Dead to Sin

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” Paul’s question to the Roman Christians may sound crazy, be he was just beating his audience to the punch. He knew that they were thinking that if they sinned more, then God could forgive them more, but he answered their question, as well as his own, by saying, “God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”

In this same passage (Romans 6:1-7) Paul goes on to say that we have been baptized unto Jesus’ death, the body of sin in our lives must be destroyed, our old man is crucified with Christ, we should not serve sin any longer, and we are freed from sin.

This chapter throws a devastating blow to the notion that we can roll around in the muck of sin, enjoying the so-called beauty of that which is unredeemed. How can we who have died to sin live any longer in it? God never intended for us to serve two masters (Matthew 6:24); He wants us to choose one or the other.

If you say that you belong to Christ, have you put the old man of sin to death, or, as Paul said, destroyed it? If you have not, then you do not yet belong to Christ. Don’t just turn from your sin, crucify it, and begin serving Jesus today.