What did Paul mean in Romans 6:12 ayon kay, let not sin therefore reign (reign as king) in your mortal body? What does this mean for the lives of Christians, who have become a new creation through regeneration in Christ?
The light and the darkness
A day is divided into two parts; the light that reigns in the day and the darkness that reigns in the night. The people belong to the day and not to the night. Therefore people live during the day and sleep at night, although there are some exceptions. The light and the darkness both reign on earth.
It’s the same in the spiritual realm, where there are two kingdoms. The Kingdom of God, which is the Kingdom of Light, kung saan si Jesucristo ay Hari at naghahari, and the kingdom of the devil; ang dilim, where the devil is king (the ruler) and reigns.
Jesus Christ is the Light of the world and is holy and righteous and represents the holiness and righteousness of God and represents life.
Ang mga, who are born again in Christ and are born of God, are transformed from the darkness into the light and belong to God (a.o. Mga Taga Colosas 1:13-14).
They are no longer sons of the devil, but they have become sons of God and shall obey God the Father and His Word and walk holy and righteous after the Spirit in the light.
The devil is not holy and doesn’t belong to God, but is an archangel, who has fallen from his position through his pride and disobedience to God, and has established his own kingdom on earth through his lies and deception.
The devil is the ruler of the world; ang dilim, and is a liar and has sinned from the beginning and represents sin, katampalasanan, and death.
Ang mga, who belong to him through natural birth, shall obey him and walk after the flesh in darkness, sa kasalanan, and iniquity.
The sons of God and the sons of the devil
Maliit na bata, wag kayong dayain ng sinuman: ang gumagawa ng katuwiran ay matuwid, even as he is righteous. Ang gumagawa ng kasalanan ay sa diyablo; sapagkat ang diyablo ay nagkakasala mula pa sa simula. Para sa layuning ito ang Anak ng Diyos ay ipinakita, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Ang sinumang ipinanganak ng Diyos ay hindi nagkakasala; for his seed remaineth in him: at hindi siya maaaring magkasala, dahil siya ay ipinanganak ng Diyos. Sa bagay na ito ang mga anak ng Diyos ay naipakikita, at ang mga anak ng diyablo: ang sinumang hindi gumagawa ng katuwiran ay hindi sa Diyos, ni ang hindi umiibig sa kaniyang kapatid (1 John 3:7-10)
The life of a person proves, who the person belongs to and obeys. Because as Jesus said, you will recognize the tree by its fruits (Mateo 7:15-19, Lucas 6:43-45).
Kaya nga, if someone says, that he or she belongs to God, but lives in sin (persevere in sin), it proves that the person doesn’t belong to God, since the nature has not changed, because the nature of the old man wants to keep sinning and please himself instead of God.
People can have all kinds of opinions and findings and don’t agree with God and therefore change the words of God in such a subtle manner, that it seems that God tolerates everything and accept every lifestyle, but the Word of God; the Truth of God, is settled forever and shall eventually judge everyone according to his works (Basahin mo rin: God’s Word is settled forever! At Let de Word be your judge).
You can submit to God and His Word and obey the Word or you can reject God through disobedience to His Word (Basahin mo rin: God from many churches?).
But the grey area, tolerance of sin, and compromising with the world, do not exist in the Kingdom of God, but are imaginations aka lies of people, which derived from a darkened carnal mind.
Let sin no longer reign as king in your mortal body
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace (Mga Taga Roma 6:12-14)
Alam na alam ito, let’s have a look at Romans 6:12, where Paul commanded not to let sin reign (reign as king) in the mortal body.
When does sin reign as king in your life? Sin reigns as king in your life, if you obey the lust of the flesh that goes against the will of God and His Word and Spirit, and you keep doing the works of the flesh, which are the works of unrighteousness.
The lies of a fallen world and the eternal sinner are often cited to embrace and accept sin and serve sin and therefore let sin reign as king in life (Basahin mo rin: Can you use the broken world as an excuse? at Lagi ka bang nananatiling makasalanan?).
Instead of Christians obeying the Word and separating themselves from the world and having no fellowship with the works of darkness and don’t do the works of the flesh, but living from their new position in Christ and their new nature and submitting to God and His Word and live after the Spirit, they keep living after the flesh as a sinner.
Why is that? The main reason is false doctrines that are preached from the pulpits. There are many unspiritual people behind the pulpits, who may have a lot of Biblical knowledge and are charismatic and eloquent, but are not born again and don’t have the Holy Spirit abiding in them, and don’t see the Kingdom of God, because they have not entered the Kingdom of God and therefore they can’t represent and bring the Kingdom of God to the people. But they are still the old creation, who belong to the darkness and do the works of darkness and preach lies from their human carnal unrenewed mind (Basahin mo rin: Maraming pastor ang umaakay sa mga tupa sa kailaliman at Mga maling doktrina na pang iinsulto sa Diyos).
If you constantly keep hearing, that you are poor and that you have no power and that you are a sinner and that you will always remain a sinner, and that it doesn’t matter to God how you live, then you shall always have a victim mentality and live as a prisoner of the devil and a victim of death and sin shall reign as king in your life.
You have been made free from sin in Christ
Ngunit ang totoo ay, that in Christ Jesus you have been made free from sin, kamatayan, and hell. Jesus Christ has overcome the death. Jesus has broken the covenant between man and death and the agreement between man and hell. Jesus Christ has the keys of hell and death and is glorified and seated above all principality, kapangyarihan, baka naman, at dominyon, and every name that is named. If you are born in Christ then you have received all power and all authority in Him to reign over sin and the will of the flesh (Basahin mo rin: How Jesus broke the covenant with death and the agreement with hell).
If you have been delivered from the power of darkness and death, you shall no longer do the works of darkness and bear the fruit of death, which is sin.
You shall no longer yield your members as instruments (weapons) of unrighteousness unto sin, and you shall no longer walk in uncleanness in disobedience to God (in lawlessness), but you shall yield to God and yield your members as instruments of righteousness unto God and walk holy in obedience to God and bear the fruit of the Spirit (Basahin mo rin: Ano ang baluti ng liwanag? at What is the armor of darkness?)
The new creation is not under the law but under grace
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Hindi ba ninyo alam, na kung kanino ninyo isinusuko ang inyong sarili na mga alipin upang sumunod, kanyang mga lingkod kayo na inyong sinusunod; kung ng kasalanan hanggang kamatayan, o ng pagsunod sa katuwiran? Ngunit ang Diyos ay pasalamatan, na kayo'y mga alipin ng kasalanan, kundi sinunod ninyo mula sa puso ang anyo ng doktrinang iyon na iniligtas sa inyo. Ang pagiging pagkatapos ay ginawang malaya mula sa kasalanan, kayo ay naging mga alipin ng katuwiran.
Ako ay nagsasalita ayon sa pamamaraan ng mga tao dahil sa kahinaan ng inyong laman: sapagkat kung paanong inyong isinuko ang inyong mga sangkap na mga alipin sa karumihan at sa kasamaan tungo sa kasamaan; gayon din naman ngayon ay isuko ninyo ang inyong mga miyembro ng mga lingkod sa kabutihan tungo sa kabanalan. Sapagkat noong kayo ay mga alipin ng kasalanan, malaya kayo sa kabutihan. Ano nga ang bunga ninyo sa mga bagay na iyon na ikinahihiya ninyo ngayon? sapagkat ang katapusan ng mga bagay na iyon ay kamatayan.
Ngunit ngayon ay napapalaya sa kasalanan, at maging lingkod ng Diyos, nasa inyo ang inyong bunga tungo sa kabanalan, at ang wakas buhay na walang hanggan. Sapagkat ang kabayaran ng kasalanan ay kamatayan; ngunit ang kaloob ng Diyos ay buhay na walang hanggan sa pamamagitan ni Jesucristo na ating Panginoon (Mga Taga Roma 6:15-23)
If you have become a new creation and your flesh has died in Christ and your spirit is raised from the dead, then you have been made free from sin and death and death shall no longer reign over you, since you are no longer under the law but under grace.
Kaya nga, if you say that you are no longer under the law but under grace, you shall no longer walk in disobedience to God and His Word in sin, but you shall do what God says in His Word and live in obedience after His will.
If you keep walking after the flesh in disobedience to God and keep doing the works of the flesh, which God revealed in His Word, and therefore persevere in sin, then you have not been made free in Christ from sin and you are not under grace, but you still live under the law, which reigns in the flesh.
A son of God obeys God and does the will of the Word and the Spirit, whereby Christ reigns as King.
A son of the devil obeys the devil, who is the ruler of the world, and does the will of the flesh (the body and mind), whereby sin reigns as king.
Don’t be deceived by the words of people, but believe the words of God, which are the truth.
Ang Salita ay nagsasabi, that everyone, sino ang nagkakasala (perseveres in sin) doesn’t know God and doesn’t belong to God, but belongs to the devil. Through obedience and righteousness, the sons of God are revealed and through disobedience and sin the sons of the devil are revealed (o.a. Tito 1:16, 1 John 1:5-7; 2:3-6; 3:4-24).
Huwag nang maghari ang kasalanan bilang hari, but let Christ; ang Salita, reign as King in your life!
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