The reason that Paul says to "reckon your old man dead"......is because the old man is "crucified with Christ".
So, on The Cross, Jesus dealt with the law and with all our sin., "having obtained ETERNAL redemption FOR US">
So our redemption is not based on our works or our sin confessing, or anything else WE DO.
But its only based on God's Blood Atonement.
The Lord had to fulfill the law to be able to resolve and end its capacity to judge us as "sinners".
Once Jesus did this, then the "dominion of the law" was replaced by : "you are no longer under the law but UNDER GRACE".
And that is why as "new creations" "in Christ" we are no longer "under the law".
When we were unbelievers, the law had the right, by dominion, to declare us to be "sinners".
But now this dominion, this "curse of the law", has been removed, and we are "under Grace".
This is why we are now become "new Creation" "Saints", as this is the correct term based on Christ's redemption having declared us "the righteousness of God, In Christ".
The reason we reckon or count or consider ourselves dead to sin is because now, in communion with God, we have that choice, that ability to overcome sin. So the very next verse continues:
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Rom 6:12
This aligns with Paul’s thoughts throughout Romans, including Rom 8:12-14
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
And this is because we now possess the righteousness to do it, by the Spirit, because of the reconciliation with God won by Christ.
“…not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.” Phil 3:9
Grace is not merely the favor of God, but it’s the
life of God in us: it’s life in the Spirit. And this is the only way to true obedience, righteousness, fulfilling the law- not by being
under the law which can only result in an external pretense of righteousness at best. So, again,
“To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.” Rom 2:7
“For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.” Rom 2:13
We’re now given the ability to do,
with God, what we cannot do
, on our own.
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Rom 8:1-4
The law can
only serve to show us that we’re sinners, even as it also still accurately reflects what sinlessness or righteousness “looks like”, which is why Paul tells us in Rom 7 that the law is right: holy, spiritual, and good;
we’re the problem, not the law. We become new creations because we
are new creations, now able to accomplish what we couldn’t accomplish before, under the law.
“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it.” Rom 3:21
“But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God." Gal 5”:18-21
“Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin. No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.” 1 John 3:4-6
“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” John 17:3
To know God is to enter into and participate in His love. By the greatest commandments we’re
commanded to love, and in the fulfillment of
those commandments all the law is fulfilled-and man’s justice is complete. Who could truly argue against
that obligation? The gospel is not a get-out-of-hell-free-card for those who believe, as if God suddenly decides, after expelling man from Eden for his sin and man suffering centuries of exile from Him involving the spiritual death that this exile entails with all the sin that results and has been experienced over those years, with humans victimizing each other when man's will reigns, all the pain and suffering, to now change His mind and say, “Hey guys, time out, as long as you
believe in Me and the work of My Son I no longer
care about sin/injustice anymore, I no longer relate justification with actually being…well…
just. Sin will no longer earn you death." That’s
not the gospel. Past sin is forgiven. Now we’re to ‘go and sin no more’, by the Spirit, in communion with God.
And when we fail, if and when we depart fellowship with Him due to attraction to sin, we can, with metanoia, a sincere and contrite change of heart, enter into fellowship with Him again-His forgiveness always available.
The reason that faith is counted to us as righteousness is because it unites us with God, reversing the rebellion and subsequent exile from God that Adam initiated. Faith puts us back into actually
having God as our God, back into right relationship and stead with Him. Paul’s whole point was to solidly distinguish legalism from grace, human-fueled “righteousness”
apart from God from true righteousness, “the righteousness of God”, attainable only in partnership
with Him. Anything done in and through that relationship is
always good, finally.
We don’t even exist, we can’t ‘live and move and have our being’ apart from God.
Everything we have comes from Him. But we don’t even have to acknowledge
His existence. But when we
do acknowledge that, along with coming to recognize and acknowledge His goodness, trustworthiness, mercy, and love, we now become connected with Him, and that relationship or state, itself, is the basis and essence of man’s own righteousness. It’s a matter of the will, now aided by the grace that brings us into contact with Him. We don’t decide our gender or the color of our hair or whether we’ll have eyes and a nose, or whether or not we’ll breathe, etc- that’s all determined without us- but when it comes to morality, moral self-determination, when it comes to sin, we have the choice, either to recognize God as our God, with
His will being done, or prefer ourselves and our wills instead. We’re here to learn of the foolishness of the latter so we might embrace the former when He comes to call. Faith is the glue that starts our binding or fusion with God. We’re
fully bound to the extent that we love Him with our whole, heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Then sin would be completely excluded. That’s all to begin
here even if it won’t be fully and perfectly completed until the next life, when we meet Him “face to face”.
The difference between the old and new covenants isn’t in whether or not we must fulfill the law or be obedient or righteous in order to be saved. We must do that in either case, in the manner the church as historically understood that obligation. The difference is in
how this is accomplished, either under the law by works of the law (which
doesn’t work) or under grace, by works of love, with obedience
born of love. Either apart from God, or
with God, IOW. God wants more
for us that we can begin to imagine, which also means He expects more
from us, with more expected from those given more, all for
our benefit. Then
He decides at the end of the day how well we’ve done with whatever we’ve been given.
And if you made it this far, sorry for the long-winded post.
