Romans 6:8–11 says, “Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Paul is still driving the nail into the coffin of the old man. He has already told the believer that he is dead to sin, baptized into Jesus Christ, buried with Him by baptism into death, planted together in the likeness of His death, and identified with His resurrection. He has declared that the old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, and that henceforth we should not serve sin. Now he comes to one of the most important commands in the practical Christian life: “reckon.” Not imagine. Not pretend. Not chant. Not visualize. Not hypnotize yourself with religious optimism. Reckon. Count God’s truth to be true because God said it, Christ accomplished it, the Spirit recorded it, and faith has no business editing heaven’s accounting.
The modern religious world has produced a thousand counterfeits for biblical reckoning. Some preach mind-over-matter nonsense, as though victory is created by refusing to acknowledge facts. Some preach emotionalism, as though sin loses dominion when the music gets loud enough and the preacher sweats through his suit. Some preach psychology, as though the old man needs affirmation, inner-child therapy, personality typing, and a comfortable chair in a counseling room. Some preach legalism, as though the flesh can be beaten into holiness by rules, guilt, threats, and religious supervision. Paul preaches something far stronger: the believer died with Christ, Christ lives unto God, and the believer is to reckon himself dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Biblical reckoning is not manufacturing a fantasy. It is agreeing with a finished fact.
This passage also anchors the believer’s reckoning in the resurrection life of Jesus Christ. Christ “dieth no more.” Death has “no more dominion over him.” He died unto sin once, and He lives unto God. Therefore the believer’s new identity is not tied to a temporary religious mood but to the permanent victory of the risen Lord. If Christ could die again, the believer’s hope could tremble. If death still held any claim over Christ, sin could still whisper with legal authority. But Christ rose, Christ lives, Christ cannot die again, and death has no dominion over Him. The Christian does not reckon himself alive unto God because he had a good devotional morning, avoided temptation for three days, or felt spiritual during a hymn. He reckons himself alive unto God because he is in the risen Christ. Feelings may limp, flesh may argue, and the devil may run his mouth like an unpaid lawyer, but the case was settled at Calvary and sealed at the empty tomb.
Chapter One: Dead With Christ
Paul begins, “Now if we be dead with Christ.” This “if” does not express uncertainty about whether believers are dead with Christ; it carries the force of since. Paul has already established the fact in the previous verses. The believer was baptized into Jesus Christ, baptized into His death, buried with Him, planted together in the likeness of His death, and crucified with Him. Now Paul gathers that doctrine and says, “Now if we be dead with Christ.” Everything in the Christian life must begin here. Not with self-confidence. Not with religious enthusiasm. Not with a new program. Not with a promise to do better. The foundation is union with Christ in death. The old man was not sent to charm school. He was crucified.
To be dead with Christ means the believer’s old position in Adam has been judged. The sinner who once stood under Adam’s headship has been identified with the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” That is not poetic exaggeration. That is Pauline doctrine. The believer does not fight sin as a man still belonging to sin. He fights as a man whose old master lost its rightful claim at the cross. Sin may still tempt, accuse, entice, and bark orders, but it is barking at a man God counts dead to its dominion. The Christian who does not know this truth will keep treating sin like an owner instead of an intruder.
This is why practical victory cannot be built on mere willpower. The flesh can promise reform with tears in its eyes and betrayal in its pocket. It can kneel at an altar on Sunday and make reservations with temptation by Tuesday. It can sign a pledge, memorize a slogan, attend a conference, delete an app, throw away a bottle, cancel a subscription, and still drag the same rotten nature behind it like a dead animal tied to the bumper. The flesh cannot deliver itself from the flesh. God’s answer is not improvement of the old man but death with Christ. The believer does not start by saying, “I will try harder to become dead.” He starts by believing God: “we be dead with Christ.”
Chapter Two: We Shall Also Live With Him
Paul continues, “we believe that we shall also live with him.” Death with Christ is not the end of the story. The believer is not left in a doctrinal grave, wrapped in positional truth but powerless to walk. Union with Christ includes life with Christ. The cross breaks the old claim; the resurrection supplies the new life. Christianity is not a cemetery religion where saints gather around a dead founder and try to preserve His memory. Jesus Christ is alive, and the believer lives with Him. John 14:19 says, “because I live, ye shall live also.” That is not religious poetry for funerals. That is resurrection mathematics.
This life with Christ has present and future force. Presently, the believer is alive unto God and called to walk in newness of life. Colossians 3:1 says, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above.” The risen life of Christ gives the believer a new position, a new direction, a new affection, and a new power. The Christian life is not Adam trying to imitate Jesus by natural effort. It is the life of Christ in the believer by the Spirit of God. The old life was connected to sin, death, and condemnation. The new life is connected to righteousness, resurrection, and God Himself.
Future life with Christ is just as certain. If the believer is joined to Christ in His death, he shall also be joined to Him in resurrection glory. First Corinthians 15:22 says, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” The believer’s body may go to the grave if the Lord tarries, but the grave does not own him. It temporarily holds what Christ has already purchased and will redeem. Philippians 3:21 says the Lord Jesus Christ “shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.” The Christian’s future is not a cloud, a harp, and a vague spiritual mist. It is life with the risen Christ, body and soul redeemed by the power of God.
Chapter Three: Christ Dieth No More
Paul says, “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more.” The believer’s reckoning is rooted in knowledge, and that knowledge is centered on Christ’s resurrection. Christ was raised from the dead, and He dies no more. Lazarus was raised and later died again. The widow’s son in Luke 7 was raised and later died again. Jairus’s daughter was raised and later died again. But Jesus Christ rose in a glorified resurrection life beyond death’s reach forever. Revelation 1:18 records Him saying, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore.” Death had its hour with Him, and then death lost the war.
“Dieth no more” means the sacrifice is complete, final, and unrepeatable. Christ is not repeatedly offered. He is not dragged back to an altar every time a priest rings a bell. He is not dying again in a wafer, a ritual, a ceremony, or a theological magic show. Hebrews 10:12 says, “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.” One sacrifice. For sins. For ever. Sat down. That is finished-work language. Any system that keeps offering Christ over and over has not understood Calvary. The Lord did not say, “It is almost finished, pending clerical reenactment.” He said, “It is finished.”
The finality of Christ’s resurrection gives the believer stability in the battle against sin. If Christ dieth no more, then the believer’s union with Him is not tied to a cycle of death, uncertainty, and renewed payment. The risen Christ is beyond the reach of death, and the believer is in Him. Sin cannot demand another crucifixion. Death cannot subpoena Christ back to the tomb. The devil cannot reopen the case. The Christian does not stand on a temporary arrangement waiting for heaven’s next audit. He stands in the risen Lord who dieth no more. That is why reckoning is not spiritual pretending. It is faith standing on an irreversible resurrection.
Chapter Four: Death Hath No More Dominion Over Him
Paul adds, “death hath no more dominion over him.” Dominion is rule, authority, mastery, or lordship. For a brief appointed time, Christ submitted Himself to death. He laid down His life voluntarily. He entered death’s territory, not as a victim trapped by weakness, but as the Lamb of God fulfilling the purpose of God. John 10:18 says, “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.” Death did not overpower Christ. Christ entered death to destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, according to Hebrews 2:14. The Lord walked into the enemy’s prison house and came out with the keys.
Now death has no more dominion over Him. The grave cannot command Him. Corruption cannot touch Him. Mortality cannot claim Him. He is beyond death’s jurisdiction forever. Romans 6 is teaching believers that their new life is connected with One over whom death has no dominion. That matters because sin and death are tied together. Romans 5 said sin reigned unto death. Romans 6:23 will say, “For the wages of sin is death.” If Christ has broken death’s dominion, He has also broken the reign that sin used death to enforce. The believer is joined to the victorious Christ, not to a defeated religious memory.
The world still lives under death’s shadow. Men build empires, collect money, chase lust, worship their bodies, chase fame, revise science, write philosophies, and still end up needing a coffin. The undertaker remains the most honest preacher many people will ever meet. He does not care about your degrees, your bank account, your followers, your politics, or your preferred pronouns. Death takes Adam’s children one by one. But Christ stands on the other side of the tomb and says death has no more dominion over Him. The believer belongs to that Christ. This is why the Christian should not live as though sin and death still have the final word. They had their word. Christ rose.
Chapter Five: He Died Unto Sin Once
Paul says, “For in that he died, he died unto sin once.” Christ did not die unto sin because He had committed sin. He knew no sin. First Peter 2:22 says He “did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.” First John 3:5 says, “in him is no sin.” He died unto sin in the sense that He dealt with sin’s claim, penalty, and judgment as the sin-bearer. Second Corinthians 5:21 says God “hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.” Christ took the sinner’s place under judgment, bore our sins in His own body on the tree, and died once to answer the whole matter before God.
The word “once” is a dagger through the heart of every repeated-sacrifice system. Christ died unto sin once. Not daily. Not weekly. Not on demand. Not ceremonially reenacted as a propitiatory sacrifice through priestly hands. Once. Hebrews 9:28 says, “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” Hebrews 10:10 says, “we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” God’s Book does not stutter. Once means once. The sacrifice of Christ is not a subscription service renewed by religious ritual. It is a finished offering accepted by God.
Because Christ died unto sin once, the believer’s death with Christ is also anchored in a completed act. The Christian does not need to die to sin over and over in the sense of recreating Calvary by emotional effort. He must reckon true what God says is true. Daily denial of self, mortifying the deeds of the body, resisting temptation, and yielding to God are all necessary in practice, but they rest on the once-for-all fact of Christ’s death. The believer’s practical warfare flows from a finished victory. A soldier does not fight to make the king legitimate; he fights because the king already reigns.
Chapter Six: He Liveth Unto God
Paul continues, “but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.” Christ’s resurrection life is wholly unto God. His death dealt with sin; His life is directed unto the Father’s glory. The risen Christ is not returning to the realm where sin’s judgment had to be borne. He lives beyond death, beyond the cross, beyond the tomb, beyond humiliation, beyond the reach of His enemies. He lives as the glorified Son, the Head of the Body, the High Priest at the right hand of God, the coming King, and the Lord of glory. His life is the believer’s life source.
This truth shapes the believer’s new direction. If the believer is in Christ, then the life he now has is not meant to be spent unto sin, self, and the world. It is life unto God. Second Corinthians 5:15 says Christ died for all, “that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” That verse is Romans 6 in practical clothing. The believer is not saved so Adam can keep the steering wheel while Jesus rides in the passenger seat blessing the trip. Christ died and rose again so the believer should live unto God. Grace does not make self-rule safer. It ends self-rule’s authority.
To live unto God is not monastic weirdness, fake piety, or religious performance designed to impress spectators. It is the entire life brought under the claims of the risen Christ. The believer’s mind, body, habits, speech, service, priorities, affections, money, time, and testimony are no longer private property. First Corinthians 6:20 says, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” The Christian life is not a religious hobby attached to Sunday. It is resurrection life belonging to God every hour of the week. If Christ lives unto God, the believer alive in Him has no business living unto the trash heap that Christ died to deliver him from.
Chapter Seven: Reckon Yourselves Dead Indeed Unto Sin, But Alive Unto God
Paul now gives the command: “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” “Likewise” connects the believer’s reckoning to Christ’s death and resurrection. As Christ died unto sin once and lives unto God, the believer is to count himself dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God. Reckoning is not creating reality by positive speech. It is counting God’s reality as true. In accounting, reckoning means putting the right number in the right column because the facts require it. Faith does not cook the books. Faith accepts heaven’s books.
“Dead indeed unto sin” means truly, actually, and certainly dead to sin’s dominion in Christ. The believer may not always feel dead to sin. In fact, temptation often feels very alive. The old appetites may shout so loudly that the believer wonders whether Romans 6 got the wrong address. But reckoning does not ask the flesh for confirmation. The flesh is a liar with a long résumé. God says the believer is dead indeed unto sin, and faith says amen before emotions finish objecting. Sin says, “You are still mine.” Faith answers, “I died with Christ.” Sin says, “You have always obeyed me.” Faith answers, “That was Adam’s history, and God put Adam on the cross.” Sin says, “You cannot change.” Faith answers, “I am alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
“Alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” is the positive side of reckoning. The believer is not merely dead to something; he is alive unto Someone. Christianity is not a list of former sins avoided by sheer grit. It is life toward God through the risen Christ. The believer reckons himself alive unto God, not through religious effort, not through moral self-improvement, not through law-keeping, not through sacramental machinery, but “through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Every word matters. The same Lord who died once unto sin now lives unto God, and the believer’s life is found in Him. Reckoning is faith looking at Christ’s finished death and endless life and saying, “God’s truth is truer than my feelings, my failures, my habits, my past, and the devil’s accusations.”
Conclusion
Romans 6:8–11 teaches the believer how to think by faith about his union with Christ. If we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. Christ being raised from the dead dies no more, and death has no more dominion over Him. He died unto sin once, and He lives unto God. Therefore the believer is commanded to reckon himself dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. That reckoning is not imagination. It is obedience to revealed truth. Faith does not pretend the battle is unreal; it stands on the fact that Christ’s victory is greater than the battle.
The passage also guards the believer from two deadly errors. On one side is psychological counterfeit reckoning, where a man tries to create spiritual victory by denying reality, repeating slogans, and calling it faith. On the other side is unbelieving defeatism, where a man believes his feelings more than Scripture and keeps reporting for duty under a master God says lost its claim. Biblical reckoning avoids both ditches. It sees temptation clearly, admits the flesh is still present, recognizes the battle, and then counts God’s word as the highest truth in the room. The Christian does not reckon because he feels victorious. He reckons because Christ died once, Christ lives unto God, and the believer is in Christ.
This is where freedom begins to take hold in daily life. The believer stops asking sin who he is. He stops asking the old habits what is possible. He stops asking the devil whether God’s word can be trusted. He stops treating emotions like prophets. He opens Romans 6 and lets God define reality. Dead indeed unto sin. Alive unto God. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. That is the Christian’s reckoning. Sin may knock, but it no longer owns the house. Death may threaten, but it lost dominion over the risen Christ. The flesh may argue, but Calvary has already answered. Reckon it true, stand on it, and walk like a man who belongs to the Lord who dieth no more.
Romans 6:8–11 Commentary – Reckon Yourselves Alive Unto God
Reckon Yourselves Alive Unto God
Key Passage: Romans 6:8–11
Romans VerseQuest Commentary
Essay 38: Reckon Yourselves Alive Unto God
Text: Romans 6:8–11
Introduction
Romans 6:8–11 says, “Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Paul is still driving the nail into the coffin of the old man. He has already told the believer that he is dead to sin, baptized into Jesus Christ, buried with Him by baptism into death, planted together in the likeness of His death, and identified with His resurrection. He has declared that the old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, and that henceforth we should not serve sin. Now he comes to one of the most important commands in the practical Christian life: “reckon.” Not imagine. Not pretend. Not chant. Not visualize. Not hypnotize yourself with religious optimism. Reckon. Count God’s truth to be true because God said it, Christ accomplished it, the Spirit recorded it, and faith has no business editing heaven’s accounting.
The modern religious world has produced a thousand counterfeits for biblical reckoning. Some preach mind-over-matter nonsense, as though victory is created by refusing to acknowledge facts. Some preach emotionalism, as though sin loses dominion when the music gets loud enough and the preacher sweats through his suit. Some preach psychology, as though the old man needs affirmation, inner-child therapy, personality typing, and a comfortable chair in a counseling room. Some preach legalism, as though the flesh can be beaten into holiness by rules, guilt, threats, and religious supervision. Paul preaches something far stronger: the believer died with Christ, Christ lives unto God, and the believer is to reckon himself dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Biblical reckoning is not manufacturing a fantasy. It is agreeing with a finished fact.
This passage also anchors the believer’s reckoning in the resurrection life of Jesus Christ. Christ “dieth no more.” Death has “no more dominion over him.” He died unto sin once, and He lives unto God. Therefore the believer’s new identity is not tied to a temporary religious mood but to the permanent victory of the risen Lord. If Christ could die again, the believer’s hope could tremble. If death still held any claim over Christ, sin could still whisper with legal authority. But Christ rose, Christ lives, Christ cannot die again, and death has no dominion over Him. The Christian does not reckon himself alive unto God because he had a good devotional morning, avoided temptation for three days, or felt spiritual during a hymn. He reckons himself alive unto God because he is in the risen Christ. Feelings may limp, flesh may argue, and the devil may run his mouth like an unpaid lawyer, but the case was settled at Calvary and sealed at the empty tomb.
Chapter One: Dead With Christ
Paul begins, “Now if we be dead with Christ.” This “if” does not express uncertainty about whether believers are dead with Christ; it carries the force of since. Paul has already established the fact in the previous verses. The believer was baptized into Jesus Christ, baptized into His death, buried with Him, planted together in the likeness of His death, and crucified with Him. Now Paul gathers that doctrine and says, “Now if we be dead with Christ.” Everything in the Christian life must begin here. Not with self-confidence. Not with religious enthusiasm. Not with a new program. Not with a promise to do better. The foundation is union with Christ in death. The old man was not sent to charm school. He was crucified.
To be dead with Christ means the believer’s old position in Adam has been judged. The sinner who once stood under Adam’s headship has been identified with the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” That is not poetic exaggeration. That is Pauline doctrine. The believer does not fight sin as a man still belonging to sin. He fights as a man whose old master lost its rightful claim at the cross. Sin may still tempt, accuse, entice, and bark orders, but it is barking at a man God counts dead to its dominion. The Christian who does not know this truth will keep treating sin like an owner instead of an intruder.
This is why practical victory cannot be built on mere willpower. The flesh can promise reform with tears in its eyes and betrayal in its pocket. It can kneel at an altar on Sunday and make reservations with temptation by Tuesday. It can sign a pledge, memorize a slogan, attend a conference, delete an app, throw away a bottle, cancel a subscription, and still drag the same rotten nature behind it like a dead animal tied to the bumper. The flesh cannot deliver itself from the flesh. God’s answer is not improvement of the old man but death with Christ. The believer does not start by saying, “I will try harder to become dead.” He starts by believing God: “we be dead with Christ.”
Chapter Two: We Shall Also Live With Him
Paul continues, “we believe that we shall also live with him.” Death with Christ is not the end of the story. The believer is not left in a doctrinal grave, wrapped in positional truth but powerless to walk. Union with Christ includes life with Christ. The cross breaks the old claim; the resurrection supplies the new life. Christianity is not a cemetery religion where saints gather around a dead founder and try to preserve His memory. Jesus Christ is alive, and the believer lives with Him. John 14:19 says, “because I live, ye shall live also.” That is not religious poetry for funerals. That is resurrection mathematics.
This life with Christ has present and future force. Presently, the believer is alive unto God and called to walk in newness of life. Colossians 3:1 says, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above.” The risen life of Christ gives the believer a new position, a new direction, a new affection, and a new power. The Christian life is not Adam trying to imitate Jesus by natural effort. It is the life of Christ in the believer by the Spirit of God. The old life was connected to sin, death, and condemnation. The new life is connected to righteousness, resurrection, and God Himself.
Future life with Christ is just as certain. If the believer is joined to Christ in His death, he shall also be joined to Him in resurrection glory. First Corinthians 15:22 says, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” The believer’s body may go to the grave if the Lord tarries, but the grave does not own him. It temporarily holds what Christ has already purchased and will redeem. Philippians 3:21 says the Lord Jesus Christ “shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.” The Christian’s future is not a cloud, a harp, and a vague spiritual mist. It is life with the risen Christ, body and soul redeemed by the power of God.
Chapter Three: Christ Dieth No More
Paul says, “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more.” The believer’s reckoning is rooted in knowledge, and that knowledge is centered on Christ’s resurrection. Christ was raised from the dead, and He dies no more. Lazarus was raised and later died again. The widow’s son in Luke 7 was raised and later died again. Jairus’s daughter was raised and later died again. But Jesus Christ rose in a glorified resurrection life beyond death’s reach forever. Revelation 1:18 records Him saying, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore.” Death had its hour with Him, and then death lost the war.
“Dieth no more” means the sacrifice is complete, final, and unrepeatable. Christ is not repeatedly offered. He is not dragged back to an altar every time a priest rings a bell. He is not dying again in a wafer, a ritual, a ceremony, or a theological magic show. Hebrews 10:12 says, “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.” One sacrifice. For sins. For ever. Sat down. That is finished-work language. Any system that keeps offering Christ over and over has not understood Calvary. The Lord did not say, “It is almost finished, pending clerical reenactment.” He said, “It is finished.”
The finality of Christ’s resurrection gives the believer stability in the battle against sin. If Christ dieth no more, then the believer’s union with Him is not tied to a cycle of death, uncertainty, and renewed payment. The risen Christ is beyond the reach of death, and the believer is in Him. Sin cannot demand another crucifixion. Death cannot subpoena Christ back to the tomb. The devil cannot reopen the case. The Christian does not stand on a temporary arrangement waiting for heaven’s next audit. He stands in the risen Lord who dieth no more. That is why reckoning is not spiritual pretending. It is faith standing on an irreversible resurrection.
Chapter Four: Death Hath No More Dominion Over Him
Paul adds, “death hath no more dominion over him.” Dominion is rule, authority, mastery, or lordship. For a brief appointed time, Christ submitted Himself to death. He laid down His life voluntarily. He entered death’s territory, not as a victim trapped by weakness, but as the Lamb of God fulfilling the purpose of God. John 10:18 says, “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.” Death did not overpower Christ. Christ entered death to destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, according to Hebrews 2:14. The Lord walked into the enemy’s prison house and came out with the keys.
Now death has no more dominion over Him. The grave cannot command Him. Corruption cannot touch Him. Mortality cannot claim Him. He is beyond death’s jurisdiction forever. Romans 6 is teaching believers that their new life is connected with One over whom death has no dominion. That matters because sin and death are tied together. Romans 5 said sin reigned unto death. Romans 6:23 will say, “For the wages of sin is death.” If Christ has broken death’s dominion, He has also broken the reign that sin used death to enforce. The believer is joined to the victorious Christ, not to a defeated religious memory.
The world still lives under death’s shadow. Men build empires, collect money, chase lust, worship their bodies, chase fame, revise science, write philosophies, and still end up needing a coffin. The undertaker remains the most honest preacher many people will ever meet. He does not care about your degrees, your bank account, your followers, your politics, or your preferred pronouns. Death takes Adam’s children one by one. But Christ stands on the other side of the tomb and says death has no more dominion over Him. The believer belongs to that Christ. This is why the Christian should not live as though sin and death still have the final word. They had their word. Christ rose.
Chapter Five: He Died Unto Sin Once
Paul says, “For in that he died, he died unto sin once.” Christ did not die unto sin because He had committed sin. He knew no sin. First Peter 2:22 says He “did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.” First John 3:5 says, “in him is no sin.” He died unto sin in the sense that He dealt with sin’s claim, penalty, and judgment as the sin-bearer. Second Corinthians 5:21 says God “hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.” Christ took the sinner’s place under judgment, bore our sins in His own body on the tree, and died once to answer the whole matter before God.
The word “once” is a dagger through the heart of every repeated-sacrifice system. Christ died unto sin once. Not daily. Not weekly. Not on demand. Not ceremonially reenacted as a propitiatory sacrifice through priestly hands. Once. Hebrews 9:28 says, “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” Hebrews 10:10 says, “we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” God’s Book does not stutter. Once means once. The sacrifice of Christ is not a subscription service renewed by religious ritual. It is a finished offering accepted by God.
Because Christ died unto sin once, the believer’s death with Christ is also anchored in a completed act. The Christian does not need to die to sin over and over in the sense of recreating Calvary by emotional effort. He must reckon true what God says is true. Daily denial of self, mortifying the deeds of the body, resisting temptation, and yielding to God are all necessary in practice, but they rest on the once-for-all fact of Christ’s death. The believer’s practical warfare flows from a finished victory. A soldier does not fight to make the king legitimate; he fights because the king already reigns.
Chapter Six: He Liveth Unto God
Paul continues, “but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.” Christ’s resurrection life is wholly unto God. His death dealt with sin; His life is directed unto the Father’s glory. The risen Christ is not returning to the realm where sin’s judgment had to be borne. He lives beyond death, beyond the cross, beyond the tomb, beyond humiliation, beyond the reach of His enemies. He lives as the glorified Son, the Head of the Body, the High Priest at the right hand of God, the coming King, and the Lord of glory. His life is the believer’s life source.
This truth shapes the believer’s new direction. If the believer is in Christ, then the life he now has is not meant to be spent unto sin, self, and the world. It is life unto God. Second Corinthians 5:15 says Christ died for all, “that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” That verse is Romans 6 in practical clothing. The believer is not saved so Adam can keep the steering wheel while Jesus rides in the passenger seat blessing the trip. Christ died and rose again so the believer should live unto God. Grace does not make self-rule safer. It ends self-rule’s authority.
To live unto God is not monastic weirdness, fake piety, or religious performance designed to impress spectators. It is the entire life brought under the claims of the risen Christ. The believer’s mind, body, habits, speech, service, priorities, affections, money, time, and testimony are no longer private property. First Corinthians 6:20 says, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” The Christian life is not a religious hobby attached to Sunday. It is resurrection life belonging to God every hour of the week. If Christ lives unto God, the believer alive in Him has no business living unto the trash heap that Christ died to deliver him from.
Chapter Seven: Reckon Yourselves Dead Indeed Unto Sin, But Alive Unto God
Paul now gives the command: “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” “Likewise” connects the believer’s reckoning to Christ’s death and resurrection. As Christ died unto sin once and lives unto God, the believer is to count himself dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God. Reckoning is not creating reality by positive speech. It is counting God’s reality as true. In accounting, reckoning means putting the right number in the right column because the facts require it. Faith does not cook the books. Faith accepts heaven’s books.
“Dead indeed unto sin” means truly, actually, and certainly dead to sin’s dominion in Christ. The believer may not always feel dead to sin. In fact, temptation often feels very alive. The old appetites may shout so loudly that the believer wonders whether Romans 6 got the wrong address. But reckoning does not ask the flesh for confirmation. The flesh is a liar with a long résumé. God says the believer is dead indeed unto sin, and faith says amen before emotions finish objecting. Sin says, “You are still mine.” Faith answers, “I died with Christ.” Sin says, “You have always obeyed me.” Faith answers, “That was Adam’s history, and God put Adam on the cross.” Sin says, “You cannot change.” Faith answers, “I am alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
“Alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” is the positive side of reckoning. The believer is not merely dead to something; he is alive unto Someone. Christianity is not a list of former sins avoided by sheer grit. It is life toward God through the risen Christ. The believer reckons himself alive unto God, not through religious effort, not through moral self-improvement, not through law-keeping, not through sacramental machinery, but “through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Every word matters. The same Lord who died once unto sin now lives unto God, and the believer’s life is found in Him. Reckoning is faith looking at Christ’s finished death and endless life and saying, “God’s truth is truer than my feelings, my failures, my habits, my past, and the devil’s accusations.”
Conclusion
Romans 6:8–11 teaches the believer how to think by faith about his union with Christ. If we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. Christ being raised from the dead dies no more, and death has no more dominion over Him. He died unto sin once, and He lives unto God. Therefore the believer is commanded to reckon himself dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. That reckoning is not imagination. It is obedience to revealed truth. Faith does not pretend the battle is unreal; it stands on the fact that Christ’s victory is greater than the battle.
The passage also guards the believer from two deadly errors. On one side is psychological counterfeit reckoning, where a man tries to create spiritual victory by denying reality, repeating slogans, and calling it faith. On the other side is unbelieving defeatism, where a man believes his feelings more than Scripture and keeps reporting for duty under a master God says lost its claim. Biblical reckoning avoids both ditches. It sees temptation clearly, admits the flesh is still present, recognizes the battle, and then counts God’s word as the highest truth in the room. The Christian does not reckon because he feels victorious. He reckons because Christ died once, Christ lives unto God, and the believer is in Christ.
This is where freedom begins to take hold in daily life. The believer stops asking sin who he is. He stops asking the old habits what is possible. He stops asking the devil whether God’s word can be trusted. He stops treating emotions like prophets. He opens Romans 6 and lets God define reality. Dead indeed unto sin. Alive unto God. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. That is the Christian’s reckoning. Sin may knock, but it no longer owns the house. Death may threaten, but it lost dominion over the risen Christ. The flesh may argue, but Calvary has already answered. Reckon it true, stand on it, and walk like a man who belongs to the Lord who dieth no more.
Romans Verse-by-Verse Commentary
Continue Reading
Romans 1:1 Commentary – Paul, a Servant of Jesus Christ
Romans 1:2-4 Commentary – The Gospel Promised Beforehand
Romans 1:5–7 Commentary – Grace, Apostleship, and Obedience to the Faith