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If you believe reckoning yourself to be dead indeed unto sin through Christ is a means of eventually, at some point in the future, becoming dead to sin, then you necessarily believe you’re currently alive to sin. ANY OUNCE of teaching that says born again Christians must wait for a future freedom is, by implication, saying that born again Christians are not presently free. Saying that born again Christians are not presently free is saying born again Christians are not presently dead to sin. If you believe you are not presently dead to sin, you are, in disobedience to Romans 6:11 and disobedience to the Faith, reckoning yourself alive to sin.
Reckoning yourself alive to sin is a denial of the cross, as it is saying your death with Christ on the cross did not cause you to die to sin. If you don’t believe you died unto sin once when Christ died unto sin once, you either don’t believe He died unto sin once or you don’t believe you were in Him when He did. Either one is a denial of what truly to took place on the cross. You might assent to those facts in word, but if you turn right around and start talking about some future freedom, you’re denying the finality of your death to sin with Christ and thereby denying the finality of what Jesus did for you.
You say don’t add to the cross, you say your faith must be exclusively in the cross, then you turn right around and add a waiting period to the cross, showing that your faith is in the cross plus a waiting period. Your gospel is the gospel of what Jesus did plus the great endurance of YOUR faith. Such a gospel is nothing but faith in faith. You’re trying to bring about freedom by believing you’re already free for a long enough time. That’s an error from the word of faith doctrine.
The Truth is that if you’re born again, the cross made you free the moment you were crucified on it, which happened at Salvation. Faith in the cross is not trying to believe your way to a freedom that is yet to be given. Faith in the cross is believing that what happened to you when you were immersed into Jesus’ death (something that’s ALREADY happened) made you free indeed.
Not once did Paul ever use typology from the Old Testament to teach believers to disobey Romans 6:11 and thereby deny the cross. Not once did Paul use his own writings to contradict Romans 6:7. NOT ONCE did Paul ever bring in that LEAVEN that teaches people to try to re-accomplish, or wait for Jesus to re-accomplish, what He’s ALREADY accomplished.
The fact that ALL born Christians are presently FREE INDEED does not mean anyone has, can, or will attain sinless perfection. Nor does it mean someone who’s struggling, for YEARS even, is not born again. Nor does it mean born again Christians do not need to undergo the lifelong process of putting off, concerning the former conversation, the old man with his deeds, being renewed in the spirit of their mind, and putting on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph 4:22-24).
It DOES mean, however, that the Christian who has been experiencing bondage for years (in EFFECT - not in actuality) can look to what his or her Savior has done for them, know that they were in Christ when He died unto sin once, rightly reckon themselves to be dead indeed unto sin (and therefore free from sin) through what CHRIST has DONE, and thereby WALK in the freedom that Christ has ALREADY given them. No waiting period required! That’s what FINISHED means!
As well, all Christians can experience progressive growth as the Spirit shows us the conversation of the old man in our life that is yet to be put off and the fruit of the Spirit that is yet to be put on. That’s what it means that he renews our mind. Read Eph 4:23 in context. When the Holy Spirit writes His laws on our heart and mind, He’s imparting knowledge of what is good and right and holy, thereby teaching us to deny ungodliness. This happens at Salvation, but it is renewed day by day as the Spirit opens our eyes, ears, and hearts to the Truth, calling on us to engage continually in the process of putting off the conversation of the old man and putting on the fruit of Spirit (Eph 4, Col 3). We don’t accomplish this by waiting for Jesus to do something else to the old man. We walk in it by faith in what Christ has ALREADY done to the old man (Rom 6:6, Gal 5:24, Col 3:9, 2:11), which was sufficient to bring about the birth of the new man (Rom 6:4-5).
Yes, once a Christian comes into obedience to Romans 6:11, with no caveats and no qualifiers, that overwhelming pull that felt like bondage will eventually be brought to nothing in the face of OVERCOMING FAITH in what CHRIST has DONE. As you reckon yourself dead indeed unto sin through Christ, believing that you actually ARE dead indeed unto sin through Christ, not to make yourself dead, not to get Christ to make you dead, but because you ARE dead, you will recognize that no matter how strong that pull may be, it has NO POWER over you because JESUS has ALREADY defeated it. Then, instead of fighting this already defeated foe, and instead of giving in to the pull because you think you must, you will simply rest in what Jesus has already done for you, surrendering the battle to Him, knowing He’s already won it. As you simply STAND STILL in what your Savior has done for you, THE POWER OF THE CROSS makes that pull towards sin of NONE EFFECT unto you!