an instrument in God's hands. Don't let the flesh reign over you anymore.

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace (6:14). Grace is the basis of your new relationship with God, and sin does not and cannot have dominion over you.

What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? (6:15-16). If you yield to the lust of the flesh, you cannot be a servant of God. You'll become enslaved by your flesh, and it will rule your life, eventually destroying you.

When Adam yielded to temptation and ate of the forbidden fruit, he obeyed Satan's suggestion and became his servant. No man can serve two masters. We cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24). As we walk in obedience to God, we become the servants of God.

But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made fm from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness (6:17-18). We were once the servants of sin, but now we're the servants of God.

I speak, Paul said, after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness (6:19).

Again, we face the choice. We must make a willful and deliberate decision not to conform to this world but rather to yield to the Spirit of God. We must reckon the old man to be dead. Christ has set us free. That freedom marks the difference between us and the world. The unbeliever yields to the flesh, because he has no choice. He's under sin's power and has no control over it. Many sinners hate their sins and would like to be set free. Some of them even go to clinics for help. Though their sins gave pleasure for a time, these sins are now ruling and destroying their lives. In contrast, the Christian has been set free from the bondage of corruption. He has come to Jesus Christ in faith and yielded his body as an instrument of God to be controlled by His Spirit.

For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death (6:20-21). The way of the flesh is the path of death.

But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (6:22-23). In a later chapter Paul asks, "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31). What "things"? The blessings of eternal life in Christ, God's glorious gift, spoken of here in Chapter 6.

Paul also said, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God" (II Corinthians 3:5). God's work in my life is sufficient to bring me to victory. Whenever the flesh rises up and seeks to draw me away, I reckon the old man to be dead, yield my body to God in faith, and receive victory.

Death, sin, and the flesh are always related. To live after the flesh is to miss God's mark for your life. Even so, spirit, righteousness, and life are related. The right God-ordained order for your life is to live after the spirit.

God is a superior Trinity of Father, Son, and Spirit. Man is an inferior trinity of spirit, soul (mind), and body (flesh). If a man's spirit is alive and uppermost, he has fellowship with God. If a man's flesh is uppermost, his fellowship with God is broken, because God wants nothing to do with his sinful flesh. Man can only meet God in the spirit. "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit" (Romans 8:16).