Romans 5:19 – Elaborating on the consequence, Part 2 (Conciliation Series, Part X)
Part IV: God’s Conciliation, Confirmed
For even as, through the disobedience of the one man, the many were
constituted sinners,
thus also, through the obedience of the One, the many shall be constituted
just.
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The obedience of the One has been hidden and obscured in our vain philosophy and religion. When I say “vain,” I mean “hollow.” “Empty.” “Lifeless.” It’s vain vanity. Pride at its very worst. We have story after story about how Jesus is great. That’s… about as far as it goes. But what about this verse? “The words in red are the only words I need!” Well, damn. These words here have launched me into a completely unconditional relationship with God. You’re missing out… sorry about that. Here we have more than “He walked on water!” and “We must believe!” Here, it’s He obeyed. He did this crazy thing that us honest rebels could not fathom doing: He obeyed on a righteous level. He listened to God, did what He was told from start to finish. Didn’t screw up. Did not sin.
He was “UNDER-HEARING.” Unlike Adam, our fleshly forefather, the Image of God did this crazy thing: He listened. In complete and utter contrast to Adam, Christ’s action was obedience.
We
must consider what this obedience is. Adam’s disobedience was one action:
eating the fruit presented by his lady friend. Christ’s obedience, then, is also
one action. It would be easy to assume that this statement is
all-encompassing, considering His entire life, but in actuality, there is one
action that He was obedient to, being the only One that could handle it:
obedience to the death of the cross. Being righteous, this One did not
just die, but, having proven Himself righteous to mankind, was still willingly
submissive to death, by the will of the Father (John 6:38.) His cry on the
cross? What was it again?
“‘Eloi! Eloi! Lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God! My
God! Why didst Thou forsake Me?’”
There’s a whole new understanding, recognizing His willful submission to death, for our sakes. That He, in feeling that separation, in subjecting Himself to sin, was as separated as we have been since Adam’s disobedience. He set a true example of what it means to have your life laid down in love of your enemy. This was not merely “God torturing His Son,” but His Son’s willful participation in suffering for His enemy – that is, literally, everyone (Rom. 3:11, 5:10, 5:18.)
How do we know that this isn’t an obedience to the law? Good question. I will counter with: what have we been studying so far? We are not delivered through law, but apart from it (Rom. 3:21, 4:10, 16.) We do not receive a righteous justification in Christ’s acts, but His faith (3:22.) It is a Propitiatory shelter that allows us to recognize, be covered by, and partake of, this righteousness (3:24-26, 2 Cor. 5:18-21.) This is not the only time that His obedience in His life and His obedience to the death of the cross are distinguished (Phil. 2:8.) Law did not require His death, but Love. He did not commit suicide, but authoritatively laid His life down. He is His own distinct Being, being in the form of God and man (Phil. 2:6,) which gave Him the title of “Mediator” between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5.) He was not subject to the condemnation of sin, not being of Adam’s seed (Matt. 1:18,) and yet, again, as the Firstborn, understood the responsibility that He had to the whole of creation; to die, to shed righteous blood, in order to reverse the penalty and bring all life on earth back to God (1 Cor. 15:20-28, Rom. 5:19.)
Here is Jesus again, praying at the
Mount of Olives in Luke 22:42:
“Father, if it is Your intention, carry aside this cup
from Me. However, not My will, but Yours, be done!”
Could there be a greater example of submission than this? It was the Father’s will that He obey the death of the cross. This is the ultimate, the final proof of the Second Man’s willingness to effect His Father’s goal. He knew what this would do; He knew of the deficiencies of His afflictions (Col. 1:24, i.e… you and me,) and knew of God’s ultimate goal (1 Tim. 4:10.) Yet He knew that, in order for this goal to be effected, He needed to obey the death of the cross.
I’ll admit that there are a thousand different parallels in the Old Testament which I am not including, here. Lord willing, I plan on studying them at a later date, but for now, I would like to (very broadly) state that the Old Testament offers plenty of different connections on the topic of Christ’s sacrifice for all in the heavens and earth (Col. 1:20.) The sacrifices that the Israelites performed, the offerings that they gave, and even the qualifications for the particular altars that the Israelites were required to build, all herald Christ’s obedience to the cross. As I go through the Old Testament, I will comment on as many types of Christ’s obedience that I can find.
For the nth time, I will quote George
Rogers:
“In His venture of faith without reserve, Christ accepted the fate of
the lost. He accepted it as what was righteously due to mankind. He vindicated
the holiness and righteousness of God in His judgments. The cross is the crisis
of the moral universe. In the Crucified, God is dealing with the whole sin of
the whole universe in holy love, in righteous judgment, and in redeeming grace…
His obedience is the one perfect, practical confession of God’s righteousness,
the one right attitude of a condemned and agonized world to God. In the second
Man humanity justifies the ways of God and praises Him out of the depths of its
misery… Christ crucified, confessing the justice of God while under the
infliction of His condemnation, confessing it with a holiness answering
perfectly to God’s, and rendering amid suffering full obedience, was conciliating
the world to God.”
A big topic that we reach, now, is whether or not this obedience is “substitutionary.” This is an idea that I did not think I’d heard, or connected, for much of my life, but upon having it explained to me, I realize that the Adversary has been presenting this lie to attempt to contradict Paul’s beautiful words here for nearly 2,000 years, now.
The “substitutionary” idea is as
follows: Christ obeyed so that we don’t have to. Christ did the will of God so
that we don’t have to. Christ died to sin, so we can sin all we’d like. As it
turns out, this substitutionary idea is shot down multiple times by Paul
(in most cases directly.) Pertaining to the topic of Christ’s obedience, I
will point your attention to Romans 1:5 again:
“…Jesus Christ, our Lord, through Whom we obtained grace and apostleship
for faith-obedience among all the nations, for His name’s sake…”
That word “apostleship” is, literally, a “commission.” We are commissioned for faith-obedience. Whose faith are we obeying? The faith of the One who obeyed. We are commissioned to replicate His obedience, through His faith (3:22.) Doesn’t sound very substitutionary to me! In fact, it seems as though it’s not “in place of,” but “through Whom,” as the verse above points out! Of course, this is an effectual point, but I just want to make it clear why the obedience of the One is so specially spoken of, here.
It’s taken a step further, too. This obedience quite literally explains the universe to us! What I said concerning 5:18 can concern 5:19 as well. This verse clarifies the nature and purpose of this story. It’s not a matter of “whether or not you choose to accept it,” but that it is. How much more than a “preliminary” salvation His obedience truly is! It’s not an “opportunity,” or an “option” for salvation. Who are we to add these words into the text? It is salvation, simple and stated. It is love, not an option of love. God is not conditional; otherwise, He would not be a Subjector of all (1 Cor. 15:28) or a Savior of all (1 Tim. 4:10.) If He were not these things, His salvation would be pathetic and weak. Yet here, Christ is clearly dying with purpose, care, and in relation to the many.
I would like, quickly, to define the term “emasculate” to you. “Emasculate,” in one sense, can mean “to rob a man of his identity.” In another sense, it can mean “to make something weaker, or less effective.” In this case, popular religious institutions both rob God of His unconditional love, and make His Son’s obedience weaker in order to feel good about “choosing” God, as opposed to “being chosen.” Some say that “all” are offered salvation in verse 18, and accepted by many in verse 19. Goodness gracious! Do you see “offered” in here? “Accepted” in here, either?? Does their unfaithfulness nullify the faithfulness of God (3:4?) May it not be coming to that! Let God be true, yet every man a liar!
Instead of playing loosey-goosey with conditional statements, let’s just… appreciate “the many.” As it was with verse 18, where all and all ran parallel to each other, so also the many run parallel here. Once again, to say that “the many” in the second half of this verse only “applies to some” would be as incongruous as “death in Adam applies to some.” Some on Ace Theo’s YouTube channel like to join livestreams and proclaim that such a statement is the case, because “Jesus resurrected a few individuals, such as Lazarus, or Jairus’ daughter, or that guy in Luke 7:11-15.” To this, the simple response is: where are they now? Have you seen Jairus’ daughter lately? Lazarus, anybody? That guy from Nain sure has a story to tell, I’m sure! And yet it is clear that these were a temporary raising, not a permanent resurrection as is proclaimed and heralded in verses like Rom. 5:17! “Reigning in life through the One, Jesus Christ!” We are not yet reigning – not myself, nor the previous generations of believers. They have yet to be resurrected (1 Cor. 15:51-53, 1 Thess. 4:13-18.) None of this detracts from the fact that the three Jesus raised in those verses were, in fact, condemned in Adam, and constituted sinners through his disobedience. Why? Because they are part of the many.
The word “constituted” in “constituted sinners” and “constituted just” does not mean “accounted,” or “called.” It is to place someone in a specific category. There is no in-between. All were constituted sinners. All shall be constituted just. One is past tense, the other future. Both are in effect now.
I’m not 100% sure on this, but I don’t believe that “being constituted just” is being “justified by faith.” To add “constituted just by faith” may very well be its own logical fallacy. It is indeed true that the only way to stand righteous before God at present is by faith (Rom. 3:21-26,) but it is also true that faith is defined by God as “an assumption of what is being expected, a conviction concerning matters which are not being observed.” (Heb. 11:1.) It is not mentioned here, because all will eventually be observing Christ (1 Cor. 15:27-28, Phil. 2:9-11.) Justification by faith is part of this present secret administration (Rom. 16:25,) and will not remain, as it is a particular gift for us, in Christ’s body. Our justification by faith is a platform Paul uses with which to educate us on God’s peace with us and all. We should not automatically correlate every use of “just,” “just award,” or “justification” with “faith,” lest we run into logical issues in the next chapters.
The word “just” simply means, “righteous.” Inevitably, all will be placed into righteousness. They will be just, just as we are all sinners now. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6.) He holds a spiritual and physical relation to all of us (Col. 1:15-17,) and as such, has the means to qualify us righteous. Can you fathom this? Honestly, it’s hard for me to wrap my head around myself being justified with the measurement of His faith given to me! The fact that all will eventually be constituted just, not just the way we in Christ are now, but be allowed to operate apart from sin’s operation, in life, in righteousness?? The thought is so grand, to be considering that every murderer, every fool, every tyrant, every war general, every pedophile, all the heartbreakers, all the heartbroken, every lost soul, every prideful soul… all will be able to live in the peace of righteousness.
Everyone you speak to now, who do things they know they shouldn’t, or makes mistakes constantly, will speak to you again in the future, being righteous. Their infirmity, their weakness, their sin, will no longer be operating in them, and they will truly have the ability to love. This isn’t the end of the story. The “last thing you said to someone before they died?” It will be nothing compared to what you will say to them when you first see them again in the future – whether they are in the body of Christ or not (1 Cor. 15:20-28.)
There will be an administration after this. The “constituted just” part of this verse, as I said before, will not happen all at once. It’s a process. There are twelve different administrations that God is operating in. I will be discussing these administrations in more detail after this chapter. There will be three more administrations after this, in which we have the whole “indignation and punishment and Israel’s reign and new heaven and new earth” business. That’s a process that we need not concern ourselves with when reading this verse. They will occur; bad people will have their comeuppance. Judgment Day will be a bitch for many. But this, that the many shall be constituted just (or, in Greek, “WILL-BE-BEING-DOWN-STOOD,”) is God’s goal with us.
Knowing that life isn’t some sick joke, that this is all necessary for our growth, eases life’s confusion. This life will give way to righteousness, a just state of affairs in which peace can truly be brought to us all. This shows us, conclusively, that the Creator of the universe is not only powerful, and not only knowledgeable, but that He loves. Loves deeper than anything we could imagine. The events in our lives that we initially believed to have no meaning have been integral in our understanding of real love. If we had never sinned, and moreover, if sin had not been able to run its course to its fullest extremes, as we are witnessing now, then life would be unfulfilled. Undelivered. We would not be able to comprehend the justness if we did not first perceive, in our physical lives, the first half of the verse.
He feels the hurt. Feels it greater
than we do. The enmity between Him and sin? He spent 4,000 years being
separated from us. Imagine His righteous hurt! I spent 15 years not knowing
Him, and many of you spent even longer apart from Him. And yet, through Christ’s
obedient suffering, we see God’s pain in dealing with sin. Christ’s agony
reflects His agony, and His heart yearns and wills for all of His
creatures to recognize Him, and the time is drawing nearer and nearer when this
becomes reality.
- GerudoKing
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