Dead To Sin, Alive In Christ

Whether you acknowledge it or not, grace has been and will be poured out upon you during your life more times than you can count. Grace has been shown to you by people and most importantly by God and there are three ways to receive grace; with thankfulness, with contempt or by abusing it. Grace is defined as undeserved favor, graciousness, and mercy. That is exactly how the first century church understood it and it is precisely how Paul understood it. God’s grace not only saves you and forgives your sins, but it will also deliver you from sinning in the future. Grace transfers a person from his or her sinful state into a state of righteousness. A follower of Christ is no longer “in sin,” even though a follower will still sin. When a person is in Christ there is complete freedom from condemnation (Romans 8:1). The gospel of grace should fill your heart with gratefulness or you simply don’t understand the grace of the gospel.

In Romans 6:1, 2 Paul proclaims “…are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” For some reason the people in Rome seemed to believe that God’s grace gave them the right to sin even more. Most likely, the people with this belief were those who assumed their new found freedom from the Law gave them permission to sin without consequence. However, they could not be more wrong.

This scenario would be like the child of a county sheriff who feels he or she can break the law anytime they want simply because his or her father is the sheriff and will show them grace. The Roman believers Paul was addressing behaved this same way, believing that God’s “grace would increase” as they continued in sin. Thus, Paul firmly corrected them and reminded them that if they were truly in Christ they had died to sin. So, does a genuine believer persist in sin? Absolutely not.

What does it mean to die to sin? It means the mind and soul have a new found sensitivity to sin and have come to hate it. It means a believer now views themselves dead to the appeal and power of sin because of the victory of Christ. It means a believer now understands the sinful nature that still exists inside of him or her. It means believers have been given the Holy Spirit so they are able to walk in the Spirit and not in sin (Galatians 5:16). Finally, it means that because of Christ death and resurrection, believers will never have to die for their sin eternally. The transformation comes as a believer dies to sin and is made alive in Christ.

Have you died to sin?

Are you alive in Christ?

Examine yourself and find out…your life and eternal destiny hangs in the balance.