Romans 6:12-14 (WEL) Therefore, sin must not rule your mortal body by obeying its evil desires. 13 Neither give any part of your body as tools for sin but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your entire body as righteous tools for God. 14 For sin must not rule over you, for you are not under the law but under grace.
V12 Therefore, sin must not rule your mortal body by obeying its evil desires…
What is the greatest influence on our body? Is it doing life God’s way or the way of sinful pleasures? We must not let sinful pleasures be our priority. As Christ-followers, we must, as best as we can with God’s assisting grace, live holy lives. The evil desires of the flesh are found in Galatians 5:19-21. Now the works of the flesh are obvious. They are adultery, sexual sin, moral corruption, unrestrained lust, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, enmities, contentions, provoking jealousies, hot angers, pushing to be first, dissensions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, wild partying, and so on, about which I have told you before, and as I have also told you in the past that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
V13 …Neither give any part of your body as tools for sin but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your entire body as righteous tools for God.
This is doing evil as opposed to thinking evil. Presenting ourselves to God refers to Romans 12:1-2. Our bodies have in essence died to sin. The old sin nature is gone. We are to live as if we had been resurrected from death.
Our body is now to be a righteous tool for serving God.
A comment from Biblical Illustrator on Romans 6:13:
“(1)Look then on your bodies as His, to be temples for His Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19; Romans 6:13). You are to use your tongues in speaking for Him, your hands in acting for Him, your feet in going His errands. To abuse the body by intemperance, uncleanness, and the like, is to defile the temple of God. To exhaust the body in worldly labour, so as to unfit it for bearing its part in the service of God, is sacrilege.
(2) Look upon your soul also as His, and all its faculties. Your heart (Proverbs 22:26), your will (Acts 9:6), your conscience, your every thought (2 Corinthians 10:5).
(3) You must consider your worldly comforts and enjoyments as His (Luke 14:26). Your life, your liberty, honour, wealth, reputation, all is the Lord’s, to be used for His honour and willingly parted with at His call.
(4) Your gifts and opportunities for serving God are also His (Luke 19:13).
(5) Your time is His (Ephesians 5:16).”
V14 For sin must not rule over you, for you are not under the law but under grace.
We are not to live under Mosaic Law but the Law of Christ—the over 1,000 rules in the New Testament. For example, Ephesians chapters 4-6 consist of a number of rules we are to live by. We are children of God the Father and servants of the Lord Jesus. The reason is we are now under the laws of grace (Galatians 6:2).
An example of some laws:
Ephesians 4:25-28 For this reason, do away with lying. “Let each speak the truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. [Zechariah 8:16] 26 When you are “angry, do not sin.” [Psalm 4:4] Do not let the sun set on your anger. 27 Do not provide an opportunity for the Devil. 28 Let him who stole, steal no more, but let him work, laboring with his hands what is good so that he may have something to give to him who is in need.
The rules here are: 1) Do not lie. 2) Speak the truth. 3) Be angry, but don’t let anger cause you to sin. 4) Do not be in a situation that causes temptation. 5) Don’t steal. 6) Work for a living. 7) Work to have a little extra or make room in your budget to have a little to give to others (Christians first) who are in need.
We learn:
- We are God’s.
- We are to serve God.
- We are not to serve ourselves.
Questions:
- Whom are you serving?
- Are you living according to sinful pleasures or for God?