| Apart from Christ, all are spiritually “dead in trespasses and sins.” In the Garden of Eden, “the Lord God commanded the man, saying … of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” But “the woman … took of the fruit … and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned,” so we hear the Saviour saying, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,” and “we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” So “neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” |
