Reckon Yourself Dead to Sin and the Twelve Steps

To experience resurrection life, we need to see ourselves dead to sin.

 

Alcoholics Anonymous trains its members to focus on their failures, to keep looking at the sins and setbacks, to keep taking one's inventory, and to live a life in which is not life.

Paul reveals to us the freedom and relief which God releases into our lives through Christ Jesus:

 

 

"8Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6: 8-11)

We are born dead in our trespasses. Adam sinned against God, and with his sin the whole human race was brought into sin (Romans 5: 15-19). The Ten Commandments, given on Mount Sinai in Exodus 20, was never a standing for living, but the standard of God's holiness which no man could live up to. We need life, not a program for living. The Twelve Steps attempts to till the soil of man's flesh, which cannot be fixed, but rather must be crucified (Galatian 2: 20-21)

Because we are dead to sin and made alive in Christ Jesus, we are dead to sin, dead to condemnation, and thus dead to the dead works to restore ourselves through our own efforts (Hebrews 9: 14):

 

"12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." (Romans 6: 12-14)

We are no longer under law, but under grace.

The Twelve Steps are an example of law, a set of rules which draw on our efforts.

Yet we must have no confidence in our flesh (Philippians 3: 3), but rather walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5: 16), a Spirit of Adoption (Romans 8: 15), and a Spirit of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7)

We are dead to sin, the condemnation and imputation of our wrongdoing, all because of Jesus.

We receive life through Him, and through Him we are freed, made dead to the rudiments of the world (Colossians 2: 8, 20), which includes the Twelve Steps.