34. Freed from Sin
Romans 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Romans 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Being dead is the key to life. Sin is dead and I am dead to sin; Christ is alive and I am alive in Christ. If sin is dead it has no power and no control over me. Like a slave is emancipated so I am emancipated by proclamation from slavery to sin.
We are in Christ freed from sin in three ways: 1) I am freed from the penalty of my sin. I truly deserved the just penalty of sin, which is death. Without question or debate I am guilty and I justly deserved temporal and eternal punishment. The verdict is final. I am free from the penalty of all sins, past, present and future. Jesus Christ has borne the punishment and by His death suffered the penalty that was earned by us for every last sin. He paid the complete debt and set us free. If I truly believe that Jesus has done everything for me I do not have to do penance nor do I in any small sense need to pay for my sins. They are paid for. Past failures, mistakes and crimes have been drowned in the blood and are dead.
2) I am free from the power of sin in the present. Every day I am tempted to sin and with Christ living in me I have the power to resist the temptation and overcome. This daily struggle is ongoing; sometimes I win and sometimes I lose. But even though I give in to the power of sin from time to time I do not have to; I do not do what I want; sin wins. Repentance regains the power through faith in the Gospel. I can return again and again to a clean and forgiven freedom.
3) I will be free from the presence of sin in the next Age. In the new heaven and new earth living in the glorious presence of God sin will be completely absent. I will have gone through death and resurrection of the body and thoroughly changed into a sinless and innocent human being, just as God originally intended. Sin will not be a part of my life or of life in the New World whatsoever. Then I will know what Freedom is really like. For now the presence of sin still remains, but the penalty of sin is gone and the power of sin is constantly being overcome by a new power. I believe the promise and reacquaint myself with that power every day.