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Root.
Fruit.
Live any longer therein?
How shall we that are dead to sin . . . . .
That like as Christ was raised up from the
We were baptized unto His death. We are
dead by the glory of the Father, even
buried with him by baptism into
so we also should walk in newness of
death . . . . .
life.
That henceforth we should not serve sin.
Our old man is crucified with Him,
that the body of sin
might be
destroyed . . . . .
We believe that we shall also live with
If we be dead (or died) with Christ . . . . .
Him.
Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies
Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead
that ye should obey it in the lusts
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God
thereof.
Neither yield ye your
through Jesus Christ our Lord. For sin
members
as
instruments
of
shall not have dominion over you, for
unrighteousness unto sin: but yield
ye are not under the law, but under
yourselves unto God, as those who are
grace.
alive from the dead, and your
members
as
instruments
of
righteousness.
Let us take the last statement first. What is the one reason given by the apostle for the
statement: "Sin shall not have dominion over you?"
A.--It is simply that we are not under law, but under grace.
B.--That indicates a complete change brought about by God alone through Christ, and
becomes effective to all who believe. If you should sometimes fail in your walk, and not
manifest the new life that is yours, does that cancel that great change?
A.--No, I am still under grace, and treated as such, even though I should at times fail to
manifest my new relationship.
B.--Let us go back another step in the passage. You are told to "Reckon yourselves to
be dead to sin, but alive unto God". How is this possible?
A.--Why, by the words you have omitted, "through Jesus Christ our Lord".
B.--You mean by that, I suppose, that when Christ died for you as your surety, God
reckoned that you died too, and that when He rose from the dead, God reckoned that you
rose too? Just exactly, therefore, what have you to do in the matter?
A.--I am to reckon what God reckons.
B.--Does this imply a kind of fiction?
A.--No, for previously he says most plainly: "We died with Christ"; "Our old man is
crucified with Him"; "We are dead to sin".