Rom 6:10

“FOR IN THAT HE DIED, HE DIED UNTO SIN ONCE. BUT IN THAT HE LIVETH, HE LIVETH UNTO GOD.”

“sin” here, as Paul regards it, is NOT particular acts of sin, but rather, the Sin Nature. Christ’s death was used to break the power of indwelling sin in the Believer’s life. Christ’s Death in effect has a “double-cure,” if one could say it that way.

1. It paid the terrible sin debt. (of which the only participation that the Beleiver can have in THIS aspect, is simple faith in that payment for his sins).
2. To break the dominion of sin in the life of the Believer.

As we have stated before, but the issue begs repeating, is there MUST be a CONTINUED FAITH in Christ and what He did in the life of the Believer. Faith in anything else will result in failure.

“But in that He liveth, He liveth unto God.”

Means Jesus died unto sin once, and now speaks of Him living, which is Life derived from God.

“unto God,” one is not living according to one’s own strength or ability or power, but rather that of God.

The word, “liveth” has 3 meanings:

1. speaks of our daily walk, consequently, daily victory over sin.
2. Speaks of more abundant life (Jn 10:10)
3. Speaks of life sustained by God, and consequently, infallible.

How He lives unto God, is because He is risen. The way that WE live, is to be risen WITH HIM, and live IN HIM. All life derives from God, through Christ Jesus. Because of what He did, and our faith IN Him and what He did for us, we are able to live a life NOW, that will be pleasing unto God. Before we were born again, we had not Christ, therefore, we were being ruled by the Sin Nature, and in fact, we had NO CONTROL or ability to turn away from the sin that had us captivated.

I feel the need to explain something about the Sin Nature: When we refer to the Sin Nature, we are talking about the man that was born after the image of Adam, not Christ. Meaning, since all of creation is now fallen, (because of what took place in Eden), we unfortunately suffer the consequences of the original sin, of which we did not actually commit against God. But…when God created Adam, Adam had in his loins the entire human race. We stated this in the last blog, but feel the need to reinterate, because Adam fell in the garden before he and Eve procreated, he brought forth fruit after the image of fallen Adam, not after the image of God. Therefore, when we were born, we are a product of nothing other than, well, sin. Everything that we think, do, desire, and want is driven by the Sin Nature. In this manner, there is nothing that man can do, not even his BEST efforts that can be pleasing to God. Even man’s so called, “good deeds,” are for selfish and sinful reasons, although we don’t want to admit that, it’s true. That’s why the bible says “there is none good but God, no not one.” The reason I mention all of this, is because I want to refer back something mentioned back in the study of Rom 6:2-3, is that through Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, and putting our total faith in that work and in IT ALONE, we can now have victory over this Sin Nature.

What God does when we are born again, is He imparts unto us or “imputes,” the Righteousness and Life of Christ, and takes our old nature (the Sin Nature) out of us…well, let’s say it better this way, it is severed from us. It’s like a light unplugged from the wall. As long as the light is not plugged in, there is no power to run the light…therefore, it lays there dormant and unused. The same occurs with the Sin Nature. But, when the Sin Nature is plugged back into it’s source, that is when the Christian is at risk for failure, and of course…sin. Usually what happens, is we take our eyes off of Christ and what He has done, and that is when we begin to have problems. But we DO however now HAVE the power to OVERCOME the temptations that are thrown our way, the sins we used to commit, and we do so by, once again, (I repeat it over and over again, but we have to repeat things until we get it in our minds, and at some point it will sprout forth truth), our faith has to be in Him and what He did for us at Calvary.

One may be asking, “do you really live by this? Is that really what YOU do in your life?” I will say this, Yes, and I have not perfected it, but I am learning that THIS is the WAY to walk. Every time, through the Lord’s infinite Grace, that I have kept my faith exclusively in the correct object of faith, I have overcome in one area of another. But the second I take my eyes off of it, the second that I think that in my own power I can accomplish, move, or do ANYTHING, that is when I face failures untold and unlimited amounts of pain, sorrow and frustration. It’s a process. Through trials & tribulations are how we learn, and thankfully the Lord remains patient with me, knowing that I am learning. ☺