I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
It is Paul's own testimony of a daily inner conflict in which his will, wishes and desires opposed duty and God's will, and he refused to follow inclination or impulse but chose to do God's will instead even when it was unpleasant, painful and crucifying to his nature. It teaches that conquest over self and holiness are not instantaneous and not the work of a moment, an hour, or a day, but an everyday work and lifelong struggle requiring continual effort, daily conversion, daily resistance to temptation and victory over selfishness. It means a real, desperate day-by-day warfare in which the selfish nature with indwelling sin striving for mastery must meet daily crucifixion, self-esteem and self-sufficiency must be put to death, and the self that has occupied the throne of the heart must be emptied out to be submitted to the Holy Spirit. It describes the character building that fits a person for a home in God's kingdom, through daily self-denial and yielding to God's reforming work, constant diligent toil to form a symmetrical character, and aspiring after holiness, hungering for righteousness and reflecting Christ's image. In practice it is dying to self in the small, ordinary dealings of life in the home, the church, among associates and in business by denying selfishness, keeping self in subordination, bringing thoughts, speech, actions and emotions under Christ's will, and humbly accepting reproof and being purified by truth.
Paul's Daily Conflict
The verse describes Paul's own daily conflict in which his will, wishes, inclinations and desires stood opposed to duty and to God's will. It means genuine sanctification as nothing less than dying to self every day and being conformed every day to God's will. Instead of following inclination or impulse, he refused inclination and chose to do God's will. He made that choice however unpleasant, painful and crucifying it was to his nature. Dying daily is therefore continual self-denial rather than following impulse, and growth in the divine life requires continuing struggle against selfish desires and temptation instead of treating personal inclination as God's will or yielding when the struggle grows wearying.
It describes a daily crucifixion of self in which conversion is renewed each day and a fresh step is taken toward heaven. Daily victories in the divine life are gained in that way by submitting to God's will, being sanctified for His service, and overcoming character defects as Christ overcame. It shows Paul faced temptation daily, kept his body under discipline, and hid himself in Christ. His daily death is thus an ongoing struggle against sin rather than a claim to sinlessness. It describes a repeated denying of selfish inclination and choosing of duty that young men especially need so they will not neglect present responsibilities and practical education.
Sanctification as Lifelong Work
Sanctification is not instantaneous and not the work of a moment, an hour, or a day, but an everyday work and with the Christian the work of a lifetime. Conquest over self and the pursuit of holiness are a lifelong struggle requiring continual effort rather than brief or intermittent attempts. Receiving conversion to God daily belongs to every follower, with each day bringing resistance to temptation and victory over selfishness. Daily dying means continually cultivating love, humility and other qualities of character that please God and prepare for heaven, and sanctification is never completed in a moment.
As truth and the Spirit of God reveal defects in character, wrong is put away, self is died to, and flesh and spirit are cleansed from all filthiness while holiness is perfected in the fear of the Lord. Through acceptance of the truth that truth is let do its work daily upon the heart until the entire being, even the thoughts of the mind, are brought into thorough subjection to the will of Christ. The claim of instantaneous sanctification is thereby exposed as a delusion of the enemy.
God leads His people step by step, and the Christian life is a battle and a march with no release. It is kept only by continuous persevering endeavor and unceasing resistance to temptation. It requires resistless energy and resolute fixedness of purpose to seek and maintain integrity, since no one is carried upward without stern personal effort. Each person is individually responsible for the outcome of the struggle.
Dying daily is necessary to succeed in keeping the straight and narrow path that leads to eternal life. Each day conversion is renewed and another step is taken toward heaven, and Christians must gain daily victories in the divine life if they would enjoy God's favor. As believers press onward and upward for perfection of Christian character, their defects grow less and less through this daily death to self and sin, and they become spiritually vigorous in God. This involves loving God supremely and loving fellow men while meeting prejudice, opposition and treatment contrary to natural disposition, not becoming provoked when suffering wrongfully, and holding fast integrity in Christ, thereby forming a character after the divine similitude during the present time of trial.
Death to Self and Sin
To die daily is to engage in real warfare against sin in a desperate day-by-day struggle in which desires and the selfish nature with indwelling sin constantly striving for mastery must meet a daily crucifixion. The victory is gained by grasping the grace of God by faith and by self-control that subdues the carnal mind, giving power to bind the adversary and make free. This daily death is the pangs of the new birth, the death of the old life and the death of the old man in a struggle with inclination and desire. Without it religion is only an easy, careless, outward show without heart consecration, without conflict of soul, wrestling, self-denial and self-sacrifice, whereas with it the follower constantly aspires after holiness, hungers and thirsts for righteousness, reflects the image of Christ, treads in His footsteps and overcomes as Christ overcame, trampling underfoot every interest conflicting with duty, laying aside every weight, and counting former gain as loss for Christ.
To die daily is to take hold of the death of Christ by faith for salvation so that a new beginning is made with all the past life as though it had not been, to live God's life and keep walking with Him free from sin and living to His glory. It requires a new heart and putting the selfish nature to death whenever wrong things arise, laying aside sins and confessing that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Sinning comes from not understanding God's sufficiency to reveal Himself in the heart, and every fall puts the Son of God to shame anew. Self-esteem and self-sufficiency that kill spiritual life must be put to death each day, for lifted-up, talked-about self dies hard. Proud, boasting, complacent self-righteousness crowds Jesus into an inferior place, fills the whole temple of the soul, and leaves no room for God to work, lest the instrument take glory to its own smartness, wisdom and ability.
When self is no longer brought to the front to swell into importance but is hidden in Christ with Jesus given the highest place, practical godliness replaces mere mechanical arrangements. The self that has occupied the throne of the heart must be put to death every day as a selfish, bigoted creature, emptying the soul-temple of self and submitting to the working of the Holy Spirit instead of working in own strength. When self is thus emptied there is room for the peace of God to rule in the heart, and criticizing of fellow workers ceases. To die daily is to resist the natural inclination to be like the world and to conform to the world, coming out and being separate, making a reformation, giving up self-will and self-mold, and becoming as clay in the potter's hands to be molded as God requires. Daily victories over self require submitting to God rather than insisting on one's own way, overcoming self-will and pride, since God will not work a miracle for one who refuses submission.
Character Fitted for Heaven
Dying daily is character building that prepares for a home in God's kingdom, with God and angels helping in salvation through daily self-denial and yielding to God's reforming and shaping work. It resists the natural inclination to be like the world and to conform to the world, coming out from among the world and being separate, making a reformation, giving up self-will and self-mold, and becoming as clay in the hands of the potter to be molded into the fashion God requires. It is constant, diligent work to form a symmetrical character, since what is precious and valuable does not come naturally but is of slow growth as the reward of industrious, patient toil, and moral culture through Jesus' merits alone brings the desired harvest.
Without daily death religion is only an easy, careless, outward show without heart consecration, without conflict of soul, wrestling, self-denial and self-sacrifice. With it the follower constantly aspires after holiness, hungers and thirsts for righteousness, reflects the image of Christ, treads in His footsteps and overcomes as Christ overcame, trampling underfoot every interest that conflicts with duty, laying aside every weight, and counting former gain as loss for Christ. During the present time of trial a character after the divine similitude is formed by loving God supremely and loving fellow men while meeting prejudice, opposition, and treatment contrary to natural disposition. Dying daily is necessary to succeed in keeping the straight and narrow path that leads to eternal life, by putting to death the natural disposition every day, leaning the whole weight upon Christ rather than distrusting Him for lack of encouragement from brethren, refusing to become provoked when suffering wrongfully, and holding fast integrity in Jesus Christ.
Daily dying means continually cultivating love, humility, and other qualities of character that please God, which prepares for heaven, for the work of overcoming is daily and lifelong with each day resisting temptation and gaining victory over selfishness, and sanctification is not completed in a moment. It lets truth as a cleaver, axe, chisel, and hammer cut, shape, smooth, and polish the rough stone taken from the quarry of the world, removing rough edges until it becomes a prepared, living stone emitting light. This crucifixion of self every soul must experience who would be a partaker with Christ in His suffering, for it proves a self-denying, self-sacrificing missionary heart, sentiment, and principle. When Christ is loved more than self, the moral image of God is restored in man and the Saviour's beautiful image is reflected in the believer.
Dying Daily in Practice
Dying daily means denying selfishness in the small, ordinary dealings of life and keeping self in subordination. It is forgetting self in the desire to do good to others and faithfully performing duty instead of seeking own pleasure. This happens not by going to heathen lands but in the home circle, in the church, among associates, in business, and in the common walks of life, in the little transactions of life. Of ourselves nothing can be done because selfishness separates from God, but through God giving strength it is possible to live unselfishly, overcome selfishness, and become overcomers.
It means continually putting self under Christ's will, bringing thoughts into submission, searching the heart, and controlling actions and inward emotions. Self-control is a Christian duty, and strength and grace from God enable the graces of the Spirit to be shown. This includes controlling speech, stopping murmuring and complaints, and keeping words from censuring others. It means humbly accepting God's reproof, warnings, straight testimony and rebuke and complying with the conditions set in Scripture rather than resisting them in carnal security. Those who will be saved yield their will and way to be controlled by the Spirit all the way along and are purified by the truth, made white and tried, with their names borne into the sanctuary and mentioned by Jesus to His Father under God's special notice, in contrast to choosing a selfish course and dark way in which Satan controls the will and everlasting life is lost.
It is a protracted struggle and ceaseless turmoil against selfish desire for pleasure and ease, calling for sincere earnest effort in resisting temptation. Obedience often conflicts with what feels pleasant or easy, and the struggle remains repulsive to the natural heart while indolence feels inviting. Growth in the divine life does not come by treating personal inclination as God's will or by pleasing self in everything, for that abandons growth. Growing weary of the effort, closing the eyes in spiritual drowsiness, and yielding when the struggle tires leads to falling under the power of temptation.
Daily death requires humility and continual repentance before God, resisting personal faults and overcoming sin through a life of humility and likeness to Christ. Those who learn from Jesus and are transformed by divine grace die to self daily, overcome self and sin, and are sanctified through the truth, so that lives are transformed by God's power. Self must die daily in every place, in every country and under every circumstance, with Christ living and revealed in the person instead of self. For those who stand in Christ's stead to beseech men to be reconciled to God and as stewards of the mysteries of God with a commission to preach Christ and Him crucified, this means never letting the impetuous spirit and human impulse triumph in a single instance, but keeping a calm, holy trust in God. It means speaking only from Christ's Spirit working within and stopping rather than speaking unadvisedly when that Spirit is lacking, exercising liberty always under God's jurisdiction in strict accordance with His law, since failure dishonors God and the truth.
In the perils of the last days it means putting self to death every day by cleansing from all defilement, putting on the robe of Christ's righteousness, and bringing body, soul and spirit into subjection to Christ. So God's work can go forward in purity and elevation and health of body and health of soul can be kept, for without this daily death bodily health will fail and soul health will be endangered. Everyone who is saved must surrender personal plans and ambitious schemes meaning self-glorification, follow where Christ leads, yield the understanding for Christ to cleanse, refine and purify, lift the cross of self-denial and sacrifice, and cease trusting in man and making flesh an arm. This cleansing always happens when Jesus' teachings are rightly received, yet it remains hard for self to die even when God's grace and the wealth of His love are presented. God's children must die to self instead of being engrossed in cares and becoming worldly-minded, keeping the suffering cause ever before them. This does not forbid gathering every Sabbath to hear testimonies or going at a distance to meeting once a year or oftener, but after a rich feast from God's Word it requires pondering over and over and improving upon what was heard instead of going again and again only to hear more, since account must be rendered for the privilege of hearing truth without improvement.
It is Paul's own testimony of a daily inner conflict in which his will, wishes and desires opposed duty and God's will, and he refused to follow inclination or impulse but chose to do God's will instead even when it was unpleasant, painful and crucifying to his nature. It teaches that conquest over self and holiness are not instantaneous and not the work of a moment, an hour, or a day, but an everyday work and lifelong struggle requiring continual effort, daily conversion, daily resistance to temptation and victory over selfishness. It means a real, desperate day-by-day warfare in which the selfish nature with indwelling sin striving for mastery must meet daily crucifixion, self-esteem and self-sufficiency must be put to death, and the self that has occupied the throne of the heart must be emptied out to be submitted to the Holy Spirit. It describes the character building that fits a person for a home in God's kingdom, through daily self-denial and yielding to God's reforming work, constant diligent toil to form a symmetrical character, and aspiring after holiness, hungering for righteousness and reflecting Christ's image. In practice it is dying to self in the small, ordinary dealings of life in the home, the church, among associates and in business by denying selfishness, keeping self in subordination, bringing thoughts, speech, actions and emotions under Christ's will, and humbly accepting reproof and being purified by truth.
Paul's Daily Conflict
The verse describes Paul's own daily conflict in which his will, wishes, inclinations and desires stood opposed to duty and to God's will. It means genuine sanctification as nothing less than dying to self every day and being conformed every day to God's will. Instead of following inclination or impulse, he refused inclination and chose to do God's will. He made that choice however unpleasant, painful and crucifying it was to his nature. Dying daily is therefore continual self-denial rather than following impulse, and growth in the divine life requires continuing struggle against selfish desires and temptation instead of treating personal inclination as God's will or yielding when the struggle grows wearying.
It describes a daily crucifixion of self in which conversion is renewed each day and a fresh step is taken toward heaven. Daily victories in the divine life are gained in that way by submitting to God's will, being sanctified for His service, and overcoming character defects as Christ overcame. It shows Paul faced temptation daily, kept his body under discipline, and hid himself in Christ. His daily death is thus an ongoing struggle against sin rather than a claim to sinlessness. It describes a repeated denying of selfish inclination and choosing of duty that young men especially need so they will not neglect present responsibilities and practical education.
Sanctification as Lifelong Work
Sanctification is not instantaneous and not the work of a moment, an hour, or a day, but an everyday work and with the Christian the work of a lifetime. Conquest over self and the pursuit of holiness are a lifelong struggle requiring continual effort rather than brief or intermittent attempts. Receiving conversion to God daily belongs to every follower, with each day bringing resistance to temptation and victory over selfishness. Daily dying means continually cultivating love, humility and other qualities of character that please God and prepare for heaven, and sanctification is never completed in a moment.
As truth and the Spirit of God reveal defects in character, wrong is put away, self is died to, and flesh and spirit are cleansed from all filthiness while holiness is perfected in the fear of the Lord. Through acceptance of the truth that truth is let do its work daily upon the heart until the entire being, even the thoughts of the mind, are brought into thorough subjection to the will of Christ. The claim of instantaneous sanctification is thereby exposed as a delusion of the enemy.
God leads His people step by step, and the Christian life is a battle and a march with no release. It is kept only by continuous persevering endeavor and unceasing resistance to temptation. It requires resistless energy and resolute fixedness of purpose to seek and maintain integrity, since no one is carried upward without stern personal effort. Each person is individually responsible for the outcome of the struggle.
Dying daily is necessary to succeed in keeping the straight and narrow path that leads to eternal life. Each day conversion is renewed and another step is taken toward heaven, and Christians must gain daily victories in the divine life if they would enjoy God's favor. As believers press onward and upward for perfection of Christian character, their defects grow less and less through this daily death to self and sin, and they become spiritually vigorous in God. This involves loving God supremely and loving fellow men while meeting prejudice, opposition and treatment contrary to natural disposition, not becoming provoked when suffering wrongfully, and holding fast integrity in Christ, thereby forming a character after the divine similitude during the present time of trial.
Death to Self and Sin
To die daily is to engage in real warfare against sin in a desperate day-by-day struggle in which desires and the selfish nature with indwelling sin constantly striving for mastery must meet a daily crucifixion. The victory is gained by grasping the grace of God by faith and by self-control that subdues the carnal mind, giving power to bind the adversary and make free. This daily death is the pangs of the new birth, the death of the old life and the death of the old man in a struggle with inclination and desire. Without it religion is only an easy, careless, outward show without heart consecration, without conflict of soul, wrestling, self-denial and self-sacrifice, whereas with it the follower constantly aspires after holiness, hungers and thirsts for righteousness, reflects the image of Christ, treads in His footsteps and overcomes as Christ overcame, trampling underfoot every interest conflicting with duty, laying aside every weight, and counting former gain as loss for Christ.
To die daily is to take hold of the death of Christ by faith for salvation so that a new beginning is made with all the past life as though it had not been, to live God's life and keep walking with Him free from sin and living to His glory. It requires a new heart and putting the selfish nature to death whenever wrong things arise, laying aside sins and confessing that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Sinning comes from not understanding God's sufficiency to reveal Himself in the heart, and every fall puts the Son of God to shame anew. Self-esteem and self-sufficiency that kill spiritual life must be put to death each day, for lifted-up, talked-about self dies hard. Proud, boasting, complacent self-righteousness crowds Jesus into an inferior place, fills the whole temple of the soul, and leaves no room for God to work, lest the instrument take glory to its own smartness, wisdom and ability.
When self is no longer brought to the front to swell into importance but is hidden in Christ with Jesus given the highest place, practical godliness replaces mere mechanical arrangements. The self that has occupied the throne of the heart must be put to death every day as a selfish, bigoted creature, emptying the soul-temple of self and submitting to the working of the Holy Spirit instead of working in own strength. When self is thus emptied there is room for the peace of God to rule in the heart, and criticizing of fellow workers ceases. To die daily is to resist the natural inclination to be like the world and to conform to the world, coming out and being separate, making a reformation, giving up self-will and self-mold, and becoming as clay in the potter's hands to be molded as God requires. Daily victories over self require submitting to God rather than insisting on one's own way, overcoming self-will and pride, since God will not work a miracle for one who refuses submission.
Character Fitted for Heaven
Dying daily is character building that prepares for a home in God's kingdom, with God and angels helping in salvation through daily self-denial and yielding to God's reforming and shaping work. It resists the natural inclination to be like the world and to conform to the world, coming out from among the world and being separate, making a reformation, giving up self-will and self-mold, and becoming as clay in the hands of the potter to be molded into the fashion God requires. It is constant, diligent work to form a symmetrical character, since what is precious and valuable does not come naturally but is of slow growth as the reward of industrious, patient toil, and moral culture through Jesus' merits alone brings the desired harvest.
Without daily death religion is only an easy, careless, outward show without heart consecration, without conflict of soul, wrestling, self-denial and self-sacrifice. With it the follower constantly aspires after holiness, hungers and thirsts for righteousness, reflects the image of Christ, treads in His footsteps and overcomes as Christ overcame, trampling underfoot every interest that conflicts with duty, laying aside every weight, and counting former gain as loss for Christ. During the present time of trial a character after the divine similitude is formed by loving God supremely and loving fellow men while meeting prejudice, opposition, and treatment contrary to natural disposition. Dying daily is necessary to succeed in keeping the straight and narrow path that leads to eternal life, by putting to death the natural disposition every day, leaning the whole weight upon Christ rather than distrusting Him for lack of encouragement from brethren, refusing to become provoked when suffering wrongfully, and holding fast integrity in Jesus Christ.
Daily dying means continually cultivating love, humility, and other qualities of character that please God, which prepares for heaven, for the work of overcoming is daily and lifelong with each day resisting temptation and gaining victory over selfishness, and sanctification is not completed in a moment. It lets truth as a cleaver, axe, chisel, and hammer cut, shape, smooth, and polish the rough stone taken from the quarry of the world, removing rough edges until it becomes a prepared, living stone emitting light. This crucifixion of self every soul must experience who would be a partaker with Christ in His suffering, for it proves a self-denying, self-sacrificing missionary heart, sentiment, and principle. When Christ is loved more than self, the moral image of God is restored in man and the Saviour's beautiful image is reflected in the believer.
Dying Daily in Practice
Dying daily means denying selfishness in the small, ordinary dealings of life and keeping self in subordination. It is forgetting self in the desire to do good to others and faithfully performing duty instead of seeking own pleasure. This happens not by going to heathen lands but in the home circle, in the church, among associates, in business, and in the common walks of life, in the little transactions of life. Of ourselves nothing can be done because selfishness separates from God, but through God giving strength it is possible to live unselfishly, overcome selfishness, and become overcomers.
It means continually putting self under Christ's will, bringing thoughts into submission, searching the heart, and controlling actions and inward emotions. Self-control is a Christian duty, and strength and grace from God enable the graces of the Spirit to be shown. This includes controlling speech, stopping murmuring and complaints, and keeping words from censuring others. It means humbly accepting God's reproof, warnings, straight testimony and rebuke and complying with the conditions set in Scripture rather than resisting them in carnal security. Those who will be saved yield their will and way to be controlled by the Spirit all the way along and are purified by the truth, made white and tried, with their names borne into the sanctuary and mentioned by Jesus to His Father under God's special notice, in contrast to choosing a selfish course and dark way in which Satan controls the will and everlasting life is lost.
It is a protracted struggle and ceaseless turmoil against selfish desire for pleasure and ease, calling for sincere earnest effort in resisting temptation. Obedience often conflicts with what feels pleasant or easy, and the struggle remains repulsive to the natural heart while indolence feels inviting. Growth in the divine life does not come by treating personal inclination as God's will or by pleasing self in everything, for that abandons growth. Growing weary of the effort, closing the eyes in spiritual drowsiness, and yielding when the struggle tires leads to falling under the power of temptation.
Daily death requires humility and continual repentance before God, resisting personal faults and overcoming sin through a life of humility and likeness to Christ. Those who learn from Jesus and are transformed by divine grace die to self daily, overcome self and sin, and are sanctified through the truth, so that lives are transformed by God's power. Self must die daily in every place, in every country and under every circumstance, with Christ living and revealed in the person instead of self. For those who stand in Christ's stead to beseech men to be reconciled to God and as stewards of the mysteries of God with a commission to preach Christ and Him crucified, this means never letting the impetuous spirit and human impulse triumph in a single instance, but keeping a calm, holy trust in God. It means speaking only from Christ's Spirit working within and stopping rather than speaking unadvisedly when that Spirit is lacking, exercising liberty always under God's jurisdiction in strict accordance with His law, since failure dishonors God and the truth.
In the perils of the last days it means putting self to death every day by cleansing from all defilement, putting on the robe of Christ's righteousness, and bringing body, soul and spirit into subjection to Christ. So God's work can go forward in purity and elevation and health of body and health of soul can be kept, for without this daily death bodily health will fail and soul health will be endangered. Everyone who is saved must surrender personal plans and ambitious schemes meaning self-glorification, follow where Christ leads, yield the understanding for Christ to cleanse, refine and purify, lift the cross of self-denial and sacrifice, and cease trusting in man and making flesh an arm. This cleansing always happens when Jesus' teachings are rightly received, yet it remains hard for self to die even when God's grace and the wealth of His love are presented. God's children must die to self instead of being engrossed in cares and becoming worldly-minded, keeping the suffering cause ever before them. This does not forbid gathering every Sabbath to hear testimonies or going at a distance to meeting once a year or oftener, but after a rich feast from God's Word it requires pondering over and over and improving upon what was heard instead of going again and again only to hear more, since account must be rendered for the privilege of hearing truth without improvement.