Liberating Truth

At our last Tri State CBC monthly meeting we discussed The Liberating Truth of Romans 6. Our discussion was based off Armand Tiffe’s booklet by that title. We discussed that Romans 6 is an “eye opener” and “faith builder” not only for us as biblical counselors but also for those counselees that we minister to on a weekly basis. I could not agree more with Armand when he says “There is no counseling case beyond the reach of Romans 6.” I would add to this that what makes this study so rich is that it takes abstract theological truths and makes them richly practical. And throughout our discussion we sought to understand the practicalities of this this passage by looking at the outline that Tiffe provides in his book-Know, Consider, and Present.

To unpack this a little bit further-if we want to be Christ followers who a growing and being transformed into Christ likeness-we first need to know our identity and position in Christ. This is exactly what Romans 6:6 teaches us when it exclaims “We KNOW that our old self[a] was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” But not only must we direct our counselees (and our own hearts) to know our position in Christ, but we must consider these truths to be true! We learn this in Romans 6:11 which instructs us saying “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” But what does this mean? When we are sitting across from Joe who has been struggling with a porn addiction for years-in addition to knowing his position in Christ, what else does Joe need to do? He needs to BELIEVE IT!

Joe needs to know his position in Christ, but he also must believe it to be true by faith. Joe and all of the counselees we have the privilege to minister the Word to need to meditate deeply on their position/identity in Christ and believe that through Christ’s finished Work on the Cross, the power of sin has been broken! But lastly as biblical counselors we need to show our counselees from the Word of God that they are to present themselves to God as an instrument for righteousness. Knowing the truth and believing the truth will inevitably lead to doing the truth which is why Romans 6:13 counsels us “Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.” This is a reminder to us as biblical counselors and to those counsel the Word to, that we have an active role in the sanctification process. That active role is demonstrated when we exercise our will in presenting ourselves to God as instruments of righteousness and walk in obedience to the Word of God. Furthermore, with the help of God’s transforming grace, we present ourselves to God by puting off sin and putting on righteousness (Eph. 4:22-24).

So these three words from Romans 6-Know, Consider, and Present are packed with help and hope in Christ for us as biblical counselors in our own sojourns with our LORD and also in the lives of our counselees. To learn more about this life changing passage in God’s Word, purchase The Liberating Truth of Romans 6 by Armand Tiffe and feast your heart on these precious truths and then get it in the hands of those that you are counseling and discipling. Lives will be transformed for His glory (2 Cor. 3:18).

~ Pastor Mike DiSanto ~