For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace (Rom. 6:14).
Here in this life the punishment of sin is that it brings a person under its power. Sin will reign anywhere it can, but it is not satisfied with any authority less than the throne of the heart. For that reason the apostle warns, "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof" (verse 12).
We are to reckon ourselves dead unto sin since God has reckoned us righteous through faith in Christ (Rom. 4:9). Sin is the transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4), and sin is a universal curse, because "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). Therefore, all the world is under the condemnation of the law and thus guilty before God (Rom. 3:19). But now, believing in Jesus Christ as the atoning sacrifice for our sins, we are justified by faith (Gal. 3:8), and the law cannot condemn us.
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:8, 9). Now, therefore, "being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24), we are to live for God. No longer are we to yield to sin. The old nature, the former life as a slave under the power of sin, is dead, and we are risen to "walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4).
God's grace, greater than all our sins, makes us free from the condemnation of past sin and enables us to live victoriously day by day. It is when sin has dominion over us that we are "under the law" in the meaning of this text. But when that tyrannous dominion is broken by the grace of God in Christ Jesus, we re not longer under the law, but under grace. May God give us this victory forever and ever!
MEDITATION PRAYER: "For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great" (Ps. 25:11).
Here in this life the punishment of sin is that it brings a person under its power. Sin will reign anywhere it can, but it is not satisfied with any authority less than the throne of the heart. For that reason the apostle warns, "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof" (verse 12).
We are to reckon ourselves dead unto sin since God has reckoned us righteous through faith in Christ (Rom. 4:9). Sin is the transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4), and sin is a universal curse, because "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). Therefore, all the world is under the condemnation of the law and thus guilty before God (Rom. 3:19). But now, believing in Jesus Christ as the atoning sacrifice for our sins, we are justified by faith (Gal. 3:8), and the law cannot condemn us.
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:8, 9). Now, therefore, "being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24), we are to live for God. No longer are we to yield to sin. The old nature, the former life as a slave under the power of sin, is dead, and we are risen to "walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4).
God's grace, greater than all our sins, makes us free from the condemnation of past sin and enables us to live victoriously day by day. It is when sin has dominion over us that we are "under the law" in the meaning of this text. But when that tyrannous dominion is broken by the grace of God in Christ Jesus, we re not longer under the law, but under grace. May God give us this victory forever and ever!
MEDITATION PRAYER: "For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great" (Ps. 25:11).
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