Are You Dead or Alive?
by Matthew Winter
There are two kinds of people in the world, according to Romans 5.
There are those who are dead IN sin. Sin rules over them. They cannot help but sin because it is their nature, but more still, we are all guilty of the sin of Adam, the first man. We call this federal headship. We are all condemned for the sin of Adam. This first kind of person is born guilty, on a one way trip to hell on a train with no way out. The scriptures say that the wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23 NLT, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” Not only a physical death that entered creation when entropy entered the world through the first sin, but also death of the spiritual kind, a separation from God. If we look at the Gospels, Jesus speaks of Gehenna, a place of outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. What is this outer darkness? It is a place where the Light of God does not shine, that is the fate of those who are dead IN sin, the still-born children of Adam.
The second kind of person is those who are alive in Christ. Romans 5:8, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
Christ came and lived:
with no sin,
born of God and not of a man,
not under the rule of Adam's sin, but free of it,
therefore, righteous in deed and by nature, and yet died a criminal's death. Without any guilt either of Adam or of personal sin, death was a price He didn't owe. Yet He willingly, in your place, and in mine, DIED. The debt that we all owe for our nature and personal transgression and Christ paid it. He was not guilty, so death could not hold Him and He rose again. Since He died our death, those who believe they are guilty in light of the law, (which is the point of the law, to guide to the light of Christ,) and accept Jesus death in their place, will receive His life in place of theirs. This is a trade, the great exchange it was called by Martin Luther.
"Therefore, my dear brother, learn Christ and him crucified. Learn to pray to him an, despairing of yourself, say: "Thou, Lord Jesus, art my righteousness, but I am thy sin. Thou hast taken upon thyself what is mine and hast given to me what is thine. Thou has taken upon thyself what thou wast not and hast given to me what I was not." Beware of aspiring to such purity that you will not wish to be looked upon as a sinner, or to be one. For Christ dwells only in sinners. On this account he descended from heaven, where he dwelt among the righteous, to dwell among sinners. Meditate on this love of his and you will see his sweet consolation. For why was it necessary for him to die if we can obtain a good conscience by our works and afflictions? Accordingly you will find peace only in him and only when you despair of yourself and your own works. Besides, you will learn from him that just as he has received you, so he has made your sins his own and has made his righteousness.”
Christ dies your death and you receive His life. What does this mean for this second type of person? They are alive in Christ. Christ was and is perfect with no sin, and we now “wear” his righteousness. Remember that train I talked about earlier? Well, the door of the train has a righteousness detector and only Jesus can pass through. When we approach the door to leave the train, this detector sees the life of Christ and allows us to pass through.
With this comes great assurance, but also great responsibility that our life is not our own but is in fact Christ in us. Christ gave his life for you, for me, and our response is not only obviously one of thanks and worship, but it is to give our life for His! Now that we are alive in Christ we are no longer dead in sin, but instead dead TO sin. Sint has no hold on our lives. We should no longer live as the old creation, but live as the new kind of person that Paul speaks about in Romans 13 and also in Ephesians. Does this mean we will be perfect? Of course not. Take heart and be assured that Christ has done all things. He has fulfilled all obedience on your behalf, that when you sin, 1st John says you have an advocate.
Call to Action
Pray, read and reflect on the following verses this week.
Reflection
If you are honest with yourself, which type of person are you? Dead or alive?
What sins in your life do you need to die to?
What can you do to live your life for Christ, since He gave His for you?
