Romans 6:12 – Freedom in a mortal body 

Let not Sin, then, be reigning in your mortal body, for you to be obeying its lusts.

We walk “de jure” (i.e., according to law) “in newness of life.” Alive on the other side of the grave. That is how God reckons and that is how we can reckon. But “de facto” (i.e., actually) we are still walking in a “mortal body.” Paul’s call boils down to the fact that in this “mortal body” we are already anticipating the future when our bodies will be redeemed (8:23). Soon we will ‘de facto’ no longer be able to sin. But today we no longer need to let sin reign in our “mortal body.” What does that mean?

We read the answer in the previous sentence to which this verse connects (“let then…”). It means reckoning yourself as dead to sin and living to God. Whoever reckons himself as a sinner is by definition ruled by sin. You cannot do anything but sin, because being a sinner belongs to your identity. Such a mindset makes you slavishly obedient to the desires of sin.

What determines the focus and direction in our “mortal body” is how we count ourselves. Am I a sinner? Or do I live to GOD? 

Delen: