IT is a fact obvious, of course, to all, that when a Christian dies and goes to heaven he is completely delivered from the power of sin. It is manifestly impossible that sin can have any power or authority over a dead man then it is not so readily seen or admitted that the believer, even now, is as thoroughly delivered from the power of sin as though he were dead and gone to heaven. Sin has no more dominion over a Christian than over a man who is actually dead and buried.
We speak of the power of sin; not of its presence. Let the reader carefully note this. There is as regards the question of sin this material difference between a Christian here and hereafter. Here he is delivered only from the power of sin; hereafter, he will be freed from its presence. In his present condition sin dwells in him; but it is not to reign. By-and-by, it will not even dwell. The reign of sin is over and gone. The reign of grace has begun. “Sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under law, but under grace.”
And, be it carefully observed, the apostle is not speaking, in Rom. 6, of the forgiveness of sins. This he treats in chapter iii. Blessed be God, our sins are all forgiven—blotted out—eternally canceled. But, in chapter vi., the theme is not forgiveness of sins, but complete deliverance from site as a ruling power or principle.
How do we obtain this immense boon? By death. We have died to sin—died in the death of Christ. Is this true of every believer? Yes, of every believer beneath the canopy of heaven. Is it not a matter of attainment? By no means. It belongs to every child of God, every true believer. It is the common standing of all. Blessed, holy standing! All praise to Him who has earned it for us, and brought us into it. We live under the glorious reign of grace—“grace which reigns through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.”
This enfranchising truth is little understood by the Lord’s people. Very few, comparatively, get beyond the forgiveness of sins, if they have even got so far. They do not see their full deliverance from the power of sin. They feel its pressure, and arguing from their painful feeling instead of reckoning themselves to Le wind God tells them they are, they are plunged in doubt and fear as to their conversion. They are occupied with their own inward self-consciousness instead of with Christ. They are looking at their State in order to get peace and comfort, and hence they are, and must be, miserable. We shall never get peace if we seek it in our spiritual state or condition. The way to get peace is to believe that we died with Christ, were buried with Him, were raised with Him, are justified in Him, accepted in Him. In short that, “As he is so are we in this world.” 1 John 4:17.
This is the solid basis of peace. And not only so, but it is the only divine secret of a holy life. We are dead to sin. We are not called to make ourselves dead. We are so in Christ. A monk, an ascetic, or an ardent striver after sinless perfection, may try to put sin to death by various bodily exercises. What is the inevitable result? Misery. Yes, misery in proportion to the earnestness. How different is Christianity! We start with the blessed knowledge find we are dead to sin; and in the blessed faith of this, we “mortify” not the body, but its “deeds.”
May the reader enter, by faith, into the power of this “deliverance!”