June 19
“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 [or reckon] yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:10-11)
Continuing our lessons from The Green Letters:
IDENTIFICATION (continued)
Andrew Murray: “Like Christ, the believer too has died to sin; he is one with Christ, in the likeness of His death (Rom. 6:5). And as the knowledge that Christ died for sin as our atonement is indispensable to our justification; so the knowledge that Christ and we with Him in the likeness of His death, are dead to sin, is indispensable to our sanctification” (Like Christ, p. 176). (p. 31)
J. Hudson Taylor: “Since Christ has thus dwelt in my heart by faith, how happy I have been! I am dead and buried with Christ – ay, and risen too! And now Christ lives in me, and ‘the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, loved me, and gave Himself for me.’ Nor should we look upon this experience, these truths, as for the few. They are the birthright of every child of God, and no one can dispense with them without dishonoring our Lord.” (Spiritual Secret, p. 116) (p. 32)
William R. Newell: “To those who refuse or neglect to reckon themselves dead to sin as God commands, we press the question, How are you able to believe that Christ really bare the guilt of your sins….It is only God’s word that tells you that Christ bare your sins in His own body on the tree…And it is that same word that tells you that you as connected with Adam, died with Christ, that your old man was crucified, that since you are in Christ you shared His death unto sin, and are thus to reckon your present relation to sin in Christ – as the one who is dead to it, and alive unto God” (Romans, Verse by Verse, p. 227) (p. 32)
Watchman Nee: “Our sins were dealt with by the blood, we ourselves are dealt with by the cross. The blood procures our pardon, the cross procures deliverance from what we are in Adam. The blood can wash away my sins, but it cannot wash away my old man: I need the cross to crucify me – the sinner!” (The Normal Christian Life, p. 25) (pp. 32-33)
T. Austin-Sparks: “The first phase of our spiritual experience may be a great and overflowing joy, with a marvelous sense of emancipation. In this phase extravagant things are often said as to total deliverance and final victory. Then there may, and often does, come a phase in which inward conflict is the chief feature. It may be very much of a Romans 7 experience. This will lead, under the Lord’s hand, to the fuller knowledge of the meaning of identification with Christ, as in Romans 6. Happy is the man who has been instructed in this in the beginning” (What is Man?, p. 61) (p. 33)
More on Identification and related topics tomorrow.