Romans 6:10-11 …Dying to death (02/27/17)
“The death he died, he died to sin … But the Life he lives, he lives to God.
Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God” ~ Paul (Romans 6:10-11)
First of all, note that Paul is speaking here about Jesus’ crucifixion and supposed resurrection; key points in the “Gospel of Atonement” that he himself invented (see Acts 13:30-38, Acts 17:3, Acts 17:31b, & 1 Corinthians 15:13-14 et al) — a gospel which was a very different to “the Good News” taught and encouraged by Jesus Christ (see Matthew 10:7 & Matthew 24:12-14).
While it was well done on Paul’s part to (almost certainly inadvertently) imply that Jesus did not die to life but merely “died to sin” – his own sin, Paul mistakenly chose to believe that Jesus did indeed die for all of our sins as well. Of course – at least as far as Jesus himself was concerned – this was quite clearly not the case. In fact, Jesus put himself on the cross to show us how we could all cleanse our own sins by “taking up our own cross” and emulating (i.e. following) his Way of selfless Love (see Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23 + Matthew 5:40-44, Matthew 18:21-22, Matthew 25:35-40 et al).
Finally, please note that – again, at least for Jesus – the phrase “living to God” does not mean bowing down in subservience to a celestial dictator, but rather means fully honoring the God-Essence within (see John 14:20) by acting as an agent thereof in our dealings with others (see Matthew 22:37-40).
And it is in this sense and this sense alone that Paul is correct when he says that we are to consider ourselves “dead to sin and alive to God.”
Amen … Let it be so.
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