Q.

Brother John, great article [Reckoning and Dying Daily]. Praise the Lord for the Spirit’s daily convincing. Amazing revelation of the complete work of Christ! Can you please explain how this reckoning relates to what we read in Romans 8:13, “But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”
Is this talking about reckoning also or is it another aspect?

Irene

A.

Hello Irene,

Great question! Several matters factor in.

The word mortify means put to death. So what has to be put to death if we have died to sin? At salvation the human spirit/old man died to indwelling sin—not to sins but to that internal influence that compels us to commit sins. The old man died to/was severed from indwelling sin and has been raised as the new man wherein resides the Holy Spirit.

Although our spirits are freed from/separated from sin, this indwelling sin still resides in our flesh at the soul and body levels. The body is where indwelling sin seeks to operate by appealing to and feeding the old programming of our flesh. Sin asserts its power, demanding that we yield to its pull, but it no longer has any authority. Since we died to indwelling sin, we are no longer forced to follow its urging. And since we are joined to the Holy Spirit, we may trust the Spirit to mortify/put to death these deeds of the body.

Once we know the facts, we must reckon/be convinced of the facts. Then we must go beyond reckoning and yield to our new leader, the Holy Spirit. As we depend on the Spirit’s leadership and power, indwelling sin is deprived of power and the former programming of our flesh lies unignited. Thus, we, through the Spirit, mortify the deeds of the body and experience the life of Christ streamed into us by the Spirit. We live!

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this subject in the comments section below! If you have a question on another subject, we welcome you to make a submission by clicking here: