720 The Spiritual Man
life and power; it can strike at our soul, crippling its feeling, thought
and will; or it can strike at our body, rendering it weak and sick.
In reading Romans 5 we find that “death reigned” (v.17). Death
not only exists, it also reigns. It reigns in the spirit, in the soul, in the
body. Although our body is still alive, death already is reigning in it.
Its influence has not yet reached its zenith, but it is reigning
nonetheless and pushing its frontiers so as to engulf the whole body.
Various symptoms which we discover in our body demonstrate how
much its power is upon us. And these lead people to that ultimate
demise—physical death.
While there is the reign of death, there is also the reign of life
(Rom. 5.17). The Apostle Paul assures us that all who receive the
abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness “reign in life,”
a force which far exceeds the operative power of death. But
Christians today have been so occupied with the problem of sin that
the problem of death has virtually been forgotten. Important as the
overcoming of sin is, the overcoming of death—a related problem—
should not be neglected. We know Romans Chapters 5 to 8 deal very
distinctly with the matter of overcoming sin, but it gives equal
attention to the question of death: “the wages of sin is death” (6.23).
Paul deals with the consequence of sin as well as with sin itself. He
not only contrasts righteousness and trespasses but also compares life
and death. Many Christians stress overcoming the various
manifestations of sin in their character and daily life, yet they fail to
emphasize how to overcome the result of sin, namely, death. The
Apostle, however, is used by God in these few chapters to discuss
not so much sin’s manifestations in daily life as sin’s consequence
which is death.
We must see clearly the relationship between these two elements.
Christ died to save us not only from our sins but from death as well.
God is now calling us to subdue both these phenomena. As sinners
we were dead in sins, for sin and death reigned over us; but the Lord