Dead or Alive
“Dying to self so that Christ can live through us.”
It sounds so noble and spiritual. When I started questioning everything I thought I knew about the Bible, “dying to self” was one topic I was sure was a no-brainer. Romans 6–8, Luke 9:23, I Corinthians 15:31 . . . the textual proof seemed overwhelming.
Somewhat surprisingly, through careful study of these and many other passages in the Bible I’ve come to believe that a life devoted to “dying to self” is not only unbiblical and essentially selfish, but defeats its own purpose to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ.
Each and every time we focus on “dying to self,” our eyes are immediately drawn to ourselves. We think of all the ways we should improve, all the things we mustn’t do, all the things we should do, all the horrible, despicable things we are capable of doing, all the wonderful things we should aspire to do.
For the Lord.
And because we end with the Lord, we think we’ve been spiritually minded, when all the time we were thinking of ourselves.
The phrase “dying to self” is not in the Bible. The closest I have come is Romans 8:13, “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”
But if we look at this verse in context, it’s not about dealing with self on a daily basis. It’s not about putting down ambitions or killing desires. Rather, it’s an acknowledgment of what we are and have in Christ Jesus, to wit: “And if Christ be in you, the body IS dead because of sin; but the Spirit IS life because of righteousness” (Romans 8:10, emphasis added).
When you turn on a light switch, what happens to the darkness in the room? Do you have to chase out the darkness before the light can come in? Of course not. The nature of light is to overpower darkness.
In the same way, we are not required to chase away self when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. Our old self is overpowered by the light of His Righteousness and our personalities become subject to the Holy Spirit. This is the work of God that is impossible to explain to the unbeliever—the enlightenment and renewing of our spirits.
If we are intent on “dying daily,” (I Corinthians 15:31*) we may be missing the more important aspect of the Christian walk—being ALIVE unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[*Footnote: I Corinthians 15:31 is a verse often quoted out of context; the apostle Paul is talking about the physical pain and persecution he faced each day for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not about some spiritual effort he makes to be more Christlike.]
When we become “new creatures” in Christ, when we are truly seeking the Lord, our actions (even self-initiated ones) are no longer selfish in the sense that they once were, in our unregenerate state.
For instance, Luke wrote his account of the Gospel because “it seemed good to me” (Luke 1:3).
Also, in Acts 16, the apostle Paul and company decided to travel to Bithynia, “but the Spirit [did not allow them].” They were eventually redirected to Macedonia. This shows them to be obedient in two ways:
- to initiate a plan to “go into all the world and preach the Gospel,” and
- to be guided along the way.
If our minds are steeped in the Bible and we are actively seeking God, it is perfectly proper and righteous to have self-initiated ideas, to live as human beings created unto God. (Strange as that probably sounds to the average Bible-believing, church-going Christian.) This is not a license to do whatever we want, but a “freedom to be creative” under God’s sovereign rule.
The corollary is to remain flexible and sensitive to His correcting and guiding by the Word of God, prayer, and the counsel of other believers. This is part of being “not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:17).
Romans 12 exhorts us to present ourselves to God as a sacrifice—a living sacrifice, not a dead one.
Christian initiative is actually good. It shows we are alive, not dead.
“Awake to righteousness, and sin not . . .”
(I Corinthians 15:34).