Let Not Sin Reign Romans 6:12

Paul the apostle told the people in Rome, “reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord”, and in chapter six and twelve of Romans, Paul told his believing readers, “let not sin...reign in your mortal body” where we read:

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof.

The verse begins, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, ...” Paul began with the words, “let not” which means “do not allow or permit” “sin” or “missing the mark, erring or being mistaken” “therefore” or “then, accordingly, consequently and these things being so” “reign” which means “have kingly power, rule, dominion or governance” “in your mortal body” which means “within the believing readers' physical and liable to death corpses”. Paul told his readers not to allow “missing the mark and error” from God's law to “rule and have dominion” in their “physical bodies”.

The verse goes on to say, “... that you should obey it in the lusts thereof.” Paul added the words, “that you should obey it” which means “that Paul's believing readers should not listen, hearken, be submissive to sin” “in the lusts” or “within the desires and cravings for what is forbidden” “thereof” or “within them”. Paul told his believing readers they should not “submit or hearken” to “sin's” “passion and desires”.

When we meditate upon these words of Paul, we see how he exhorted his believing readers not to allow “sin” to rule in their physical bodies. They were not to be “obedient” to the “passions and desires” of the flesh, and rather allow the Lord Jesus to have “rule” in their lives. Jesus Christ came to “fulfill” the “law of God”, paid the price for “sin” on the cross and “rose from the dead” to defeat “sin's penalty” and “power”. Rather than “yielding” to the “desires and lusts” of the flesh, those who believe in Jesus should call upon the Lord Jesus to help them overcome “sinful behaviors”, and those who are wise shall realize the power that comes from “yielding” to God through Him.

Next time Paul tells the people in Rome, “neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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