“You’re dead to me.”
I’ve heard that phrase on a few reality shows. Supposedly it goes back to The Godfather. It signifies a complete and final break in relationship.
Is that what Paul had in mind about our relationship with sin when he wrote Romans 6? “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Rom 6:1-2). There are so many different ways to think about being dead to sin.
- Does it mean that we’ll never want to sin? No, Paul says later in chapter 7, “When I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.” Even if we’ve died to sin, we’ll still have sinful desires.
- Does it mean we’ll slowly become less sinful? No, Paul doesn’t say “You’re in the process of dying to sin.” He says “You died!” Past tense. Once and for all. You’re dead to it!
- Does it mean I still need to kill the sin inside me? Yes, but that’s not what Paul’s saying here. He says we already died to it. It’s something that was done to us, not something we can do for ourselves. Being dead to sin will empower us to fight sin (“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body” – v 12), but we just can’t soften the definite language Paul’s using here: “You died! You’re dead. Not mostly dead, not halfway dead, totally dead! You died to sin.”
So that brings us back to the same question: “What does it really mean to be dead to sin?”
Here’s what it means: we’re no longer under the reign of sin. That’s what Paul says a few verses later: “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin” (Rom 6:6-7).
Being dead to sin means that you’re no longer enslaved by your sin. You’re no longer ruled by your sin. Sin will still be inside you, and still have some amount of influence over you, but it won’t reign over you you anymore. You were a slave to sin, but if you’ve put your trust in Jesus as your savior and king, he’s set you free.
The problem is that many times, we don’t remember that.
Imagine that sin is a literal slavemaster. A cruel and ruthless and abusive master. One day, a new sheriff comes into town, hears what your master is doing to you, and puts him in jail. But the thing is, it’s one of those jails that you see in old Western movies. The kind where the prison windows are right on the main street, and the prisoners can yell through the bars at the people walking by.
So every time you walk through town, that’s exactly what your slavemaster does. He’s in prison. He doesn’t have any power over you anymore. He can’t make you do anything. But when you walk down the street, he can still yell at you. He can insult you. He can try to manipulate you. He can try to control you. “Hey, come over here and give me a drink!”
You can walk over and listen to him, and obey what he’s telling you to do, or you can just keep walking, and ignore him. That’s the freedom Jesus has given you. That’s what it means to be dead to your sin.
You’re free! Sin doesn’t reign over you anymore. So don’t let sin reign over you anymore.