Rom 6:11- 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.
Many thought that coming to Christ would take away the inclination to sin. Not only were their expectations and perception wrong, but they found themselves having a stronger urge to touch and think on unclean things. Our sin nature is innate. We knew sin before we came to Jesus Christ, and will continue to sin even after coming to Christ: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). There are known sins and unknown sins. Known sins are those sins we are committing intentionally and know it. Unknown sins are unintentionally committed and we are not aware of it, but they are sins nonetheless. When we ask for forgiveness of sins this should be for unknown sins, I John 3:9. A part of the previous verse says, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin….” The interpretation is that Christians don’t intentionally sin because we are born of God, and know that sin offends Him.
The sin nature is defeated when we have faith in what Jesus did at Calvary on the cross. Nevertheless the tendency to sin is not eradicated, but rather we are able to “reckon” it dead (Rom. 6:11). To reckon it dead is to take into “account” what Christ has done; and to consider our sin nature overpowered through Christ who has given us the Holy Spirit, who in turn gives us the power to defeat our sin nature. This causes our enemy (our carnal nature) to be dead to us. When we focus on the sacrifice and selflessness of our Lord, and the power we have when “we walk in the Spirit,” then we will not need to make excuses for intentional sins. If a man or woman of God contemplating fornication or adultery redirects their thoughts and begins to think on how Jesus sacrificed Himself for them, then they will know how important it is that he or she sacrifices for Him (Rom. 12:1).