Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? [It is] God that justifieth. Who [is] he that condemneth?
Romans 8:33,34 KJV
In Christ “Who died, and what is more, Who arose” there is no condemnation, but complete justification! Not merely in a manner of speaking, but really. Therefore, Paul wrote, “while we were yetsinners” (Rom.5:8). Past tense. For many, this truth is “dead capital”. It also is hardly preached. From the pulpit, the usual message that is proclaimed is that of “the stone age” (“the tablets of stone”; 2Cor.3:7), of death and condemnation.
In practice, people do not know the message of the rolled-away stone: of life and justification for all (1Cor.15:22; Rom.5:18)!
What about sin? Should we not fight against it? Listen to Paul’s answer:
Thus you also, be reckoning yourselves to be dead, indeed, to Sin, yet living to God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Romans 6:11
Paul does not write that sin is dead. That is not so, either. He writes that we, who believe, may count ourselves us being dead to sin. We live for God in Christ Jesus, that’s all there is to it!
And, again, what about sin? Whoever ignores, reigns! If we truly believe that sin is negative, then we may ignore it. Consequently, we may now already, “as ‘kings’ reign in life!” (Rom.5:17).
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Translation: Peter Feddema
