Romans 6:12-14

Text

Romans 6:12-14. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey the lusts thereof: Romans 6:13 neither present your members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace.

REALIZING ROMANS, Romans 6:12-14

247.

Sin or Satan can reign like a despot in our clay tabernacle, Why? How?

248.

When serving under a king, we give complete service. All we have belongs to him. Who is our king? What is our service?

249.

Being under grace gives us assurance of victory over sin. Does it? How is it we so often find it very much otherwise?

Paraphrase

Romans 6:12-14. Wherefore, since God hath made you spiritually alive, and is to raise you with immortal bodies, let not sin reign in your present mortal body, so as to obey him [Satan] by fulfilling the lusts of the body.

Romans 6:13 Neither present ye to sin your bodily members, to be used as instruments of unrighteousness, but present the faculties of your mind to God, as persons whom he hath made alive from the death of sin: your bodily members present to God as instruments of righteous actions, which is the work he requires from his servants.

Romans 6:14 Besides sin shall not lord it over you, for this reason, that ye are not under a dispensation of law, which gives no assistance against sin; but under grace, which affords all the aids necessary for subduing sin.

Summary

We are not to allow sin to reign in our bodies by obeying bodily desires. Nor must we use our members in the service of sin; but, as persons alive from the dead, we must be devoted to God, and use our members as instruments in exclusively working righteousness. Sin is not to lord it over us in the end, by having us condemned, for we are now under favor, and will be forgiven, and not under law which knows no forgiveness.

Comment

Yes, brethren, even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin (in repentance and baptism) but alive unto God (through the new life begotten within you) in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:12

g. In the last two verses of this section we find the conclusion to the whole matter of continuing in sin. Reasons have been given for not living in sin, so the inspired writer feels free to say, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey the lusts thereof. Sin in this verse is personified as a tyrant reigning in and through the body of man. This tyrant has certain lusts or desires, and we will surely fulfill them. Next we see the weapons that King Sin reigning in our bodies uses to further his kingdom of darkness. His weapons are none other than the members of our own bodies: our hands, our feet, our tongues, etc. But away with this thought! We have died out to sin; we have dethroned sin and have placed Jesus on the throne of our hearts; we are alive unto God and therefore we will present the members of our bodies as his weapons to be used in the battle against sin and for righteousness. The last triumphant thought is that sin will not finally be the victor. Even though we do yield to Satan from time to time, we can be forgiven, for we are not governed by law (which would demand absolute obedience) but by grace which offers forgiveness to those who fall through temptation. Thus we know that if we are faithful to Christ, on that last day when the books are balanced, we will be the victors over sin because of the grace bestowed upon us in Christ. Romans 6:13-14

129.

Give the sixth reason as found in Romans 6:9-12.