Romans 8:5-13
FUNCTIONAL LIFE VS FUNCTIONAL DEATH
First let us define the word “function.” The Collegiate Dictionary defines function as:
1. To have a certain purpose, to serve, operate, perform = “function”
Our “sanctification” (set apart, made holy), is our identity with Christ, who God has made us to be In Christ. Paul wants us to know some things: i.e. “Know ye not” (verses 3, 6, 9, 16). cf. Romans 6:3-16
2. Now, knowing our identity depends on our having complete knowledge of what really happened the “moment” we trusted Christ (by grace through faith) as our Savior. In that moment, God justified you, declared you righteous, and you were gloriously saved and sealed. Plus, you have God’s guarantee that you possess eternal life. Well, people always say, “but I did not feel anything.” You won’t! It is not about feelings nor emotions, that is what religion teaches us. “we walk by faith and not by sight.” Now, you possess “peace with God, and you have access by faith into this grace wherein you stand, and you have the hope of the glory of God.” 2 Cor. 5:7; Rom. 5:1-2; 2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 6:23; Ephesians 2:4-6; 1:12-14.
3. We now know we are saved and cannot be lost, and we have God’s assurance that “nothing shall separate us from the love of God.” Rom. 8:30-39; Eph. 4:30. We are now sanctified (set apart and made holy) for a “certain purpose.” What is my purpose? You are now enabled, empowered by the Holy Spirit to live unto God, to serve Him, to operate, to perform, to “function,” to co-labor with God, in the details of your life.
4. “Know ye not That so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore, we were buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Rom. 6:3-10. “LIKENESS” (that is Our Identity!)
Son, when Christ died, you died with him, when he was buried, you were buried with him, when he was raised from the dead, you were raised from the dead. To walk in the newness of life. 2 Cor. 5:17. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” (creation).
“Reckon (count) yourself dead indeed to sin, dead to the law, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Colossians 2:12-13.
PROPER RESPONSE TO MY SANCTIFICATION:
When temptation comes your way, and it will, the proper response to your sanctification, is remembering who you are, (IDENTITY) who God has made you to be In Christ Jesus.
Romans 6 11; I am indeed dead to sin and dead to the law, but I am alive unto God. Romans 6 13; But yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members (body) as instruments of righteousness unto God. (In these verses we see both functional death and functional life).
2.
Romans 6:14; for sin shall not have dominion over me, I am not under the law, but under grace. (The mastership of sin has been broken by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.)
Romans 8:1; There is therefore (from this time forward) NOW no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.
Romans 8:2; For the law of the spirit of life In Christ Jesus have made me free from the law of sin and death. (Free from “functional death,” and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Life in Christ has made us Alive, to live in, and walk in the Spirit, and “function,” bring glory and honor, fruits of righteousness unto God.
1. I am Physically Alive
(Genesis 2:7) “And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of ow on the ground and breathed in his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (1 Thess. 5:23); 1 Cor. 15:35-50; 51-57
2. I am Eternally alive unto God
(Roman 6:23) “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:21; 1 Tim.6:19; Titus 1:2; 3:7).
3. I am Spiritually alive unto God.
(Romans 8:9) ”But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His (Christ’s).”1 Thess. 5:23; 1 Cor. 6:19, 20.
4. I am Positionally alive unto God.
My three-fold position that I possess In Christ is, my “Justification,” (Rom 3:24; 5:1-2) “Sanctification,” 6:3-10; 8:1-13; and “Exaltation,” Eph. 2:6; Col. 3:1-4; Titus 2:11-15.
5. I am Functionally alive unto God.
I am mindful of my sanctified position effectually in practice, as I walk after the spirit and not after the flesh under the law. I am under grace therefore I also possess sonship. I am no longer treated as a child under the bondage system of the law. God sees me as an adult son. Grace gives me the freedom, to function (serve, operate, perform) in my sanctified position, in Christ. I can rejoice in the glorious liberty and victory that is mine under grace.
Galatians 5:1 “Standfast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage (law.)
Romans 6:14 “For sin shall not have dominion over me: for I am not under the law, but under grace.
3.
If you want to see a clear picture of functional death warring against functional life, read Romans 7:12-25. Paul paints a portrait of what it is like to be saved “under grace” and trying to serve God “under the law.” “O wretched (miserable) man am I.”
Colman J. Gilliland 