In our continuing study of the mandates of the PPOG for believers we are presently looking at the imperative moods found in Rom 6:11-13.

In verse 12 we have the third person singular present active imperative of the Greek word "Basileuo" that is translated "reign" in the NASB.

That along with the negative particle "me" that is translated "not " is a mandate for believers not to permit the OSN to rule over their body of death so that they listen to or submit to it's desires.

Because the status of the believer who is functioning under OSN control of the soul is referred to as a form of "death" along with the command in verse 11 where believers are commanded to consider themselves "dead" to the OSN we have started a brief discussion of the various categories of death that are found in the Bible.

We seen that the first category is what is known as "spiritual death" that exists in two subcategories that we were discussing when we ran out of time last time.

Real Spiritual Death was the actual spiritual death of Adam, who made the decision to sin for the entire human race that resulted in all of mankind being consigned to real spiritual death that results in separation from God from the moment of physical birth.

Substitutionary spiritual death occurred on the cross, when our Lord bore the sins of all mankind in His own body where they were judged.

The solution to real spiritual death is stated in the last half of Rom 6:23; "The wages of sin is death (spiritual death), but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

We received spiritual death at the moment of physical birth, but the problem of spiritual death is resolved at the moment that anyone believes in TLJC and is born again or regenerated. John 3:16-18;

Jesus made a play on words regarding the priorities of one of his disciples regarding spiritual and physical death when he said in Matt 8:22; "Follow Me; and allow the (spiritually) dead bury their own (physically) dead."

Spiritual death is the subject of 1Cor 15:22, "For as in Adam all die (spiritual death), so also in Christ shall all be made alive. (spiritual life)"

No member of the human race is condemned on the basis of their personal sins. Personal sins are simply the result of the spiritual death that comes from the imputation of Adam's original sin at birth.

Only Adam and the woman were condemned on the basis of their first personal sin because it was also the original sin.

Spiritual death means the status of dichotomy. Mankind has a body and a soul, but no human spirit and therefore, cannot properly relate to anything about God. Rom 3:10-18; 1Cor 2:14;

Spiritual death is the status of total depravity. Total depravity is a state of moral or immoral degeneracy in the status of OSN control of the soul.

The status of total separation from God and total inability is something God could not ignore. God reaches out to mankind through the substitutionary death of TLJC. Rom 5:6; Rom 5:8; 2Cor 5:19;

The status of total helplessness and inability to do anything about it makes the grace of God the only source of eternal salvation and God the Holy Spirit makes faith alone effective for salvation.

Anything added to faith in spiritual death means no salvation. Faith plus anything else is salvation by works, and that eliminates the work of the Holy Spirit in efficacious grace. Eph 2:8-9;

Another category of death that the Bible refers to is the positional death of the Believer.

Positional death occurs when the believer is "born again" at their "second" or their "new" birth in regeneration.

Positional death occurs through the baptism of the Holy Spirit at salvation when the believer is identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. Rom 6:3-13;

Positional death that is also called retroactive positional truth, is the believer's identification with Christ in His death.

For just as Christ rejected human good and evil on the cross, so positionally believers have done the same.

Therefore, believers are to avoid the human good and evil that is produced by the OSN through their residence and function under the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit in God's power system.

Positional rejection of human good and evil as the policy of Satan is part of the believer's function under the control of God the Holy Spirit at salvation, Col 2:11-12.

Positional rejection is the basis for experiential rejection.

Positional death is the subject of Rom 6:1-5; "What shall we say then? Are we to continue under the sin nature that grace might increase? Emphatically not! How shall we who have died to the sin nature still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His (spiritual) death?

Therefore, we have been buried together with Him through baptism into His death, that as Christ has been raised up from the dead to the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. So if we have become intimately united in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be intimately united in the likeness of His resurrection."

Retroactive positional truth or positional death is the believer's identification with Christ in His death.

Positionally we have died to sin, human good, and evil and since that is the case we have the mandates to also be dead to them experientially.

These are the mandates of our passage. Rom 6:11-13;

Two things happened in the substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross. He was judged for the sins of the world; and He rejected human good and evil.

Human good and evil remain to be judged as part of the angelic conflict.

By rejection of human good and evil on the cross, Jesus Christ rejected Satan's policy of good and evil for his rule of this world.

Positional death is related to God's gift of the filling ministry of God the Holy Spirit as part of God's power system.

When believers are functioning under the filling of the Holy Spirit they cannot sin. 1John3:9;

The decision to sin removes the believer from God's power system. Personal sin places believers inside Satan's cosmic system where human good and evil is produced.

In their new identity and position believers are dead to human good and evil, however experientially believers do commit sin, human good, and evil. 1John 1:8,10;

The acknowledgement of known sin only deals with the believer's personal sin, it does not deal with their production of human good and evil.

The believer's, human good and evil will be judged at the evaluation that takes place after the exit resurrection of the church. 2Cor 5:10;

Another category of death that is described in the Bible is the carnal death of the believer that is related to their function under the OSN in Satan's cosmic system.

The carnal death of the believer deals with the believer in post-salvation sinning, and their production of post-salvation human good and evil.

The carnal death of the believer is the subject of the phrase in Eph 5:14, "Therefore, it says, `Wake up, you sleeper. Stand up out from the dead ones. and Christ will shine on you"

The carnal death of the believer is described as the temporal death of the believer that is the status of the believer who is out of fellowship with God.

This can be described as the status of committing an occasional sin with some lapse of time in between sins, or the believer in cosmic death where the believer is involved in the self absorption of cosmic one or the production of human good and evil of cosmic two or both.

It is also the fragmented death of the believer when the believer is involved in either moral or immoral degeneracy that we saw Paul describe in 1Cor 3:1; "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual persons, but as to carnal persons, even as to babies in Christ."

Carnal, temporal, cosmic, or fragmented death refers to the function of the believer's volition in converting the temptation that is projected at the soul by the moral and amoral lust patterns of the OSN into sin when the believer gives in to the temptation.

The believer's awareness that the temptation is sin is not the issue, the issue is that the believer chose commit the sin. Ignorance of what comprises sin is no excuse.

Believers cannot sin inside God's power system. Therefore, the believer chooses to leave God's power system in the process of making the decision to sin.

This choice automatically places the believer inside Satan's cosmic system. When the believer lives inside the cosmic system, the believer is living in temporal or cosmic death.

This is described in James 1:15, "When lust has become pregnant, it gives birth to sin. Furthermore, when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death."

Lust is temptation from the OSN trying to penetrate the soul. Volition is the guardian of the soul.

Temptation itself is not a sin. It is the volitional choice that chooses to follow the temptation that is sin. When the believer gives in to the temptation and chooses to sin, the old sin nature regains control of the soul.

We have seen that the OSN dwells in the cell structure of the body and the God the Holy Spirit also indwells the body of believers.

The question that is presented to the believer is who is going to control the believer's soul.... God the Holy Spirit or the OSN.

The believer's decision to sin automatically gives control of the soul to the sin nature. And with the believer's choice not to sin the Holy Spirit retains control.
The following passages describe this:

James 1:15, "Then when lust has become pregnant it gives birth to sin. Furthermore, when the sin is born (completed), it brings forth death."

1Tim 5:6, "But that widow who constantly indulges in wanton pleasure has died while she is living."

Rev 3:1c, "I know your production, that you have a reputation that you are living, but you are dead."

Rom 8:6, "For the mindset of the flesh (old sin nature) is death (cosmic death), but the mindset of the Spirit is life and prosperity."

Rom 8:13, "For if you are living according to the flesh (old sin nature), you must die (cosmic death), but if you through the Holy Spirit are putting to death the production of the body, you live."

When believers reject the temptation to sin they continue to reside in God's power system which is life.

1John 3:14, "We know that we have changed our residence from the realm of death (cosmic system) to (the Spiritual) life." because we have integrity love for other believers, He who does not have integrity love abides in death

The believer who is positive to Bible doctrine understands how to recover from carnal death (1John 1:9; and having recovered, keeps on moving. Phil 3:13b; under the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit. Gal 5:16;

The negative believer does not apply the doctrine for recovery and continues under the control of the OSN and as a result remains in the status of carnal death while still alive on this earth.

Believers who persist in NVTD will not receive the conveyance of their escrow blessings for time and eternity.

Believers who spend their life in carnal death may also die physically from maximum divine discipline, in what is referred to as " the sin unto death".

This is described in 1 John 5:16; Psa 118:17-18; Acts 5:1-10; Rev 3:16.

The production of the believer in "carnal death" is described as "dead works".

Heb 6:1. "Therefore, graduating from the elementary teachings about Christ, let us advance to maturity, not laying again the foundation of a change of thinking regarding dead works and faith toward God."

Dead works include all facets of what is considered to be Christian service that is performed apart from the filling ministry of God the Holy Spirit and the circulation of metabolized Bible Doctrine.

All of the believer's good works that are produced in the cosmic system are dead.

For the believer, morality is virtue only when produced as the believer walks by means of the Spirit.

For the believer who is residing in the cosmic system, morality is legalism, self-righteousness, and arrogance that is parlayed into evil that is the result of the combination of the arrogance of Christian service with the function of human good.

Christian service does not provide momentum for the spiritual life. Christian service is always a result of the believer functioning inside God's power system where motivation comes from God the Holy Spirit and momentum comes from the application of Bible Doctrine.

Dead works can include the function of crusader arrogance that is combined with objective of establishing cosmic panaceas such as egalitarianism or "peace on the earth" in the devil's world without TLJC.