In God’s reckoning, the work of the Cross has been once for all finished. We should always make this distinction. Paul insists we are DEAD TO SIN. From the time of our first knowledge of Christ’s redemptive work, and our appropriation by reckoning it ours, we have been dead to sin.
In any dispute with Satan, or uprising of the flesh, we reckon from the time of our FIRST RECKONING. It is always past! Finished!
When Paul said, “I die daily”, he was not saying that we are called to die daily to sin. It is just at this point many confuse the “work” of the Cross and the “way” of the Cross. The first is a past tense reality which we reckon upon. The latter is a present tense reality which we share with Christ continually… Paul says, “I die daily”. The context is very plain. There is no reference to dying to sin. The apostle speaks of his daily willingness to hazard his life for the gospel. The passage read, “If the dead rise not… why stand we in jeopardy every hour?…. I die daily. If by the manner of men I have fought with beats at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not?” (I Corinthians 15:30-32).
In God’s reckoning, the work of the Cross has been once for all finished. We should always make this distinction. When we reckon upon Christ’s death FOR US and our DEATH WITH HIM, we use the past tense, saying with Paul: “I have been crucified…”, “Our old man was crucified…”, “Reckon yourselves… to be dead….” In these and many other instances Paul pictures our union “together with Him”. We are delivered from sin’s guilt and its power by reckoning on our identification with the finished work of Christ on the Cross. There is a finality–we are to reckon on what is past.
From “The Ultimate Intention” by DeVern Fromke
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