As we reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God, we need to present=
our
members as "weapons of righteousness to God". Paul's concept in
Romans 6 is of weapons of righteousness due to the war between righteousness
and unrighteousness. Romans 7:23 proves that a battle is raging within man.
Romans 13:12 says, "let us put on the weapons of light." This also
proves that a war is raging. In such a fight we need weapons. Every member =
of
our body is a weapon. We shou=
ld be
on the alert for the next battle, for we are warring constantly. Once we
realize and know that we are dead to sin and alive to God, and reckon ourse=
lves
to be such, we must present our members as weapons of righteousness to fight
the battle.
&nb=
sp; Before our salvation our members where weapons of unrighteous=
ness
clearly revealed in Romans 3:10-18.=
Here you see the Satanic nature of the Old
Man. After our salvation our
members, presented to God become weapons of righteousness. God’s nature in us as the Ne=
w Man
is manifested through our members.
We now have eyes that look for Christ, hands that handle Christ, ears
that hear the Spirit speaking, and feet that are now available to God in His
gospel. When we come [present=
ing
our selves] to the Lord in prayer, devour His Word as food, fellowship with
those who are handling the Word of life, pay attention to what the Spirit is
speaking to the churches, then we put our selves under the hearing that
sanctifies us and the result is eternal life. It is this obedience [under hearin=
g]
from the heart to the form of teaching that we have been delivered.
&nb=
sp; We
stand with this eternal life. In this way we give the eternal life the
opportunity to work within us, to separate us from everything common, and to
sanctify us. The result of this presentation is sanctification. This is the
order of our experience: we see, we reckon, we present ourselves to God, we
reject sin, and we cooperate with God.
We must reject sin, for it still dwells in our fallen body. Do not
cooperate with sin any longer. Reject sin and cooperate with God. Do not be=
so
spiritual that you become passive and cease to do anything at all. Passivit=
y is
dreadful. If you are passive, you will be cheated and deceived. We should be
neither passive nor too active, since neither our passivity nor our activit=
y is
of any value. What then should we do? We must see the facts, reckon ourselv=
es
dead to sin and alive to God, present our members and ourselves to God, rej=
ect
sin, and cooperate with our God. We should not do anything on our own. Do n=
ot
try to love your wife or submit to your husband. Do not try to be humble or
kind. However, you need to reject sin. When sin comes to you with a proposa=
l,
you must say, "Sin, depart from me. I have nothing to do with you.&quo=
t;
Do not let sin continue to lord it over you. If you do this, you will not o=
nly
be righteous, but also sanctified, and will undergo an inward, dispositional
change.
&nb=
sp; What
the Apostle Paul means in Romans 6 is that, on the one hand, we are in the =
fact
of having been crucified and resurrected with Christ and that, on the other
hand, we have the divine life. That fact that we have been crucified and
resurrected with Christ has transferred us out of Adam into Christ. The div=
ine
life enables us to live a sanctified life. Based upon our seeing, we reckon
ourselves as such by believing. Then we need to cooperate with the divine l=
ife
by rejecting sin and by presenting ourselves and our members to God. We do =
have
a position to reject sin, for now we are "not under law but under
grace". Sin has no ground, no right, to make any claims upon us, but
instead we, standing under grace, have the full right to reject sin and its
power. At the same time, by taking sides with Christ, we present ourselves =
and
our members as slaves to God that the divine life may work within us to
sanctify us with the holy nature of God.
Rom 6:12-17
Rom 3:10-18; Matt 12:34; Matt 13:16;
Matt 18:9
I John 1:1; Eph 5:19; Eph 6:15
=
=