Lyrics Page
Dead Reckoning
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Oct 6, 2026 updated
This Means War! album
Verified editorial review
Song Meaning
Petra opens "Dead Reckoning" by naming its own source material: "[Based on Romans 6:11, Galatians 2:20]." The song then builds a nautical pun out of that doctrine, using "dead reckoning," a navigator's method of calculating position without outside reference points, as a picture of a Christian who has to navigate by what is true rather than by what the old self still feels. "Trade the old for the new... learn to die daily till the new life comes through" restates Romans 6:11 almost word for word: "likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God."
The second verse pushes the same idea further, admitting the tension rather than smoothing it over: "You've got nothing to lose but you do have to choose, when the Spirit says yes but the flesh will refuse." That ongoing conflict between old identity and new is exactly what Paul describes in Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." The closing lines anchor the whole pun in the actual event behind it, "on a hill long ago where the blood runs below, died a King, two thieves, and you," making clear that the dead reckoning in question is not a metaphor invented by the band but something that happened at the cross.
Lyrics Verified by Editorial Team
[Based on Romans 6:11, Galatians 2:20]
It's a new day at last, but you're sinking so fast
If left up to your head, you'd remember the past
But a new day has come and new life has begun
Let the old pass away, reconsider it done
There's got to be a reckoning
When you feel the Spirit beckoning
It's a dead reckoning
Trade the old for the new
It's a dead reckoning
Learn to die daily till the new life comes through
It's a dead reckoning
You've got nothing to lose but you do have to choose
When the Spirit says yes but the flesh will refuse
And although you feel odd there are many who trod
Till they're dead to the world but alive unto God
Some still believe it can't be done
To the steady the race is still won
And the battle is already through
And it's hard to believe but it's true
On a hill long ago where the blood runs below
Died a King, two thieves, and you