"We know that our old sinful selves were nailed to the cross with Christ so that sin might lose its power [and be brought to nothing] in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ, we were set free from the power of sin [we were justified; pronounced not guilty]. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also share his new life. We are sure of this because Christ rose from the dead and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over Him. He died once to defeat sin and now he lives for the glory of God. So you should consider [reckon, regard, look upon, count] yourselves dead to sin and alive to God; [fully] able to live for the glory of God through Christ Jesus" (Rm 6:6-11).

John Stott wrote: "This reckoning is not make-believe. We are not to pretend that our old nature has died, when we know perfectly well that it has not. Instead we are to realize and remember that our former self did die with Christ, thus putting an end to its career. We are to consider what in fact we are, namely dead to sin and alive to God, just like Jesus (though of course he was never alive to sin). Once we grasp this, that our old life has ended, with the score settled, the debt paid and the law satisfied, we shall want to have nothing more to do with it."

Gordon, a dear friend and fellow worshipper of mine has just told me how these verses came alive to him one day and transformed him. It was all down to his Spirit-filled and radiantly positive wife Glenys. She had had enough! "How long are you going to remain camped in the "sin" part of Rm 6:11? When are you going to start reckoning yourself alive to God? You have been crucified with Christ so you can live in the power of his resurrection and in close relationship with him! So live it out and preach it!" (This is my own paraphrase of what she said, but Gordon is happy with it.)

The GNT has "living in fellowship with God" for "living for the glory of God". They go together and cannot be separated; like two sides of a coin. In a word, we cannot live in intimate fellowship with God and for his glory while stilled troubled by our sinfulness. For many of us, living at peace while accepting we will never reach perfection in this life, is no easy matter. Our accuser, the evil one, points the finger at us 24/7. "How can you call yourself a believer when that thought has just gone through your head?"

I like to think in terms of book keeping. All my sins – past, present and future – have been transferred from one column to another; from mine to that of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I can count myself dead to sin because nothing remains in sin's column and nothing will ever be recorded there again. And why is that? Because I quite literally died with Jesus when he died and my new life – my real life – is now hidden with Christ in God (Cl 3:3).

I have just received a text from Gordon meeting with Jesus in Wales: "It really is all about Christ living in us. Christ Himself is literally the new man or the new woman! It is not some old form of me living for Christ; it really is Christ Himself living in me. But I must intentionally and constantly make room for Him."