Don't Allow Sin to be King

Romans 8:12 relates well with Galatians 5

The words in verse 12, "let not sin reign," are in a construction in the Greek which forbids the continuation of an action already going on. The word "reign" is in the Greek "reign as king." The tense speaks of habitual action. "That you should obey" is literally, "with a view to habitually obeying." The word "lusts" is literally "cravings." "Therefore" does not go back to "sin" but to "body." . . . "Lusts therefore" refers to the cravings of the human body, which cravings come from the sinful nature. The translation reads, "Therefore, stop allowing sin to reign habitually as king in your mortal bodies, with a view to your habitually obeying the cravings of that body." God is never unreasonable in His demands upon His own. What He asks of us is always within our ability to fulfill as we appropriate the divine resources of grace. Since the power to sin is broken and the divine nature is implanted, we are well able to keep sin from reigning in our bodies

(Treasures from the Greek New Testament, pp. 96-98).