Note it does not say 'feel yourselves to be dead to sin'.  If we waited for

this, we should wait for ever, but we are urged to count upon the fact that

this sinful nature was put to death by God when His Son died upon the Cross,

and then, and only then, will it be rendered inoperative.

However we must not stay here, for this is only half the truth.  We are

to count upon something else, namely that we have been made 'alive unto God

through Jesus Christ our Lord' (verse 11), and have a new nature through

which the Holy Spirit can operate and control us.  We are now on resurrection

ground; hence the promise: 'Walk in the spirit (by the new nature), and ye

shall not fulfil the desire of the flesh' (the old nature) (Gal. 5:16).  From

this it is clear that the two natures cannot operate at one and the same

time, and if we choose to follow the dictates of the new nature (and the Holy

Spirit working through that divine nature), then the old man cannot function.

It is put out of working order, and we can be freed, in daily experience,

from the domination of sin, and produce the ninefold fruit of the new nature

to the praise and glory of God, as detailed in Galatians 5:22,23.

We have now reviewed the teaching of the Word regarding the two natures

in the child of God and have found that its practical outworking is related

to both death and life.  'Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto

sin' (Rom. 6:11) is but part of the truth.  Too often the conception of

practical sanctification stops here.  But we may well ask of what use is a

dead man in Christian witness?  The apostle Paul hastens to add that a

further reckoning is necessary.  'Reckon yourselves ... alive unto God

through Jesus Christ our Lord'.  This second reckoning puts us out of the

sphere of death into that of resurrection life and all it implies, making us

able and ready for the daily outworking of the Lord's will, whatever that may

We may now ask whether all actions and feelings in the redeemed child

of God can be related either to the old nature or the new?  If they can, then

many of our daily problems could be simplified.  For instance, if a believer

looks upon a glorious sunset or a work of art and enjoys the exquisite

blending of colour, which nature is he satisfying, old or new?  If he listens

to the fifth symphony by Beethoven, played by a first -class orchestra and

conductor, giving a first -class interpretation, and his ears enjoy this

great piece of architecture in sound, which nature is he satisfying, old or

new?  Some would say, without hesitation, the old nature, but they would be

wrong.  The answer is neither.  The basis of the appeal to the eye or the ear

is not found in either of the two natures, but is related to the constitution

of man as a living soul.  A consideration in detail of the soul is not

possible here, when one remembers that the word nephesh occurs 754 times in

the Old Testament and psuche 105 times in the New, making a total of 859

occurrences.  The gulf between popular theology and the Scriptures becomes

more and more evident as the subject is studied.  Tradition speaks of man

'having a soul', but the Word of God asserts that he is one (Gen. 2:7) and

moreover links the soul with the five bodily senses.  It is stated to be in

the blood (Lev. 17:11,14; Deut. 12:23), where the word 'life' is the Hebrew

nephesh, soul.  The blood is the seat of sensation, as we well know when a

limb is deprived of it, and 'goes to sleep' as we say, and becomes quite numb

and void of feeling.  The return of blood to the affected part brings back

sensation ('pins and needles').