Rom 6:12 Let Sin Not Reign

Rom 6:12

“LET NOT SIN THEREFORE REIGN IN YOUR MORTAL BODY, THAT YE SHOULD OBEY IT IN THE LUSTS THEREOF.”

The word “reign” here means to rule as king in over our lives. The “sin” that is referred to here, is not particular ACTS of sin, rather, the Sin Nature. I’ve explained this before, but I believe it begs repeating, so as to understand that this whole “Sin Nature” thing is not made up, rather it has something to do with the translation of the word sin. When the translators wrote the text here, they translated the word “sin” as it is shown. Often times, Christian’s misinterpret this word to mean “many acts of sin;” such as fornication, lust, adultery, murder, etc. That is actually not the case here. For a lack of better words, they translated it this way so that it would READ well. The word “sin” in this verse is a noun, not a verb. If it were a verb (when you look at the actual Greek language here), it would be referring to the afore mentioned “acts of sin.” But it is a noun, which means that it is a particular class or nature of a people, all to be grouped into one…so as to refer to the “Sin Nature,” as we state it when we teach. There is a distinct difference in the two.

So returning back to the meaning of the scripture here:

We’re not to allow the Sin Nature to rule over our lives as king. We must recall, reckon, understand, calculate that when Christ died on the Cross, He took ALL of our iniquitites upon His Holy Self, who KNEW no sin. He was not familiar with sin, experientially, like we are. Therefore, he was our Substitute. He took the beating and death that we ourselves deserved for breaking God’s perfect law. In fact, anyone short of perfection, (which would name every human being on the entire planet that ever lived, other than Christ), is worthy of this death.

Since Christ served us, in taking our punishment, although He was totally Righteous and undeserving of such things…He laid down His Perfection, that we might be able to take it up, THROUGH HIM of course and what He did for us on the Cross. We could never take up His Righteousness on our own behalf, we must access that through and in Him and by no other means. How do we do that, the reader might ask? I’ll repeat it again, because I need this message repeated over and over again in my life, in order to fully grasp it and eventually, live it in my own life:

When we were baptized into Christ, again, not water, not the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues, (neither make you righteous in God’s sight), but into Christ, we were baptized into His Death. What does that mean? That means that our sinful body, (the Sin Nature) was killed, destroyed, laid dormant in our lives. We no longer should have the desire in our hearts to live for ourselves, but to live to please God now. So, now that this sinful nature is laid dormant in our lives, then what?

We are to also know that our sins were buried in that borrowed grave. Meaning, God didn’t create us to die, He created us to live forever with Him. But through the sacrifice that Christ made for us on the Cross, and through understanding granted by the Grace of God to us, we are able to understand that our “old man,” (the Sin Nature is dead).

Allow me to explain with an analogy. My husband and I are married, as should be obvious. ☺ LOL We have relationship on a daily basis. I talk to him, and he does me. We interact with each other, kiss sometimes, things like that…regular relationship stuff. If he dies, the relationship is over. There will be no more hug and kiss after he dies, because the relationship is now severed. It is the same when we realize that the Sin Nature has been laid dormant in our lives…the power of death and the hold of death on our lives brought about by sin has been halted. What Paul means here is that we are not to have relationship with the Sin Nature anymore. We are not to have relationship with Christ, AND our old master, “the Sin Nature.” We are to realize, that relationship is severed, because we DIED and were BURIED WITH CHRIST.

The whole miracle of the Resurrection is actually God’s way of showing us that death has no more hold on Christ, therefore, being raised WITH HIM, it has no more hold on us either. We are to continually RECALL that we are dead with Christ, being buried with Him in baptism unto death, and raised in the Newness of Life, through Christ Jesus.

Just because you are being tempted, it doesn’t mean that the Sin Nature is ruling in your life! Christ was tempted when He was led into the wilderness, and He had NO SIN.

The second part of that verse: “THAT YE SHOULD OBEY IT IN THE LUSTS THEREOF.” It’s not as simple to “refrain,” as we think. We don’t actually have the power to overcome sin, but Christ did and through Him and what He has done, we can pray in that moment of temptation, and God can give us the Grace and ability to turn away from that thing that binds us. Know this, once the Sin Nature comes alive, it will begin to rule as a tyrant in our lives once again. In every thing we must go before the Lord and ask for His help, and through the Holy Spirit, He will help us. So long as our “will” is to do His will and not our own, the Holy Spirit can give us the power to overcome temptations.

FAILING?

This doesn’t’ mean that when you see yourself failing, even though you have noted in your mind that you are dead to sin, alive unto God…that all of a sudden, poof! It’s going to disappear and that sin will no longer occur!!! No no no!!! Many times, I have reckoned that I am no longer a slave to sin, and then still fail or faulter and become discouraged and think to myself, “This doesn’t work!!! I can’t live by this!” So then I would resort to my own method of sanctification, (as I was being taught in a church I attended back then), such as fasting, or denying myself things that I liked like coffee, or…some other silly method of the so-called, “buffeting of my flesh.” No, no, no!!! That’s not it either!!!

This is where the majority of the church in the Christian World today get off track and as a result, they don’t live and overcoming victorious life in Christ Jesus! They are still resorting to their own methods of sanctification! Listen folks, if we could do it on our own, by fasting, or prayer time, or reading our word all day long….Christ would not have needed to come and die on the Cross FOR US! He HAD to do that in our stead, we simply are not able! That is a difficult thing for us to admit, especially when the fire is hot and the trials are endless. Understand that while fasting, prayer, and reading your word are good, they will not save you. They are necessary in the Christian walk, but they will not keep you from sinning. They will only alieviate symptoms of an already existing and dominate Sin Nature that is alive and active in our lives. This is where the fight of faith comes in again!

We have to allow God to do this work. That is why He said that they “Ax was laid to the root.” He took care of that for us. We have got to allow the Holy Spirit to do this work in us. He doesn’t need our help folks. He can do anything He wants, how He wants, Whenever He wants to do it. He didn’t need us to create the universe, we can’t effect it now, don’t know why we think we can when all we do is mess things up and make it worse. ☺

So…fighting the good fight of faith…we must CONTINUE to reckon that we are dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God. Meaning, when you stumble, fail, and fall…(as the example I like to use, when you lose your temper and say the thing that you shouldn’t to your spouse), immediately go to the Lord, apologize to Him for sinning against Him, obviously, you need to probably let your spouse know you didn’t mean it, but more importantly, get back up, and continue to recall the fact that you are risen in Christ, the Sin Nature does not rule in your life anymore, (even when you think it is, and you see evidence that it is)…Christ has done away with all of these things. It may take a while for Him to work it out of our lives and hearts, but the Holy Spirit is working in the midst of this fire. God allows pressures to come upon us to show us what is there, so that we will allow Him to take it out, but we must let Him. It may take 10 times, or 100, or even 1000 times, but God’s Grace is sufficient for us always. Don’t give up! Trust God and KNOW that one of these days, that sinful thing that keeps coming up, will eventually go away, if we have faith in Christ and what He did for us on the Cross…He said, “It is Finished.” And it is…have faith, and faint not, for without faith, it is impossible to please God. Just don’t get your eyes on the anything other than the Cross of Christ, which is not only the way to salvation, it is the MEANS of sanctification in the life of a Believer, until the Lord comes for His Bride.


Wow, this is a long blog! But it is much needed to take the time and explain these things in such detail. It is helping me, I pray it helps someone else as well. Love ya!