The title of this article is an oxymoron. An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which contradictory terms are combined, as in the phrase, “a deafening silence.” In the physical realm, a living-dead man contradicts all known facts but in the spiritual realm it is a glorious reality. The Apostle Paul describes this living-dead man in verse 11. He is “dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
In the previous chapter the Apostle Paul declares that grace abounds much more over sin through Jesus. This led to the absurd teaching that we ought to sin more because the more we sin than the more grace will abound and therefore we would be better off. This, they believed, would give God an occasion to show the greatness of his mercy in forgiveness.
In the first 2 verses of chapter 6, Paul addresses the absurdity of this teaching by posing the rhetorical question; “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” In other words, shall we go on sinning so that God may have opportunity to show His abounding grace? Paul responds, “God forbid.” (Greek: ‘may it never be.’) “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” He positively denies that grace allows for any sin. The glory of the Roman letter and theme of this chapter is that through Jesus Christ we can experience and enjoy full deliverance from sin. This full deliverance from sin requires two distinct works of grace, regeneration and entire sanctification.
Regeneration is that first work of grace whereby God, for Christ’s sake, forgives us of all past sins in response to our repentance and faith. It is a perfect work provided in the death and resurrection of our Lord and administered by the Holy Spirit and commonly referred to as the ‘birth of the Spirit’. Regeneration means to create life anew.
Entire sanctification is the second work of grace that cleanses the believer of inbred sin, the carnal mind, or as recorded in the 6th verse, “that our ‘old man’ is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” It is important to notice that regeneration is a birth but sanctification is a death. The Apostle makes this obvious in verse 7 when he writes, “For he that is dead is freed from (the) sin.” Here we see that sin is not suppressed but destroyed and one is detached or loosed from (the) sin. The article (the) is to show that the sin spoken of is not an act but a principle, a tendency, a pollution, a perversion, a taskmaster that enslaves its captives.
The objectors to this blessed truth often ask: “Isn’t God able to complete the job in one act?” It is not a question of God’s ability or power. God works, or operates, by certain laws. He could cause the sun to rise in the West and set in the East, but He does not do so. As far as His power and ability to do a thing is concerned, He could entirely sanctify a man when He forgives him, but such evidently is not His plan and purpose. Hence, the command, the call, and the promise of entire sanctification is never given to the sinner, but always, without exception, to the believers–to the church…Ephesians 5:25-27.
In verse 6 the Apostle writes, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve (the) sin.” The “old man” refers to the believer’s former life and character and is always used in a derogatory sense. “Old” refers to its antiquity and its long association with us…it is inborn since Adam’s fall.
The phrase “body of sin”, is the unitary evil of the soul that embodies all the evils that beset and destroy mankind. To illustrate, if one was a part of a delegation of an assembly, each delegate would have a voice and could vote their individual opinion. When all votes are counted the assembly would speak as a body with one voice and one opinion. When God destroys the “body of sin”, while it may have many and varied manifestations, God does not destroy sin piecemeal (piece by piece), but rather He destroys sin as a unit. Verse 7 says, “for he that is dead is freed from (the) sin.” This verse presents a death-life or a life of freedom out of death.
We not only enjoy liberty through death but verse 11 reveals that we can enjoy life through death. This is to be experienced through “reckoning faith”. The word reckon does not mean that we presume, pretend or make-believe. It is an accountant term and is as exacting as 2 plus 2 equals 4. It is a fact of experience in the light of Biblical mathematics. When a believer makes a total consecration and reckons faith in the sacrifice of Calvary, it will always tallies out to perfect love and freedom from sin.
The word, “likewise” in verse 11 means ‘in the same way’ and reveals that there is a parallel between the death of the Savior and the death of sin. One is as real as the other. If one permits the word reckon to mean merely presume or pretend and he only pretends that he is dead indeed unto sin, when in reality he continues in sin, he not only does injury to the scripture but harm to his own soul. If the former statement is true, then in the light of Biblical language, and the admonition “likewise,” one would would only be pretending that Jesus died unto sin, because as earlier stated, one is as real as the other.
There is a further parallel between the two in that Jesus died unto sin “once.” The implication is that we are not to die to sin daily but it is to be as finished and complete as the death of the Savior. When Paul said in I Corinthians 15:31, “I die daily,” he was not speaking of dying to sin daily. He was speaking of the danger he faced everyday. Daily, he faced bodily harm and even physical death from his foes in the performance of his ministry.
It should be noted however, that in the death to sin one is not so fixed or complete in his character as to be beyond temptation or the possibility of sinning. It is full-deliverance in this world not final-deliverance out of this world. There must be the continual denial of self and continued dependence on His cleansing blood. The fact that man is freed from the tyranny of (the) sin, will be of little or no effect if we fail to walk in the light with the promise of His present and continuous cleansing. Freedom from (the) sin simply implies me, minus indwelling sin, plus the indwelling Christ, living moment by moment in obedient faith in His atoning blood. With (the) sin no longer reigning in our mortal bodies we are admonished not to, “yield our members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield ourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”
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