Romans 6:12-14 (ESV)
[12] Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey
its passions. [13] Do not present your members to sin as instruments for
unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought
from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
[14] For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but
under grace.
“Let not sin therefore reign . . .” The first word is the original Greek is “not.”
It reads, “Not therefore let sin reign . . .” Being the first word in the
sentence, it emphasizes the negative aspect of the statement. We are NOT to let
sin reign. That implies that we are actually able to not let sin reign. When
the Law was given under Moses, Israel was told what to do and how to live as
well as what not to do and how not to live, but there was no power attached to
the commands. In other words, they were given commands, but not the ability to
keep the commands. The Law reveals the inability of the people in their fallen
condition to live in obedience to God. That is the significant difference
between Law and Grace. Law tells people what to do but does not empower them to
do it. Grace empowers people to live in righteousness and then instructs us in
what that looks like.
We are not to let sin reign because we, as believers in Christ, are no
longer slaves of sin. Law reveals the bondage of sin. Grace broke the chains of
sin and infused within us the life of Christ. The Devil made me do it is no
longer an excuse. I couldn’t help myself is no longer an excuse. It’s just who
I am is no longer an excuse. It is not who you are any longer. In Christ a
believer is a new creation. “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in
regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the
things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death” (Rom.
6:20-21). Believers were “slaves of sin” before faith in Christ. In Christ we
are “free in regard to righteousness,” or free to live righteously.
As believers in Jesus Christ it is time that we stop making excuses for bad behavior. The World sees our hypocrisy. It is time we realize what we have in Christ and start living that way. “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:22-23). We quote verse 23 a lot, but we tend to focus on the first part of the verse. “The wages of sin is death.” It is time we focus on the second half of that verse along with verse 22, “You have been set free from sin . . . the free gift of God is eternal life.” That eternal life is not just something for the future after we die. It is life within us now by the Spirit of God. As believers in Jesus Christ we have life. Stop settling for death.
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