Thoughts from Culhwch

Paul tells us that we must not continue to sin. We know this of course. So why do it? Probably because we all still struggle with sin. (Or saying that we all still struggle with sin makes us feel better when we do?) But I think the truth is that we are still weak, and though redeemed, cleansed, purified and alive, we still do acts of sin, death, impurity. But we have died to sin, so we are called no
longer to be alive to it. What is “alive to sin”? What does that mean? I think it means having a life that still interfaces with sin, that still makes use of sin, or that still is open to sin. We should not be open to it, but must always close the doors between us and sin. We do not present a living body to sin, or a body able to be molded, melded, or supple to sin. We are dead, stiff and unmoving in the face of sin, we do not live to it. Neither do we grow to it, or near it, or before it. We present ourselves as inanimate corpse before sin.

Neither is our death to sin something that we do alone, for we die to it with Christ. We are buried like Christ with the sign of baptism marking it. We do not only die either, praise the Lord. But we live also, or are raised (even better). How do we know we have been raised? We “walk in newness of life.” A new walk. We can move about, we are free to come and go and serve our maker. We are not bound to stay with our sin but an get up and walk away from it. We can carry on, move about, and walk with God, like the sound of familiar footstep of Adam and God before the fall. We are dead to sin and now alive in Christ, alive for his calling. And if we are alive to and in God, then we can be molded, melded and are supple to Christ, we are open to him united to him, in contact with him and he knows us. He sees us move when we do not see ourselves. He makes us live when we are dead, he makes able to serve him.