Tag Archives: Romans 6

An Irrational Question (Romans 6:1)

14 Thursday Jun 2018

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Romans 6:1(ESV)

 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

Paul has developed the doctrine that (1) human beings are accountable to God; (2) that humans beings are rebellion against God, and that no good acts can atone for the rebellion; (3) but God has graciously made provision for our reconciliation by giving Christ in our place:

Romans 5:8–11 (ESV)

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

This then leads to a possible conclusion: If God gets glory by graciously forgiving me of my sin, then would it not make sense to continue sinning so that God can continue to forgive with the result that he will bestow more grace and thus get more glory?

Paul answers the question with the Greek words, “μὴ γένοιτο”. It is difficult to get exactly the correct tone and translation: This is something that could not possibly be true, it is not a possible state of affairs — maybe better: “How irrational!” (I recall reading a book about the translation of the Bible. The author tells a story about translating this passage in a class in Britain. One student “adventurously” translated it, “not bloody likely” — which some of the feel.

Now Paul will provide a number of arguments for why sin is not a possible response to grace. But I want to draw out the sheer irrationality of that question. Sin from grace is reckless, thankless, evil, spiteful, a denial of forgiveness in the first place, illogical, unnecessary — but it is sheer irrationality at heart.

There is a passage in Bunyan’s Holy War which shows the irrationality of sin from grace. We come to a portion of the story where the Prince has retaken the Town of Mansoul, that had been in rebellion and under the sway of Diabolus. The rebel leaders are captured and brought to the Prince:

And thus was the manner of their going down. Captain Boanerges went with a guard before them, and Captain Conviction came behind, and the prisoners went down bound in chains in the midst; so, I say, the prisoners went in the midst, and the guard went with flying colours behind and before, but the prisoners went with drooping spirits. Or, more particularly, thus: The prisoners went down all in mourning; they put ropes upon themselves; they went on smiting themselves on the breasts, but durst not lift up their eyes to heaven. Thus they went out at the gate of Mansoul, till they came into the midst of the Prince’s army, the sight and glory of which did greatly heighten their affliction. Nor could they now longer forbear, but cry out aloud, O unhappy men! O wretched men of Mansoul! Their chains still mixing their dolorous notes with the cries of the prisoners, made noise more lamentable. f199 So, when they were come to the door of the Prince’s pavilion, they cast themselves prostrate upon the place. Then one went in and told his Lord that the prisoners were come down. The Prince then ascended a throne of state, and sent for the prisoners in; who when they came, did tremble before him, also they covered their faces with shame. Now as they drew near to the place where he sat, they threw themselves down before him.

When questioned, they admit their guilt, their inability to make restitution and the fact they deserve death. Then something wonderful happens:

Then the Prince called for the prisoners to come and to stand again before him, and they came and stood trembling. And he said unto them, The sins, trespasses, iniquities, that you, with the whole town of Mansoul, have from time to time committed against my Father and me, I have power and commandment from my Father to forgive to the town of Mansoul; and do forgive you accordingly. And having so said, he gave them written in parchment, and sealed with seven seals, a large and general pardon, commanding both my Lord Mayor, my Lord Will-be-will, and Mr. Recorder, to proclaim, and cause it to be proclaimed to-morrow by that the sun is up, throughout the whole town of Mansoul.

But forgiveness was not the end of the Prince’s pardon:

Moreover, the Prince stripped the prisoners of their mourning weeds, and gave them ‘beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness’ (Isa. 61: 3) Then he gave to each of the three, jewels of gold, and precious stones, and took away their ropes, and put chains of gold about their necks, and ear-rings in their ears. Now the prisoners, when they did hear the gracious words of Prince Emmanuel, and had beheld all that was done unto them, fainted almost quite away; for the grace, the benefit, the pardon, was sudden, glorious, and so big, that they were not able, without staggering, to stand up under it.

Having received grace, pardon, restoration and elevation from their Prince — against whom they willfully and shamefully rebelled — would it not be complete madness to think that further rebellion would be fitting? Rebellion after restoration would be the act of a madman.

If you were to receive a priceless gemstone and then were to take it and fling it into the ocean, you would accounted insane. It would be irrational to destroy great wealth. How much more irrational would it be for the forgiven prisoners to rush back into town and burn it down.  Sin is irrational in at all times. It thrice irrational to rebel against grace.

 

 

 

Who is the “Old Man” in Romans 6? (Martyn Lloyd-Jones)

14 Wednesday Mar 2018

Posted by in Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans, Sanctification, Sanctifictation, Uncategorized

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Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1538

In his sermon on Romans 6:5,6, Dr. Lloyd-Jones considers the issue of what is meant by the “old man” who has been crucified. He rejects one common understanding  that the old man is “the carnal nature and all its propensities”. Rather, the old man “the man that I used to be in Adam” (Rom. 6, p. 62). “As a Christian I am no longer in Adam; I am in Christ….It is not my carnal, sinful nature. That is still here, but the old man has gone, he has been crucified.” (Rom. 6, p. 63).

That is why those who are in Christ are no longer under condemnation. Rom. 8:1. The condemned man has been crucified; I am someone else.

And here is the implication:

We are never called to crucify our old man. Why? Because it has already happened — the old man was crucified with Christ on the Cross…nowhere does the Scripture call upon you to get rid of your old man, for the obvious reason that he is already gone….What you and I are called upon to do is to cease to live as if were were still in Adam. Understand that the “old man” is not there The only way to stop living as if he were still there is to realize that he is not there. That is the New Testament method of sanctification. the whole trouble with us, says the New Testament, is that we do not realize what we are, that we still go on thinking we are the old man and go on trying to do things to the old man. That has already been done; the old man was crucified with Christ.

Martin Lloyd-Jones in Romans 6:3-4 (Buried and Raised)

28 Monday Aug 2017

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Romans 6:3–4 (ESV)

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

 

I As an objective fact we are joined to Christ in his death: “We He did we have done; because we have been baptized into His death, we died with Him. As we sinned with Adam, we died with the Lord Jesus Christ.”

A He then makes a note of how we tend to miss the objectivity of this event. In part this is because our singing emphasizes the subjective side of the Christian life.

B “We are so subjective that we miss his glorious truth, this objective truth, this great thing that has happened outside of us — our position.”

C.  It has happened to us. “You cannot be a Christian without this being true of you.”

D.  “The Apostle’s statement has nothing to with sanctification as such; it is purely a question of that which is true of every Chritian, and, as it were, an aspect of his justification.”

E. “His death means the end of the relationship to the realm and reign of sin, therefore we have died to the real and the relationship and reign of sin.”

II.  Joined to his resurrection.

A. “So the first thing we have to hold on to is that God raised him from the dead by His own eternal glorious power. The first thing the resurrection proclaims is the tremendous power of God that was exercised and revealed.”

B. “All sin can is to kill us and bury us; but it cannot go further. That is the ultimate of its power. Our Lord resurrection proclaims that, and establishes it. He has finished with it, He is out of it, He has no more do it with it.’

III.  What this means.

A. “The same glorious power of the Father that raised Him fro the dead has done th same to us.”

B. We are in the newness of life: “The Apostle is not saying that we ought to do so, he is not saying that we ought to strive to do so, that we out to strive to crucify ourselves and to die. No! It has happened already, we are in this new position.”

IV. “We shall not be allowed to live a life of sin; it is not only unreasonable as a suggestion, it is in a final sense impossible.”

We have got to believe it.

27 Thursday Jul 2017

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Dr. Lloyd-Jones in his sermon on Romans 6:1-2 comes to the point where he says, “That is what Paul is saying, that we died to the reign and the realm and the rule of sin.”

‘But wait a minute,’ says someone, ‘I still have a final objection. If what you say is true, it if it is true, as yo have been emphasizing so much, that in Christ we are really dead and have finished with the rule and the realm of sin once and forever, how is it that we can still fall into sin?…’

He then gives three analogies: First to slaves freed during the American Civil War. “They were free, they were no longer slaves; the law had been changed, and their status and their position was entirely different; but it took them a very long time to realize it. You can still be a slave experimentally [in experience], even when you are longer a slave legally.”

He gives the example of a child and servants.

Finally, he gives the example of someone moving from one field who then crosses a boundary and live in another parcel.

The whole object of the Apostle in this sixth chapter is to get us to realize it. ‘Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin.’ You are therefore to realize it, to reckon it. Realize also that you are alive unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ It in not yet true perhaps in your experience; but though it is not yet true in your experience it is true as a matter of fact. We have got to believe it…

‘But I cannot believe that,’ says someone, ‘it is too staggering, it is almost incredible. Here am I on earth, and I listen to the voice of Satan, and fall into sin; and yet you tell me that I am dead to it.’ You are! And I ask you to believe it. I know it is staggering ….Whatever you may feel, whatever your experience may be, God tells us here through His Word, that if we are in Christ we are not longer in Adam, we are longer under the reign and rule of sin. We are in Christ, we are under the rule and under the reign of grace.

 

Walk With Christ

08 Saturday Oct 2016

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Preaching, Romans, Sermons, Uncategorized

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(The following is the rough draft of a manuscript sermon to be preached on October 9 in Fountains Hills, Arizona. At the end are some application questions for small groups discussion)

Walk With Christ

I have a duty this morning, to teach you what is called a “distinctive” of Harvest Bible Chapel. That means it is something which we emphasize and something which may distinguish our fellowship from other Christian groups.

My point is very simple: God saves us so that we will walk with him. We are saved from sin to obedience. We are saved to walk with Christ. I am going to say something similar over and over: We are saved to walk with Christ.

A week ago, my family and I went to the see the Space Shuttle at the Science Center in Los Angeles. We looked at the tires, and the computers, and control panels and cockpit. We watched movies of take-offs and looked at exhibits, and then walked under and around the actual shuttle. We spent an hour looking at and around the space shuttle, but it was alway the space shuttle which had our attention.

This morning will be like that: we are going to look all sorts of passages and ask all sorts of questions, but in the end our position will be the same: You must walk with Christ. I must walk with Christ. It is our duty, our destiny, our honor and our joy. There is going to be a lot of repetition, but there will also be many parts. Just remember this will be like walking around the great space shuttle exhibit: Here we are looking at the space suits, there we are looking at the giant thrusters, but we are always looking at the space shuttle.

I am going to come back to this idea that we must walk with God. First, I am going to show you that we must walk with God. Then I am going to consider some objections to walking with God. Some people think this is legalism. Some Christians are ignorant of the need to walk with God. Some other Christians — probably most of us — know that we are to walk with God, but it seems beyond us and struggle with hope and despair.

Therefore, I am going to prove all that we must walk with God. I will tell the legalist that walking with God is not error: instead it is the entire point of salvation.

The Christian who just doesn’t know about holiness, who has been confused: for you, I will try to un-confuse you.

And finally, for those who veer between hope and despair, I will seek to bring some comfort and stability.

So on to our main point: You must walk with Christ if you are a Christian.

There are areas where Christians can be distinguished from one-another and still be Christians. Some Christians baptize the infants of believers; some do not. Some Christians believe we are now in the millennium; some think the millennium is still to come. These distinctive are important, but they do not distinguish between those who are Christians and those who are not.

This morning we are going to discuss the distinctive of “walking with Christ”. No Christian can be a Christian who does not walk with Christ. I not know how one can claim to be Christian, a follower of Jesus, if she does not walk with Christ. This must be an emphasize of a Christian Church, but it is sad that it might actually make a Christian Church “distinct” in any manner.

You see, the idea and command to walk with Christ is everywhere in the Scripture. Jesus gave the Church one command, make disciples. You can see this in Matthew 28:19-20, the Great Commission:

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:19–20 (ESV)

Do you see that language, “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you”. That means that disciples of Jesus have to do something. It is inherent in the idea of being a disciple: one who is a learner and a follower. A Christian knows Christ, loves Christ and follows Christ:

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

James 1:22 (ESV). To be a Christian is an active, passionate pursuit of holiness:

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Hebrews 12:14 (ESV). Or John:

16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

1 John 3:16 (ESV). Or Paul in Ephesians:

4 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

Ephesians 4:1 (ESV). It is in the Old Testament also:

1 Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2  but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 1:1–2 (ESV). All of these passages and dozens more besides make the point that being a Christian is very much a matter of how we live. Being a Christian is a matter of holiness, of leaving behind sin, or walking with God.

Peter writes:

13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

1 Peter 1:13–16 (ESV). You must be holy, you must walk worthy; there is no option, there is no wiggle-room on this point?

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Live as if in peril

28 Wednesday Sep 2016

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LETTER XXVI

To Cæsarius, brother of Gregory.

THANKS to God for shewing forth His wonderful power in your person, and for preserving you to your country and to us your friends, from so terrible a death. It remains for us not to be ungrateful, nor unworthy of so great a kindness, but, to the best of our ability, to narrate the marvellous works of God, to celebrate by deed the kindness which we have experienced, and not return thanks by word only. We ought to become in very deed what I, grounding my belief on the miracles wrought in you, am persuaded that you now are. We exhort you still more to serve God, ever increasing your fear more and more, and advancing on to perfection, that we may be made wise stewards of our life, for which the goodness of God has reserved us. For if it is a command to all of us “to yield ourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead,”how much more strongly is not this commanded them who have been lifted up from the gates of death? And this, I believe, would be best effected, did we but desire ever to keep the same mind in which we were at the moment of our perils. For, I ween, the vanity of our life came before us, and we felt that all that belongs to man, exposed as it is to vicissitudes, has about it nothing sure, nothing firm. We felt, as was likely, repentance for the past; and we gave a promise for the future, if we were saved, to serve God and give careful heed to ourselves. If the imminent peril of death gave me any cause for reflection, I think that you must have been moved by the same or nearly the same thoughts. We are therefore bound to pay a binding debt, at once joyous at God’s good gift to us, and, at the same time, anxious about the future. I have ventured to make these suggestions to you. It is yours to receive what I say well and kindly, as you were wont to do when we talked together face to face.

Basil of Caesarea, “Letters,” in St. Basil: Letters and Select Works, ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, trans. Blomfield Jackson, vol. 8, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1895), 131.

Does Ephesians 4:22-24 Command That One Put-Off and Put-On?

05 Monday May 2014

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Colossians, Ephesians, Romans, Uncategorized

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In much biblical counseling literature, there is the indication that one is commanded to put off the old self and put on the new self. This is based upon the text of Ephesians 4:2-24:

 

Ephesians 4:21–24 (ESV)

21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

In the attached paper, I contend that the infinitives do not translate imperatives (commands to put off and put on) but rather they have been used as infinitives of indirect discourse: Paul is summarizing his teaching, not giving commands. Thus, in parallel to Romans 6 and Colossians 3:9-10, Paul is referencing a change in the human being which took place in the past, not present: Here is the paper:

Put off and put on

 

John Owen: Of Communion With the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Digression 2b (Knowledge of Sin Displayed in Christ)

01 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by in Anthropology, Atonement, Biblical Counseling, Christology, God the Father, Hamartiology, John Owen, Mortification, Preaching, Resurrection, Righteousness, Romans

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The prior post in this series may be found here: https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/of-communion-with-the-father-son-and-holy-spirit-digression-2a/

Owen’s second digression concerns three elements of wisdom:

The sum of all true wisdom and knowledge may be reduced to these three heads: —
1. The knowledge of God, his nature and his properties.
2. The knowledge of ourselves in reference to the will of God concerning us.
3. Skill to walk in communion with God: —

The knowledge of God being addressed in the previous post, we most to the knowledge of ourselves, which Owen breaks down into three elements which he takes form John 16:8: Our Savior sends his Spirit to convince the world of, — even “sin, righteousness, and judgement,” John 16:8.

Knowledge of Sin

Scripture affirms that all human beings have some sense of law (Romans 2:14-15, “15. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.”). All cultures show some sense of divine sanction and law.

This understanding of sin may be improved by teaching of God’s law. Yet, however, much training one may receive, such training alone will never be sufficient to give sufficient understanding of sin.

In Christ we see two things plainly (1) the true nature of sin, and (2) salvation from the judgment due for sin.

How Christ Shows the True Nature of Sin:

First, Christ shows what sin deserves. We see this first in who was punished for sin. That the justice of God could be propitiated by nothing than the death of Christ demonstrates the extraordinary guilt and evil of sin. Christ’s death also demonstrates the sinfulness of sin in the punishment suffered by sin:

Would you, then, see the true demerit of sin? — take the measure of it from the mediation of Christ, especially his cross. It brought him who was the Son of God, equal unto God, God blessed for ever, into the form of a (Philippians 2:8) servant, who had not where to lay his head. It pursued him all his life with afflictions and persecutions; and lastly brought him under the rod of God; there bruised him and brake him, — (1 Corinthians 2:7) slew the Lord of life. Hence is deep humiliation for it, upon the account of him whom we (Zechariah 12:10.) have pierced. And this is the first spiritual view of sin we have in Christ.

Second, the atonement of Christ demonstrates our inability to save ourselves.

No sacrifice could suffice to make atonement:

Romans 3:24-26, by setting forth his only Son “to be a propitiation,” he leaves no doubt upon the spirits of men that in themselves they could make no atonement; for “if righteousness were by the law, then were Christ dead in vain.” To what purpose should he be made a propitiation, were not we ourselves weak and without strength to any such purpose? So the apostle argues, Romans 5:6, when we had no power, then did he by death make an atonement; as verses 8, 9.

An implication of Owen’s argument was raised in a recent essay on the Gospel Coalition website:

If Islam, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, and all the other world religions are true paths to God, then why did God kill his Son, Jesus, in order to make a way for men to come to him? The very notion is absurd and insulting to God. It paints a portrait of a God who is just plain cruel. He sent Jesus into the world to live a miserable life of scorn, rejection, poverty, betrayal, humiliation, sorrow, and ultimately, torture and death, in order to create a path whereby men can come to know him. Yet all the while he knew that following the Five Pillars of Islam or the Noble Eight-fold Path could accomplish the same thing. What a waste! Jesus’ life—God’s plan of salvation— is completely in vain, for the same result could be achieved by simply adhering to the tenets of any world religion. God is not only cruel but also incompetent for putting into effect the worst salvation plan possible.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2014/03/25/if-all-religions-are-true-then-god-is-cruel/

It also demonstrates our inability to render the obedience due God under the law:

Our disability to answer the mind and will of God, in all or any of the obedience that he requireth, is in him only to be discovered. This, indeed, is a thing that many will not be acquainted with to this day. To teach a man that he cannot do what he ought to do, and for which he condemns himself if he do it not, is no easy task.

Since teaching human beings their inability to render obedience sufficient to satisfy God is no easy thing, we must look to the cross to see this truth:

The law can bring forth no righteousness, no obedience; it is weak to any such purpose, by reason of the flesh, and that corruption that is come on us. These two things are done in Christ, and by him: — First, Sin is condemned as to its guilt, and we set free from that; the righteousness of the law by his obedience is fulfilled in us, who could never do it ourselves. And, secondly, That obedience which is required of us, his Spirit works it in us. So that that perfection of obedience which we have in him is imputed to us; and the sincerity that we have in obedience is from his Spirit bestowed on us. And this is the most excellent glass, wherein we see our impotency; for what need we his perfect obedience to be made ours, but that we have not, can not attain any? what need we his Spirit of life to quicken us, but that we are dead in trespasses and sins?

Third, Christ’s cross also demonstrates the death of sin. Owen notes that one can see the killing effects of sin without the need of seeing Christ’s death on the cross. But it is only by means of Christ’s cross that one can learn dying to sin:

Sin is a thing that of itself is not apt to die or to decay, but to get ground, and strength, and life, in the subject wherein it is, to eternity; prevent all its actual eruptions, yet its original enmity against God will still grow. In believers it is still dying and decaying, until it be utterly abolished. The opening of this treasury [mystery] you have, Romans 6:3-6, etc.

“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection; knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”

This is the design of the apostle in the beginning of that chapter, not only to manifest whence is the principle and rise of our mortification and the death of sin, even from the death and blood of Christ; but also the manner of sin’s continuance and dying in us, from the manner of Christ’s dying for sin. He was crucified for us, and thereby sin was crucified in us; he died for us, and the body of sin is destroyed, that we should not serve sin; and as he was raised from the dead, that death should not have dominion over him, so also are we raised from sin, that it should not have dominion over us. This wisdom is hid in Christ only

Fourth, There is a glorious end whereunto sin is appointed and ordained, and discovered in Christ. Sin itself tends only to the destruction of human beings, their condemnation, death and hell. Yet, in Christ, something new is seen. The law can only condemn. But in Christ, God manifests forgiveness and mercy:

In the Lord Jesus there is the manifestation of another and more glorious end; to wit, the praise of God’s glorious (Ephesians 1:6.) grace in the pardon and forgiveness of it; — God having taken order in Christ that that thing which tended merely to his dishonor should be managed to his infinite glory, and that which of all things he desireth to exalt, — even that he may be known and believed to be a (Hebrews 8:6-13.) “God pardoning iniquity, transgression and sin.”

Next we will look to the second aspect of knowledge of ourselves brought by the Spirit and mentioned in John 16:8:

7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

Christ’s Death as a Ground for Union

01 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by in 1 Peter, Atonement, Romans, Union With Christ

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Williams marks a second ground for our union with Christ (the first was bearing the nature of humanity):

“The Incarnate Son of God, thus intimately allied to our race, offered up Himself as the Sacrifice for our sins. He bore, on His immaculate spirit, the pressure of our guilt, and submitted to death,—even the death of the cross,—that He might redeem and save us. It was, indeed, the grand and distinguishing feature of the mediatorial scheme, that the Redeemer, though Himself pure and spotless, should take the place of the guilty, and endure, in our stead, the penalty of sin.”

Henry Wilkinson Williams. “Union with Christ.” Note that Williams lists this as a ground of our union with Christ — but it is not properly a present aspect of the nature of union. Union concerns the present relationship between the believer and Jesus Christ. Union thus concerns Jesus as risen, exalted and enthroned — not as crucified. However, as will be explained below — this union is a real union with the crucified Christ, which takes place prior to his ascension and our existence (when John stood at the foot of the cross, he was not in union with Christ at that historical moment, because Holy Spirit had not yet been given. And yet the death of Christ becomes a ground for the future giving of the Spirit, and the subsequent union with the exalted Christ — which then works backward in time to be a real union).

Williams rightly links penal substitutionary atonement to union. However, Williams fails to work out the strongest case for the crucifixion and union. Williams sets forth the doctrine of substitutionary atonement in Paul — yet it is Peter who draws the strongest connection between Christ’s death and our present union.

A full exegesis of the relevant Scripture cannot be had here, but some outlines can be seen. First, Peter ties the living hope of inheritance and resurrection directly to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1 Peter 1:3. One great element of union is the fact of resurrection — the resurrection of Jesus becomes the hope of our resurrection. Our being born again — the transformation of our humanity wrought by union flows from the resurrection.

In verses 8-9, Peter ties our present love and relationship to Jesus (now union is not a mere relationship of love, but it is not less than love) to our salvation — which Peter repeatedly ties to Christ’s death:

8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,
9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

It must be noted that Peter describes the love of Jesus to one whom we have not seen. While sight is not a necessary element of love, actual relationship must be an element of love — or love is either delusional or a matter of mere words (just sounds) without substance. We could not love nor believe were it not for the actual communication of Christ to — which communication arises from the sacrifice of Christ.

In 1:19, Peter states the sacrifice of Jesus as the basis of our atonement. Peter then goes onto state that our relationship to God is “through” Jesus (which although he does not articulate union at the very least presupposes union to make “through” an actual relationship:

20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you
21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Peter’s most detailed discussion of union comes in 2:4-5 – where Peter calls Christ a living stone who transforms us into living stones to be built into a “spiritual house”. In the place of describing Christ as living stone, Peter notes that Christ was the rejected stone — which refers to the crucifixion of Jesus (that Peter explicitly draws this connection can be seen in Acts 4:10-11):

4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

In 1 Peter 2:24, Peter again grounds union in the death of Christ. Here Peter ties our death to sin and life to righteous to the death of Jesus for our sin:

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

This passage while not as explicit and detailed on the matter of union as Romans 6:3-11, still draws the crucifixion together with union.

Again in 3:18, Peter ties our being brought into relationship with God – a key element of union — directly to the sacrifice of Christ:

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

In short, Peter repeatedly grounds our union directly to the matter of Christ’s death. A similar analysis could be made of union in Romans 6:3-5:

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Here Paul explicitly ties the death of Jesus to union, drawing out a correspondence between the work of Christ and the redemption of the believer.

Williams’ point of the penal substitutionary atonement of Christ being a ground of union is certainly true — and he could have constructed a stronger case to that effect.

Williams does draw an additional element of Christ’s death as a ground for our union. Christ suffered the agony of the penalty for our sins — Christ was moving into the place of union with us — even though such union does not properly exist until the Holy Spirit apply the work to us — in the matter of his death. The agony of Christ demonstrates plainly the cost of the ground for our union:

A peculiar anguish oppressed the Redeemer’s spirit, all through these scenes of wonder and awe. How emphatic were His own words addressed to the three favoured disciples, when leaving them near the entrance of the garden of Gethsemane, that He might go forward, and alone pour out His soul to His Father:—” My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with Me”! How affecting His reiterated prayer, that the “cup” of bitterness and trembling which He was then drinking might, if it were consistent with the Father’s will, and if it could be done without impairing the efficacy of His atonement, “pass” from Him! How impressive was His cry, uttered upon Calvary, just as the mysterious darkness cleared away, and when He was about to bow His head in death :— “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me”! Surely all this teaches us, that the Redeemer endured an inward and crushing anguish, far more terrible than the insults of His enemies, or the pain “and torture of crucifixion. There was “the travail of His soul,”—a sorrow such as He only knew, and He only could endure. And howcan we account for this, otherwise than by recognising the fact, that He was even then bearing the penalty of our sins, so far as to make it consistent with the full maintenance of the law, and the accomplishment of the highest ends of a moral administration, for God to accept and justify all who should embrace Him as their Saviour? How can we account for it, but by holding the truth, that, though Himself pure and spotless, He felt the pressure of our guilt even as if it had been. His own? We would not attempt minutely to pry into the peculiar nature of the Redeemer’s sorrows; but the sentiment which we have just expressed appears to us to be involved in the unequivocal statements of Holy Scripture, while it shows how intimate is the relation which subsists between the Saviour and all who come unto Him for life and peace.

ADDENDUM: Robert Letham in Union With Christ (P & R 2011) draws out this point, relying on Hugh Martin’s 19th century work on the atonement:  Letham notes that while the Westminster divines tied the substitutionary work of the atonement to the eternal covenant of the Trinity (WLC Q 31).  Letham quotes Martin, “He was substituted for us, because he is one with us” (Letham, 64).

Now we are one with him on the basis of our election “in him” that is in Christ (Eph. 1:4). The spiritual blessings procured by Christ and Christ become ours in this election.  The election occurs before the foundation of the world; the benefits procured in history and beyond history (in the life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension and enthronement of Christ) becomes truly — such that even the death of Christ which occurs before us, becomes ours in Christ, freeing us from death.

The temporal complaint that I can be present in union with Christ in his death assumes that physical, contemporaneous time is an aspect of this eternal relationship which commences in a manner before my existence.

Thus, the atonement works with election and adoption to secure union and to be a benefit of union.

And the worst of all is …..

23 Saturday Feb 2013

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Ministry, Quotations, Romans

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“It evidently does come to pass, that many who are hopefully converted to Christ, soon after leaving the depot for their heavenly destination, do strangely leave the track; they fail on the up-grades of duty; (heir movements are irregular; the wheels of their faith slip on the rails of promise; they do not promptly obey the will of the Divine Engineer. It is the sore grief of the ministry and church, and the general complaint and stumbling-block of the world, that professed Christians fall so far below the standard of character presented in the Bible — that they so manifestly fail in running the Christian race. Christ proclaims liberty, and yet many of his people are slaves to the world and their lusts. The gospel professes to open fountains in the desert, and rivers in dry places; and yet we fail to find “the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter,” of which Zophar the Naamathite writes (Job 20:17), and drink, instead, at those transient streams of which Job himself speaks, which dry up and vanish when the heat comes, and go to nothing (6: 15-18). We lack the “tongue of fire,” the baptism of the Spirit, “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.” And the worst of all is, that the church is extensively paralyzed with the fatal idea that this state of bondage and spiritual weakness is practically incurable; and, as the inevitable consequence, men abandon themselves to a current of most unsatisfactory and bewildering experiences.”

Excerpt From: William Leonard Parsons. “The believer’s victory over Satan’s devices.” 1876, Nelson & Phillips.