Romans Chapter 6 Vs. 13

 

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

Neither 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. Rom 6:13

Neither yield ye... It is not sin to be tempted; the sin is in yielding (Jas. 1:13-15). While sin exists as satanic solicitation, it is Satan’s lust and sin, not ours. When we yield, we make the Devil’s sin our own. The one tempted should obey Jas. 4:7; 1Pet. 5:8-9; Eph. 4:27. When man refuses, regardless of how strong the temptation is, no sin is possible (1Jhn. 3:4; Jas. 1:13-15).

but yield yourselves... Yield your will to God. Satan cannot force your will, and God will not, so the safe and normal thing is to will to do God’s will.

Yield or present refers to a decision of the will. Before sin can have power over a believer, it must first pass through his will. Our members are the parts of our physical body, the headquarters from which sin operates in the believer.

Notice here, that it is in our power to control this. There is a war constantly between the flesh and the spirit. We must not yield to temptation. One of the easiest ways to not be tempted is to be reading and studying God’s word every day and stay busy.

(Eph. Chp. 6), is a good Scripture to study to learn how to battle for the Lord (verse 10), is good place to begin.

as instruments of... Greek: hoplon, weapons. Here; Rom. 13:12; John 18:3; 2Cor. 6:7; 10:4. Instruments of righteousness are tools for overcoming that which violates God’s holy will and law.

Actually this verse repeats the command of Rom. 6:12 in more specific terms. Do not offer (lit., “do not continue to present,” or “stop presenting”) the parts of your body (lit., “your members”; cf. Rom. 6:19) to sin, as instruments (hopla, frequently in military context, “weapons” or “armor”; cf. Rom. 13:12; 2Cor. 6:7; 10:4) of wickedness (adikias, “unrighteousness” in contrasting parallelism with righteousness, later in Rom. 6:13). On the contrary, in sharp contrast, Paul commanded, offer (aorist imper., “present once and for all”; also used in Rom. 6:19) yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life (lit., “as if being alive out from dead ones”; cf. John 5:24) and offer the parts of your body (lit., “and your members”) to Him as instruments (hopla) of righteousness (dikaiosynēs). A related passage is Paul’s exhortation, “Offer your bodies as living sacrifices… to God” (Rom. 12:1). Because they were once dead in sin (cf. Eph. 2:1) but have been given new life (Rom. 6:11) believers ought to live for God. Their bodies should be used not for sin (Rom. 6:12) or unrighteousness (Rom. 6:13) but for promoting righteousness (cf. “bodies” and “body”; Rom. 7:5, 7:23; 1Cor. 6:15).