Hallelujah! I am dead!
Hallelujah? Does this sound like a state in which to rejoice? However, recently I came to realize that my death is cause for great rejoicing!
"Are you out of your mind?", you may ask. No. Quite the contrary. In fact, recently I was greatly excited to read an actual account of my execution.
Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Here I see that Jesus was not the only one on the cross. To the physical eye he hung there alone, but in the greater reality--the spiritual reality--I was there with him! And I do believe that Jesus indeed died on the cross. That is truth. It is truth whether I believe it or I do not believe it. He died. So it is also true of me. I died also. And whether I believe it or not, the truth remains unchanged.
It says, "Knowing this..." What is this "knowing"? It is the following:
ginw,skw ginosko {ghin-oce'-ko}
Meaning: 1) to learn to know, come to know, get a knowledge of perceive, feel 1a) to become known 2) to know, understand, perceive, have knowledge of 2a) to understand 2b) to know 3) Jewish idiom for intercourse between a man and a woman 4) to become acquainted with, to know.
This experiential kind of knowing goes beyond hearing it. It is also used in the epistle of I John.
1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know (ginosko) him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
All my attempts at reforming the old man are useless. He was beyond reformation. And because I died with him on the cross, was buried with him, and rose with him, I am a free man; free to choose to live for him and in him.
The "body of sin" it talks about in Romans 6:6, that old man nature, was destroyed. Another way to translate this word is, "unemployed" . Sin, the old master is still in existence, but my old nature is unemployed. He no longer has to jump when sin, the old master says jump. Now, by my free will, I can live life as a son of God. I can reckon myself to be dead, as it says in Romans 6:11.
Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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