[Photograph
above: Cave Hill,
Further Light on Romans 5: 12 - 6: 11.
FLETCHER AND SON,
1894.
Before
entering upon the comment on the second half of Romans
5., it is desirable to observe the point up to which Paul has led his
epistle.
His main
argument begins at the fifteenth verse of the first chapter. He was ready to preach the Gospel at
19.
There is indeed
present righteousness and
peace with God; but the eternal life which is the result of it must be believed in and waited for. The
righteous by faith is to live in
resurrection; and that comes only at Christ’s return.
And
all men, Gentiles or Jews, are unrighteous and ungodly.
Chapter 1. This is
proved first against the Gentiles. They
know that sins like theirs deserve death, and yet they do them.
Chapter 2. The light
given by Jehovah in His Word enabled the Jew to see and condemn the wickedness
of the Gentile. Yet he committed the
same sins. How then should he escape the
coming wrath of God? For, in spite of present grace and patience, God has
appointed a day of judgment wherein He
will requite Jew and Gentile, the living and the dead, the saved and the lost
- according to their works. Some in that day would receive the reward of
reigning with Christ; while others would experience at that time the heavy
rebuke of the Most High. For God, as the
Judge, is quite impartial, and no respecter of faces.
The
Jew in that day would be smitten more severely, if a transgressor than the
heathen.
Chapter 3. All, both
Jews and Gentiles, are sinners; the testimonies of the Old Testament convicting
both of transgression: that every mouth may be stopped before God in the
judgment. No justification, then, is
possible for sinful flesh set under law.
For law discovers sin and its penalty.
Then
comes (ver. 21) the statement of the Gospel. God, in His wisdom and love, has provided in
Christ a righteousness in which the unrighteous, taken out from law and Adam,
and set in Christ, may be pronounced righteous before Him. God even in the beginning of Genesis, gave
tokens of this, in His clothing the guilty in coats of skin. Under Moses He more distinctly opened His
counsels of goodness, in the ritual of the Day or Atonement.
In
the twenty-second verse are some words very distinctly connected with the
passage especially to be treated of. “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith in Jesus
Christ (1) for all men, and (2) upon all them, that believe,” where number one describes the extent to which the good news may
be proclaimed; and number two the much smaller body of those who accept, and
are clothed with, the righteousness provided.
We are accepted without our payment of God’s dues,
through Christ’s payment of the ransom, and buying us out from under law and
its wrath: ver. 24.
The
twenty-fifth verse takes up and carries on the redemption by the payment of a
ransom, in the Saviour’s violent death of sacrifice; and our appropriation of
it by faith in its meaning, as given of God.
There
was in that a twofold manifestation of God.
God had remained veiled even from His priests, in the Holiest, until the
death of Christ; then the veil was rent, and the greatest sin of man drew forth
the greatest grace of God. Thus He
showed how He could pass by the sins of the saved; and yet be just. The true sin-offering had been offered. And now came an expansion of the Levitical
words about the sin offering: Lev. 4. “The priest shall take of the blood of the sin-offering with his finger
and put it upon the (four) horns of the altar of burnt-offering, and shall pour out his blood at the
bottom of the altar of burnt-offering.”
The Saviour’s blood was put on the upper horn of the cross, through the
crown of thorns. On the two side-horns,
blood flowed through the nails in the hands; and at the bottom of the main
beam, by the nails driven into the feet.
After His death followed the blood and water at the foot of the cross,
by the thrust of the soldier’s spear. “The priest shall make atonement for him, and it shall be
forgiven him.”
The
Saviour’s resurrection completed the righteousness of God; in His life there
was the perfection of obedience; in His death the blotting out of sin. Hence God was manifested as righteous in
pardoning sin; righteous too in pronouncing the believer to be righteous, who
is by faith united to Jesus. We
conclude, that “a man is justified by faith without the
works of law.” Blest and
satisfying conclusion!
30. A future justification also is coming
when God shall pronounce righteous both Jew and Gentile that believe in His
Son.
31.
This salvation of God does not do away law, but establishes it. All the
righteous demands of law have been met, and believers are set beyond it, to
obey in the spirit of sonship.
Chapter 4. The fourth
chapter presents to us Abraham in two aspects.
(1) As justified by faith before
he was circumcised; and (2) after circumcision he is shown as an example of the obedience
of faith. 1. As justified by faith, he is a pattern
to Gentile believers. 2. As obedient, he
is a pattern to his sons both Jewish and Gentile, to add to faith the practice
of the commands of the Most High. What a
lesson to those who speak of obedience as not necessary!
Gentiles
generally rest content with justification, and stop short of obeying the rite
which Christ commands, immersion.
The
rite commanded to Abraham was circumcision; and it was both a (1) sign
and a (2) seal. 1.
The sign
was the active putting away of the filth of the flesh. 2.
The seal was
the permanent mark; being the token of the righteousness by faith
previously possessed by Abraham.
But
under the Gospel, (1) the sign and (2) the seal are separated. Immersion is
the sign of our oneness with Christ in His
death, burial, and resurrection. But it
is no seal: it leaves behind no lasting trace.
Hence the Lord granted, as a seal, the miraculous gifts of the
Holy Ghost, obtained at Pentecost, immediately after the baptism in water. “In whom also after
that ye believed, ye were
sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise:” Eph.
1. Thus the early Christians were
not only at peace with God within, but they were also witnesses to men, as
God’s acknowledged righteous ones.
So Peter afterward
witnesses to the High Priest and the Sadducees.
Christ “hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to
give repentance to
witnesses
of these things (of Jesus’ death,
resurrection, and ascension). And so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him:” Acts 5. Where were prophets and healers to be found?
Not among the Sadducees; but only among the men of Christ.
13. Those, then, who were men of faith, and men
of power by gift of the Holy Ghost, were on their way to the “millennial inheritance of the world,” promised to
Abraham, and one day to be bestowed upon the obedient men of faith, as God by
oath declared to the patriarch over the sacrifice of Isaac, raised from the
dead in a figure. No reward can be
earned by the men of law; law works to the sinner only wrath.
15. Therefore the eternal
inheritance is by faith, (here the obedience of faith is omitted, to which belongs millennial reward). On this ground of grace the eternal glory is
assured to both the circumcised and to the uncircumcised seeds of Abraham.
16. For Abraham has two seeds; the circumcised
seed become, “the nations” of the new earth: Rev. 21: 21-26; 22: 2. The uncircumcised men of faith become in
resurrection the citizens of the New Jerusalem.
19.
Abraham believed
in (1) a “God that raised the dead,” and that
sets them at length in His heavenly city, and His eternal
Abraham’s
faith in resurrection was tested
by Jehovah’s not giving His servant the Seed of Promise in Isaac, till hopes of
it from the flesh had been cut off. 0ur
faith rests on Jesus the Christ raised out from the tomb to dwell on high.
As Abraham was accepted
as righteous by faith, so to us, one day will righteousness be imputed by God,
if we (as we do) believe in Jesus, given up to death
for our sakes; and raised again, because of our justification completed.
5. The fifth chapter opens
with the assurance of our present justification by faith, and our peace, with
God. We are able, too, to draw near to
God; while
Moreover,
we have the hope of “the glory of God,” to be
manifested, at the return of our Lord.
It will be a better glory than that which shone on the top of
Sinai. “The
appearance of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire, to the eyes of the children of
The
lot of believers now is trouble, but
it is made to yield us profit. The Holy
Ghost works in us the love of God; a moral proof of our onward movement to
dwell with Him on high, as His sons.
Adam’s hope in committing His offence arose out of unbelief in God and trust in the devil; and when the
sin was finished, it wrought fear, and the attempt to hide from Jehovah. The Holy Ghost now dwells within the Lord’s [obedient] people,
and that assures us of our being raised by Christ from among the dead, if we
have fallen asleep before the Lord arrives.
Christ’s death for us is divine love, out-topping loftily the highest
love, of men; it was love of the lost; death, to save enemies!
But
His death has been followed by His resurrection and ascension; and on high, at
the Right Hand of God, He maintains our cause against Satan the Great
Accuser. Yea, and He has sent down the
Holy Spirit to abide with us, as the Comforter.
If Christ’s death did for us so much, much more shall His risen and
eternal life, wherein He is entrusted with all power in heaven and earth.
11. And now, through this
grace in which we stand we can even boast in God through whom we have now
received the reconciliation. How
glorious a contrast to Adam, and Eve, hiding away from God as an enemy, and
called before Him only to receive their sentence!
At
the twelfth verse begins the comparison between Adam, and Christ, which we have
now more particularly to consider.
It
is especially connected with the main subject of the righteousness of God and
the need for it arising out of the unrighteousness and death brought in
by Adam’s trespass. That trespass took
place under law; and only through the grace brought in by Christ, can there be
salvation.
The
passage consists of three parts.
I.
Adam’s sin and its consequences are unfolded in the first three verses. The Saviour is introduced as the type of
future blessing; even as Adam’s sin gave the outline of the grace of God, which
was to introduce the salvation eternal of a multitude whom none can number: verses 12-14.
2.
Here we have the consequences of Adam’s sin entailed on men, as compared with
benefits offered or won in the Gospel-day (verses
15-17). Here are given us the Exceptions to Parallelism between Adam and Christ.
3.
We have the blest effects resulting from the Saviour’s merits imputed unto
eternal life (verses 18-21), as compared
with the mournful consequences of Adam’s disobedience.
12-14. “Wherefore, as by
one man sin entered into the world, and by sin entered death; and so death
passed through to all men, for that all sinned.
For up to law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed where there
is no law. But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who sinned not
according to the likeness of the trespass of Adam, who is the figure of the
coming (Adam).”
Sin and death entered ‘the world’
by the first Adam. His sin was imputed to ‘all men.’ This
is to be received on God’s testimony.
It
is confirmed by chapter 3: 23: “For all sinned.”
This
mystery, which all feel, has been, and is, lightened to my mind by a
consideration of the circumstances, as discovered to us in Gen. 2., 3.
19.
First observe,
that Adam was not under covenant, but was set under a law;
and law supposes a penalty on the breach
of the command.
Gen.2: 15-17. “The Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of
Eden, to dress it and to keep it. And
the Lord God (Jehovah Elohim)
commanded the man, saying,
‘Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the
knowledge of (moral) good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die.’”
Many
sins leave no traces to human eye after their commission, either on the
immediate actor, or on the things around him.
But the eating of the forbidden tree introduced a new knowledge, or faculty, into the, bosoms of Adam and Eve; as
we see on studying the history. When
they were ejected from
“Sin entered into the
world.” Not
merely did its ill consequences attach to man, but to his surroundings also. In Rom. 4: 13, we have “The promise that he should be
the heir
of the world, was not to
Abraham or his seed through the law.”
Here the world is seen to be different from men; and Abraham and his
sons are one day to inherit it: Gal. 4: 3; Col. 2:
8, 20, confirm this.
The
sin of the Garden brought in evil both to the vegetable creation, and to the
animal. 1. The herbs and trees were linked to
the Fall by the sin’s being the eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. 2. The animal
creation was stricken through the part taken by the serpent. “Thou art cursed
above all cattle, and every
beast of the field.” The serpent,
and the woman, too, with their respective seeds, were set at enmity against one
another.
The
seasons were altered. The change of
man’s food from the abundant produce of the tree to the annual herb of the
field produced toil, specially as weeds sprung up to choke the good seed.
The
Gospel does not alter this original sentence.
“The
earnest expectation of the creation is waiting for the manifestation of the
sons of God.” God has children of
His on earth; but they are not now manifested.
“For the creation was subjected to vanity, not
through its own will but by (God) it was
subjected in hope:” Rom. 8.
Tokens
indeed were granted by the Risen Christ of the coming victory of His Kingdom,
in the signs promised in Mark 16: 16-18, to
the baptized believer. The Saviour in
Matthew says, to His apostles: “Ye, which have followed Me, in the
regeneration, when the Son of
man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
“Death passed through.”
This tells us how the sin and death earned by the one
man spread to all his posterity. It took
place by natural generation, passing from father to son. It passed through regularly, none escaping.
Do
faith and salvation pass as regularly along the same line of birth of the
flesh? By no means. There, must be the regeneration of the Holy
Spirit, before man the fallen can partake of the righteousness of Christ, the
Second Adam. This point has been treated
of in the previous parts of the epistle: 3: 22, 28,
30. In the Gospel the offer of righteousness and salvation is made to
all who hear it.
“For up to law, sin
was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law.”
Here
law is taken in its true sense; as a command given by a superior. But a law supposes also a penalty to be
inflicted on the breakers of it. And the
execution of the penalty under a just government, is the proof of the breach of
the law by the person punished.
The fourteenth
verse assures us of the infliction of death, and of its consequences
running on after dissolution, “from Adam to
Moses.” It affected the whole creation. And so
when the blest effects of Christ the Righteous One come on, the creation is
blest in millennial days; and after that, without a break in the new heavens
and earth. As both the fruit of the tree
and the serpent were concerned in the entrance of sin, a blight lies upon
both. But this shall one day be removed.
Thus
we see the force of the word here used; that death passed through (from father to son); and corruption
was the consequence. With the one
eating, sin passed into our first parents, and death; and thence flowed through
into all their posterity. The stolen
goods were found in the breast of all. Conscience in every man is ‘contraband,’ but there is no getting rid of it.
God Himself will not remove it; but make it rule.
13. But, from the entry of death, which was the
penalty of
- ‘But God said, that death should follow on the
day of the sin’s
commission: Adam lived 930
years.’ “Be not ignorant of this
one thing, that one day is with the Lord, as a thousand years:”
2 Pet.
3: 8. And neither Adam nor
any of his race has lived on earth a thousand years.
The
execution of the penalty proves law to be in force. The spread of death from father to son proved
the imputation of sin to all. Where
there is no law there is no transgression.
Death proves sin; sin and death are the proof of law
broken and law avenged. Cain’s
murder of Abel was not forbidden by any law; nor did God then sentence Cain to
death. Cain, on his petition to God, was
assured, that no man should slay him.
14.
“But death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that sinned not in the likeness of the trespass of Adam: who is the figure of the coming (Adam).”
The reign of death is
something beyond simple death. What is
death? The stroke of death is the
separation of body and soul. But after
death both the parts of man were kept apart under sentence. The body was taken to the tomb, there lying
under sentence to turn to dust – a slavery not to be broken by any human power. And the soul departed into Hadees, the place of custody for the spirits of the
departed. For two thousand years not one broke out of His prison.
“From Adam to Moses.”
This
verse is not treating of the case of “all men”
- but of the patriarchal dispensation
– ending with the covenant with
The
severity of the law took no account of the differences of degrees of guilt in
those who lay under the imputation of Adam’s sin.
“Adam is the figure of the coming One.”
Since
that day Christ has come, and He has wrought a perfect righteousness, “the righteousness of God.” Through Adam came natural
life; through Christ and the
Holy Spirit comes the inward renewal of the lost, or spiritual life. As
the end of unrighteousness is death; so “in
the pathway of righteousness is no
death.” Before the working of evil by each
individual, sin was imputed, and death followed. Through the imputation of the righteousness
of Christ we become righteous, before we do good works. But the blest effects of Christ’s work are yet waiting to be manifested by
the reunion of soul and body, and the man coming forth from the custody and
bondage of the tomb. The great
testimony to this is the Saviour’s resurrection, the belief of which is the
foundation of the Gospel.
The
Authorized Version renders the words of verse 14
– “Who is the figure of Him that was to come.” But
that last misleads. It is indeed true,
that the Second Adam has already come: but in coming He did not bring in “life,” in its full sense, as the result of His
righteousness. His life in the flesh on
earth was the time of His working out the righteousness needed to save us.
But
the results of Adam’s sin in their effects on others are apparent in the reign
of death. The
reign of reward and of the
First Resurrection is not yet come,
so the Saviour tells us, that His day is
yet to appear. “He said unto the disciples, Days will come, when ye will desire to see one of the Days of the
Son of man [of his power, as
promised in the eighth Psalm], and ye will not see it.
But you will suffer persecution, longing for the deliverance of My
return. For as the lightning that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven shineth unto the other part under heaven, so shall also the Son of man be in His Day:” Luke 17: 24. Has the Saviour since then shown Himself in
full glory in the sky, seen by every eye?
By no means! But “even thus shall it be
in the day when the Son of man is revealed:”
ver. 30. This
is the Day of trial, loss, and suffering, to be requited in that time of Christ’ return and recompense.
We
now arrive at the EXCEPTIONS to Parallelism.
15.
“But not as THE
TRANSGRESSION, SO IS THE ACT OF GRACE.* For if by the transgression
of the One, the many died: much more the grace of God, and the gift in grace,
which is by One Man Jesus Christ, abounded for the many.”
- See Note A.
Two
dispensations are here implied. 1. The
first one was under law, founded on the trespass of Adam; and affecting his posterity. God tried men. Could conscience, or the knowledge of right
and wrong, stolen in disobedience to law, guide men aright? “Behold, the man is
become as one of US, to know good and evil.” This
was said at Adam’s ejection from
1.
The common one, ‘sin.’ “Sin entered into
the world.”
2.
That which especially set forth the guilt of Adam – ‘trespass.’ “Death reigned even
over those that sinned not after the similitude of Adam’s trespass.”
3.
The third one is more difficult to translate.
It may be rendered sometimes appropriately – ‘Fall’ – at other times perhaps, ‘Transgression.’
The
effects of the trial of man were: “And God saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth.” Not like the dispensation of
the two thousand years and upwards, that passed between Adam, and Moses, is “the Act of Grace.” This last is the
dispensation founded on “the righteousness of God,”
provided in grace for the salvation of the lost: Rom.
1: 16-18. Righteousness was
wrought by Christ. God interposed in
mercy, when man was powerless to save himself.
It began with Pentecost and lasts till the Day of Judgment, and ‘the end of the Age.’
By it the saved are led out from law and their ill-deserts, to be sons
and heirs of God. Each dispensation then
finds its beginning in one of the Two Great Heads of mankind, - Adam and
Christ.
“For by the
transgression of the One, the many died.”
These
words sum up the first dispensation, or “the
transgression.” It may be called
‘the Patriarchal dispensation,’ when men were
tried under law transgressed. Driven out
of
“Much, more.” Judgment and the infliction
of death are God’s strange work. His
delight is in mercy. He is the God of
all grace: His throne now is the throne of grace, to which sinners may come
boldly for aid, now that the Redeemer, our Righteousness, is come.
This
grace is founded on the righteousness accomplished by Christ.
“The Grace of God.”
It was first manifested in its fulness at
Pentecost. Christ the Righteous One had
been slain: but God had raised Him from among the dead. When the cry of inquirers, afraid of
vengeance on themselves as the foes of Christ, arose, it was commanded them – “Repent, and be immersed every one of you in the name (on the
authority) of Jesus Christ unto the forgiveness of sins.” The repentant and immersed are forgiven.
Leave
law and your place in Adam, by God’s command; yea, and Moses also. His offered gifts and sacrifices could not
make him, that did the service perfect, as regarded the conscience: Heb. 9: 9. But in Christ, “let
us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience,
and the body bathed in clean water:” 10:
22.
Like
this is the testimony of Paul at
“And the gift in grace.”
The
Holy Ghost at Pentecost descended with gifts miraculous, tongues, prophecy,
visions. Peter expounds the wonders that
happened on that day as having been foretold by Joel. And he promises the inquirers, that after
repentance and immersion; “Ye shall receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise (of Joel) is
for you (Jews) and your children; and for all that are afar off (Gentiles), even
as many as the Lord our God shall call.” After Philip had led many to Christ, at the
city of
The
first to be sealed was Jesus Christ the Righteous. “Him hath God the
Father sealed.” John 6: 27.
To Abraham circumcision was a sign, but also “a seal of the righteousness of the faith which He had, not being circumcised:” Rom. 4: 11.
This
seal was set on Gentiles also. “While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all
that heard the word. And they of the
circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter,
because that even on the Gentiles the gift of the Spirit was poured
out. For they heard them speak with
tongues, and magnify God:” Acts 10: 48.
“The gift in grace, which is by the One Man, Jesus Christ.”
The dispensation of grace, and the gifts of the Holy
Ghost both came through the Man Jesus, ‘the Anointed,’
at His baptism. The Saviour also
promised, that on His ascent to the Father, He would ask. Him to give the
disciples another Comforter, even the Spirit of truth: John 14. And at Pentecost Peter declares, that the
Holy Spirit had come, through Christ’s power with the Father. The Spirit came down to be a guide into all
the truth. Our Lord at His last
interview with the disciples related in Mark, while He testified the terms of
the salvation of grace, announced the signs of power, that should confirm the
word of His grace.
Gift and grace “abounded for the
many.”
This is a truth which Peter
declared also at Pentecost. The gifts of
the Holy Spirit were designed to be a continual supply for the Tribes, after
Jehovah is reconciled to them. “Fear not 0 Jacob My servant, and Jeshurun
[
The
sixteenth of Mark proclaims the signs that Should follow on faith, and attest
the coming victory of the millennium.
Here
is “the” (second) “many”
distinguished sharply from “the” (first) “many.” 1.
The first “many” lived between Adam and Moses:
and died under law. 2.
“The” (second) “many”
lived,
or are living, under grace. And to all those living in Gospel-times,
grace and gift are thrown open.
“They abounded for the many.”
They
came with a view to the benefit and salvation of those hearing and accepting
the Gospel. Paul is speaking of the
gracious offer. Not all would receive them.
In
the Patriarchal dispensation there was no offer of grace; no new choice of
blessing opened to the Many. Man was to
use his powers. Could he save himself?
18. “And not, as by One that sinned is the ENDOWMENT. For the judgment was by one (transgression)
unto condemnation: But the Act of Grace was after* many transgressions unto justification.”
- Literally, ‘out of.’
There are, then, two
endowments: one arising out
of man’s sin; the other arising out of the righteousness of Christ. Man’s great superiority over the animals was
brought in by his eating unlawfully of the forbidden tree. That deed introduced into the mind of our
first parents the moral sense, or conscience. Till then, if we may trust the Scripture, man was only the first
and chief of animals. The fruit of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil caused him to receive a new
faculty. As the Scripture says, after
eating, “their eyes were opened,” and a new series of feelings began to
move in them. Innocence was gone – “They knew that they were naked;” and attempted to
clothe themselves with fig-leaves. When
they heard the sound of Jehovah’s feet in the Garden, sensible of their guilt,
they fled and hid. In the trial which
followed, each sought to cast the blame on one of the others.
The
endowment of conscience, permanent in them, was transmitted to each and all of
their offspring; and Paul speaks of conscience as a faculty to be found even in
the heathen. The presence of conscience
in each is ‘original sin’ – the sin of his
origin. Man is opposed to God, and is
glad to hide from Him. Jehovah treats the race according to the one sentence in
“For the judgment was by one (transgression) unto
condemnation (of death.)”
On the very day of the offence, being committed, it
was tried, and sentence was passed, even before the three culprits had
separated. God became the Just Judge
against man; man became the guilty criminal, driven out of the
We
might have thought, perhaps, that as conscience had been seized against law,
and as the very possession of it was a proof of the being one of the guilty
race, that God would at once, or by degrees, have taken away the intruded
faculty. But no! Its sin shall be atoned for: its enmity
against God and fears of guilt removed.
The effecting this drew out the wisdom, power, and grace of the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit.
One
day conscience shall without fail perfectly rule the whole man. Already in this life Paul could say – “Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience.” And
Peter could speak of the saints taught by him – “The
like figure whereunto (to Noah’s salvation in the ark), baptism doth now save us also: (but what is meant by
baptism?) not the putting away the filth of the flesh
(by the bathing in water), but the answer of a good conscience
toward God, by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
And Paul again – “Now the end of the commandment
is love out of a pure heart, and a
good conscience, and faith
unfeigned:” 1 Tim. 1: 5.
“But the Act of Grace was after many transgressions unto
justification.”
The
Act of Grace. Was founded on Christ’s work of righteousness, and God the Judge’s acceptance of it.
It sprang not out of a change in man for good; but in the goodness of the Most High. The act of grace brings pardon of offences,
and a righteousness which justifies.
And
this grace of God is preached and pressed on men. As Adam the sinner endows us with condemning
conscience, so. Jesus, “the Anointed Saviour”
gives the guilty conscience, peace. The
receiver of the righteousness bestowed is justified already. He stands in grace, hoping for the glory of God, in the coming day of His
rest.
17. “For if, through the
Transgression of the one, death reigned through the one; much more they who
receive (take) the abundance of the grace, and of the gift of the
righteousness shall reign in life, through the One, Jesus Christ.”
In
verse 12 we find – “Death by sin, and so death, passed through to all men.” But
in verse 14 we have “Death reigned from Adam to Moses.”
The
EXCEPTIONS (verses
15-17) carry on the differences imported by the Gospel. In verse 15
we have – “Through the transgression of the
One, the many died.” In verse 17
it is – “By the One man’s transgression death,
reigned by the one.” But the contrast is not stated exactly as we
should expect. It is not – “If by
the transgression of the One Man death reigned, so by the righteousness
the One shall life reign.” Paul tells us, that this feature is among
the exceptions to the parallelism between Adam and
Christ.
“Much more.”
Here
the same principle which has been stated in verse
15 applies. If the one trespass
of Adam, brought in the reign of Death, much more the many holy acts of the One
Man’s righteousness, and the Act of Grace shall bring in the reign of
life. And so it shall be at last; for
God, while He is righteous is also love. But here the matter is viewed in
relation to the reward of some, who shall
resemble Christ in doing and sufferings. Some of the dead under law
died, because of the imputation of Adam’s sin; but they also followed him in
like transgression. Christ shall have
some to be His “fellows,” who not only are righteous with the
imputation of His righteousness, but who, as our Lord, “love righteousness and hate iniquity;” and therefore shall be anointed with the oil of
gladness as the fellows of Christ.
“They receive of the abundance of the grace, and of the gift
of the righteousness.”
They
“receive.”
“Out of
His fulness all we received, and grace
answering to every grace (of Christ):”John
1: 16.
It
might with equal propriety be rendered, “They who take”
a continual supply. And then the reference will be to the first
transgression. “Eve
took
of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also to her husband with her; and he did eat.”
These approved ones take, what God bids them; as Eve and Adam took, what God forbid. Now verse 15
has told us, that the Act of Grace, founded on the work of the Second Adam, has
brought in, not alone the righteousness of God in which the justified may
stand, but also gift in grace. These
saints take both of the graces of the Spirit, and of the gifts supernatural;
and both in large measure. Great is the
variety of sanctifying grace, which Christ may, and will bestow; and great the
variety of forms of power bestowed by the Holy Ghost. “Pursue after love, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather
that ye may prophesy.” “Seek that ye may abound (not ‘excel’), to the edifying of the church:” 1 Cor. 14.
Not
all believers are obedient. Not all are
“profitable” to Christ.
There
are two baptisms; or, if you will, two parts of God’s complete baptism. 1. The first is “the
baptism of instruction” and of water, which is first administered,
denoting that the man comes out from the world to serve Christ; and that he
takes the Saviour’s righteousness instead of his own. 2. The second baptism is that of the Spirit,
bestowed by the laying on of apostles’ hands: which we have not now, as, not
having apostles; nor have we any illapse of the Holy
Ghost, as far as I am aware. The great majority of Christians refuse the
immersion in water of the believer, and will not obey even as far as they
may. Many believers are not in spirit, or
in life, like Christ. They are caught by
the lures of Satan, and stride after the world, and its prizes.
Now while justification by faith suffices to obtain eternal
life, the Gift
of God, - it is not sufficient to obtain the Prize. For
that (or the millennial glory) sanctification is needed. And sanctification is obedience to Christ,
wrought in the believer by the Holy Ghost.
The, receivers of grace are to act in grace to others: James 2: 12.
The
Grace and the Gift both spring out of “the Righteousness of God.” But to righteousness, through God’s goodness,
are attached both the indwelling of the Holy Ghost; and the [His] power which accompanies His falling
upon any.
As
the first Adam was the guilty one and sentenced to death, so the last Adam is “Jesus Christ the Righteous.” “Ye denied the Holy and the Righteous One, and desired a man that was a murderer
to be granted to you:” Acts 3: 15. “If any sin, we have
an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous:” 1 John 2. “The God of our
Fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know His will, and see the
Righteous One,” the
one sufficient distinction of Christ, excluding all other men.
1.
The Gospel
Day is the time of receiving
the grace and gift.
2.
The Coming
Day is the Day of reward and of dominion in resurrection. Then God will render “to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory, and honour, and
incorruptibility, eternal life. ... in the day when God shall judge the
secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel:”
“Glory” refers to the splendour of the risen body, when
star differs from star in the glory of the resurrection. So Moses’ face shone, and the people could
not look steadfastly at him, for the glory of his countenance. His ‘honour’ too appeared, when he descended as the
Mediator entrusted with the Tables, the work and writing of God. But Moses died, and was buried. The approved shall come out of the tomb and
corruption to ‘incorruptibility’; and death
shall be swallowed up in victory. “For of Him are ye, in Christ Jesus, who was made unto you
wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” This
last answers to the “incorruptibility” of Rom. 2.
This
class will be the smaller, not only than ‘all men,’
but also much smaller than “the many” of the
Gospel Day.
The
abundance of the grace, and of the gift of the righteousness is an explanation
of the endowment, provided
by God through Christ, for those who have left Adam.
“Shall reign in life.”
With
sin came in death, and degradation even after death. Adam made ruler at first over the creatures
of earth, by his trespass became subject to being devoured by wild beasts; yea,
worms were made to devour him.
Our
present dying existence is not properly life.
The life in resurrection is truly life. – Until that day the seed of Christ are not manifested. The sons of Adam have long ago been
manifested in their pursuits of the flesh.
But creation is waiting
for “the
Life
and dominion, a kingdom far higher than Adam’s shall then be enjoyed. The day of the millennial kingdom is one of reward to good works. “If ye love them that love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do
ye more than other? Do not even the
publicans so? Become ye therefore
perfect (in grace see context), even as your Father which is in heaven is
perfect:” Matt. 5: 43-48. “Look to yourselves that we lose not the
things that we have wrought, but
that we
receive a full reward:” 2 John 8. At the seventh trumpet is come, “the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that
thou shouldest give the reward unto Thy
servants.” “Behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to
each as his work shall be:” Rev.
22: 12.
The
reign of
death is an abiding advance for the worse on the stroke of death, which removes from among the
living. So the reception of the Holy
Spirit’s grace and gift is an advance for the latter on the generality of
Christians, who content themselves with the imputation of Christ’s
righteousness. The parties here set
forth are those profitable to God and
Christ, working in the service of the Lord Jesus. Both the present grace of the Gospel, and, the future glory of the millennial kingdom come in “through the One, Jesus Christ.”
In
the patriarchal dispensation, the strife of
flesh and conscience led only to death; and after it, to the reign of
death. But now, through the righteousness
of Christ imputed, God can accept His
people’s work, and has bound Himself by promise to reward it. Life, and dominion are coming to those who serve in life the Lord Jesus. “His Lord said unto
him: Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few
things, I will make thee ruler over many things, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course; I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the
crown of righteousness, which
the Lord, the Righteous Judge, shall give me at that day.”
Immersion is not necessary to salvation; but obedience is necessary to reward. Some shall come forth out of the tomb,
and corruption, and be promoted to reign with Christ, while it is written: “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.”
In
the Talents and the Pounds we have presented the same two seasons, (1) of grace
now, and (2) of reward by and by, that we have in this passage. Life has been greatly shortened, from nearly
a thousand years to seventy or, eighty.
But those accounted worthy
shall enjoy ‘a thousand years’ with Christ in [after the ‘first] resurrection’.
As
so few [Bible]
teachers speak of reward to the obedient believer, it will be well to give a
few texts.
1.
“When thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what
thy right hand is doing; that thine alms may be in secret; and thy Father which
seeth in secret shall reward thee openly:” Matt.
6: 3, 4.
2. “Seek ye first the (millennial)
3.
“Let us labour therefore to enter into that (future)
rest, lest any fall after the same example
of disobedience” (Greek): Heb. 4: 11.
4.
“He that cometh to God must believe that He is and that
He
becometh the Rewarder of those that diligently seek Him:” 11: 6.
5. “He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth
fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and
he that reapeth may rejoice together:” John 4: 36.
6.
“But love ye your enemies, and do good, hoping for
nothing again; and your reward shall be great:” Luke
6: 35.
7.
“They which shall be accounted worthy to attain that (millennial) age, and
the resurrection from among the dead, neither marry, nor are given in
marriage. For neither can they die any
more; for they are equal to the angels; and are the Sons of God, being the sons
of the resurrection:” Luke 20: 35.
8.
“Thou hast a few names in
THE RESEMBLANCES
18.
“Accordingly then, as by one transgression
(judgment came) unto all men unto condemnation; so also
by one act of righteousness (the Act of Grace came) for all men with a view to justification of life.”
This
attaches itself to verses 12 and 13 and to the last clause of verse 14, which asserts, that ‘Adam the first was the type of the Adam who is to come.’ Christ has indeed come already; but the first
time He came to finish the work on which the Gospel rests. His second Coming is the time, when the
effect of His righteousness achieved shall be seen, in the undoing of death and
the bringing forth [‘bodies’] out from the tombs [and
‘souls’ out of Hades] of
the doers of good “to the resurrection of life,” and for ever after the
thousand years. Till then the difference
between the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent is not fully
manifested. The work of the Lord now is
justification; and in the coming day – ‘The righteous
by faith shall live.’
“Accordingly then” –
This
intimates, that the apostle has finished treating of the differences between Adam and Christ, and that now
he is proceeding to set forth the resemblances. Look at verses 12, 13.
‘By One man came sin,’ through sin death: the death of all men is the proof of the sin of
all
men. ‘But death is the
penalty of law; and the only law known to Adam was that of
“By one transgression
(judgment
came) unto all men.”
The distinctive note of verse
12 is “all men.” “Death passed through
to all
men, for that all sinned.”
In the intermediate verses, we have two different
bodies named, (1) “the many” of the First
Dispensation, and (2) “the many”
of the Gospel Day (verses 15, 16). We have in verse
17 a notice of a smaller body still, of those “accounted
worthy” to reign with Christ in the millennial day. Now we have got back again to the “all men” affected by the sin of Adam.
The additions – ‘judgment came’
– and ‘the Act of grace came,’ – are supplied
from verse 16.
The ‘one transgression’
brought condemnation on all, - ‘the one righteousness’
of Christ has come for all men with a view for their justification, and eternal
life.
How exactly to render for the best the Greek word
translated “righteousness” in the Authorised
Version, is not easy. But the meaning is
clear, whether you translate it “sum of righteousness
imputed,” or ‘rectification’ or ‘justification,’ as the natural opposite to “condemnation” in the first clause. The word imports that the righteousness has
come in upon unrighteousness, and its sad consequences; replacing ‘condemnation’ with ‘justification,’
while justification [by faith] brings with it ‘eternal
life.’ One righteousness suffices
to save all the redeemed. It is not, as
under law, that each is to work out, and to present his own righteousness as
the price of his individual salvation. “The man that doeth
these things shall live by them.”
The Act that opens the door of salvation to the lost
is not man’s change from evil to good; but God’s goodness and mercy in
appointing Christ to be, the new and righteous Head of men.
No sons of Seth’s race were “sons of God;” they were
not sons, but slaves, as unrighteous under law, and the sentence and penalty of law: Gal.
4: 1-7.
This
righteousness came “for all men.”
In
verse 15, Grace is spoken of as visiting “the many.”
The view there given of the Gospel’s aspect is limited by the actual
number of those to whom the Good News has come.
The Gospel, as sent by God, has, as its field, all men. The disciples of Christ have not made “all men” even nominal Christians.
It
is not rightly rendered in the Authorised Version, “upon” all
men. If the robe of righteousness
were upon all, all would be saved. Paul
distinguishes between ‘unto’ and “upon.” “The righteousness of
God without law is manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
even the righteousness of God which is by faith in Jesus Christ (1) unto all (men), and (2) upon them that
believe:” Rom. 3: 21, 22.
‘Righteousness open to all men’ – is the Gospel
proclamation.
1.
“Go ye therefore, disciple all the nations:” Matt. 28.
2.
“Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel in all the creation:” Mark 16.
3. “Repentance and
forgiveness of sins should be preached in His (Christ’s) name among all the nations:” Luke 24.
4. “John (Baptist) came as a witness, to bear witness to the light, that all through, Him might
believe:” John 1: 7.
5. “It shall come to pass, that whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved:” Acts 2:
(Peter so says).
6.
“In Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could
not be justified by the law of Moses:” Acts
13, (Paul so says).
7. The Gospel “is the power of
God unto salvation to every one that believeth:” Rom. 1: 16.
“With a view to justification of life.”
So
the apostle here is speaking of the great Gospel offer, founded on the
righteousness of God, and eternal life proposed to every one that hears of the
Good News. Any neglecting or refusing
it, perishes through his own fault. For
all are now living under “the Act of Grace.” Life eternal is put within the reach of those
who take God at His word.
‘Justification of life’ is the opposite to ‘condemnation’ (of death). The life here spoken of is eternal life; result of Christ’s merits. “The righteous by
faith shall live.”
19. “For just as by the disobedience of the One Man, the many were
constituted sinners (in law); so also by the
obedience of the One, the many shall be constituted righteous (in law).”
This
justifies the last clause of verse 18. “The Act of Grace
(came) for all men with a view to justification
of life.” That was God’s merciful intention in the
sending of the Gospel.
Many
converted ones of our day make light of obedience. ‘You see that
immersion is commanded; why then, do you not obey it?’ ‘I do not think it
of importance.’ ‘Not of importance,’ that you should obey? It is the only way to please God,
after believing in His Son. What says
this passage of the mighty results of woe derived from the one act of disobedience in Adam? What on the other hand said God, when, in
answer to His call to the sacrifice of His son Isaac, Abraham obeyed? “By myself have I
sworn, saith the Lord, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine
only son, that in blessing I will bless thee.” “In thy Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed:
because
thou hast obeyed My voice:”
Gen. 22: 16-18. “To
whom sware He, that they should not enter into His rest, but to them
that obeyed not?” (Greek)
Heb. 3: 18. “To them that obey
not the truth but obey
unrighteousness shall be indignation and wrath:”
“By the one disobedience (of Adam) the Many were constituted sinners (in law).”
This
refers to the judgment passed on our first parents in
How comes it, then, that
many suppose the sons of Adam in the line of Seth to be called “sons of God”?
“On the contrary, in that Patriarchal
dispensation all died*
and remained under the custody of death, in both soul and body, as being
sinners, who after death entered into the First Death” (the place
of departed
sinners.) That proved
them, not sons of God, but slaves of law manifestly. The sons of God of Genesis 6. are
angels, whose offence it was to leave their own abode, and choose for
themselves a lot among men. They died when the Flood came; and were imprisoned
in cells of darkness, reserved there till the day of judgment. They were addressed by Christ when He, as a
disembodied spirit [soul] visited them. They
received His tidings, and shall one day be restored. But as yet they still remain in prison.
*Except Enoch; and he is coming back to die: Rev. 11.
So
they are regarded, I believe, as some of “the many”
to whom the grace of the Gospel has come, who by the obedience of the One
Christ, shall be constituted righteous at the last day. But those who would trace this out further,
are referred to my tract: “The Spirits in Prison.” The
angels that fell with Satan through enmity to man are at liberty, but condemned; as
carrying on the deceit and destruction begun by Satan in
So
our Lord on the cross - the Righteous One, distinguishes between the two
malefactors. To the penitent robber he
says: “To day thou shalt be with me in
The
“three days” of the dreams of both Pharaoh’s
officers answer to the two Dispensations (1) of the Patriarchs and (2) of the
Gospel; the third Day being the Day of the Marriage Feast of the King’s Son,
and the judgment of angels, as well as of men.
“Know ye not, that we shall judge angels?”
The
translation “made righteous,”
and “made sinners,” is a bad
one; leading people to suppose that it relates to some inward operation of
sanctification, or the contrary. It
really refers to the sentence of the Judge at the last judgment.
“The many” of the First
Dispensation were pronounced sinners, in the condemnation of Adam. To Adam, God, during the trial in
There
is yet a judgment to come - and it is the Final One. With regard to the wicked, there are two
factors in their doom. 1. Imputation of
unrighteousness, arising out of Adam’s Fall; and their
possession of conscience, the fruit of the transgression. 2. Their own life of sin, and the record of
it, in the books of the deeds of men: Rev. 20.
With
regard to the approved by Christ, there are also two factors. 1. The imputation of Adam’s sin is removed,
and their own sins are forgiven by “the righteousness
of God,” announced in this epistle.
2.
But it is declared by Peter on the Day of Pentecost that they are to break away
from “the crooked generation” - the Seed of the
Serpent; and to come out, not only invisibly by the power of faith within, but
also visibly and openly by obeying Christ’s call to be immersed. “Repent and be immersed,
every one of you.” That was the way to “Save
themselves from the crooked generation.”
“Then they that gladly received His word were
immersed, and the same day there were
added to them about three thousand souls.” This first rite of Christ says to the man of
faith: ‘You are by nature among the dead of soul
before God; and you are going down at death to dwell among those who abide in
the First Death - of Which the Saviour keeps the keys:’ Rev. 1:
18. But God has provided a rite,
whereby you may go down into death not with Adam, the condemned, but with Christ the Justified. So shall
you in the coming judgment be recognized as one of those who came forth from
the world of the sinful to be called up to Christ in resurrection, when He
descends for His saved ones. At this rite begins the new life of
sanctification in Christ, and of obedience to the words of the Son of God. Those who do not move on thus will not be
approved of by the Saviour, nor rewarded at that day.
“So also by the obedience of the One, the many shall be
constituted righteous (in
law).” This is the issue of the reception of the
justified through Christ’s righteousness as now testified. From Adam to all sons of his comes the
imputation of his sin. From Christ as
Second Adam comes the imputation of His righteousness, justification, and the
entrance on the eternal heritage of the saved.
It
is evident that ‘the (two) manys’ here used are not the same. 1. ‘The many’
of ‘the Transgression’ died as sinners. 2. The second ‘many’
are accepted
as righteous. The judgment of
‘the (first) many’
is past; that of “the (second) many” is to come.
“The (second)
many” are those already righteous by faith in the righteousness of God,
and they “shall live.” ‘The (first) many’ remain under law and death. These others have come out from law to abide
in Christ. See again verse 15, where also ‘the (two) manys’ stand opposed.
Not
all, then, will be saved. “Through the obedience of the One, the many shall be constituted
righteous (in law).”
After
the coming judgment the eternal state of all is settled. The names of the saved are in “the Book of Life.” The lives of the lost are
judicially described in the Books of Death opened at the Judgment Day.
Christ's
obedience is the only One which the Judge can own as coming up to the demands
of the Most High. The obedience of the
saved is but partial, and defective. The
day of millennial reward is supposed here to be over, and Christ is made to
them not righteousness alone, but sanctification also. To the saved it is
the time of the reign of Grace. The body
is to be made alive ‑ the soul is life because of righteousness. Then they enter on 'their heritage in the
city of
There
is a present imputation of righteousness, which
brings “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”
for we are justified by faith: Rom. 5: 1. But there is to be another,
a future, and a pronounced justification. (l.) “Seeing it is
one God, who shall justify the
circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith:” Rom. 3: 30.
(2) “Now it
was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him
(Abraham). But
for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him,
that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead:” 4: 23, 24.
In this verse, and in the one preceding, the righteousness is that of
Christ. There is only that one.
20.
“Now Law came in between, in order that the
Transgression might multiply. But where sin
multiplied, grace superabounded.”
That
there was a previous law to that of Moses, a law affecting all men has been
testified by verse 13. Adam’s dispensation
after the Fall, and the Gospel of Christ have been
compared.
It came in by Moses; but it wrought no deliverance for
It
was God’s design in the matter, to prove that law cannot save the fallen. His intent was to show the multiplication of
transgression, when law was again applied to man. “Sin (arose) that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which
is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful:”
Rom. 7: 13.
“Wherefore then (serveth)
the .Law? It was
added, for the sake of its transgressions, until the Seed should have come, to whom the promises were made:”
Gal. 3: 19.
For by works of law shall no flesh be saved: Rom.
8: 7.
“The Transgression multiplied.”
One law given to Adam brought in Transgression. But 613 laws given to some two millions of
men, multiplied transgressions at a prodigious rate. God would show man, not his righteousness, but his innate depravity. The
command, “Thou shalt not lust,” given to one whose heart was full of
lusts, condemned even whose seven boasts in law were probably the highest ever
realised by any Israelite: Phil. 3: 5, 6.
“But where sin multiplied, grace superabounded.”
The
transgressions of
Will all, then, under the Patriarchal dispensation,
and the Law of Moses, be lost? No. There
will be the election of God.
But
did not
From
the very guilt of the Cross of Christ, God made His Act of Grace to arise. Pardon by His heralds was to be proclaimed
among all nations, beginning at
Destruction
was deserved; but free salvation came.
And now the believer is to leave alike, both Adam. and
Moses, for Christ and grace. This is the
sentiment taken up in chapter 6: 1: ‘God glorified Himself by His grace against man’s sin. Shall, we not incite Him to show still more
abundant grace?’
21.
“In order that, as Sin reigned in death, so also Grace
might reign through righteousness unto eternal life, through Jesus Christ our
Lord.”
In this verse we have God’s final counsels concerning
the lost, and the saved. It is shown by
summing up the effects of Adam’s transgression, and of the Son’s righteousness.
“Sin reigned in death.”
It
is not to be rendered “unto death.” Death was not the end of the
consequences. On the contrary, after the
sinner’s death came the full power of Death, over the severed parts of the man,
(1) in his body turning to dust in the tomb; and (2) his soul kept in custody
in Hadees.
This
verse is a reference back to verse l4: “Death reigned from Adam to Moses.” Even at that early date the full effects of
transgression showed themselves. Death
first, then the reign of Death! No change after it! This tells of the eternal result of the judgment.
These
were its naked first results, before law and Gospel came in to modify
consequences.
They
will be its last also.
“So also might grace reign.”
Grace in offer was presented, in verses 15 and. 18.
But at last it takes to itself its power
of bestowing eternal life on those who accepted it during the Gospel day.
“Through
Righteousness.”
In
verse 17 we have “the
abundance of the grace and of the gift of the righteousness.” Here we have come to “righteousness” alone, which is the same righteousness for all the
saved; while verse 17 was speaking of the
special use of God’s abundant grace and gift as leading to entrance into the
temporary kingdom of Christ.
So
the reign of death, over the lost, and the reign of grace over the saved, both
abide for ever.
Law,
first applied to Adam, and then by Moses to
1.
“And the work of righteousness shall be peace and the
effect of righteousness, quietness, and assurance for ever:” Isa. 32: 17.
2. “My salvation shall
be for ever; and My righteousness shall not be
abolished:” Isa. 51: 6.
3. “My righteousness
shall be for ever; and My
salvation from generation to generation:” ver. 8. See also Psa. 114: 142.
It
is bestowed on all who believe in Christ as Son of man and Son of God. “For with the heart
man believeth unto righteousness [so that from guilty he at once becomes righteous], and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation:”
Rom. 10: 10.
Adam’s sin imputed is death; Christ’s righteousness imputed is life
eternal.
“Unto eternal life.”
After
the Judgment of the Great White Throne: after the resurrection of those not
judged worthy of millennial reward.
Those written in the Book of Life enter then on the mansions of the City
of
All
those who are saved, whether counted worthy to reign with Christ on earth, or
not so accounted, both at last occupy the same footing of grace! The
reign of Reward is temporary; eternal life comes from grace. “For the wages
of sin is death; but
the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.” 6: 23.
“That being justified by
His
grace, we should be made heirs (according to hope) of eternal
life:” Titus 3: 7.
“Through Jesus Christ
our Lord.”
Jesus
is our ‘Anointed Saviour.’ But
He is also ‘our Lord.’ What follows at once in the next chapter of Romans 6.? The
immersion He has commanded! The
obedient die, are buried, and rise (in emblem) with Christ in the baptism He appointed.
* *
*
THE STRUICTURE OF THE PASSAGE
The
passage we have been considering is divided into three parts which we will call
A, B, and C. A takes
up the three first verses, 12‑14. It describes the effects of the first man’s
trespass under law, with its consequences to all his posterity generally; and specially to those of the Patriarchal dispensation. B and C compare the righteousness of Christ
and its effects with that of the sin of Adam.
B takes up the EXCEPTIONS TO
LIKENESS between the first Adam and the Last; and is contained in verses 15‑17. C in verses
18‑21,
regards the POINTS OF RESEMBLANCE
between the Two Great Heads of men.
B tells of the coming in of “the
Grace of God” instead of the severity of law. On the righteousness of Christ the Ascended
one, came down the Holy Spirit of regeneration and of power. It was given for the day of present service,
looking on in hope to the day of future reward.
No such field of blessing was opened to those living under “the Transgression.”
But we have also in B to observe the falling short even
of the regenerate and justified. The majority refuse to obey the commanded
immersion; and most have given up the hope of the coming millennial glory: ver. 17.
C
treats of the opening for salvation made for “all men,”
by the mission of the apostles to the world.
“We have seen and do testify that the Father
sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world:” 1 John 4: 14. But the offer was refused by the men of law,
who persecuted and slew the Son, and the messengers sent by Him. They upheld their own righteousness; and
refused that proclaimed to them. The
Gentiles were not far behind them in this wickedness.
In
verse 19 we have the sentence at last of
salvation or damnation upon the accepters or refusers
of the Grace of God. And there is no
acceptance for those of the fallen who cleave to law. Before the Great White Throne at last the
Books of Death are opened, which bring to light the works of the unpardoned;
and their doom is “the Second Death,” the lake
of fire and brimstone. They are
condemned, not only because of the possession of conscience, but for their own
deeds. Those written in the Book of Life
enter eternal life through Christ’s righteousness.
* *
*
THE FOUR REIGNS OR
KINGDOMS SPOKEN OF
I. First we have, in verse
14, THE REIGN OF DEATH. It lasted
beyond two thousand years. ‘The many’ could not conceal themselves, or break away
from its power. One was taken out from
earth into heaven before death could strike him; but even he is coming back
with Elijah to die: Rev. 11. But none, once seized on by death, escaped
the Reign of Death. “The many died.”
The dead were held fast.
II. There is coming, when Christ returns, “the Reign in Life” of some living under Gospel grace: ver.17. The
grace and gift offered in Gospel times through Christ, for the justified by
faith will have by them been received and used.
Their reward will be a partaking with the Lord Jesus in His
kingdom. They were, as Christ was, “lovers of righteousness and haters of iniquity;” and
are then accounted worthy to be
companions of the Christ, anointed with the oil of joy.
Not
all “the many” of Gospel times receive this
reward. That is “the hope of our calling.” “We rejoice,” says Paul, “in
hope of the (coming) glory of God” - in
resurrection the First. This hope has now fallen away from the eyes
of most Christians; and how shall they win the prize, who
are not aware of it? How shall they obtain it, who deny there is such a thing? Luke
18: 17. The scoffers at
‘The reign in life’
finds most of its approved ones among the dead.
Christ gives them life out of death; and so it is life in
resurrection. During life they were “rejoicing in hope.”
After resurrection they are promoted to rule and reign with Christ for
the millennial day. They are risen
priests and kings to God. This was the joy, which, Christ receiving, “endured the cross, despising the shame.” Of that life and promotion, Joseph is the
type. He is taken up from the dungeon to
be Prince of the
III.
There is thirdly. The Reign of SIN in DEATH: ver. 21.
A
specimen of that was given in the Adamic Dispensation under law. ‘Law’ is twice
spoken of; first in verses 13, 14, where the
trespass of our first parent is named. At
last is enforced its eternal penalty: ver. 21.
IV. THE REIGN OF GRACE through
righteousness.
That reign is eternal life. The reign in Life of verse
17 is temporary only. Man the
fallen cannot earn eternal life. Nor in verse 21 are ‘Grace and
gift’ spoken of, as they are in verses 15
and 17.
The
two last reigns are put side by side in the same verse. The reign of Sin and
death is for ever. The reign of Grace
through the righteousness of Jesus is for ever also.
Before
the Day of Christ’s power, arise Two Leaders of sin from the pit below. Satan sets up his King and Prophet for the
rebellious: Psa. 94: 20, 21.
They condemn those who will not worship the Great Usurper, and slay
them.
Jehovah
then sends down from above two leaders of righteousness, Enoch and Elijah. Their heels are bruised by crucifixion, and
at
Then
the Redeemer descends in righteousness and in power, and puts down the hosts of
His foes, and the kingdom of glory is His: Rev.
19., 20.
A
tabular view of the Passage which has chiefly engaged us,
is given on the next page.
ROMANS
6: 1.
Let s then consider the teaching
of the opening of ROM. 6. We have first THE PROPOSAL.
1.
“What shall we say then? Should we continue in Sin, in order that
grace may abound?”
The
proposal is evil, but it draws out God’s counsel toward His people, which is
good.
It
brings us to the stress of difficulty felt at this point of doctrine. ‘Let a man earn his
justification by his own powers, and then law must be observed. But if man is to be justified by grace and
through the merits of another, how is holiness to be joined with justification?
May not the justified live in sin, and God thus
be wrought on to manifest further grace?’
2.
“Far be it! How
shall we that died to sin, live any longer therein?”
The
apostle rejects The proposal altogether. * ‘We died to it.
Your scheme comes too late. ‘How
can those who died to sin live in it?’
* Not – ‘We are dead’ - That would be another
expression in the Greek. See verse 11. “Reckon yourselves to be dead.”
‘We never heard of that before. Please prove it to us!’
3. “What! Are ye ignorant, that as many of us as were
immersed into Christ Jesus* were immersed into His death?”
* ‘Christ Jesus’ in
this chapter:- ‘Jesus Christ’
in chapter 5.
Are
you ignorant then of the meaning of the first step, which, at Christ’s call,
you took after believing? (1) “Repent and be (2) immersed, every one of you!”
Repentance
is the breaking off of sin. And the
meaning of immersion following thereon is the breaking off of sin by death. It
was your removal from Adam, lying under sin and the power of death, that you
might belong to Christ. The waters were
not ‘a refreshing bath;’ as some who have misinterpreted the
rite suppose. They are the waters
of death, which drowned the
men of earth at the Flood; and
swallowed up the foes of God and of
The
force of this is much lost to Christians in our day. The great majority are sprinklers of infants,
destitute of faith in Christ. Hence
believers, supposing themselves already baptized in infancy, refuse Christian
immersion after faith.
God
has given two commands; but most Christians will obey but one. The Scripture order is (1) ‘Repent, and (2) be immersed’
- But most prefer to believe without immersion; putting sprinkling of water
before faith. 1. Hence most after faith,
vote baptism ‘unnecessary,’
because they possess the chief point.
God’s
plan is, that there should first be faith in Christ; then that a man should be
immersed - and that into the death of Christ.
So with Abraham (
4.
“We were buried with Him therefore by the immersion,
into Death; in order that, as Christ was raised from among the dead by the
glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life.”
We
have here first, (1) immersion into Christ, (2) then into death, (3) then buried with Him by means of the immersion into death. This
is the proof of our having died, with Christ, to sin. The ‘If’ in verse 5 confirms the “as many
as” of verse 3. “If we have ‘grown together’ in the likeness of His death.”
In chapter 5. we have our Lord called ‘Jesus Christ,’ for there He is set forth as Son of
Adam. In chapter 6.
He is twice called ‘Christ Jesus,’ - and God is
called His Father in verse 4.
We
die with Christ by faith; we are buried
with Him, not by faith, but “by
means of the (commanded) immersion”
of the believer, fulfilled by the
obedient. Death with Christ takes us out
from death, as the penalty of sin under law.
Its sting is taken away. Chapter 5. has shown us, that ‘the reign of
death’ ensuing after death, is an advance in judgment arising from
oneness with Adam. It is the entry of
the body into the tomb; and of the soul into Hadees,
or the First Death, of which
Christ holds the keys. After the
judgment of the Throne, the lost are cast, soul and body united, into the Second
Death, the lake of fire.
But
what if we die with Christ? Then we shall live with Him ever. What if we are buried with Christ? Then we go into the
This
emblematic burial is the choice of the obedient, in answer to the command of
God.
“Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him
through faith in the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead:”
Col. 2: 12.
“For as many of you as have been baptized
into Christ have put on Christ:” Gal.
3: 27.
Do
we read anything in the New Testament about baptismal ‘vows
and promises’? and have we exhortations to
fulfil them? Never! That belonged to the old things of the flesh
under the law at Horeb.
“Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and
all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice and said, - ‘All the
words which the Lord hath said will we do.’” Did they keep their vows? The sword sent on them forty days after, told
what the flesh is worth.
So
now we are shown in baptism our passiveness, and the power of God and Christ,
on His believing people. “We were immersed into Christ - immersed into His death.” “We were
buried with Him into death.”
“We died to sin,” not ‘We Promised and voiced to die.’
Burial
is a further step beyond death. It is
the burial of the living into death as the way to death and to interment at
once. The departure of the soul is
invisible. But the disposal of the body
is something seen and wrought on the dead
Those
buried in the water receive death and interment at once. The argument at this point is broken, if
sprinkling or pouring are used instead of immersion. In neither sprinkling nor pouring is there
the emblem of death, burial, or resurrection.
So that is not true which is often said, - that the quantity of water
used in baptism is of no moment. It
takes a good deal of water to bury a living man. “John was baptizing
at AEnon
near to Salim, because there was much water there:”
John 4: 23.
There the Lord’s disciples also were immersing.
Burial,
under Adam and law, was the giving over of the departed to the reign of death. But
death and burial with Christ import resurrection
to come. Death might not reign over Christ. He saw no corruption. Death could not detain Him, the Risen One.
The
Saviour was born out of the tomb, and saluted as His Son by God His Father: Psa. 2.;
John 12: 28.
“In order that we
should walk in newness of life.”
Here
is God’s intention presented to us, - as it regards a present life of
holiness. We must then follow that, if
we would attain the reward, which it is His mind to give to the obedient. This was taught from the first by John Baptist. His proclamation was – “the immersion of repentance, unto the forgiveness of sins.” And lest the comers to his baptism should
think it merely a form, he adds – “Bring forth
therefore fruits worthy of the repentance” you profess. ‘Nor imagine, that because you are sons of Abraham according to
the flesh, you shall surely enjoy the coming kingdom of glory.’
The
old life was sin, the new one is to be holy. The old life was under law and sentence on
the slave. The new is life of the sons
of God, begotten again by the Holy Spirit: Heb. 1:
9.
The
duty and wisdom of obedience herein are then touched on. It is not, - as some put it, - that the
believer, as possessed of a new nature, cannot fail to live as he ought. For the regenerate is not a man of one nature
only. Within him still dwells sin: Rom. 7: 13-17.
Christ
after His baptism walked in new life:- not that He was
sinful before it. But after His
immersion He no longer lived ss the carpenter, but
came forth as the Herald of the coming Kingdom of glory. He went forth to conquer our Great Foe in the
desert, and, anointed with the Holy Ghost without measure, He taught by
inspiration, accredited by miracles.
After His real resurrection from the dead, His life during the forty
days He tarried on earth was also new.
Christians have new life of the Spirit, and as such are spiritually
raised from among the dead in spirit, to look onward to the resurrection of
reward and of glory embracing both body and soul.
The
omission now of baptism at once on faith, leads most Christians to think, that salvation
once received by faith, they are at liberty to live as sons of Adam.
A
very important sentiment precedes this conclusion of the Apostle.
“Like as Christ was raised from among the dead by the glory of
the Father.”
“Raised from among the dead by the glory of the Father.” The expression is remarkable, and not easy to
understand. The following is, I believe,
the meaning.
It
is the glory of God to raise the dead.
It was the height of Abraham’s faith to believe in a God that giveth
life to the dead: Rom. 4: 17. The nations had no such hope. The Sadducees even, among the chosen people,
believed it not. To this day multitudes
of so-called Christians believe it not.
The
Saviour asserted His own power in this matter.
“For, as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the
Son quickeneth whom He will.” Of this an example was given at the death of
Lazarus. The notice of his friend’s
illness was sent to our Lord. He
replies: “This sickness is not with a view to death, but for the
sake of the glory of God, in
order that the Son of God might be glorified by means of it:” John 11.
Accordingly,
four days after, our Lord appears to the sisters, and moves to the tomb of His
friend. He bids the bystanders roll away
the stone from the sepulchre. Martha suggests, that the demand was unworthy of Christ. He replies: “Said I
not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?”
He had said: “Thy brother shall rise again.” Therein
was the glory of God the Son to be shown.
After a brief address to the Father, Jesus in His own name shouts, - “Lazarus, come forth!” and He is obeyed.
But
when the Son of God was committed to the tomb, who shall call Him forth? The Father, in the glory of His natural and
of His moral attributes. That is the
testimony of the next chapter of John – “Father,” said the Son, “glorify Thy
name!” The Father replied, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
Accordingly, after the death of Christ, under
circumstances of the deepest humiliation, the Son is raised from amongst the
millions of the dead by the Father. The
reproach of the wicked is rolled away.
The Saviour is raised, is lifted to His right hand, above all
principality and power. “Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee.” As the
Righteous One He had not seen corruption; He is never more to return, as others
of the raised have, to the tomb.
5. “For if we became grown together
in the likeness of His death, why we shall be also partakers of the
resurrection.”
Before
the comment can run on smoothly, we must look carefully at the sense of one of
the Greek words. There are two main
renderings of it.
1.
“Planted together.” This is not only the
rendering of the Authorized Version, but of Liddell and Scott’s Lexicon, and of
2.
The other rendering is ‘Grown together.’ Of
this sense there are good examples: and on reconsideration of the matter I
adopt it. It imports the growing together
of the substance of two seeds put into the ground, intended to die, and to rise
together. This union is the result of
the believer’s immersion into Christ,
and burial
with Him.
This
rendering is in far closer connection with the argument of the Apostle. What is affirmed is,
that the believer is one with Christ, in His death and burial, if immersed, as commanded.
Thus are satisfied the statements of being “immersed
into Christ,” and “alive unto God in Jesus Christ.” “Grown together” affirms
a union much more intimate than the merely sowing together of two seeds
side by side in the same hole.
“We became grown together.” It
was not something that took place at the birth of nature; but a work of God, at
and after our repentance.
A
word of caution is also added – “IF we became.” ‘Do not assume it to
be true of all believers. Not all
believers observe the rite of immersion commanded by Christ. And hence they miss the God-given link of
connexion between justification and sanctification, and the God-given object of
hope and pursuit set before them.’
Now
we may have the likeness of Christ’s
death, in baptism. But what is coming is
the reality
of resurrection. The apostle’s argument is set aside also
where there is the sprinkling of infants.
Paul is speaking of believers.
The'
Holy Spirit does not assume, that all believers are immersed. “As many
of us as were immersed.”
The act had already taken place in regard of the Roman saints generally; and
the apostle now expounds for them the meaning of God in the command. “If
we became grown together in the likeness of His death, why we shall be also (partakers) of the resurrection.”
The Saviour’s first rite gives a likeness of His death. It
is not a dramatic likeness, like the funeral of the Emperor Charles the
Fifth, celebrated while he was yet alive.
That funeral had no perceptible tendency to put him to death; but the
immersion of a living man under water has a tendency very speedily to take away
life, and at the same moment to bury. It
is an emblematic action enjoined
by our Lord. It is an act of
humiliation, despised by the world. But
as the believer is thus joined with Christ, glory in resurrection will one day
arise out of it. “Buried with Him? by means
of the immersion, into Death.”
The force of the passage then I apprehend to be this –
‘If we thus obey, and walk in newness of life, we
shall one day enjoy the millennium in company with Christ.’
But how then do you make the pursuit of holiness to be
the same thing with the expression here – ‘the being
grown together in the likeness of His death’?
The
answer thereto is, that there are two aspects of
Christ’s death here presented.
1. The first comes from obedience to the rite of
immersion, already past and
complete, as the apostle assumes. Death
and burial were endured with Christ, and the believer set in resurrection, in
emblem. It was a visible action leading,
in God’s mind, to the activity of the new man, risen
in spirit to observe the holiness He calls for.
2.
But there is also another aspect of the matter to be set forth in the next
verse.
Here
a motive is suggested for present holiness: great will be the reward of the
obedient.
“We shall be (partakers) of the
resurrection.”
By
“the resurrection” is meant as in other
passages, the first and blest one. Of
the maker of a feast according to the Saviour’s instructions we read: “And thou shalt be blessed, for they cannot recompense thee;
for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the righteous:” Luke 14:
14; 20: 34-36.
It is a resurrection not of the dead, but from among the dead: an honourable distinction of life for a
thousand years of dominion with Christ.
Of this select resurrection Christ was the first example, Rom. 1: 1‑4; Acts 26: 23.
This answers to the reward named in the fifth chapter
of Romans – “the reigning in life through the Lord
Jesus Christ:” ver. 17. All
believers will indeed be raised, and set before the judgment-seat of Christ;
but only the approved enjoy the honours of the [millennial]
6.
“Knowing this - that our old man was crucified together
with Him, in order that the body of sin might be paralyzed; that we should be
no longer slaves to sin.”
‘Knowing’(though the same word is not used), is spoken of thrice
in this passage.
(1)
It is spoken of immersion first, and Paul intimates, that it is disgraceful to
a Christian not to be aware of God’s meaning in it: ver. 3.
(2)
The second occurrence of “knowing” relates to
our understanding God’s meaning in Christ’s death by crucifixion,
and how it applies to the believer.
(3)
The third occurrence is in verse 9, where we
learn, that death can no more touch Christ.
The reference of the next
clause – “Our old man was crucified with Him,” -
seems to be to “grown together in the likeness of His death.” Our
resemblance to the death of the Saviour, in completing the mind of God, takes
two forms. For spiritual ‘newness of life’ must combine (1) abstinence from sin with (2) activity in holiness. Both these are mirrored as God’s mind,
for those who desire glory in the coming Day.
The Saviour has two rebukes, one for each of those offending.
1. A servant appears before Him, who has done nought
of good. He is cast out of the
banquet-room as an “unprofitable servant:” Matt. 25: 2. Others appear, asserting their claims to
enter the millennial kingdom, as those who have laboured in its interests. These are rejected with the words: “Depart from Me, ye that work iniquity:”
Matt. 7: 23.
1. Immersion
gives us a view of the Saviour’s death and burial as ended in resurrection,
and newness of life.
2.
But the
cross of Christ pictures Him as disabled from activity, and every
moment moving downward to death.
“Our old man was crucified together with Him.”
“Our old man.” Paul assumes,
then, that He was not perfect; nor any of his fellow-disciples. (1) “Sin dwelleth, in me!” (2)
“In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no
good thing:” Rom. 7: 17, 18-20.
The
Christian now is regarded as at discord with himself.
1.
In him is the new man; and after it he walks.
2.
In him still abides the old man.
“Lie not one to another, seeing at
ye have put off the old man with his
deeds, and have put on the new man:” Col. 3: 9. Live not like the nations, “if you have been taught the truth as it is in Jesus, that ye
have put off concerning your former conduct, the old man, which is corrupting according to the
lusts of deceit; and have put on the new man that is created according to God in righteousness and holiness of
the truth:” Eph. 4: 22, 23.
1. Baptism, with its coming forth out of the waters of
death, represents the obedient Christian as having passed through death to the
new life of holiness. The death and
burial were visible and momentary; the new life is to abide, but is invisible.
2. But the Saviour crucified under the curse,
represents the Christian’s old man, as, by God’s design, fettered from
action. This is wrought by Him, for all
the saved.
“I am crucified with
Christ, yet I live, yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me.” “They that are Christ’s crucified the flesh with its
affections and its lusts:” 4: 24. “God forbid that I
should boast, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is
crucified to me, and I to the world:” 6: 14. Sin is fastened to the cross with a view to
its final death. “Reckon yourselves dead to sin.” The old man is to die without resurrection.
“In order that the
body of sin should be paralyzed.”
Not - ‘that therefore in all
Christians it is palsied, and never moves.’ This is God’s testimony with regard to
it. But in many Christians the flesh
moves more than the spirit.
“The body of sin.” This may be taken in two senses, not far apart from one another.
1.
It may be regarded as spoken literally of the body, as the place where sin dwells. “O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me out of the body of this
death?” 7: 24.
2.
Or it may be taken figuratively, as
representing the whole system of sin.
This invisible repression of inward sin is to continue during our
lives. Else “the
wages of sin is death.” That is a word spoken by Paul to
believers: 6: 23. Christ is the Chief in the coming kingdom of
glory - as “the Lover of righteousness, and Hater of
iniquity,” Therefore, God will anoint Him with
the oil of gladness above His fellows: Heb. 1. So God has devised “walking” for the new man; and entire crippling for the old man.
“That we should be no longer slaves
to sin.”
Sin is a Master, whose wages are death. “Verily, verily I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin, is the
slave of sin:” John 8. To believers, Paul declares their deliverance
from the domination of sin. “Sin shall not have
dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace. Shall we
sin, then, because we are not under law, but under grace? God forbid!”
A slave, if crucified, was unable
to obey his master’s commands: while he became free from him, by death.
7. “For he that died hath been justified from
sin.”
Who is meant here?
Christ! On the cross sin pressed
Him sore. “My
God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” The cross
was not in itself and at once, death.
Therefore the apostle notices, that He died on the cross. And this is the consummation as to sin, for
which we are to look. We are to be in
the twofold “likeness of His death.”*
*
‘Justified,’ margin. ‘Freed’
a wrong translation.
Christ
too, at His death, was “justified from sin.” On
the cross He was “made sin for us, who
knew no sin.” But at His death
even the centurion of the crucifixion confessed, - “Certainly
this was a righteous man.” He was not shovelled into the ground with
the malefactors but was raised [out] from among the dead by the Father. Paul beheld Him on high in the glory of God.
That
“He who died” is Christ,
is clearly marked in the passage.
1.
“Immersed into Christ Jesus, we were immersed into His death:” ver. 4.
2.
“We have grown together into the likeness of His
death:” ver. 5.
3.
“He that died hath been
justified from sin:” ver. 7.
4.
“If we died with Christ, we shall live with Him:” ver. 8.
When
the Jews and the Romans conspired to break His bones, God interfered; and while
the legs of the two malefactors were broken, His side, out of which came the
blood of atonement, was pierced.
Why
were not His bones broken? Because He
was the true Lamb of the Passover; and of that it was written: “Neither shall ye break a bone thereof.” Thus
The
piercing of the Saviour’s side, and the pouring out of
His blood at the foot of the cross marked Him out as the true sin-offering. His
blood had been already put on the four horns of the cross, as directed in Leviticus 4: 27-31.
At His death came the opening of the tombs, and the
bodies of many saints arose and came out of the tombs after His resurrection.* He who could deliver Himself and others out
of Death must needs have been the Righteous One.
[* Note. This does not infer that the “holy people” of (Matt. 27:
52), ascended into the presence of God in heaven immediately after their
brief appearance on earth: like Samuel, who was called up by the witch
“in Endor” to counsel
Saul (1 Sam. 28: 7-19), they must have returned again to the place of
the dead in the underworld. See
also, Psa. 139: 8b.
cf.
John 3: 13; Matt. 16: 18; Rev. 1: 18; Luke 16:
25-31; Acts 2: 34; Heb. 39, 40; Rev. 3: 21,
etc.
All saints of God must wait for the “First Resurrection”
for the body to be redeemed – (to be immortal) - and properly equipped to
appear in the presence of God in the highest Heaven, where our God and Saviour
the Lord Jesus Christ is now seated at His Father’s right hand. Death,
with all
of its effects must be removed before anyone can enter there! The soul must be reunited to a body
of “flesh and bones”: and that does cannot take
place at the time of Death - as multitudes of the Lord’s redeemed
people erroneous teach and believe - but will take place at the time
of Resurrection, ( 2 Tim. 2: 18;
1 Thess. 4: 16. cf. Rev. 6: 9-11; Rev. 20: 4, 5.). Hence the Paul’s seeking “to attain to the [out] resurrection [out] from the dead”, which will open the door to all “considered worthy” to reign with Christ 1,000
years before Hades is emptied, and all the remaining dead are judged. Phil. 3: 11; Luke
20: 35; Rev. 20: 4-6, 11-13. ]
The
chief links with sin are two. 1. Past
acts, demanding the penalty of law, on the fruits of sin. 2. The present indwelling of sin; the
root. While that remains, the evil is ready
to spring up again of the same kind, as before.
But Christ was justified from it both in the fruits, and in the roots,
that we also might be.
8.
“Now if we died with Christ, we believe, that we shall
also live with Him.”
This
takes up the person intimated in verse 7. Who but Christ, after being “made sin for us,” and going down among the spirits [and souls] of the
departed, could be justified from sin?
We
have now reached a point, where all Christians, are on the same level. All died with Christ by faith in His
death; all will live with Him for ever.
Paul is taking up and expanding the statement of verse 2. “How shall we who died to sin, live any longer therein? Death to Christ was death to sin; and we died
with Christ, and so died to sin. Not
merely He died for us; but we
died with Him.
In
verses 3-5, the apostle comments on the immersion of the Roman Christians as establishing
his point. And he leads on their minds to the blest results of obedience, and
being set “in the likeness of His death,”
looking
forward to the great First Resurrection.
There was one ‘If’ in verse 5; but now we have the second; and only a
statement of the effects of the imputation of Christ’s death. There is no word here about burial with
Christ in baptism, nor reigning in life after. There is no
promise of the first resurrection, but only of life with Christ, a life yet
future.
We
have, in short, the same difference that we found in chapter
5.,
between (1) the reward to the
obedient Christian and the (2) result of eternal life after that reward, to those enrolled in “the
book of life.”
“We believe, that we shall
live.” The acceptance of the rite
which is to follow on faith is not here supposed. We are on the same ground as in Romans 10.
The word of faith, which we preach (is) “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
Jesus the Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart, that God raised Him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;
and with mouth confession is made, unto salvation.”
Death
with Adam was a being given up to the reign of death. But death with Christ carries with it
a coming forth from the tomb unto eternal life.
9, 10. “Knowing that Christ being
raised from among the dead dieth no more; death hath
no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth,
He liveth unto God.”
Our
faith in eternal life rests on the assurance, that Christ has put away sin. Sin is the cause [of
death], and death the effect, of sin. Where there is no sin, death cannot come. And God has
justified Him from sin. He is the
Righteous One. And righteousness and life are
eternally connected in God’s mind, and by His hand. Even when the sin of a world was laid on
Christ, and He went down into the abode of the departed, it could not detain
Him beyond the appointed time. And if
Death have no further hold on Christ, it will have no
further hold on those one with Him.
He
died to sin, after having lived to righteousness. And now He lives to God who raised Him from
the dead. But it is not now said, that
He lives unto righteousness. That expression was suitable to the time
of His life on earth, when He was working for us the robe of an eternal
righteousness. But now He is beyond all
further trial.
11. “So do ye also reckon yourselves to be, on the one hand dead
to sin, but on the other alive unto God in Christ Jesus.”
This
is the twofold attitude of the Christian, up to the time of Christ’s return to
raise us to eternal life.
We
are not really as yet “dead to sin.” This confirms the statements of Romans 7.
This overthrows the ideas of the Perfectionists. But God’s counsels are, that one day we shall
be dead to sin, and justified from it, as was Christ. So it will be true before long. And as we say of the criminal condemned to be
hung – ‘He is a dead man’ - so we may curb the
evil propensities of the old man by this word – ‘No! I am to reckon myself dead to sin.’ The
old man is on the cross, and it will not be long before he dies there.
The
Christian is already, by faith in Christ, alive to God. By nature, he was at enmity with Him: and
enmity is death. Now in some measure he
loves God; and love is life.
“Alive unto God in
Christ Jesus.”
Some
manuscripts and some critics omit – “Our Lord” –
after “Christ Jesus;” and I think rightly. The Saviour is manifestly “Lord and Christ” during the Great Day when He is subduing a
revolted world to God. But after the
thousand years, He surrenders to God the power entrusted to Him as Son of
man. “That God
may be all in all:” and that, I think, is the reason of the omission.
“In Christ Jesus.”
Much
interest attaches to the prepositions used in this Scripture.
We
begin by “into” - Thrice found. (1) “We were immersed
into Christ Jesus.” (2) “Immersed into
His death:” ver. 3. (3) “We were buried
by the immersion into Death:” ver. 4. Does not
this show how important immersion is? The
apostle’s argument turns on it. The
argument comes to nought, if sprinkling or pouring is used, and if infants be
substituted for believers.
Where,
too, there is the likeness neither of death, nor burial, no resurrection of reward with Christ is implied.
Important
as it is to the apostle’s argument, so important is it also to the obedience of
the disciple. Immersion is spoken of as the point of appointed contact
between the Saviour and the saved.
Next
we have the preposition “with”
(speaking of our union with Him) four
times united to the verb, making up the sacred seven.
(1)
“Buried with Him by means of the immersion, into death:” ver. 4. Here
we have ‘with,’ ‘into,’ and ‘by means
of’ - as the link between us and Christ.
(2)
“Grown together with Him:” ver. 5.
(3) “Crucified together with:”
ver. 6.
(4)
“We shall live together with:” ver. 8.
And
in the last verse we have the preposition apart from the verb, making the
eighth occurrence. Now
eight is the number of resurrection. On the eighth day, or the first of a new
week, Jesus rose. The name Jesus’ makes
in Greek 888.
Then
we have as the final preposition, prepared for by the foregoing ones - the
eternal one – “IN
Christ.”
It
remains now only to observe the inspired reply made to THE PROPOSAL. The proposal is of two parts.
1.
It suggests a certain line of conduct during the Gospel‑day. 2. It proposes to affect God’s plans, by
leading Him to manifest still more wonderful grace.
1. “Shall we continue in
sin?”
2. “In order that grace
may abound?”
Both
parts of the suggestion are utter mistakes.
The
plan of God refuses the evil counsel.
The idea had come too late. 1.
Already the Christians had by faith in Christ died to sin.
2. God is at enmity with sin - And in His
scheme of salvation He commands, that those who receive the righteousness of
His providing, should die with Christ who wrought that righteousness. Through this visible death with Christ they
had already passed in the rite of immersion.
This was a voluntarily accepted likeness to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. And as Christ’s death was to sin, so was
theirs who were one with Him. It told of
the Christian hope also, in the coming forth out of the waters of death. If the touching of Elisha’s bones in the
sepulchre raised a corpse to new life - how much more our union with Christ
after the counsel of God? Kings 13: 20, 21.
Our
hope is the return of the Lord Jesus, and the First Resurrection to the thousand
years of bliss Rom. 8: 12, 13. That is made to turn upon a new life, not like the old one of Adam.
And
resurrection is for us divided into two portions.
(1)
Already the believer possesses new life in his spirit. He has come out from the world; the company
of those dead in trespasses and sins; and he is to manifest it by holiness of
life.
(2)
But new life is not complete, till the body also partakes of it. That is to come forth out from the abodes of
the literally dead. But it is the “resurrection
of the righteous.” It is the resurrection of the “blessed and holy,” who belong to the First Resurrection of reward.
The
act of obedience, which sets this hope and pledge before the eyes of the
believer and of the world, is not observed by all those who trust in Christ for
pardon. Let the reader who believes in the coming glory of the Personal Reign,
obey at once!
Newness
of life is not complete as a matter of present sanctification, till the
disciple abstains from sin, as well as shows his activity in good works. God then has given us another picture of the
death of Christ which we are to follow, in the Saviour’s crucifixion; which
represents the disabling of “the old man” of the
believer. The Christian is made up at
present, partly of the old man, and partly of the new. Those
who would walk with God then must take
the directly opposite stand to that proposed.
They must keep under the flesh; they must be zealous of good works.
Christ,
after His death on the cross, was justified from sin. But how shall they be justified from it, who are living in it on principle? “The wages of sin
is death,” - And that death is in the coming day
to attach to all who practise sin: Rom. 2.
And
now a word as to the result suggested by the proposal. Continuance
in sin was intended to lead God on to further acts of goodness. But the Scripture, and the special passage of
Joel quoted by Peter at Pentecost, told of “THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE DAY OF THE LORD”
- as that which was about to appear, as soon as the calling on the name of the
Lord Jesus in the Gospel-day shall have ceased.
The coming season is one of joy to the doers of good; of woe to the
doers of evil. Now ’tis grace! Seize it, and hold it fast; for judgment and
the wrath of God from heaven are nigh to all workers of iniquity.
The
Scripture thus commented on is of much significance when taken in connexion
with the calls of some for ‘more light,’ and ‘the
larger hope.’ God accounts the instruction given in the
New Testament to be “marvellous light;” and so do His believing ones. But the light is too strong and clear for the
men of the world. It discloses truth at
once humiliating and alarming, and therefore by no means pleasant. Also the
salvation set forth is not to the taste of the worldly. The last verse of Romans
5.,
overthrows ‘the larger hope.’ The Day
that is coming is not of grace; no new Gospel, no salvation by any other than by the Son, and by
the Spirit of God. It is to bring with
it recompense to each according to his work, and so to end the history of man on earth.
*
* *
APPENDIX
ROMANS
5: 15. NOTE A.
“ACT OF GRACE.”
This was first openly announced
by Peter on the Day of Pentecost. It was
founded on the finished work of Christ. By
His resurrection He was manifestly accepted of God. By His ascending on high, the Holy Spirit was
poured out.
Let
us then consider Peter’s argument in the second of Acts. Some of the multitude of Jews, attracted to
the house where the disciples were, scoffed at their speaking with tongues, as
nothing more than the babble of drunkards.
This, Peter, with the other eleven apostles, refutes. It was too early in the day for so many
women, as well as men, to be intoxicated.
What they heard and saw was explained by a prophecy of Joel. - The Most
High foretold, that in the last days, then begun, He
would pour out of His Spirit on all flesh.
There should be signs of power attendant on the descent of the Holy
Ghost upon the disciples. These gifts
would fit them to testify to Christ at
“Whosoever (not men of
The
day of Gospel grace would, however, end in signs of woo and wrath displayed in
the heavenly bodies, and felt on earth.
They would be testimonies of the nearness of the coming days of
indignation, of which the prophets spoke so oft: ver. 20.
These
signs of judgment are re-echoed in the Sixth Seal of the Apocalypse, and the
opening strokes of wrath described in the Trumpets: Rev. 6: 12-17; 8: 7; 9: 2.
The
seventh chapter of Revelation gives us a view of God’s two people. (1) Of
Peter
then (verse
22) addresses himself to testify
to the congregation before him the sin of
But
while
“I foresaw the Lord always
before My face;
For He is on my right hand, that I should
not be moved;
Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my
tongue was glad;
Moreover also My flesh
shall rest*
in hope.”
*
A remarkable expression in the Greek, applied to the roosting of birds: Matt. 8: 20.
This
word implies, in its connexion, the Saviour’s death.
His body,
as distinct from His soul, should be laid in the tomb in the hope of resurrection.
“Because thou wilt not leave My soul in Hadees,
Neither wilt thou suffer Thine
Holy One to see corruption.”
It
is here implied that the two things go together, and the one is the proof of
the other. Where the body
is left to corrupt in the tomb, the soul is in Hadees.
Thus
was it with David who was laid in
the tomb to moulder there to dust. And
while it was so, his soul was left among the disembodied spirits [souls] in Hadees. For none can approach to the presence of God in
heaven, while suffering the effects of His sentence on sin. As
long as body and soul are disunited, which is the meaning of death, so long the
man is not presentable on high.
Believers are “waiting for adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body:”
Rom. 8: 24.
But
thus was it NOT with the Lord Jesus
Christ. “His
soul was not left in Hadees;” and the proof
was, that His body was left in the
tomb too short a time to suffer corruption.
Peter
still continues the question from the sixteenth Psalm:
“Thou hast made known to me
the ways of life;
Thou shalt make me full of joy with Thy countenance.”
In
the example of the Saviour, God showed His way of life. It is a life which is to
be eternal, in the rescue both of soul and body in resurrection. The next line of the Psalm implies,
not merely the Saviour’s resurrection, but His Ascension to the Presence of His
Father in heaven.
Peter
then affirms, that as the words were not fulfilled to
David, in regard of resurrection from the tomb; much less were they in regard
of His Ascension to the
throne of God. “Therefore (David) being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with all oath
to him, that of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh, He would raise
up the Christ (the true Anointed One) to sit on
his throne, he seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of the
Christ, that His soul was not
left in Hadees, nor did His flesh see corruption:”
ver. 30, 31.
But
not only did David foretell the Christ’s resurrection, and His reign on the
throne of David His father, but he, and the apostles, and brethren then present
were witnesses, that the prophecy had been then fulfilled. They had seen, had spoken to, had eaten with
Jesus raised from the dead. The passage
of the Old Testament supposed to be pointed at is given by Alford, as 2
Sam. 7: 8-16. Against this
I object, that no oath of God is named in that passage; while it is in Psa. 132: 11. “The
Lord hath
sworn in truth unto David, He
will not turn from it, of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.” This
greatly confirms the usual reading of Acts 2. in
verse 30. Christ is the
Lord coming to reign, as now exalted by God’s right hand to His throne.
What they “saw” - in the
tongues of fire; and “heard”
in the foreign languages spoken by
the hundred and twenty, was due to the Lord Jesus
Christ. The signs below on earth were a testimony
to His having been lifted up to God’s right hand. Jesus had poured out the Spirit. If so, Jesus is God. “It shall come to pass in the latter days, saith
God, I
will pour out of My spirit:”
ver. 17.
There
Christ is to sit, till the day of judgment on His
foes. He is the Stone at rest. Whosoever shall fall on the Stone at rest,
will bruise his flesh and break his bones.
But what if the Stone descend from heaven, and fall on him as a foe, in
the time of wrath? “It will grind him to powder.”
“Therefore,” says
Peter, “let all
the house of
Peter
is occupied first in proving the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, as the proof of His being God’s Holy One, and Anointed (“Christ”). Then follows the proof of His being “Lord,” by
His ascent
to the presence of the Father.
The
hearers are made sensible of their sin, and of their
danger as the enemies of God and of His Christ.
‘Was there any way of escape?’
Peter
replies: “Repent
and be immersed every one of you on the authority (‘name’) of Jesus Christ, unto (obtaining)
the forgiveness of sin.” Here is the
Act of Grace, after their
heinous guilt. Then comes “the gift.” “Ye
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” in
tongues, visions, prophecy.
“For the promise [of Joel] is
unto you [Jews] and to your children
[from generation to generation: Isa. 44: 1-4], and to all
that are afar off [elect Gentiles: Eph. 2:
13], even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”
Repentance,
and immersion in the name of the Lord Jesus would prove their coming out from “the crooked generation” of unbelief, the Seed of the Serpent, the foes of
Christ, the Seed of the Woman. “Save yourselves from them.” They are to
be destroyed. “Then they that gladly
received His word were immersed,”
thankful, on so gracious terms, to be led out from perdition.
Here
begin “the many” of the Gospel-day, righteous in the righteousness of
Christ, and sealed by the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Their justification and calling on the name
of the Lord are set forth when Paul arises, as Christ’s witness to
Gentiles. “And now, why tarriest thou?
Arise, and be immersed, and bathe away thy sins,
having called on the name of the Lord:” 22: 16. At Antioch of
Pisidia Paul testifies, “Through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins.
And in Him all that believe are justified for all things, from which ye
could not be justified by the Law of Moses:” Acts 13: 38, 39.
* *
*
ROMANS
5: 16. NOTE B.
How are sinners, enemies of
Christ, to become friends?
1. This most important question
was treated in the New Testament from the first. John the Baptist was sent, - and of him it is
written. – “John
was immersing in the wilderness, and
proclaiming the immersion of repentance unto
(obtaining) the forgiveness of sins:” Mark 1: 4;
Luke 3: 3. In Matthew 3. his
announcement is given. “Repent ye;
for the (millennial) kingdom of heaven hath drawn near.” He implies, (1) that faith and baptism were
the way to escape the wrath that is about to cut off the wicked (ver. 7): and
(2) the way to obtain a part in the coming desirable Day of the millennial
kingdom.
The
Saviour travels to the
2. He is put to
death; but rises from the dead. He appoints
a meeting with His disciples at a mountain in
Here
is the first stage:- it supposes a passage over from
the world of enemies, to become disciples of the Redeemer. It consists of two steps, closely connected: the persuasion
of the soul and spirit by the
evidences of His death and resurrection; and the rite which follows is an emblematic death,
burial, and resurrection with Christ.
The
next stage is thus described b our Lord.
“Teaching them (the disciples) to
observe
all things whatsoever I have
commanded you; and lo, I am with you all the days, up to the end of the age.”
(Greek.)
After
the entry among disciples, comes the instruction suited to an accepted
disciple. Christ has given further
commands, such as the Lord’s Supper, at which disciples are to meet and edify
one another.
A
similar account is given in Mark. “And He said unto them
(the eleven) – ‘Go ye into all the
world, and preach the Gospel in all the creation. He that believeth and is immersed shall be
saved: but he that believeth not shall be damned.’” The terms then
of salvation are – ‘Faith and immersion.’
[*
Note. There is also a future ‘salvation’ - (the salvation ‘of the
soul’) - at the time of the ‘first’
or ‘better Resurrection’: eternal salvation, purchased
in full by Christ, is what all regenerate believers receive by the grace
of God through faith in Christ alone: and that ‘salvation’ does not depend upon any ‘terms’ fulfilled by the believer.]
But
here many fail to obey. Faith of the soul is so much superior to the
bathing of the body, that they take
leave to omit the second step. God
would take the entire man, soul and
body, and set him in a new and better position than that given by natural
birth. But they vote the second step
unnecessary. What then will be the
consequence when the Saviour comes, in
His kingdom of glory, to reign over earth and heaven? There is no
entry into the glory of the thousand years without a body; and they have refused the cleansing of
it appointed by Christ. They are therefore
not ready to enter; they are disobedient.
Christ Himself ascended not to the Father’s presence till after His death, burial, and resurrection. These have not been buried and risen with
Him, they must wait.
3. As Acts 2. has been treated of just before, we will
here introduce the inquiry of the
convicted of sin, and the apostle’s reply, which is the main object of this
note.
They
inquire eagerly: Whether any escape from so dismal a position were possible? ver. 37.
Peter
replies - (1) “Repent, and (2) be immersed every
one of you on the authority of Jesus Christ, unto
(the reception of) the forgiveness of sins”
(Greek).
First, their spirit was to be set right. “Repent!” Turn from the heinous sin of unbelief,
which led you to crucify the Lord of life.
Then (2) “Be
immersed, every one of you!” Not –
‘Parents, be careful to get your infants sprinkled!’ But let each who hears, obey the command for himself! Then the authority on which this command was pressed on them.
Some
of them might have been immersed on the authority of John the Baptist. “For all counted John, that he was a prophet
indeed.” This is indeed the foundation alleged by the twelve at
Peter’s
next testimony is – “And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” - of which Joel had testified - the first fruits of
which were then before them. For the
promise [of Joel] was for the Jews, from generation to generation, and for the
Gentiles effectually called of God, during the Gospel-day.
He
further enforces the rite of immersion, as a visible escape out of the position
occupied by
They
had left their old place of unbelief, to become the friends and members of
Christ.
Thenceforward
began the Second Stage, which
the Holy Spirit thus characterizes: “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine, and fellowship, and in the breaking of the bread, and of the prayers.”*
Those who have died, been buried, and
are risen with Christ, are moving on their way to the kingdom of millennial
glory. And in the Lord’s Supper the
kingdom is set fully before us. “I will not drink henceforth of the product (not ‘fruit’) of
the vine, till that day when I drink
it with you new in the
* There is a
reading here which is probably genuine.
It omits kai – thus: “They continued in the fellowship in the breaking of the
bread and the prayers.” Baptism
was a rite for the individual. But the
Lord’s Supper and the prayers were for the disciples together.
But
Luke enters far more deeply into the matter, and discovers to us the two people
of God, with their places before Christ in the coming day: Luke 22: 13-30. First, Christ
and the apostles celebrate the Passover of
Then our
Lord gives us a brief, but bright glimpse of the glory of the thousand
years. “Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptation; and I
appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father
hath appointed unto me, (1) that ye may eat and
drink at My table in My kingdom, (2)
and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
4. Acts
8. Philip preaches Christ and the
kingdom at
5. Saul is arrested by the Lord appearing in His glory from
heaven. He is struck blind. But Ananias
is sent by the Saviour to open his eyes, and to bestow the gift of the Holy
Ghost. “He
received sight forthwith, and arose and was baptized,” before even he tasted food. In his account of the matter to the men of
6. At
These
instances are adduced to show, that the first stage in Christian life is not reached, till to faith is added baptism. Other examples might be given, but these will
suffice.
* *
*
ROMANS 5: 17. NOTE C.
Here
comes in the doctrine of MILLENNIAL
REWARD.
Justification [by
faith] is the Gift of God to [all] those who believe. The way into the [millennial] kingdom of the Christ requires beside -
Sanctification by the Holy Ghost; or
obedience to the commands of Christ. This
point is of immense moment. And, as
many will listen in this matter only to the teaching of Paul,
let us look at the Pauline epistles, in order to decide our views. We will take some passages POSITIVE, and SOME NEGATIVE. (1) HOLINESS IS REQUIRED. (2) UNIIOLINESS
WILL EXCLUDE.
1. ROMANS.
Holiness
is required.
[* The context here demands the translation of the Greek
word to be ‘age-lasting’
and not ‘eternal’. “By perseverance in a
work good, glory and honour and incorruptibility are seeking, life
age-lasting; to those but from a party spirit, and disobeying indeed the truth,
obeying but the unrighteousness, wrath and indignation, affliction and distress…”
etc. (Lit. Greek).
See
other examples in (1) Tit. 3: 7, - “we might become heirs having the hope
of eternal [age-lasting] life”; at “the appearing of the glory [R.V.] of our great God and Saviour…” (Tit. 2: 13). (2) See also Heb.
5: 9, where the same word, in a context of works,
for those whom Christ has
become the “source of eternal [age-lasting] salvation for all who obey him”! Does the “Source of
eternal salvation”
depend upon our obedience?
No. It depends on
what He has done for us; and on nothing else!]
“But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth
but obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every
soul of man that doeth evil; of
the Jew first and also of the Gentile” [a parenthesis] “in the Day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel:” ver. 16.
2. Christian
immersion, as taking a man out from both Adam and Moses, is necessary to the
“Know ye not, that as many of us as were immersed into Jesus
Christ, were immersed into His death? Therefore, we were buried with Him by the
immersion into death; in order that, as Christ was raised up from among the dead by the glory of the
Father, so also should we walk in
newness of life. For if we became grown together in the
likeness of His death, why we shall be
also (grown together) of the [First] Resurrection:” 6:
3 - 5 (Greek).
“And all the people that heard Him (Jesus), and the publicans,
justified God, being immersed with the immersion of John. But the Pharisees and the 1awyers rejected
the counsel of God against (or, ‘with regard to’)
themselves, being not immersed by Him:” Luke 8: 29, 30.
2. 1 AND 2 CORINTHIANS.
1.
“According to the
grace of God, which is given to me, as a wise master-builder I have laid the
foundation, but another is building upon it.
But let each [Christian teacher] take heed how He buildeth upon it.
For other foundation none can lay beside, that which is laid, which is Jesus
Christ.”
“But if any [Christian
teacher] build upon this foundation gold, silver,
precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, the work of each shall be made manifest:
for the day shall declare it; because it shall be revealed in fire, and the
fire shall try the work of each of what sort it is. If the work of any abide,
which he hath built thereon, he shall receive a reward. If
the work of any shall be burned up, he shall be fined;
but he himself shall be saved; but so as (one escaping) through fire:” 3:
10-15.
2. “Know ye not, that they who run in
the racecourse run all, but one only receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. Now every one that contendeth for a prize, is
temperate in all things: they indeed, that they may receive a corruptible
crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore
so run, not as uncertainly; so box I, not as one that scourgeth the air; But I
keep under My body, and treat it as a slave; lest, after having acted as the
herald to others, I myself should become disapproved:” 9: 24-27 (and lose
the prize).
3. GALATIANS.
1. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of
bondage. Behold, I ` Paul, say unto you,
that if ye get yourselves circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. But I testify again to every man that is
getting himself circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Ye are cut off from the Christ, you who are
being justified by law;. ye
are, fallen from grace:” 5: 1-4 (Greek).
2. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he
that soweth to his own flesh, out of the flesh shall
reap corruption: But he that soweth to the
spirit, out of the spirit shall reap life everlasting [age-lasting]:” 6: 6-8.
4. EPHESIANS 4: 1-6.
1.
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you,
that ye walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye were called. With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering endeavouring
to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. One is the body, and one the Spirit, even as
also ye were called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one
baptism; one God and Father
of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
2.
“Slaves, obey
your lords according to the flesh, with fear and trembling in singleness of
heart, as unto the Christ. Not with eye
service, as pleasers of men; but as the servants of the Christ, doing the will
of God from the soul. With good will doing
service, as to the Lord, and
not to men; knowing that whatsoever good each doeth, that shall he
receive front the Lord, whether
slave or freeman:” 6: 5-8.
5. PHILIPPIANS 3: 8-12.
“Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things and I count them to be dung, in order that I may gain
Christ, and be found in Him not having mine own righteousness that (comes) out
of law, but that which is by faith in Christ the righteousness which is from
God on faith. That I may know Him and
the power of His resurrection and fellowship in His sufferings, being
conformed to His death, if by any means I may arrive at the select resurrection
that is from, among the dead:” (Greek).
“Not as though I had already received (the title to it),
or were already perfected. But I pursue, if I may only lay hold on that
for which I was laid hold on by Christ.
Brethren, I do not reckon myself to have laid hold on it; but one thing
I do, forgetting indeed the things behind but reaching out after the things in
front, I pursue toward the goal for the prize of God’s calling (of us) above in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be
thus minded” (Greek); ver. 12-14.
6. COLOSSIANS.
1.
“And you, that once
wore alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, now hath He reconciled
in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless, and
not called in question before Him – if at least ye remain in the faith grounded
and settled, not moved away from the hope of the Gospel, which ye have
heard:” 1: 21-23.
2.
“Slaves, obey in
all things your lords according to the flesh, not with eye service, as pleasers
of men ... knowing that from, the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance;
for, ye serve the Lord Christ. But he
that doeth wrong shall receive (recompence) for the
wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of faces:” 3: 22-25.
7. 1 AND 2 THESSALONTANS.
1.
“Ye know, how we exhorted, as a
father doth his children, each one of you, and comforted you, and testified,
that ye should walk worthy of the God who is inviting you unto His own kingdom and
glory:” 2:
11, 12.
2.
“So that we
ourselves boast of you in the assemblies of God, because of your patience and faith
in all your persecutions, and in the afflictions that ye endure, - an
indication of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be accounted worthy
of the
8. HEBREWS.
1.
“Therefore we
ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard, lest we
should drift by them. For if the word
spoken by angels became steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience
received a righteous recompense, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a
salvation?” 2: 1, 3.
2.
“So then there
remaineth the keeping of a sabbath-rest for the people of God. For He that is entered into His rest (Christ)
Himself also ceased from His works, as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter into
that rest, lest any fall into
the same example of disobedience:” 4: 9-11.
9. REVELATION.
Shall we add to
these some of our Lord’s own words to the seven churches?
1. “All the churches shall know,
that I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts, and
I WILL GIVE TO EACH OF YOU ACCORDING TO YOUR
WORKS:” Rev. 2: 23.
2. “And he that overcometh, and
keepeth to the end My works, to him will I give power over the
nations:” ver. 26.
* *
*
THREATENINGS
1. ROMANS.
And now let me cite from these epistles some passages,
in proof that certain sins will shut out of the millennial kingdom.
1. “What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law,
but under grace?” The answer briefly is, that if you do, you
will in the coming Day of Judgment, get the wages of sin, which is death – while the servants of
Christ will be rejoicing in the First Resurrection.
“Far be it. Know ye not, that to
whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom
ye obey, whether of SIN unto DEATH, or of OBEDIENCE unto RIGHTEOUSNESS?”
Rom. 6: 15, 16.
2. “So then, brethren,
we are debtors, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh; for if ye
live according to the flesh, Ye are about to die; but if by the spirit ye put to death
the deeds of the body, Ye shall live” (in the
special life of [after] the First Resurrection).
2. 1 AND 2 CORINTHIANS.
1. “Know ye
not that ye are the
2.
“Know ye not, that unrighteous persons shall not have part in the
3. GALATIANS.
1. Turning
back from grace to law will exclude:
Gal. 5: 1-4. Already cited. The fifth verse, rightly rendered, confirms this – “For we, by the Spirit which (comes) from faith, are expecting the hope (attached to) righteousness,”
that is, the First Resurrection, the hope of our calling.
2.
The
works of Me flesh will exclude. “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are such as
these - Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery,
hatreds, contentions, wrath, strife, seditions, party-making, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings
and things like these; concerning which I tell you beforehand, as I also
declared in the past, that they which do such, things shall have no
part in the kingdom of God:” 5:
19-21.
4. EPHESIANS.
1. “Fornication and all uncleanness,
or covetousness, let it not once be named among you, as becometh saints; nor
filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not consistent; but
rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no fornicator, nor unclean
person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any part in the kingdom of
the Christ and God. Let none deceive you with vain words: for because of these things the wrath
of God is coming upon the children of
disobedience. Be not ye therefore
partakers with them:” 5: 3-7.
5. COLOSSIANS.
1. “Let none deprive you of reward by an affected humility and
worshipping of angels, intruding into those
things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed by the mind of his flesh:” 2: 18.
6. 1 AND 2 THESSALONIANS.
1.
“For this is the
will of God, your sanctification, that
ye abstain from fornication, that each of you should know how to keep his own
vessel in sanctification and honour, not in the affection of lust, as the
nations that know not God, that (none) overreach and defraud
his brother in the matter; because the Lord is the Avenger of all these things,
as also we have forewarned you and testified.”
7. HBREWS.
1. In chapter three, we have warning given, not to
treat God as did
2. “Watching lest any falling from the grace of God, - lest any
root of bitterness spring up and trouble you, and by it many be defiled: lest
any be a fornicator, or profane, as Esau, who for a single meal gave away his
birthright. For ye know, that even when
afterwards he wished to obtain the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no
room for repentance, though he sought it earnestly with tears:”12: 15-17.
8. REVELATION.
1.
“I have a few
things against thee, because thou sufferest thy wife Jezebel, who calleth
herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication,
and to eat things sacrificed to idols.
And I gave her time, that she might repent of her
fornication, and she will not repent of her fornication. Behold, I cast her into a bed, and those that
commit adultery with her into great affliction, except they repent of
her deeds. And her children I will slay with
pestilence:” 2: 20-23.
* *
*
NOTE D.
Having, through
mercy, obtained some new light on Romans 6: 1-11, I here present it.
The
passage is divided into three main parts.
A.
The first extends from. verses
1-5.
B. The second from 6
to 7. C. The third from 8-11.
A. More
particularly; verse 1 contains THE
PROPOSAL.
Verse 2 the general reply thereto, refusing the proposal.
Verses 3‑5 gave the
meaning of baptism. (or immersion).
B (or verses
6, 7) gives the meaning of our Lord’s
crucifixion in its application to the Christian.
C gives us, death with Christ
now, and life with Him forever: 8-11.
COMMENT
1. The Proposal consists of two parts:
1. The course of action suggested. “Shall we continue in sin?” 2. The motive and end in view – “In order that grace may
abound?”
Verse 2 gives the Divine Reply thereto in general - refusing
the Proposal.
“We died
to sin; how shall we live in it? True
of all Christians.
In
verse 3 we have the
proof of believers’ death to sin, derived from the entrance rite commanded.
3.
That rite is immersion. The significance
of it, as then already observed by all but a few, is stated, as something which
all who have received it ought to know.
There are special benefits attached to observers of it.
(1)
The first is the movement away from Adam and from Law to Christ and grace, in
obedience to God.
“So many of us (believers) as
were immersed (were immersed) into Christ.”
(2)
“We were immersed
into
His death.”
(3)
Verse 4 gives us a
further view of the rite.
“We were buried therefore with Him by means of the immersion [not ‘by faith;’ though faith must precede] into Death.”
The
waters into which we are immersed are those of death. Water, as in the Flood, and at the
The
number of prepositions here used is remarkable, and while they add to the
difficulty of the passage, they are so exactly used, that they lend much light,
when carefully followed in their meaning.
Twice we have “Into.”
“Immersed (1) into” Christ
Jesus.*
* We should read “Christ Jesus”
both in verse 3, and in the closing verse 11.
(2) “Immersed into His death.”
(3) Then ‘with’ – “Buried with Him.”
(4) Then ‘By means of,’
and (5) ‘Into.’
“By means of the immersion,” ‘into Death.’ A
similar passage is found in Colossians 2: 12, 13. “Buried with
Him (Christ) in the immersion, wherein also ye were raised together with, Him by means
of faith in the energy of God, who raised Him from among the dead.”
This
is not true of the un-immersed believer.
So
far then we (the baptized) have gone in company with Christ. Then comes a
movement, granted as yet to Christ alone.
And preceding it we have the first of God’s motives in the matter,
putting His counsel into direct opposition to THE PROPOSAL.
“In ORDER THAT - ”
“Just as Christ was raised (6) from
among the dead (7) by means of the glory of the Father.”
We
pass, in these words, from ‘Death’ to the inmates of death – “the dead.” Christ
our Lord went down among the dead: Matt. 17: 9; 28:
7.
This gives us His passage upward in resurrection, leaving the dead behind Him. We are taught also the power by which this
great blessing was obtained - the power was that of the Father. But there was more than power. The Father wrought it to
His own glory and joy, and to that of His Son.
“I will
declare the decree; the Lord said unto me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten thee;’” and that, in order to Christ’s taking the kingdom: Psa. 2.
“Even so we also should walk
in newness of life.”
This
is a conclusion which we do not expect, after what has gone before. ‘We have died
with Christ to sin; we have
been buried
with Him’ - why then
do we not find, ‘We shall be raised by the Father as
His sons together with Christ’?
Because a new condition comes in. Not
every believer after faith, and immersion, will enter into the First
Resurrection of the thousand years.
In
the commanded baptism of the believer, these to whom the apostle is writing had
also received the Emersion, or the
emblematic* rising up out
of the waters of death to new life.
*
An emblem here is a picture or action; giving one view to the eye, and intended
to represent a religious truth to the heart.
In baptism, the immersion represents death; the emersion, resurrection;
or the coming up from among the dead.
The
instructed believer is waiting for the return of the Lord Jesus; who will bring
reward to each according to his work: Matt. 16: 27; Rev., 22: 12. How then is he to spend the intermediate
time? In obedience to Christ. He is to “walk in newness of life:” John the Baptist came with his proclamation of the
kingdom, demanding a walk “in the way of righteousness: Matt. 21:
28-32.
Our Lord, on whom the Holy Spirit rested in form of a dove, came to teach
us the grace of God, and to urge us to walk in the way of grace toward our fellows. He came, to set before us the new principle
exemplified in His own perfect life. He
tells us, that those who will not advance, beyond “the way of righteousness,” or the ten commands of the Law, shall not obtain part in the millennial kingdom: Matt. 5: 20; 7: 21-27; Luke 7: 24-35;
Matt. 18: 21-35.
So
the resurrection from among the dead to which Christ first calls us is [in a sense a]
spiritual resurrection - a new life of
obedience in grace, the opposite to our old one, under Adam or Moses. Christ’s
life before His death was new and
perfect. We who were sinners, condemned
before we have faith in Him, have to alter our principle of life after faith
and immersion, and to continue in it till His return. Herein the apostle puts in a striking way the
opposition between God’s scheme, and the Proposal to continue in sin.
5. “For if we became grown together in the likeness of His death,
why we shall be also of the resurrection.”
‘For’ takes up the last clause of the former verse, as is
customary with Paul. It confirms the
necessity of the new walk. On this turns
the entry into the millennial
2. “Nay, ye are doing wrong;
and defrauding, and that, brethren. Know
ye not that unrighteous ones shall not have part in
the
3. “Add to your faith, virtue (courage), and to courage, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance;
and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness,
brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For so shall the entrance into the eternal
kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ be ministered to you
abundantly:” 2 Peter 1. The eternal
kingdom begins for some [regenerate believers] a thousand years earlier than for others.
“For if.”
This
new walk is not fulfilled by all immersed believers. Here comes in our responsibility.
“Ye became grown together.”
This
gracious union with Christ is not of nature: it is wrought in us by God: it is
the union with Christ of obedient faith.
“Grown together.”
This
means our real union with Christ, evidenced
by our new walk. In the emblematic union with Christ
represented by baptism, lies couched a silent pledge of a resurrection to
follow on our immersion into Death. This
will not be realised by all immersed
believers, because of a life after the
flesh. But where the outside resemblance to Christ’s death was joined to inward
fellowship with Him, and the holiness of the Gospel,
there will be part in the hope and promise set before us.
But,
besides holiness, there must be “the
likeness of Christ’s death” - There must be obedience to the positive
command of immersion.
“Why we shall be also partakers of the resurrection.”
“We shall be.”
It
respects the coming Day, when Christ shall take the kingdom.
But
why is it said of “the resurrection”? Observe, that the expression follows after – “Christ was raised from
among the dead by the glory of the Father.” The First
Resurrection, as Rev. 20: 4-6 tells us, is not the general resurrection of
all. It is a resurrection of honour and of reward, given to some, and leaving the
vast majority of the dead still in the tombs. “If by any means I
might attain to the select resurrection, that
is from among the dead:” Phil. 3. See Critical Editions.
2.
“The children of
this age marry and are given in marriage; but they which are accounted worthy to attain that age, and the
resurrection from among the dead neither
marry, nor are given in marriage. For
neither can they die any more, for they are equal to the angels; and they are the
sons of God, being sons
of the resurrection:” Luke 20: 34-36
(Greek).
Even
at Horeb and its covenant there were two sights of God, and two walks. The people were to sanctify themselves; and
the third day Jehovah would descend in clouds on the
In
the first case, Jehovah descended to
6. “Recognizing this, that our old
man was crucified with Him, in order that the body of sin might be disabled, that no longer should we be the slaves of sin.”
“Recognizing this.”
Here
we have a further view of the application of the death of Christ to us. The Christian in this time of God’s patience, is a strange composition of good and evil; of
death and life. “If Christ be in you, the body
is dead, because of sin; but
the spirit
is life, because of righteousness. But if
the Spirit of Him (the Father), who raised up Jesus from among the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ
from among the dead, shall also give life to your bodies subject to death,
because of His Spirit that dwelleth
in you:” Rom. 8. (Greek). Thereupon
the apostle founds an exhortation to the believer. Live not to the flesh which is under
death. “For if ye
live after the flesh, ye are about to die; but if ye through the spirit put
to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live,” - in the
Select Resurrection, a thousand years before those judged unworthy.
The
duty of the new man is a new walk; activity in Christ,
deriving his power from Christ, to whom he is united. But our old man (which is in every believer), has been by God “crucified together with
Christ.” The crucified was paralyzed from action: so ought our old man, or the whole body of
sin, to be disabled. This is God’s
counsel; so firmly opposed is He to all sin.
The new man of obedience
is to come out from the tomb to the early resurrection. The old man, smitten
with paralysis, is to end in speedy death, and we to be eternally delivered
from sin, the old lord of the flesh.
7. “For He that died has been justified from sin.”
This
is not a general proposition, true of all the dead, whether godly or ungodly. The reference is to Christ’s death on
the cross, by which the apostle sums up what he has said of the nailing to the
tree. On the cross the Saviour breathed
His last.
There
are several faults in the authorized version
here. It is not properly - “For he that is dead,
is
freed from sin.”
1.
It should be: “He
that died,” - the Aorist [tense], relating to a single past fact. If it were a general preposition, we should
have had the present participle.
2.
It should not be rendered is “freed from sin.” Here are two errors - (1) One of translation;
it should be – “Has
been (and is) justified.” (2) The second is error of fact. Is
it true that death frees all men
from sin? Was the impenitent robber
justified, as soon as he died? Was
Judas? Of course not! Death is the wages of sin; and after death
comes the reign, - not of life, but of death.
But
of our Lord it is true, that after death, sin, which had been laid upon Him, was atoned for; and He
was justified by God.
1.
When the legs of the malefactors were broken, His were not. Why? Because
He was righteous. “The eyes of the Lord are upon
the
righteous.” “He keepeth all His bones: not one of them is broken:” Psa. 34: 15, 20. And that, although Israel intended that the bones
of Christ, the true Paschal Lamb, should be, broken, contrary to the command of
the Law. “Neither shall ye break a bone of it:”
Ex. 12: 46.
2.
He was raised [out]
from among the dead by the glory of the Father; he was exalted to His own right
hand.
8-11.
As the Saviour is justified
from sin, therefore is He free from death, the wages of sin; and that for
ever. Hence to believers who are
justified in Christ, eternal life is
certain. And thus it is stated at
the close of this passage. “Likewise reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God IN Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Let
me drop, in conclusion, a word to the un-baptized believer. He will be saved at last, after the
resurrection of reward is past. Will he be content to wait a thousand years
for the glory?
He
has not ‘entered’ for the race, and the
prize. Of the two commands – (1) “Repent (2) and be immersed” -
he has observed but one. He has not come
out visibly from the world which lies under death in sin; nor has he expressed,
as he has been commanded, his desire to be unlike it, in the day of
reward. How much is made by the apostle
of immersion in this passage is plain.
Immersion is the emblematic act which passes upon the body. And
the resurrection takes not place without the body. Not till Christ had risen from the tomb, did He ascend to His Father.
Immersion
is not necessary to eternal life, the gift of God. But it is necessary to the obedience on which
reward turns.
In
the sprinkling or pouring on the face of infants, which many call baptism, there is not the likeness of either death
or resurrection. Let the [regenerate] believer
take the safe side: much turns on it.
So,
then, the way to the [millennial] Glory begins with two steps of humiliation, (1)
Death and (2) Burial. Death comes first, and is the chief.
Burial comes after
death, and is subordinate.
There
are also two steps of ascent to be taken by us.
1.
Resurrection of spirit, producing “the walk” of newness
of life. This is the main thing; the
result of union with Christ.*
* [… See the Greek word] Referring to two seeds, after burial grown together.
2.
“In the likeness of
His death.”
This
speaks first of the visible resemblance to Christ’s death in immersion of the believer. “Buried with Him by the
immersion into death.”
The
union here with Christ is the ‘burial’ - the
result of the immersion, as soon as death takes place. At burial comes the disposal of the two parts
of main. God’s hand sets the disembodied
believer in Hadees, the place of departed spirits [i.e., disembodied ‘souls’]. Man puts
the body in the tomb. The time in the
history of Christ here referred to is the time after His burial, and before His
resurrection. Jesus [body] was buried in
Joseph’s sepulchre, abiding there three days; waiting the Father’s raising of
Him from among the dead [in Hades], to whom He descended at death. He was then dead in flesh, but alive in
spirit, carrying on the Father’s counsels, by preaching to the spirits in
prison, and taking the penitent malefactor to ‘
The
baptized Christian is, in this, like His Lord, after the emblematic death and
burial, and before the resurrection. Only,
the three days are now of a thousand
years each. The living and the
departed saints are waiting till the Father sends the Son to gather to Him His
saints in air.
During
the time of waiting, the obedient grow up into Christ their Head. “Abide in Me, and I (will
abide) in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine, so neither can ye, except ye abide in Me:” John 15. If this walk of holiness conjoined with
obedience to baptism is found, there will then be part in the first
resurrection.
Every
Christian has the death with Christ by faith, but that is not visible. Here it is “in the likeness of His death” - a something seen.
Resurrection
of the spirit in the new walk prepares for the resurrection of the
body, and of the whole man,
in the First Resurrection. This is the
opposite of the burial of the body.
Faith, without immersion, leaves out God’s care for the reunion of the
spirit [and soul]
and body, and the cleansing of the body for the kingdom of glory. And there
is no having part in resurrection without the body. Therefore, I believe, that the un-immersed
believer will not be by Christ adjudged worthy to “attain
that age, and the resurrection from among the dead:” Luke 20.
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