We Are Not The Walking Dead

We Are Not The Walking Dead
By: Dr. Danny Purvis

In the popular TV series, The Walking Dead, there has always been a bit of a misconception about the title of the series. People seem to think that the title refers to the zombies that wreak havoc on the survivors of an unexplained apocalypse. It does not. Well, to be fair, it probably does in a double-meaning kind of way. The title actually refers to the survivors struggling to stay alive but facing possible (some might say inevitable) death themselves. I’ve always liked that idea as it relates to the show. I found myself thinking about this as I have continued to preach through Paul’s letter to the Roman church.

In Romans 6, Paul reiterates an idea that is commonly mentioned in Scripture as it relates to sin and the idea of death. In verses 1-14 Paul makes us aware that we are “dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11). The important word to note in this statement is the preposition “to”. Once a person becomes a Christian, that person is dead to sin. However, in our natural, unsaved, unrepentant state Paul also tells us in Ephesians that we are dead in sin (Eph.2:1). Every single human being on the planet is born into death. That’s a strange paradox in a Book full of them. Even though we are physically alive and are very animated…we are, in fact, dead in sin. We are not sick in our sin. We are literally dead. In fact, we are the Walking Dead.

This is an idea that we do not fully grasp or appreciate and as a result we often fail to see the magnificent grace God bestows upon us when He saves us. He does not make us better. Nicer. Friendlier. He does not improve us. When we are saved by God’s grace, we are literally raised from the dead just as Jesus was raised from the dead. Paul clearly alludes to this idea in Romans 6:1-4. “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:5). He cannot make this any clearer.

God wants us to see that His Son did not die a brutal death on the Cross to make us a better person, or spouse, or child, or neighbor, or parent or co-worker. He did not die to make bad people good. He died to make dead people alive. If we miss this aspect of salvation…we miss salvation. We don’t need God to improve us…we need Him to make us a completely new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). Which is exactly what He does. Why? Because we are not sick. We are literally dead.

This is the foundational aspect of what Paul is talking about here. He is reminding the church in Rome and us today that we are definitely NOT the walking dead. Not anymore. We are dead TO sin not IN sin any longer. Which is why he states in Romans 6:12 “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions”. We do not have to sin. Too many of us think it is an inevitability so we get way too comfortable with our sin…seeing it as a fait accompli. Jesus told the man healed at the pool of Bethesda and the woman caught in adultery to “go and sin no more”. Why would He say this if He didn’t mean it? That does not mean we will attain sinlessness in this mortal body, but it also can’t mean we are fated to sin. If we think that…it is a given we will sin more often and with little regret.

Paul is telling us here: You are not the walking dead any longer…so please stop acting like it.

-Dr. Danny Purvis