Notes of an address on Romans 6:11-23
W. J. Hocking.
1913 349 I commenced to read this evening at the eleventh verse, because the practical application of the truth communicated in the early part of the chapter begins there: "Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
On a former occasion we saw that the apostle treats of the manner in which the believer is delivered from the power of sin as a principle of action, and the whole question of his conduct was seen to rest, like all such questions, on Christ Jesus and His work.
We have to look to Him for the solution of all the problems of practical moment that arise day by day in our lives, and one of our most difficult problems is how to regard the uprising of the evil nature in our hearts. This nature asserts itself in spite of the sense of God's love within us. We may have cherished the vain hope of growing out of such tendencies, and year by year of approaching nearer a state of holiness and perfection.
If so, honesty must compel us to admit that so far as our hearts are concerned, little or no real progress is made towards the extinction of inward evil. This chapter, however, sheds light on this problem. It shows that the evil nature whose presence and action we mourn received its utter condemnation in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sin itself (speaking now not of sinful acts but of that which is the origin of them) was judged at the cross when He who knew no sin was made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21). And we learn that in the mind of God we are associated with the Lord Jesus Christ in His death, and thus, as descend ants of the first Adam, we have passed into nonexistence, but have also partaken of the risen life of Christ beyond the judicial death. And this instruction brings us to the exhortation with which we opened this evening.
Reckoning Ourselves Dead to Sin
The apostle had spoken of the death of the Lord Jesus, and that He now lives to God in a state altogether apart from sin. The Lord passed through this evil world uncontaminated by sin within and without. He went to the cross absolutely pure, but was there made vicariously the abhorrent thing, and judged on account of it. But rising from the dead and being exalted by the right hand of God, a new state of things ensued — a new creation — of which Christ is the Head. And in this newness of life sin is a past thing.
The apostle therefore directs believers to regard themselves as having already passed from death to life where Christ is: "Likewise reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (ver. 11).
This verb "reckon" carries us back to the fourth chapter of this Epistle, where we read of God reckoning Abraham righteous because of his faith. The patriarch believed God in a matter which seemed in itself most improbable. For in the ordinary course of nature it seemed an incredible thing that blessing should flow to the earth through the unborn seed of an old man and woman. But Abraham believed the LORD and His promises, and this was counted to him for righteousness (Gen. 15:6). God looking down from heaven regarded Abraham as a righteous man. His faith was in connection with the seed which was to come, that is, Christ; and indeed this confidence was true also of all the Old Testament saints. There might be and was failure, as there were faults; but wheresoever there was faith it) the Coming One it was reckoned for righteousness.
Here we are exhorted to reckon ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. It must be carefully observed that this is an exercise of faith. If we consider ourselves conscientiously we shall find ourselves capable of sinning, if not actually sinning. We fail to find inward or subjective evidence that we are dead to sin. But faith accepts the testimony of the word of God that I am associated with Christ in both death and resurrection. Hence I am dead to the dominant power of sin and alive heavenward. This status I must accept if I believe God rather than self.
To God or to Self?
We must broaden our views of what sin really means. Taken comprehensively it includes all that lacks due reference to God. Actions precisely similar in outward appearance may nevertheless differ in essential quality and value according as they are done to self or to God.
An instance of this is recorded in the Gospels. It occurred in the temple courts at the time when the offerings were being placed in the treasury chest. Here was an opportunity of making a sacrifice to God by depositing a sum of money for the use of the temple service. Many rich and influential persons gave substantial amounts, doing so in an ostentatious manner to attract the attention and admiration of their neighbours. Thus the offertory became to them a means of self-advertisement, and they gained as their reward the notice of their fellows.
But the Lord observed among the offerers a person of another order. There was a poor widowed heart in the company overwhelmed with gratitude and praise to God. Something had happened in her experience which caused her to be full of thanksgiving to God who had granted her some special fulness of blessing. She was therefore impelled to offer some sacrifice of her goods to His service (Luke 21:1-4).
What should she render to the Lord for all His benefits? Two mites constituted her sole livelihood. Under such circumstances should she not divide the small pittance, giving a part and reserving a part? From the point of view of what is called practical economics this course would seem the more reasonable. But the widow did not regard the matter from the standpoint of her own present or future needs, for she was full of a sense of the great kindness of Jehovah to her. She resolved she would not hold back anything, being a contrast with Ananias and Sapphira of a later day. She placed her all in the box — not the widow's mite, but her two mites. Her gift was to God. She gained the victory over self, and everything being offered to God, the gift was appraised by the heavenly standard. Her motives gave the sacrifice of her goods a value above that of all the rest.
Another example of this truth is to be gathered from the Epistle to the Philippians. Paul, by reference to himself, shows how worthless, though moral in themselves, acts become when the will of God is contravened. In the third chapter he speaks of himself and of what he was before he knew the Lord. He enumerates the privileges he possessed at that time only to pronounce them to be not only valueless but even offensive. His circumcision and law-keeping were quite proper matters for satisfaction until he learned the super-excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.
The qualities he names are not such as are sinful in themselves, but such as might reasonably give him confidence in the flesh. And the flesh is not necessarily the evil principle. It is the natural way of doing things, that is, always acting from the individual's own standpoint, without looking above and seeking the will of God.
Saul of Tarsus before his conversion had a position of pre-eminence. If any one might have confidence in the flesh, he most surely might have done so. Did he not contend zealously for the law? Was he not desirous of keeping it to its most minute particular? Yet at the very time during which he supposed he was doing God service he was persecuting the church of God.
Touching the righteousness of the law, he was blameless. Can you imagine anything more desirable in a man? In outward demeanour he was perfect and upright so far as the eye could see. But having learned the truth of the person of the Christ in glory, he counted the whole of his own attainments in this respect as nothing and worse than that.
He wrote then quietly in prison, looking back upon his past life in the light he had received through advancing years, without a warped imagination and without self-deception, and he describes his early days as blameless. The statement is a remarkable one; but whatever gain this unblemished character might have been to him he counted it but loss for Christ. He reckoned himself to be dead indeed to those things and alive to God through Jesus Christ the Lord. The things he mentions had no more effect upon him than upon a dead person.
This piece of autobiography is an illustration of our text. What Paul wrote by way of doctrine in Romans, he exemplified from his own life in Philippians. In the earlier Epistle he spoke of being alive to God through Christ Jesus the Lord. In the later we see the activities of that life expressing themselves in intensity of desire and earnestness of effort.
There was therefore a continuity in the life of the apostle. He did not depart from the self-renunciation of his early days. His enthusiasm did not wane as trials and persecutions multiplied. Neither did self assume a Christian garb. Christ was the dominating object before him, as the Epistle to the Philippians reveals. In practice he was still reckoning himself dead to sin, but alive to God.
The Reign of Sin
We now come to a further exhortation: "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof" (ver. 12). The truth underlying this command is that in our natural state the inward evil principle lords it over us completely. The whole person is carried away by selfish pursuits and pleasures, and from this bondage the gospel delivers us, bringing us under a new Master, even Jesus the Lord.
To Him we are called to yield ourselves as those who are alive from the dead. We are not free agents in the sense of being "our own," but we are His who died for us and rose again. We cannot plan to serve the Lord today or tomorrow as it may suit us. In such matters self has no right to rule or to decide. We are delivered from its reign, and Christian service is but to give Christ His own.
Yielding Ourselves and Our Members
From verse 13 we gather that there are two divisions in the act of surrender. The act is to apply to the person as a whole, and to the various separate powers he possesses. "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."
We have then to present self, that is, to present the entire being, spirit, soul and body. This we offer to Him as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable, our reasonable service. The whole entity is His, and we "yield ourselves to God as those that are alive from the dead."
This act may be called consecration or dedication, or whatever you please. But in fact it constitutes the heart's response to the living Lord, from the initial stage of its history. Saul of Tarsus from the dust said "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" In self-abnegation he placed himself unreservedly at the Master's disposal. This surrender was, of course, in principle at first, but he followed on in that attitude of heart, schooling and educating himself physically and morally to do the will of God in all things, all his members subjugated and working together harmoniously to this common end.
Justification of Life
The apostle brings in practical righteousness as the outcome of such service as this, "Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" "Being then made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness." "Now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness."
In the previous chapters of this Epistle the apostle treats of that judicial righteousness which we receive through faith. But the concomitant effect upon the believer is to make his conduct righteous also. Righteous actions or "works are the evidence of inward faith. So James instructs us. He says, "Faith without works is dead," and he refers to the case of Abraham. "Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?" (James 2:20-21).
Now the patriarch believed God some forty years before the sacrifice of Isaac. It was a settled thing between God and him. God promised; Abraham believed God; and He counted it to him for righteousness (Gen. 15:6). But this righteous, ness of faith was to be demonstrated before men, and on mount Moriah Abraham's life was justified by his actions.
Fruit Unto Holiness
"But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life" (ver. 22). Holiness implies separation to the service of God. The vessels of the tabernacle and of the temple were holy, for they were used exclusively in the worship of Jehovah. When Belshazzar used them at his revels, the judgment of God fell upon the impious king.
Believers are holy vessels belonging to God, and placed here in the world for His service. Filled with Christ, what use may we not be to thirsty souls? The result of our yielding ourselves up as bondslaves to God will be "fruit unto holiness."
It involves an error to think of holiness only from its negative side; for it implies much more than the absence of sin. Consideration of this aspect alone leads to a morbid state in which there is often a long and unavailing struggle to attain to this condition. The whole truth is that holiness is positive as well as negative. It expresses itself in an absolute devotion to God. The holy are His instruments. When God takes hold of a man, the divine touch makes him holy.
We are therefore to yield ourselves to God as those that are alive to Him, not keeping back a part like Ananias and Sapphira, whose devotion was a pretence and abomination to God. Such fruit was not unto holiness.
Sin's Wages and God's Gift
The apostle concludes this section with the weighty declaration, "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (ver. 23). This is one of the few instances of the mention of eternal life in the writings of Paul. In John the subject abounds both in his Gospel and in his Epistles. The two apostles, however, are in no sense in opposition to one another, but were inspired to record different views of the same blessing of God for man through His grace.
Paul shows us eternal life in its activities in the justified person — the new life which is in a risen Saviour. Instead of corruption and death which are the emoluments of a life of sin, God bestows eternal life through Jesus Christ. Through the grace of God, we are justified by faith, for Jesus the Lord was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification; and that great sacrifice made way for us to be delivered from the thraldom in which we were once held to the evil propensities of our nature.
This then is the new life which God gives. He has made us free to live to Him and to serve Him in the name of Jesus Christ. W. J. H.