Confessing with your mouth the lord Jesus Christ and believing in your heart God raised him from the dead, (Romans 10:9), starts a person to a fantastic relationship with God. We become His sons (Romans 8:14-17). What does the son of God do now that he or she is born again of God’s spirit? The first place to go is God’s matchless Word and discover all that the Father has done for the believer through Christ. Included in the Scriptures will be directions by which he or she can guide their life on.
The foundational Epistle of Romans is the starting place for the born again believer. There is much to learn in this book from the justification process to the how of living as sons of God. Though we are not under the law as born again ones, God emphasizes some significant points in how to walk dynamically for Him via the rare use of the command voice in Chapter Six.
The 1st command:
Romans 6:11:
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
To “reckon” ourselves to be dead is in the command voice. The word “reckon” means, to come to the conclusion. This first use of the command voice in Romans does not deal directly about changing our behavior or actions, it deals with changing our thinking pattern about ourselves. We are directed, with great emphasis, to renew our minds by reckoning or coming to the conclusion in our minds that we are dead to sin and absolutely have no relationship to it. We are permanently alive unto God. And that settles it!
As a result of coming to the conclusion we are dead unto sin and alive unto God, 3 more command voice directions follow.
The 2nd command:
Romans 6:12:
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
As a result of being dead unto sin and alive unto God, we stop allowing sin to reign in our bodies. Sin consciousness instead of Son consciousness is what holds many believers back from tapping into the wonderful promises of God. God says, Stop it!
The 3rd command:
Romans 6:13a:
Neither yield [present] ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin:..
Thirdly God commands us to quit yielding your members as contributors to do sinful things. The members are parts of your body like your eyes, ears, feet etc. In other words we do not look at or read devilish words that would corrupt our minds, or we do not listen to foolish unbelievers spout off their doctrines of error, or we do not run to partake of ungodly activities. God emphasizes us not to utilize parts of our body to be involved with sinful activities. In the same verse God commands us to yield or present ourselves in another better way.
The 4th command:
Romans 6:12b:
…but yield [present] yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
The final command of this section of Romans, calls for us to act a certain way as a result of a certain action taken by God Almighty. What is that way we should act? And what is the action taken by God Almighty that would encourage us to act? We are to act as a person raised from the dead. How would you act if you died and someone raised you from the dead? You would be ecstatic, you would be the most happiest person alive, because you were just raised from the dead. For us it is much more than being raised from dying a natural death, but we have been raised to die no more. We have eternal life with God our Father and with His son, our brother Jesus Christ!
As a result of this kind of “being raised from the dead,” we now are encouraged, actually commanded to now live as those alive from the dead and use our members or the parts of our body such as our eyes, ears, feet and etc. to partake in righteous activities before our Heavenly father. Now for instance we use our eyes to read God’s Word, and when we see error we can act with authority. Now we use our ears to listen to needful people that can be helped by ministering unto them. Now we can use our feet to go witnessing and spread God’s Word to the uttermost parts of the earth.
We are responsible now to act accordingly as what we have read here in God’s Word. And what a joy it is to walk for our lovingly Heavenly Father who has done so much for us.
The key point in all of this is to heed God’s emphasis by way of the command voice. Yes, we are free in Christ, but that freedom cost the perfect sacrifice of God’s son Jesus Christ. Our response to such giving and love should be to identify with Christ in the new life we have in Christ. We identify with his death, burial, and being raised from the dead. Now we live for Him who so loved us and gave His son for us.
Galatians 5:13 & 16:
For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Ken Petty in his syllabus titled Lessons in Dynamic Christian Living: An Introductory Bible Study page 251, sums up this section in Romans 6:11-13 by saying, “We are to conclude that we are permanently dead to sin and forever out of any relationship to it, and that we are permanently alive and living in unbroken relation to God. A clear understanding of who we are in Christ and determination to live in light of our identification in him is the starting point for our walk with God as born-again ones.”
- Bob Lindfelt
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Our life is dedicated to helping people. But our dedication is to God as He is the One Who will help us serve within the Body of Christ.
“…the desire of our soul is to Thy name, and to the remembrance of Thee. With my soul have I desired Thee in the night; yea with my spirit within me will I seek Thee early...”
Isaiah 26:8b&9a
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