“For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:10-11).
Life-and-death matters are most somber and serious.
For the Redeemer, His atoning death as the Lamb of God was once-in-a-lifetime. The life He now lives is to God and His final, decisive actions of redemption. His reign at the right hand of God will continue until every foe of humanity and deity has been judged and cast into Gehenna’s lake of fire and brimstone.
His final act in this capacity will begin the hour of His second appearing from heaven when “all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:28-29). Once all things are made subject to the Father via the Son, “the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:28).
For the redeemed, their penitent mind is renovated/renewed and their thinking about sin and righteousness is fundamentally transformed. As they walk in newness of life, they reckon themselves “dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:11). By doing this, they prove that God’s will is good, acceptable, and perfect (Romans 12:2). God is glorified; Christ is magnified; these are the most important of all life-and-death matters.
