Your Flesh as an Instrument for Righteousness
“knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him; knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no more has dominion over him! For the death that he died, he died to sin one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.” (Romans 6:6-14 WEB)
Our human spirit that was dead in sin (inherited from Adam) cannot be reformed through good works. The only way we can be freed from sin is to die to it and be resurrected with a completely clean slate.
This is what happens when you first placed your faith in Jesus. Your old self was in that instant crucified with Christ, and the Holy Spirit resurrected you and made you a new spirit. This new spirit has a divine nature because it is joined with the Holy Spirit to become one spirit.
Since death is the penalty of sin, and you have already died, you have been freed from sin.
Now the true you (the reborn spirit) is already having eternal life because you will never die again.
We have to stop identifying ourselves with our mortal flesh. When the New Testament says “you”, it is talking about you the spirit—the real you.
I like how Paul distinguishes the mortal body (“your members”) as “instruments”. You live in a body, but you are not the body!
Imagine that you are a person sitting in a robot and controlling it.
Paul is telling us to control the robot and use it for righteousness to glorify God. Those who do not understand what has happened to their spirit are the ones who let the robots control them.
They leave the robot in autopilot mode and it takes them wherever it wishes, in the form of being driven by sinful passions and evil imaginations of the flesh. The problem is that the robot’s autopilot mode is faulty, and the error causes it to do evil things that are against God’s will.
Yes, sin is still present in the body, but we do not have to obey its solicitations. Sin is not our master anymore.
Instead, we can tune in to our spirit and be led by the Holy Spirit. Let Him supply your robot with the ability to do what is pleasing to God. All you have to do is realize that you are not the robot. You are the one in the driver’s seat. You are actually holy, perfect, blameless, and righteous like Jesus. Time to steer your flesh well as an “instrument of righteousness to God”!
The epistle to the Romans has got to be one of my favorite books of the Bible. For every believer who is new to reading the Bible on their own, I always recommend starting with John and Romans. Starting tomorrow, I will be embarking on a new Patreon Bible Study series focused on Romans. If you want to receive it, join our community as a “God Every Morning” tier or above patron on Patreon. Looking forward to growing in the knowledge and revelation of God’s word with you: http://Patreon.com/miltongohblog
