Think about it: you are dead to sin
Through the work of the Father in Christ, our old life of sin is dead: we are no longer under the dominion of sin. The church as a body and we as individuals have been given a “new standard by which to judge ourselves.” If we are no longer going to live in sin, we must “understand ourselves by faith.” We are dead to sin, and not only are we dead to the power of sin, but we have also been quickened to God, “having been brought under His dominion. When we come to be in Christ, a new lifestyle must characterize us… We must fight our battle with the certainty that our enemy has been defeated.” Yes, sin has been defeated, and it is because of that victory of Christ that we can fight this battle.
This first obligation of the gospel that we find in Romans is a call to faith, to believe that what He said to do has really been done. The submissive obedience to which Paul calls us in Romans 6:13—“… rather offer yourselves to God as those who have returned from death to life…”— is based on faith in the accomplished fact of the gospel. : we are dead to sin and alive to God; we have been freed from slavery to sin enabled to submit to Him.
What this new life means is that we are confident that change is going to happen. We can fight bravely to “put off” the sin that still dwells in our mortal bodies. We are not alone; no, we are in Him, and He Himself took us out of that grave of sin and death. He has presented us with Him, completely alive in the presence of the Father. Although we know this to be true, there may be times, particularly when we are struggling with our sin, when we have a hard time believing it. And that is when we have to return to the mandate that calls us to remember. In other words, we must take our eyes off our sin and onto His finished work on the cross.
Like the Galatians, we need to be reminded of these truths, especially when we are tempted to fall back into the discouragement that comes from moralism and self-righteousness. Appropriate Paul's personal statements in Galatians 2:20-21; Apply them by faith to your fight against sin: “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. What I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave His life for me.”
Our old nature has been crucified with Him. The person we once were is dead, and now there is a different spirit inhabiting our bodies, the Spirit of the resurrected Christ. Of course, we must take hold of this again and again by faith, and stubbornly believe that the Son of God cannot abandon us. He loves us so much that He gave His life for us.
