Already Dead

One of the key struggles in recovery is related to our identity. In the thick of the addiction, it is all too easy to lose track of who we truly are and think only in terms of our failures and faults. "I am such a loser. I am so pathetic. If I were a real man (or woman, or Christian) I would be able to quit. If I were really a child of God, I could overcome this sin."  And on and on the voices of shame berate us. We struggle with the addiction for so long that we become convinced that is our identity now, we are addicts, that is who we are, and we cannot change. It is not that we are basically good, worthy people who struggle with an addiction, we believe that we are basically bad people, addicts, sinners, unworthy and unrighteous.

As we work recovery and grow spiritually, we come to recognize these lies for what they are, and in turn, we learn the truth of our identity in Christ, which we touched on in our previous post. Instead of believing that our identity is primarily shaped by the addiction, we come to believe that who we are is shaped by our relationship with Christ. We understand that we have an addiction and more than likely will struggle with it for the rest of our lives, but this is not our primary identity. Our primary identity is in Christ. We can say, "I am in Christ and Christ is in me, and in him I find deliverance and victory."  While we will have monumental struggles along the way, I believe there is hope that we can find full restoration and healing through the power of the resurrected Christ. "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) This means that the curse of the addiction has been broken, we are redeemed and made into a new creation. If we learn to fully embrace our identity in Christ and live that out, the addiction will lose all its power.

There are many parts that come into play in understanding this identity, one of the most important is understanding that in Christ we are already dead.

We find this idea in a few places in the New Testament, notably in Romans 6:

"1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof."

This passage makes the message clear; we are dead to sin.

If we have trusted in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are united with him. This means that when we Jesus was crucified, we were crucified with him. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."  This is what Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20. In Christ we are already dead.

This is not necessarily a physical death, but a spiritual one. When we are born again, a spiritual life is awakened inside of us. Along with that spiritual life comes a spiritual death. Verse six says our "old man" is crucified with Christ. This means our old, sinful nature, our addicted way of thinking and doing things has been put to death. The body of sin is destroyed. That part of our nature that pulls us away from God into addiction has been nailed to the cross and buried with Christ. When he arose victoriously from the grave, all our sins and addictions were left behind, forever entombed.

This means is that whatever addictions, character defects or habitual sins we struggle with are just the twitching of an already dead corpse. They have no power over us. Whatever strength they had was broken on the Cross. We are alive in Christ and dead to sin and addiction, the victory has already been won!

The problem is that all too often that sinful part of us, the lust and the craving, the anger, and the pride, do not feel like they are dead. The addiction feels all too alive and well and we must continue to fight with it every day.

There are a couple reasons for this. One is that the body of sin is still a part of us, while it is dead, it is still clinging to us. It is like a zombie, still stubbornly clinging to life when it should be dead in the ground. It is like the criminal sentenced to death, the plunger on the lethal injection has been pressed, and it is only a matter of time before he breathes his last.

We will not be fully and finally free of the lust of the flesh until we pass on to heaven or are raptured into glory. Then we will receive a glorified body that is free from all desire for sin. Until then we must continue to wrestle with that corpse.

A second reason we continue to struggle with that dead part of ourselves is because we fail to understand and believe that it is well and truly dead. We all too easily succumb to the illusions and deceits of the devil when he tells us we are in bondage to our sins and will never be free. For so many years we have used the addiction to cope with reality, and while it is well and truly dead, we still go back to it, thinking it will satisfy us. As we grow in faith and understand increasingly of our position and identity in Christ, we will see more clearly through these lies and will walk in liberty.

All our sins and addictions were crucified with Christ. They are dead and gone. We are free. What happens now is that we need to learn to believe that truth, bury it in our hearts and live it out day by day.