Between Romans 5:11, and 12, there is a
"great gulf," a veritable doctrinal Grand Canyon. Into this abyss the Church
[Evangelical Protestant] has
fallen, seemingly unable to advance into the realm of the Word specifically and
exclusively written for her. Ever since Paul wrote Galatians the Church has occupied
Israel's ground, thereby falling short of her heavenly Pauline privileges.
SUBSTITUTION
-- Up to and including 5:11 in Romans, Paul is setting forth the Saviour's substitutionary
death for our sins--He alone could die for our sins: past, present and
future--thereby paying the penalty and redeeming all who believe. "Being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, to declare
His righteousness for the remission of sins." "Blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered" (Rom. 3:24,25; 4:7).
It is in this forgiveness of sins, new birth
portion of the Word that the Church languishes--rightly seeking the salvation of the lost,
but inadequately ministering to the development of those brought to the Saviour.
EXAMPLE -- Dr. John
MacArthur's ministry is typical of where the Church is today--whether it be the Arminian
aspect, or the Covenant. Two of his books tell the incriminating story.
In The Gospel According to Jesus [Zondervan, 1988],
Dr. MacArthur bases Church salvation upon the Sermon on the Mount. But during the time of
Jesus' ministry on earth there was no such thing as the Church, or even a Christian. The
Messiah's message was to the nation of Israel concerning her Messianic kingdom. With that
earthly Gospel of the kingdom Dr. MacArthur would divert and shackle the heavenly Church.
Compounding the error is his Kingdom Living Here and
Now [Moody Press, 1980]. This book, directed to the Church for her spiritual
development, is also based upon the Sermon on the Mount. All of that Synoptic orientation
limits the Church to the matter of sins forgiven for her justification, and
Israel's kingdom law for her sanctification.
PAUL FOR THE CHURCH
-- While on earth, prior to the Cross and in His humiliation, Jesus the Messiah gave the
"Gospel
of the kingdom" (Matt. 4: 23) exclusively to the nation of Israel. When in
heaven and glorified, after the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ gave His "glorious
Gospel" (1 Tim. 4:11) exclusively to His Church, primarily through Paul.
"The
Gospel which was preached by me is not after man. For I neither received it of man,
neither was I taught it, but by revelation of Jesus Christ" (Gal. 1: 11,12). Two
totally different Gospels, both based upon the same shed Blood; but one for the earthly,
the other for the heavenly.
If it is felt that this evaluation is overstated, or even
in error, let us cross the doctrinal canyon in which the Church lies trapped, and consider
Romans 5:12 through Romans Eight. Abruptly, from verse 12, Paul is no longer dealing with
sins,
but rather with their source, the principle of indwelling sin.
IDENTIFICATION --
"As
by one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for all sinned [in Adam]" (Rom. 5:12). Unlike its product, sins, sin
could not be forgiven, for it would be sin still. A forgiven thief is still a thief. Hence
sin had to be condemned in death. "God sending His own Son, in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3).
Our sins were forgiven via the principle of
substitution, i.e., "Christ died for our sins according to the Gospel" (1
Cor. 15:3). But our sin was condemned via the principle of identification,
i.e., "For He hath made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us" (2
Cor. 5:21).
The Lord Jesus Christ did not die for sin, but
for sins.
Being made sin, our sin, He was judged, condemned, and crucified. He, in Himself being the
sinless One, died unto sin--out of the realm of sin--having paid the price in full.
Thence He was free to rise from among the dead into "newness of life"--heavenly,
glorified, "new-creation life."
In order to set forth how the Church relates to
sin,
it is necessary to go back quite a way, and consider the individual member of that
heavenly Body. It may be helpful to proceed in the first person.
POSITIONAL HISTORY
-- Talk about pre-historic! Before anything was brought into being in eternity past, before
the universe, the world, or Adam--I, a chosen, elect, and called person was
conceived in my Father's heart and purpose.
"He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world." "Called us with an holy calling ... which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began" (Eph. 1:4; 2 Tim. 1:9).
My Father called the world into being, and then He created
Adam to be head of the human race for that world. I was identified positionally
with Adam, the source of humanity. Hence, when Adam sinned and thereby died to God, I died
in him. When he became flesh, I became flesh in Him. When he was condemned, I was
condemned in him.
As Romans 5:12 states, "As by one man [Adam] sin
entered the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for all sinned [in
Adam]." Verses 13 to 17 are in parentheses; verse 18, following verse 12,
states: "Therefore, as by the offense of one [Adam] judgment came
upon all men to condemnation. "
I, the natural man in condemned Adam, was not forgiven at
the Cross. My then future sins were forgiven, but I, as the Adamic old man, the
source of those sins, was not forgiven. Sin must be condemned. "For He [the
Father] hath made Him [the Son] to be sin for us." "God, sending His own Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (2 Cor.
5:21; Rom. 8:3).
While the Lamb of God was on the Cross, my Father laid all
my as-yet-uncommitted sins upon Him, and His death for those sins freed me
from their penalty. While the Lord Jesus was on that same Cross the Father identified me,
in my Adamic life of sin, with His Son who was made to be that sin (2 Cor. 5:21). In Him,
I died unto sin.
In my death unto sin in Christ's death I was freed from
all that I was in the first Adam, and I was re-created in the Last Adam as He arose from
among the dead. "For if [since] we have been planted together (identified,
united] in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His
resurrection" (Rom. 6:5). "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new
creation; old [Adamicl things are [positionally] passed away; behold, all things are
become new" (2 Cor. 5:17). I am "His [God's] workmanship, [newly]
created in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:10).
MY ESSENTIAL IDENTITY
-- My Father, in eternity past, formed me in His mind and heart, positionally, as a
unique person. "Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unformed; and in Thy
Book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there
were none of them" (Ps. 139:16).
In time He formed me, actually (condition), in my dear
mother's womb. My identification with the fallen Adam did not unmake me as a particular
elect and called person; nor did my new-birth identification with the ascended Last Adam
unmake me as that person. What is intrinsic to my personhood I never lose; my essential
identity is unalterable.
Whatever change I passed.through in my new birth as to
spirit and soul, whatever change awaits my body at the Rapture, I shall never lose my
essential identity--what my Father conceived me to be before the foundation of the world.
My crucifixion with the Lord Jesus did not affect my
unique identity as newly created in Him risen. Rather, it positionally destroyed all that
I was in the fleshly Adam. "Ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit."
"Behold, old [Adamic] things are passed away," positionally (Rom. 8:9; 2 Cor.
5:17).
I, the old Adam man, was crucified with the New Adam Man,
that the body of sin [sin in toto] might be destroyed, condemned in
death--not merely forgiven. I, the sinful one, was condemned in the death of the Cross in
order that I might be re-created in the risen and ascended life of the Last Adam. Had I
been forgiven, I would have remained in fallen Adam--and, "in Adam, all die"
(1 Cor. 15:22).
"ONE-NATURISM"
-- Before proceeding further with our personal history, we would do well to consider
briefly the "one-nature" error.
Wesleyan One-Naturism - This is
the typical old Pentecostal belief: Total Depravity does not mean that human nature is
essentially and completely evil, but that every part of human nature is damaged and
infected by inherited Adamic sin.
It is insisted that there is no new nature involved at
conversion, but rather the impartation of spiritual life that regenerates the Adamic
nature.
This is the principle of eradication: All
sin is
eradicated from the sinful Adamic nature. The Wesleyan "pure heart," is gained
when the "second blessing" experience of the "Pentecostal flame"
consumes the sinful propensities of the old Adamic nature. Presto, new divine nature!
Arminian One-Naturism - Another
type of "one-naturism" is set forth by Sidlow Baxter in his A New Call to
Holiness. This holiness theory is that of amelioration of the sinful Adamic nature.
Dr. Baxter writes, "Sin is a diffused
infection of thought, desire, motive, impulse, inclination, and even of instinct, right
through the moral nature. From the moment the Holy Ghost fully possesses us, He begins to
correct, purify, refine, inbreathe and renovate all the qualities, tempers, urges,
propensities, and functions of the mind, the sensations, and the will. That is how
holiness begins and continues to be inwrought" (p. 116).
This is the humanistic theory of change in
contradiction to the scriptural principle of exchange.
Covenant One-Naturism - The most
prevalent and insidious type of "one-naturism" today is that held by Covenant
theology. Through the error of considering Romans 6:6 to be actual (condition), rather
than positional, it is claimed that the old Adamic man is actually
crucified, dead, and gone--eradicated. Those holding this view are forced, however, to
admit to indwelling sin in the Christian. Some teach that it is simply a residual
influence left over from pre-salvation days.
Dr. Martyn-Lloyd-Jones and Dr. Jay Adams refer to
indwelling sin as "old habits." Dr. John MacArthur terms it the "old coat
of humanness." Dr. Charles Solomon says it is the "energy force of residual
sin."
Another erroneous term used for the indwelling old man is
"condition of flesh." The one-nature proponents separate the alleged eradicated
old man from the indwelling "flesh."
However, the Word teaches that "flesh" is a
person, as well as a condition. "My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for
that he also is flesh" (Gen. 6:3). "Fathers of our flesh" (Heb. 12:9)
sire progeny of flesh. Belief in the eradication of the old man tends to relieve the
Christian of much of his responsibility concerning the activity of his indwelling
Adamic life and nature. He is wont to place the blame for his sinning upon Satan, and upon
"residual tendencies" developed prior to salvation.
Here is the crux of the matter: it is not possible for the
source of sin (the old Adamic man) to be eradicated, while retaining sin, the
product of that sinful source. Effect must have a cause! If you have sin, you have
its source, i.e., the Adamic old man.
Paul exhorts the believer to "put off [by faith]
the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts" (Eph. 4:22).
He could not insist that the believer put off that which is not in residence!
"He that hath the Son, hath life; he that hath
not the Son of God hath not life" (1 John 5:12). Similarly, he that hath the
Adamic old man, hath sin; he that hath not the Adamic old man, hath not sin. The principle
of cause and effect is irrevocable. According to this eradication theory, Christian
parents (sans the Adamic nature, yet possessing residual sin) produce sinful progeny, but
without Adamic life! Evidently no need of Romans Six for such offspring, when saved.
I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!
-- Every honest believer who knows anything about the extensive and all-important Romans
Seven experience, realizes that the sins in his Christian life are identical to
those of his unsaved life. They are the works of the same indwelling source--the same
all-too-familiar characteristics of the person of the first Adam.
They are not the manifestation of some residual sinful
habits, left behind by some long-gone, eradicated Adamic source. And they certainly aren't
countered and replaced by the development of "good" new habits!
And every honest believer who knows anything about the
liberating Romans Eight life, "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus" (vs. 2), realizes that the righteousness manifested in his Christian life
has its source in the indwelling Person of the Last Adam--characteristics of His life,
"the
fruit of the Spirit."
The nature is the essential character of a
person,
a life; the quality or qualities that characterize a person. The traits, the
composition of attributes, comprise the nature of a man--whether it be the first Adam man,
or the Last Adam Man. We have the life of Adam, hence his old sinful nature; we
have the Life of the Last Adam, hence His new and divine nature. The Christian has
two lives (sources) within, and the manifestation of their natures is the proof thereof.
The most prominent of the present-day eradicationists are
the late Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (via his voluminous writings), Dr. John MacArthur, Dr.
David Needham, Dr. Charles Solomon, Dr. John Stott, Dr. Charles Stanley, Dr. Bill Gillham,
and Dr. Bob George.
FURTHER POSITIONAL HISTORY
--
Positionally freed from the Adamic life through my death unto sin in the Lord Jesus, the
Father was at liberty to identify the essential me with His Son, and in His resurrection I
was recreated alive unto the Father in Him. When He arose, as "the beginning of
the [new] creation of God" (Rev. 3:14), I arose with Him in "newness of
life"--a totally new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).
When the Lord Jesus, now Head of the new creation, the
Church, ascended to the right hand of His Father, He took me with Him. The Father, having
re-created me in His Son, raised me up and made me sit together in heavenly places in Him.
"And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:6). Abide above!
I was positionally separated by death via the Cross from
the first Adam, to be recreated in union with the Last Adam in His resurrection and
ascension. Old Adamic things positionally passed away in the death of Calvary. In
my condition, they are (slowly) passing away as I grow spiritually. Actually,
finally, they will totally and eternally pass away at my death or at the
Rapture--whichever comes first. "Even so, come Lord Jesus"!
There I am in my glorious position, "hidden with
Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). In the Lord Jesus, I am accepted in the Beloved,
complete in Him, entirely sanctified in Him, perfect in Him. With that position, who can
question his unconditional, eternal security?!
All of that, and much more, has been held in
spiritual escrow for me ever since the One who is my Life ascended to the right hand of
the Father. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph.
1:3).
All had to be completed positionally before a
single Christian and the Church could come into being, because Christianity is founded
upon and springs from the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. "And ye are
complete
in Him, who is the Head of all principality and power" (Col. 2:10).
THE CONDITION FACTOR
-- Born into the world in the life and image of the first Adam, I grew up a condemned
sinner, "dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2:1). In His foreordained
time and purpose the Father called me, and by His grace and the Spirit's conviction of
sin, I responded in unconditional faith--responsibly accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as my
own Saviour.
At that moment the Holy Spirit, by His indweliing, brought
me the life of the ascended Lord Jesus Christ to be my Christian life. Then and there I
was placed in my position as a new creation in the Last Adam. Nevertheless, Adamic life
and nature continued to indwell my body of mortal flesh.
In the Spirit's time I came to realize the positional
truths in the Word concerning me--from Romans 5:12 on throughout Paulls Church Epistles. I
saw that I had judicially died unto sin at the Cross, crucified with the Lord Jesus (Gal.
2:20).
In time, and plenty of that, I learned via Romans Seven
not to struggle against the fleshly life of Adam within, but to count by faith upon the
positional
truth of the finished work of the Cross. "For in that He died, He died
unto
sin once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise, reckon ye also
yourselves to have died indeed unto sin, but to be alive unto God in Jesus Christ our
Lord" (Rom. 6:10,11).
As I reckon my new self positionally dead unto sin, the
Holy Spirit progressively applies that finished position to my growing condition. I
experience, step by step, the freedom from the power and reign of indwelling Adamic sin
that was wrought on Calvary. My condition begins to conform to its source, my position in
Christ.
Likewise, reckoning upon my position as "alive
unto God in Christ Jesus," the Holy Spirit centers my heart and mind upon the
One who is my Christian Life. As I behold Him by means of the Word, in personal fellowship
and worship, the Spirit of Christ develops that completed life to manifest the
"fruit
of the Spirit." With ever increasing growth I am slowly conformed to the image
of the Son.
"But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a
mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as
by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. 3:18).
At the Rapture I will receive my renewed body, like unto
His glorious body. Then, and not until then, my body of mortal flesh will be instantly
transformed into my spiritual body. The old Adamic man will finally be eradicated, and I
will be in eternal condition what has been my position ever since my death and
resurrection in Him at Calvary--yes, ever since my Father formed me in His heart in
eternity past.
The question remains: what of these great liberating
positional truths have you learned from the Church--whether it be through your local Bible
church, or elsewhere?
From nearly fifty years of close observation, I would say
that your chances are just about one in a thousand. If the leadership in the sound Church
realized who and where they are in the glorified Lord Jesus Christ, would
they stop at Romans 5:11, unable to really enter into Romans 5:12 and beyond? Would they
be OT- and Synoptics-oriented, holding the Church to the earthly level of Israel and her
law?
Would they substitute the synoptic "Gospel of the
kingdom" for Paul's exclusive "glorious Gospel"? Would they
subject members of the heavenly Body of the glorified Lord Jesus Christ to Israel's
earthly New Covenant, or her Mosaic and Kingdom law system--that to which the Christian
has died? "For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live to God"
(Gal. 2:19).
This is the present-day tragedy of the Church, settled in
the great black hole between Romans 5:11, and 12.
"If [since] ye, then, be risen with Christ, seek
those things above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set you
affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye died, and your life
is hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:1-3).