The Abiding Life: Part 7 Romans 6:12-13

Romans 6:12-13

 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 

13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of

unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

Therefore? Way back in Mrs. Elkhart's 7th grade language arts class, I was taught... if it says therefore, find out what it's there for. So what's your therefore, there for? Remember yesterday's verse,   Romans 6:11

11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

There's our therefore... if we are dead to sin and alive in Christ, we must not let sin reign in our lives. Wait...that's confusing isn't sin a constant in our lives??? Well it's there. But in this case we are not speaking of the sins of the flesh, rather of sin. There's a difference???

SIN - the original pride, self centeredness, power or entity that tempts us. Going all the way back to push temptation and doubt into our lives... aka Lucifer, Satan, The Devil, Bealzabub, etc...

Sins - those actions we take when we give in to Sin.

There is plenty of terminology in these two verses that can lead to some confusion. What exactly is Paul referring to when he says mortal body? Just that. The flesh, bones, muscle of our physical selves...as opposed to when he says flesh, that usually implies our sinful nature, ie. Sins of the Flesh. What are the members he speaks of?? This can be compared to our senses... and instruments? What do we all need to play the tuba? No an instrument is a tool of sorts. A tuba is in fact a musical tool.

So, what does that mean to us?

We are dead to Sin sooo do not let it control our body's actions. Do not let it back inside. What we need to do is take our physical body to God allowing Him to use all of us (head, shoulders, knees and toes) not just our bodies but our senses, our heart, all of us. And use them as tools (or be realistic allow God to use them as tools) of righteousness to God.

Any clearer?

Bottom line, use our tools to serve God not sin.

Shauni

*remember these are my thoughts on this verse and what I took away from my Bible study.. feel free to add yours to the discussion.