Resurrection Hope in Rome
Paul links bodily resurrection with the New Creation. The “redemption of our bodies” refers to our future resurrection - Romans 8:10-23.
In his letter to the Romans, Paul
presented his most detailed explanation of the gospel. His purpose was to deal
with conflicts between Gentile and Jewish members of the church, and he was
preparing the ground for taking the gospel to the western regions of the empire.
In the process, he touched on related topics, including death, redemption, the
Law, the resurrection, and the New Creation - [Mountain Sunrise - Photo by Damian Markutt on Unsplash].
He began his argument by describing the plight of humanity that
has resulted from sin, then he presented the solution provided by God through Jesus
Christ.
In the end, all men are in the same dilemma. Disobedience has
alienated them from God and condemned every member of humanity to weakness,
decay, and death. No one is exempt, neither Jew nor Greek, not even the most
righteous saint from the illustrious past of Israel. Even the holy law given by
God through Moses is unable to reverse this horrific reality.
Paul begins by identifying himself: “Paul, a called apostle,
separated unto the gospel of God, which he promised through his prophets.”
In this role, he proclaims the gospel about the one who was “marked out as
‘Son of God’ in power, according to the spirit of holiness, from the
resurrection of the dead.”
The last clause more accurately reads, “a resurrection from
among dead ones.” The Greek noun nekros is
plural and refers to dead persons, not to the state of “death” in
the abstract. From the start, Paul grounds his message on the past death of
Jesus and his subsequent resurrection - (Romans 1:1-4).
This gospel is the “power of God for salvation to everyone who
believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” Jews and Gentiles are
in the same fix, and therefore, acquire right-standing before God on the same
basis, namely, faith.
God has “revealed a righteousness from faith for faith,”
but the gospel also reveals the “wrath of God against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men.” Sinners resist what truth they already know from the knowledge they have gleaned from the created order - (“The invisible things
of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived
through the things that are made”).
Having rejected the God Who created all things, they exchange the
worship of Him for the “likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of
birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things” - That is, for idolatrous
worship.
For this reason, God “delivered them up to the lusts of their
hearts.” The very sins in which fallen humanity delights demonstrate that
men and women are under His “wrath” already. Put another way, the “wrath”
of God includes His handing men over to engage in the very sins they desire. This
picture of idolatry running rampant has primarily Gentiles in view. But what about
Jews - are they any better off than the idolatrous Gentiles? Paul answers in
the negative - “No, certainly not, for we before laid to the charge
both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin.”
He cites several passages from the Hebrew Bible to demonstrate
that all have sinned, that all are in the same rotting boat, including even the
most Torah-observant Jews:
- “There is none righteous, no, not one…They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable; There is none that does good, no, not, so much as one.”
But what about the Law? Does not its possession give Israel an
advantage over unenlightened Gentiles? Well, yes and no. The Jews possess it
and, therefore, understand what God requires. However, the Law speaks to them
who are under it:
- “So that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God; because from the works of the law shall no flesh be set right in his sight; for through the law is the knowledge of sin.”
The possession of the Law only serves to highlight Israel’s sin and
thereby increases her responsibility. The Jews are at even greater risk of receiving
God’s “wrath” than unenlightened Gentiles. To whom much is
given, much is required.
In contrast to the Law, the gospel provides a solution to Jew and Gentile alike - “The righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ for all of them who believe, for there is no distinction; all have sinned and lack the glory of God.”
Both Jew and Gentile are set right before God “through the
ransomed-release in Christ Jesus.” Thus, a man is put into the right
relationship with God from faith, and that “apart from the works of the
Torah.” Thus, God demonstrated His love for us:
- “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now set right by his blood, shall we be saved from the wrath through him. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.”
When Paul states that we are saved “by his life,” he means his
resurrection life. Sin is not reckoned to us if we believe that God “raised
Jesus our Lord from among the dead.” He was handed over to a violent death
for our trespasses, but he was “raised for our justification.”
This is the plight of humanity - “Through one man, sin entered into
the world, and death through sin; thus, death passed to all men, for that all
sinned.”
The penalty for sin is death. Paul is referring to Adam and his
disobedience in the Garden of Eden. That first sin doomed all humanity to death
and enslavement under sin, the just punishment for disobedience. Not that all
die for Adam’s sin, for all men sin. Therefore, all men rightly deserve death. Fortunately, God did not leave humanity without hope:
- “If by the trespass of the one man, the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound unto the many…For if, by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; much more shall they that receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.”
Believers have been baptized into Christ’s death so that, “just
as Christ was raised from the dead, so we also might walk in
newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his
death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection…
if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him; knowing
that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death
no more has dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died unto sin
once: but the life that he lives, he lives unto God.”
Throughout his argument, the counterpart to death is resurrection - Life received by the resurrection from the dead. That knowledge should reorient our entire lives, including our relationship to the Law.
We also must “become dead to the law by the body of Christ,
that we should be married to another, even to him who is raised from
the dead.” Despite being set right before God, believers are still
subject to death. However, “if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from
the dead dwells in you, he that raised up Jesus from the dead will
give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit.”
Believers remain mortal as they continue to live in the present
age. But whether mortal or immortal, they live an embodied existence.
The gift of the Spirit is the guarantee of their future bodily
resurrection.
The Spirit dwells in mortal believers and attests that they are
the “children of God,” and therefore, “joint-heirs with Christ.”
The creation itself is in “earnest expectation” as it waits for that day
at the end of the present age - the “revealing of the sons of God.”
The disobedience of Adam subjected the entire creation to decay
and death; however, all creation will be delivered from this “bondage of
corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God…at our
adoption, that is, the redemption of our body” (Romans
8:10-23).
Thus, Paul links bodily resurrection and the New Creation.
The “redemption of our bodies” refers to our bodily resurrection.
If the entire creation waits in anticipation of that event, then its arrival
can only mean the New Creation.
Paul summarizes the first half of this letter with exclamations of
faith and joy:
- “If God is for us, who is against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect…It is Christ Jesus that died, yea, rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God…Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” - (Romans 8:31-39).
“Who, then, shall separate us from the love of Christ?”
Certainly NOT death!
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