RECKON YOURSELF TO BE DEAD

 HOME OF ARTICLES 

“For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:10-11 NKJV)

 

There is a remarkable difference between a dead man and a man dying or about to die. The Scripture teaches that the born-again believers have been united with Christ in His death and resurrection likeness.

Romans 6:3-5 – RSV

3. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Paul boldly declared that he had been crucified with Christ.

Galatians 2:20 – NKJV

 20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

• The same is true of you as a believer in Christ!
• The Scripture amply testifies to this truth.

Galatians 5:24 – WEB

24 Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.  

Colossians 3:3 – NKJV

3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Romans 7: 4-6 – NKJV

 4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another–to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.

 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.

 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Therefore, having been crucified with Christ, buried with Christ, and raised from the dead together with Christ as a new creation or self in Christ, the born-again believers have overcome Sin and the Flesh with their passions and lusts.

“For he who has died has been freed from sin.” (Rom. 6:7 NKJV).

However, it takes you acknowledging, believing, reckoning, proclaiming, and applying the truth that your flesh, with all its lusts, passions, and desires, has been crucified through Christ’s body to experience true freedom and victory over the flesh and sin.

Seeking, striving, or struggling to die daily to the flesh or sin implies that you are not yet free from sin, but you are still a slave or debtor to the flesh who is bound to obey and gratify its passions and lusts (Romans. 8:11-13).

While it is true that as a new creation in Christ, you no longer possess a sinful and fallen nature but only a divine and holy nature of God, you still keep a natural mind that has been set, taught, or programmed to be selfish, hostile, and rebellious to God by the old man or your sinful self before it was crucified with Christ on the cross.

Therefore, the residues of the old man left behind in your mind, will, emotions and body after his death through the cross of Christ must be dealt with. How?

By renewing your mind!

It is your responsibility to ensure that you constantly renew your natural mind according to the truths of God’s Word so that it may conform to the mind of Christ in your born-again spirit. How do you do this?

By prayerfully, diligently, and constantly reading, studying, listening to, imbibing, meditating upon, and conforming to the truths of God’s Word, especially in the New Testament (John 15:3, 17:17, Romans. 12:2, Ephesians. 5:26, 1 Tim. 4:5).

Besides your natural mind, which has been set on the things of the flesh and the world, you also possess a naturally weak body, vile, lowly, and vulnerable. Therefore, your body’s full redemption will occur at the second coming of Christ (1 Cor. 15:53-54, 2 Cor. 5:4-5, Phil. 3:20-21).

In the meantime, the Holy Spirit quickens, strengthens, and sustains our mortal body until the day of its full redemption (Romans. 8:11). But how do you handle temptations to sin that come through your unrenewed mind and mortal body?

By reckoning yourself to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus!

You don’t need to die daily to experience and enjoy victory over sin, the flesh, and the world. All you need to do is reckon yourself dead to sin and yield to God’s Spirit.

Romans 6:11 – NKJV

11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What does it mean to reckon yourself to be dead to sin?

The word translated “reckon” in Romans . 6:11 is the Greek word “logizomai.”

The word denotes “to reckon, count, compute, calculate, count over, take into account, suppose, deem, judge, consider, take into account, mediate on” (BLB Lexicon).

The Greek word (logizomai) conveys no causative meaning but only an inventory or assessment of a condition. Therefore, the state of being dead to sin already exists for the Christian, but we must seize this benefit by reckoning it to be so. 

The word “indeed” in this verse further establishes that this is already an accomplished work of Christ that we are simply appropriating (Andrew’s Wommack Study Bible).

In other words, to reckon yourself to be dead to sin implies:

• To consider yourself dead to sin (Rom. 6:11 RSV).
• To regard yourself dead in relation to sin (Rom. 6:11 WNT).
• To count yourself to be dead unto sin (Rom. 6:11 MNT).
• Think of yourself as dead so far as sin is concerned (Rom. 6:11 GNT).

While it is true that your sinful self has been crucified with Christ on the cross, thereby making you dead to sin, if you fail to reckon, consider, regard, or count yourself dead indeed to sin, you will continue to struggle with sins and fall into temptations.

A dead man does not struggle with sin “Because he who is dead is free from sin.” (Romans. 6:7 BBE).

Prayer:

My Dear Heavenly Father, I declare today that I am dead to sin and the flesh with its desires, lusts, and passions through Christ’s death on the cross. Dear Holy Spirit, teach and help me to deny, disown, forget, give up, and ignore myself constantly, consistently, and continuously so that I may follow and obey my Lord Jesus Christ, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Our mandate is to preserve the faith of the Apostolic Generation.

Eniyekpemi Fidelis Oyinpreyebi.

AWH, Blogs.

Share this: