THE APOSTLE OF THE RECONCILIATION

more' than reconciliation (5:10). Those only who received the reconciliation had reason to boast `in God' (5:11). So

here, while the one great righteousness of Christ, as the last Adam, procured a justification of life for all, `For as in

Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive', nevertheless, there is something more than this:

`... much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one,

Jesus Christ' (5:17).

The resurrection of the dead is only possible because Christ has taken away the imposition of death brought in by

Adam. What the final state of all those thus raised will be is a question concerning which Scripture teaches little.

We see sufficiently clearly that it is entirely wrong to suppose that all who miss the first resurrection, and who stand

before the great white throne, are of necessity damned. The Scripture differentiates between the judgment according

to works out of the books (plural), and the final judgment according to the book (singular) of life.

`If any one was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire' (Rev. 20:15 Author's

The great white throne judgment has been already indicated in Romans 2. The justification of life removes the

imputation of Adam's fall and its consequences. An outside tempter will no longer prove too much for them, for

Satan will then be in the lake of fire. The days spoken of by Ezekiel and Jeremiah will have come, and the present

condition of things, namely, the dominion of sin by virtue of one man, will have passed away:

`In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on

edge (that is the present condition). But every one shall die for his own iniquity' (which is not true today, e.g.,

the death of infants) (Jer. 31:29,30; Ezek. 18:2-4).

This time sin will be entirely an individual matter. Never again will Christ be made an offering for sin; the soul

that sinneth, it shall die. For such there is nothing but the second death. Those who receive the gift of grace will

reign - blessed contrast to the present occupants (sin and death) of the throne.

The apostle does not leave his theme without taking the opportunity of again speaking about the law and its place

in the scheme:

`Moreover the law came in alongside, or supervened' (Rom. 5:20 Author's translation).

The law given at Mount Sinai was an additional revelation; it supervened upon the state of things which obtained

from Adam to Moses. Up to this point the apostle had said nothing about the law, and the peculiar privileges of

Israel. When he does speak of them it is only to set them aside as worthless so far as providing righteousness and

life is concerned. This position of the law is found in the apostle's earlier epistle, Galatians, and his earliest recorded

utterance, Acts 13:39. In Galatians 3:19 we read:

`Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come'.

So in Romans 5:20, it `supervened'. And why? `The law supervened so that the offence abounded', `the law

worketh wrath' (Rom. 4:15). This is fully expanded in Romans 7, which we shall consider later. The apostle makes

this one reference here in order to dispose of the idea that the law could have any place in the scheme of man's

deliverance from his fallen and corrupted state. `But where sin abounded', that is, under the aggravated conditions

of law, `grace did superabound', as we have seen when comparing 5:18,19, `the all' and `the many'. The Jew is here

shown the full provision made for his case under the gospel.

We now approach the teaching of Romans 6. Here questions are raised which are vigorously dealt with. The

questions are not new, however, for Romans 3:1-8 contains both the dispensational issues elaborated in Romans 9 to

11, and the specious questions set out in Romans 6 and 7. The Jew objects to the argument concerning the

faithfulness of God by suggesting that such will be an encouragement to sin, because God will be the more glorified

by pardoning the sin:

`For (But) if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto His glory; why yet am I also judged as a

sinner?' (3:7).