Freedom From Sin’s Power - Part II of VIII

What Is Sin?

Sin is the very nature of the Evil One himself – Satan, Lucifer, the Devil, the Serpent. You will note that Sin, as described in Romans chapters 6-8, is referred to as if it were a personality having a will of its own and acting upon man; it is the very nature of Satan. Romans 7:8s (KVJ) But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. Romans 7:11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Romans 7:20 (NAS) But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

We see in Genesis that Adam, and thereby all humanity as his progeny, became entwined with Sin in the person of the Serpent, later called the “Old Serpent (Rev 20:2)”. Through the fall of Adam, Sin became mankind’s fallen nature. Sin as a nature in men entered the world of mankind by the disobedience of Adam (Rom 5:12) as he listened to and believed (received) the lying words of the Serpent himself. The Serpent told Eve and Adam that they could become “as gods, knowing good and evil” if they would take and eat of “the tree of the knowledge and good and evil (Gen 3:5)”. They chose to take of that tree, believing it could give them knowledge that could make them to be as gods; they thereby became separate from dependence upon God. The sinful act of Adam was to eat of the Tree of Knowledge, believing this would make them to become “as gods”. It was an act of independence from God. All mankind enters the world as gods of their own lives, independent of relationship with God. Everyone is born with the infection of Sin. Psalm 51:5...I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Without realizing it, Adam had taken into his physical flesh body the fallen Sin nature of the Serpent. With our being conceived, the infection of Sin is present with every one of us as our very nature. In fact, it is and was man’s first nature of operation whereby he conducts his living daily – more n this later. Here we see the power Sin has over man.

1. Note that “Sin”, as a noun, is the focus here in Romans 6-8, not “sins”. Sins are but the fruit of the Sin nature, which is of the Evil One himself. The normal spontaneous acts of the Sin nature are sinful acts, thus man now automatically acts out the nature of Sin, doing acts of Sin called sins. Sin, when it is finished, brings forth death (1Cor 15:56). Death was the God-promised penalty for the sin of eating of the tree of knowledge (Gen 2:17). Thus, man now lives under the penalty of Sin - death.  
2. Man, by the indwelling nature of Sin, now is subservient as a slave to the tyrannical rule of Sin that emanates from his fallen physical body. Thus, man now lives under the power and rule of Sin as his nature. Man automatically disobeys God (Eph 2:2), and in fact man is at enmity with God (Rom 8:7) – it’s his very nature. “Sin” is Satan as the king of a kingdom called darkness (Col 1:13). Jesus spoke this to the religious leaders of Israel. Jn 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts (desires) of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

It is on the cross that Jesus Christ shed His blood and died to bear the penalty of death on our behalf. Christ’s death has two aspects of truth related to it.

v    First, it is by His substitutionary death for us that we have been delivered from the penalty for the acts of Sin which we call sins – from judgment. This is the objective truth of the cross of Christ, universally applied to all who would receive its benefit, by simply believing on the Lord Jesus.  Romans 10:9-10 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. [10] For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

v    There is a second aspect of Christ’s dying on the cross; it is the basis of a life-exchange for those who believe its truth. This is the subjective, personal, truth of the cross for believers who go on to grow in the grace and experiential knowledge of our Lord. We as Christians need revelation of this truth in order to see and believe it, to make it effective in our lives. It is by His death as us that we are freed from Sin’s usurping and ruling power over us. In Romans 6:10, “For in that He died, He died unto sin once.” It doesn’t say “for sin” there - it says, “UNTO sin”. In other words, when they nailed Jesus to the cross He gave Himself willingly as a sacrifice, to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). The flesh had no more hold on Him; it was made of no effect through His death. He had died already unto Sin, and He rose again to a new life. Now in God’s sight, God sees me, as a believer, as one who has also died there “in Christ”. I’ve also died “unto sin”. Now I am of no use to sin – Sin’s hold has been broken. I’m to consider (reckon) myself as one who has died and was buried with Christ, and risen with Christ, unto His new life, which now is our life. The death part is done – now I need to get on with living by His new life in me as my life. We, as an old self, are now cut off from Sin, the world, and the flesh.