21. The first death, inherited from Adam, is done away with, changed
into a spiritual dying unto sin, by reason of which the soul no
longer consents to sin and the body no longer commits it. Thus, in
place of the death which sin has brought upon us, eternal life is
already begun in you. Ye are now freed from the dreadful damning
death; then accept the sweet, holy and blessed death unto sin, that
ye may beware of sin and no longer serve it. Such is to be the result
of the death of Christ into which ye are baptized; Christ has died
and has commanded you to be baptized in order that sin might be
drowned in you.
22. The other, the "little death," is that outward, physical death.
In the Scriptures it is called a sleep. It is imposed upon the flesh,
because, so long as we live on earth, the flesh never ceases to
resist the spirit and its life. Paul says: "The flesh lusteth against
the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary
the one to the other; that ye may not do the things that ye would."
Gal 5, 17. The spirit, or soul, says: I am dead unto sin and will not
sin any more. But the flesh says: I am not dead and must make use of
my life while I have it. The spirit declares: I believe that God has
forgiven my sins and taken them away from me through Christ. But the
flesh asks: What do I know of God or his will? The spirit resolves: I
must be meek, pure, chaste, humble, patient, and seek the future
life. But the flesh in reply makes a loud outcry: Away with your
heaven! if only I had enough of bread and money and property here!
Thus the flesh does continually, as long as it lives here; it draws
and drags sin after itself; it is rebellious and refuses to die.
Therefore God must finally put it to death before it becomes dead
unto sin.
23. And after all, it is but a gentle and easy death. It is truly
only a sleep. Since soul and spirit are no longer dead, the body
shall not remain dead; it shall come forth again, cleansed and
purified, on the last day, to be united with the soul. Then shall it
be a gentle, pure and obedient body, without sin or evil lust.
24. These words of Paul are an admirable Christian picture of death,
representing it not as an awful thing, but as something comforting
and pleasant to contemplate. For how could Paul present a more
attractive description than when he describes it as stripped of its
power and repulsiveness and makes it the medium through which we
attain life and joy? What is more desirable than to be freed from sin
and the punishment and misery it involves, and to possess a joyful,
cheerful heart and conscience? For where there is sin and real
death--the sense of sin and God's wrath--there are such terror and
dismay that man feels like rushing through iron walls. Christ says,
in Luke 23, 30, quoting from the prophet Hosea (ch. 10, v. 8), that
such a one shall pray that the mountains and the hills may fall on
him and cover him.
25. That dreadful death which is called in the Scriptures the second
death is taken away from the Christian through Christ, and is
swallowed up in his life. In place of it there is left a miniature
death, a death in which the bitterness is covered up. In it the
Christian dies according to the flesh; that is, he passes from
unbelief to faith, from the remaining sin to eternal righteousness,
from woes and sadness and tribulation to perfect eternal joy. Such a
death is sweeter and better than any life on earth. For not all the
life and wealth and delight and joy of the world can make man as
happy as he will be when he dies with a conscience at peace with God
and with the sure faith and comfort of everlasting life. Therefore
truly may this death of the body be said to be only a falling into a
sweet and gentle slumber. The body ceases from sin. It no longer
hinders or harasses the spirit. It is cleansed and freed from sin and
comes forth again in the resurrection clothed with the obedience, joy
and life which the spirit imparts.
26. The only trouble is that the stupid flesh cannot understand this.
It is terrified by the mask of death, and imagines that it is still
suffering the old death; for it does not understand the spiritual
dying unto sin. It judges only by outward appearance. It sees that
man perishes, decays under the ground and is consumed. Having only
this abominable and hideous mask before its eyes, it is afraid of
death. But its fear is only because of its lack of understanding. If
it knew, it would by no means be afraid or shudder at death. Our
reason is like a little child who has become frightened by a bugbear
or a mask, and cannot be lulled to sleep; or like a poor man, bereft
of his senses, who imagines when brought to his couch that he is
being put into the water and drowned. What we do not understand we
cannot intelligently deal with. If, for instance, a man has a penny
and imagines it to be a five-dollar gold piece, he is just as proud
of it as if it were a real gold piece; if he loses it he is as
grieved as if he had lost that more valuable coin. But it does not
follow that he has suffered such loss; he has simply deluded himself
with a false idea.
27. Thus it is not the reality of death and burial that terrifies;
the terror lies in the flesh and blood, which cannot understand that
death and the grave mean nothing more than that God lays us--like a
little child is laid in a cradle or an easy bed--where we shall
sweetly sleep till the judgment day. Flesh and blood shudders in fear
at that which gives no reason for it, and finds comfort and joy in
that which really gives no comfort or joy. Thus Christians must be
harassed by their ignorant and insane flesh, because it will not
understand its own good or harm. They must verily fight against it as
long as they live, at the cost of much pain and weariness.
28. There is none so perfect that he does not flee from and shudder
at death and the grave. Paul complains and confesses of himself, and
in his own person of all Christians: "For that which I do I know not:
for not what I would, that do I practice." Rom 7, 15. In other words:
By the spirit, I am well aware that when this body comes to die God
simply lays me to rest in sweetest slumber, and I would gladly have
my flesh to understand this; but I cannot bring it to it. The spirit
indeed is willing and desires bodily death as a gentle sleep. It does
not consider it to be death; it knows no such thing as death. It
knows that it is freed from sin and that where there is no sin there
is no death--life only. But the flesh halts and hesitates, and is in
constant dread lest I die and perish in the abyss. It will not allow
itself to be tamed and brought into that obedience and into that
consoling view of death which the spirit exercises. Even Saint Paul
cries out in anxiety of spirit: "Wretched man that I am! who shall
deliver me out of the body of this death?" Rom 7, 24. Now we see what
is meant by the statement, "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit."
The flesh must be dragged along and compelled by the spirit to
obediently follow, in spite of its resistance and trembling. It must
be forced into submission until it is finally overcome. Just so the
mother so deals with the child that is fretful and restless that she
constrains it to sleep.
29. Paul says, "Knowing this, that our old man was crucified"--that
is, we know that, in soul and spirit, we are already dead unto
sin--"that the body of sin might be done away." The meaning is:
Because the body does not willingly and cheerfully follow the spirit,
but resists and would fain linger in the old life of sin, it is
already sentenced, compelled to follow and to be put to death that
sin may be destroyed in it.
30. He does not say that the body is destroyed as soon as a man has
been baptized and is become a Christian, but that the body of sin is
destroyed. The body which before was obstinate and disobedient to the
spirit is now changed; it is no longer a body of sin but of
righteousness and newness of life. So he adds, "that we should no
longer be in bondage to sin."
"But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with
him; knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more;
death no more hath dominion over him. For the death that he died, he
died unto sin once; but the life that he liveth, he liveth unto God."
31. Here he leads us out of the death and grave of sin to the
resurrection of spirit and body. When we die--spiritually unto sin,
and physically to the world and self--what doth it profit us? Is
there nothing else in store for the Christian but to die and be
buried? By all means yes, he says; we are sure by faith that we also
shall live, even as Christ rose from death and the grave and lives.
For we have died with him, or, as stated above, "we have become
united with him in the likeness of his death." By his death he has
destroyed our sin and death; therefore we share in his resurrection
and life. There shall be no more sin and death in our spirit or body,
just as there is no more death in him. Christ, having once died and
been raised again, dieth no more. There is nothing to die for. He has
accomplished everything. He has destroyed the sin for which he died,
and has swallowed up death in victory. And that he now lives means
that he lives in everlasting righteousness, life and majesty. So,
when ye have once passed through both deaths, the spiritual death
unto sin and the gentle death of the body, death can no more touch
you, no more reign over you.
32. This, then, is our comfort for the timidity of the poor, weak
flesh which still shudders at death. If thou art a Christian, then
know that thy Lord Jesus Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no
more; death hath no more dominion over him. Therefore, death hath no
more dominion over thee, who art baptized into him. Satan is defied
and dared to try all his powers and terrors on Christ; for we are
assured, "Death no more hath dominion over him." Death may awaken
anger, malice, melancholy, fear and terror in our poor, weak flesh,
but it hath no more dominion over Christ. On the contrary, death must
submit to the dominion of Christ, in his own person and in us. We
have died unto sin; that is, we have been redeemed from the sting and
power, the control, of death. Christ has fully accomplished the work
by which he obtained power over death, and has bestowed that power
upon us, that in him we should reign over death. So Paul says in
conclusion:
"Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive
unto God in Christ Jesus."
33. "Reckon ye also yourselves," he says. Ye, as Christians, should
be conscious of these things, and should conduct yourselves in all
your walk and conversation as those who are dead to sin and who give
evidence of it to the world. Ye shall not serve sin, shall not follow
after it, as if it had dominion over you. Ye shall live in newness of
life, which means that ye shall lead a godly life, inwardly by faith
and outwardly in your conduct; ye shall have power over sin until the
flesh--the body--shall at last fall asleep, and thus both deaths be
accomplished in you. Then there will remain nothing but life--no
terror or fear of death and no more of its dominion.
_Seventh Sunday After Trinity_
Text: Romans 6, 19-23.
19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your
flesh: for as ye presented your members as servants to uncleanness
and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now present your members as
servants to righteousness unto sanctification. 20 For when ye were
servants of sin, ye were free in regard of righteousness. 21 What
fruit then had ye at that time in the things whereof ye are now
ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 22 But now being made
free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto
sanctification, and the end eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is
death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.