LET NOT SIN…REIGN IN YOUR MORTAL BODY

Today’s Bible command follows from yesterday’s. On the basis that we are to count ourselves as being dead to sin and alive to God, it follows that sin has no right to reign in us. Sin will try to reign and take control, but it has been already dealt with by the death of Christ and therefore has no legitimate claim on the believer.

It is important to realize, as we did yesterday, that Paul’s appeal to us here is not a question of doing this in our own strength. The power to obey will come from the Holy Spirit, Rom. 8. 13. However, the foundation of living practically under grace and free from sin is to understand these basic truths about sin and death. The experience of struggling with particular sins may lead the believer to think that it is no use, or that there is no way of escape or victory. This is why the Holy Spirit brings before us certain truths that assure us beyond all doubt that victory has already been established and that no sin, no matter how much it may appear to the contrary at first, shall have the right to reign over us.

We also notice that it is in the realm of the ‘mortal body’ that sin finds expression now. In heaven we will not possess mortal bodies and sin will have no entrance there. Here, sin will attempt to operate in us, but we are not powerless against it.

Paul exhorts that we should not ‘obey’ sin in our desires. A sinful desire may present itself and even appear overwhelming, but we are not to obey it. Sin may knock at the door, but we do not have to answer it. Sin may command us to do something, but we have no obligation to obey it.

Romans chapter 6 does not teach us that sin is an impossibility, but that it is a moral inconsistency in light of what Christ has done in His death.

No Christian should be discouraged by the temptation to sin. In fact the sense of struggle in our lives proves we are genuine children of God. Romans chapter 7 should convince us of this as we identify with the great apostle’s experience. But, like the apostle, we too can know the victory that is promised to those who obey and trust Him.