Chapter # 5 Paragraph # 2 Study # 7
May 30, 2006
Lincolnton, N.C.
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Thesis: Our "future" is critical to our "present".
Introduction: We have been looking into Paul's insistence that we come to grips with the "in Adam" reality -- that our participation in Adam's sin was as real as our participation in the results. We are all subject to "Death" because we all "sinned". We all continue to sin because we are "sinners". But, we are also supposed to come to grips with the "in Christ" reality -- that our participation in Christ's righteousness is as real as our participation in the results. We are "alive" because we "obeyed". We do what is right because we are "saints".
We have been looking at Paul's emphatic declaration that this "similarity" between Adam and Christ as those who determined the "nature" of their respective "humanities" needs to have a very careful "distinction" in our mind: Adam's "offence" is significantly distinct from God's "charisma" in Jesus in the area of "impact" (Death and Life are extremely different) and "degree" (Death is large, but Life is "much larger").
That the "similarity" stands with this significant distinction seems to set us up for some "expectations". We would think that, since we "die" without effort because Adam's nature is ours, we would "live" without effort because Christ's nature is ours. We would think that, since "Life" is "much more" than "Death", we would have more "Life" than "Death". But, the opposite is our experience: we "fight" to live and we have enough defeats to make us wonder about the victories. So, we continue to approach the text with a significant question: when does the text's "reality" become our experience? And, if that experience is not "now", what is the point of telling us about it "now"? So, we continue to follow Paul's explanation as he gives it in 5:17.
- I. When Does "Life" Become Our Experience?
- A. Paul first declares an already established fact: Death reigned.
- 1. Death's "identity".
- a. It is often referred to as a "separation" because James 2:26 teaches that the departure of the spirit from the body results in "death" for the body.
- b. But, it clearly cannot be a "separation" in terms of a withdrawal of God from His creature at the "existence" level.
- 1) God alone "self-exists".
- 2) Certain "creatures" of God are declared to be "existence-indestructible" -- i.e., they will never cease to "exist".
- 3) Creature-existence requires God's active and continuous provision of "the power to exist".
- 4) Thus, God cannot "separate from" His creatures without their instant annihilation.
- c. Thus, we are almost "driven" to conclude that "Death" is not so much a separation from God as it is a subjection to God while we possess a spirit of rebellion. [Note the "Sea of Glass" in Revelation 15:2 in comparison with the fiery stream of Daniel 7:10-11 and Revelation 19:20]
- 1) Is it not true that our experience is the "worst" when we are compelled to experience "necessity" against our desires?
- 2) Is it not also true that we think that our experience is the "best" when we get to do as we please without any negative consequences?
- 3) Is not the major "problem" always going to come back to being "forced to experience" what we do not "like"?
- 2. Death's "foundation" -- the offence.
- 3. Death's "power" -- the rebellion.
- 4. Death's "reign" -- how much and for how long?
- B. Paul then declares that "those who receive the abundance" shall reign in life.
- 1. The "abundance" has two aspects.
- a. There is the "abundance of grace".
- 1) This is an "abundance" of two factors (Philippians 2:13).
- a) The first is the supply of a desire to do what is right (this takes "death" out of the picture).
- b) The second is the supply of divine power for doing what is right (this takes "failure" out of the picture).
- 2) This is also an "abundance" of divine good will (Romans 4:4-8).
- b. There is the "abundance of the righteousness".
- 1) This is an "abundance" of a "complete satisfaction of God's Justice".
- 2) This, thus, is also an "abundance" of freedom from condemnation.
- a) All "confrontation" from this point on is "training in righteousness".
- b) This is not "freedom from the necessity to do what is right".
- 2. The "reigning" in Life needs to be understood.
- a. "Reigning" is a triumphant term that tends to dismiss the difficulties that are involved in "fighting".
- b. The "shall reign" is prophetic: it is not experientially dominant in the present.
- 1) "Present triumphalism" is Corinthian (1 Corinthians 4:8).
- 2) "Future triumphalism" is biblical "hope" which gives present stability in the fight (see Romans 5:5 and 8:24).
- 3) Just as the Spirit is the "earnest of our inheritance", so the "present victories" in the fight are the "earnest of our reign".
- 3. The major "hangup" is answered by "those who receive".
- a. The verb is present tense: it is not a once-for-all action.
- b. The word indicates an activity with two sides: God extending and man accepting.
