Rom.6:10] 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.

Oftentimes today, the words “reckon,” and “count” are used in a different context than previously used in God’s word of Truth. Today when those words are used, it’s often used as, ‘count me in,’ or ‘I reckon,’ when asked a question. And today’s usage for both words hold a weak understanding compared to the way it is used in God’s word of Truth. We are to understand that those words are to be taken as a ‘surety,’ and to be viewed as nothing else but the truth itself. This is how God intended for His saints to view His Holy Word, and just as we trusted the gospel of our salvation from the debt and penalty of sin against us, we are taught to “reckon,” and “count” that His Word will work the way our Father’s designed for us. And as we see in the verses above, we are being beseeched to understand and appreciate our ‘new life in Christ,’ and just as verse 10 is truth, and we place our faith in the truth of verse 10, we are to reckon that the following verses about our ‘new lives’ in Christ are just as of a ‘truth,’ for us as it was for us when we became saved.

Rom.8:17] And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
[18] For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Furthermore, Paul teaches those who have accepted these things to be true and this is why he uses the words “let not,” and “reckon yourselves,” in Romans 6. The Apostle Paul knows that those who accepted the truth of sanctification unto holiness, will also know how to reckon themselves to be what God called them to be unto Him. And this is why throughout chapter 6 the Apostle Paul says, “know ye not,” he teaches those who have the ‘knowledge’ of the “mercies of God” given unto them for not just their justified life, but also for their sanctified lives. The Apostle Paul is confident that when the Saint fully trusts God’s word, not just to justify him unto eternal life, but also fully understands the sanctifying power of the Word of God, that saint will also be Spiritually “able” to “reckon” himself to be dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God. He will also be Spiritually “able” to “let not sin reign therefore” in his body, he would not “obey it in the lusts thereof,”

Rom.4:4] Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

[5] But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

Therefore, the “faith” of the saint (what he trusts and believes to be true of God’s word) is vital in the sanctified life of the saint. And when the “faith” of the saint is “after the Spirit,” he will also be able to “reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us.” This is what Paul calls serving our Father in  “newness of spirit,” we actually ‘believe,’ and place our faith in our ‘new identity,’ or our new life in Christ. And once the saint fully understands these vital truths, he will not “look at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen,” he will ‘look right through’ what his eyes see, and what his body feels, and what the lusts of the flesh desires. This is a ‘renewing of the mind,’ it is a ‘transforming,’ this is how the Apostle Paul and those who suffered for Christ’s sake operated, and Paul could do as verse 8 below says, “count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.”

Phil.3:7] But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

[8] Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

[9] And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Finally, the only way we can “count all things” that WE LOVE “for loss,” would be if we no longer ‘bought in,” or trusted in what we love, and view those things as “gain” as Paul did. Paul knew Who he served, Paul also knew why continuing to live unto himself, and obeying the lusts thereof was actually “loss” unto his new identity, but most importantly, he knew what his living unto himself meant in the sight of the Father. Paul teaches us through the Holy Spirit that this world, Satan and our flesh all work against our Father, and against our sanctified lives. But it is the “faithful;” (those who are operating upon His Holy Word by faith, and belief as truth) that will be able to reckon themselves to “be” what God asks them to be in Him. And also be able to “count” their new life as godly “gain,” and count the loves of their ‘old heart’ as nothing more than “loss,” because that’s what it is in the sight of our Father, and this is how we too ought to reckon and count the things that be of our Father.

Rod Jones