Romans 6:11

Paul gives a direct command: consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God through Christ. The word "reckon" is an accounting term -- to count something as true and act on it. Paul has just explained that believers are united with Christ in His death and resurrection; now he tells them to take that truth into account in daily life. They are to regard themselves as those whose old relationship to sin has been broken and whose new life belongs to God.

This is not pretending or wishful thinking. Paul is calling believers to align their self-understanding with what is actually true of them in Christ. Because Christ died to sin once and now lives to God, those joined to Him share in that reality. To be "dead indeed unto sin" means sin's claim and mastery have been decisively challenged; to be "alive unto God" means the believer now lives oriented toward Him. The instruction matters because how we see ourselves shapes how we live. When believers truly reckon themselves dead to sin and alive to God, they stop offering themselves to old patterns and instead give themselves to God. This verse turns doctrine into practice -- believe what is true, then live it out through Jesus Christ.