Paul writes in Romans 6:12, "Let not Sin, then, be reigning in your mortal body, for you to be obeying its lusts." We were taught in our church days that—CERTAINLY—this verse is warning us not to sin. But do you notice how, in the Concordant Literal New Testament, Sin is capitalized? This is because, here and
through Romans 8, Paul is personifying sin. He is personifying it as the power that once condemned us. This section, then, is not about sinning, or even sins. It's about Sin itself.
Sin is REIGNING in our mortal bodies when we listen to its voice and let it accuse and condemn us. Thus, the people like us who are ignoring Sin and basically telling it to
go screw itself—we are the ones who are not letting it reign, whereas those who fight Sin as a vocation (speaking of Christians now, that strange gaggle of religionists who live as though Jesus Christ on the cross did NOTHING about Sin), THESE are the ones who are actually letting Sin reign.
Christians bow down to Sin's "power" every day. Moment by
moment, they give Sin the megaphone of their lives; they give it right to boss them around, to make them think they can't look God in the eye, to make them doubt that Jesus Christ did anything at all against it, and to even cause them to doubt their salvation. Wow, talk about Sin being on the throne of a life. Can a person possibly bow down lower to the supposed power of Sin?
And then notice how Paul says, "...for you to be obeying its lusts." As you will hear in this video, the Greek word translated "obey" here means "to hear and to heed." Whose lusts are we talking about? Whose lusts are the topic of conversation? Were were taught that this passage is all about OUR lusts. And we believed it! But wait---didn't we read the passage? Paul can't say it any more clearly here that he's talking about SIN'S lusts. Sin has lusts? Oh yes it does. And
it demonstrates these lusts through the manipulation of Satan, the Father of Lies.
Sin LUSTS to condemn you.
Sin LUSTS to talk you out of your justification.
Sin LUSTS for you to take your eyes off Christ.
Sin LUSTS for you to pay attention to it at all costs.
Remember, the personification of Sin is a figure of speech. Sin is not literally an animated personality. Thus, the lust is figurative also. The THING, Sin, cannot lust. But the Adversary, manipulating the SPECTER of Sin, manifests HIS lusts through It to scare you out of your justification and into doubting your very salvation.
Don't let Sin be reigning. Don't listen to Sin's sickly desires.
