Romans 6.12-Do Not Let The Sin Nature Reign In Your Bodies So That You Obey Its Desires
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday June 29, 2008
Romans: Romans 6:12-Do Not Let The Sin Nature Reign In Your Bodies So That You Obey Its Desires
Lesson # 191
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 6:1.
This morning we will study Romans 6:12, in which the apostle Paul prohibits the believers in Rome from letting the sin nature reign as king in their bodies with the result that they obey its lusts.
Romans 6:1-13, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”
In Romans 6:12, “Therefore” is the “inferential” use of the conjunction oun (ou@n) (oon), which denotes that what is introduced at this point is the result of an inference from Paul’s teaching in Romans 6:11.
In verse eleven, we can see that the apostle Paul commands the Roman believers to consider themselves dead with respect to the sin nature but alive with respect to God, in union with Christ Jesus.
Therefore, the conjunction oun here in verse twelve introduces a statement that draws a conclusion from verse eleven that teaches the Roman believers to regard themselves as dead with respect to the sin nature while on the other hand, alive with respect to God the Father, in union with Christ Jesus.
If believers are commanded by Paul to regard themselves as dead with respect to the sin nature but alive with respect to the Father, in union with Christ Jesus, then, we can infer or draw the conclusion that they are to never let the sin nature reign as king in their mortal bodies with the result that they obey its lusts.
Romans 6:12, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts.”
“Do not let reign” is composed of the particle me (mhv) (may), “not” and the third person singular present active imperative form of the verb basileuo (basileuvw) (bas-il-yoo-o), “Do let reign.”
The verb means, “to rule as a king or as a tyrant” with the implication of ruling with complete authority in an absolute manner.
Here in Romans 6:12, the verb basileuo is personifying the noun hamartia indicating that Paul does not want the Roman believers to permit their sin natures to “reign as a cruel tyrant” in their mortal bodies.
The sin nature reigns as king in the mortal body of the believer who obeys its desires.
The verb’s meaning is negated by the negative particle me, “not,” which indicates that this has not taken place but is used with the verb basileuo to prohibit Paul’s readers in the future from letting the sin nature reign in their physical bodies with the result that they obey its lusts.
The present imperative of the verb basileuo with the negative particle me has the force of a general precept indicating that the prohibition here in Romans 6:12 does not imply that the Roman believers were involved in letting their sin natures reign in their mortal bodies.
It makes no comment about whether the action is going on or not.
Thus, Paul’s readers were “not” presently involved in letting their sin natures’ reign in their bodies with the result that they obey its lusts.
In Romans 15:14-15, Paul writes to the believers in Rome that he was convinced that they were full of goodness and filled with knowledge and able to admonish each other.
Thus, his teachings in this epistle would serve as a reminder to them.
Romans 15:14-15, “And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another. But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God.”
Therefore, Paul is simply performing preventive maintenance by employing this prohibition in Romans 6:12.
He is in effect warning the believers in Rome to not let their sin nature’s reign as a tyrant in their bodies since it will result in them obeying its lusts.
Thus, he is simply stating a general precept for his readers to follow in the future that would protect their fellowship with God.
This is a “customary present imperative,” which is a command for action to be continued, action that may or may not have already been going on and is often a character building command to the effect of “make this your habit,” “train yourself in this,” etc.
Romans 6:12, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts.”
“Sin” is the noun hamartia (a(martiva) (ham-ar-tee-ah), which refers to the sin nature, which is being personified by the verb basileuo.
“In your mortal body” denotes that the human body is the location in which Paul does not want the Roman believers to let the sin nature reign as king.
The adjective thnetos, “mortal” describes the human body as “that which is subject to deterioration, death and decay.”
The reason why the human body is subject to deterioration, death and decay is that the sin nature resides in the genetic structure of the human body.
Romans 6:6, “This we are very familiar with through instruction, namely, that our old man was crucified with Him in order that the sinful body would be deprived of its power with the result that we are no longer in a perpetual state of being slaves to the sin nature.”
This was the result of the Lord putting a curse on the human body as a result of Adam’s transgression.
Genesis 3:18-19, “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Romans 6:12, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts.”
“So that you obey” indicates that the sin nature can only reign in the believer’s body if he lets it by obeying its desires since the result of the believer letting his sin nature reign in his mortal body is that he obeys its desires.
“Lusts” is the noun epithumia (e)piqumiva), which refers to the various lust patterns of the sin nature, which originate from the desire to live independently of the sovereign will of God.
The word not only refers to sexual lust but also power lust, approbation lust, social lust, monetary lust, materialism lust, inordinate ambition resulting in inordinate competition, revenge lust, criminal lust, chemical lust, crusader lust, and pleasure lust.
Galatians 5:16, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”
Galatians 5:24, “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
Colossians 3:5, “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.”
1 Thessalonians 4:3-5, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God.”
1 Peter 2:11, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.”
Romans 6:12 draws the conclusion that if believers are to regard themselves as dead with respect to the sin nature but alive with respect to the Father, in union with Christ Jesus, then, they are to never let the sin nature reign as king in their mortal bodies with the result that they obey its lusts.