READINGS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS (5)
[p. 54] READINGS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS (5)
Rem It was suggested last time that we should have a word or two as to the advantage in the change of headship from Adam to Christ. The deliverance we get in that way is most important to understand. “By one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death” — God’s way out is through another Man, and such an One. It is to the end that “grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life”.
JT It forms in that way a turning point. The heart is drawn to that one Man, a necessity for whom existed from the outset. There is a great need of one man now, but the world is not prepared to make room for the true One. This chapter shows that all depends on Him, and that He has solved the question of righteousness and life.
ANW In this chapter the Lord is spoken of as “Christ Jesus”, in the fifth as “Jesus Christ”.
JT I was going to remark in regard to that that the form of the expression alters in this chapter, it is “in Christ Jesus”, whereas in the fifth it is “through Jesus Christ”. The thought of the Man is prominent, I think, in the expression “Jesus Christ”, and that of the anointing in the expression “Christ Jesus”. “Jesus Christ” would be in accordance with your thought, the “One man” by whom things are brought to pass; here the great problem of righteousness and life is manifestly solved.
Rem Divine intervention is indicated as soon as the ruin comes in, for Adam was a figure of Him that was to come. God was not taken unawares; He had a Man before Him. Now this Man is brought into view here, and the blessed fact of [p. 55] transference from Adam to that Man, Jesus Christ. He is also indicated as Lord “through Jesus Christ our Lord”.
JT The heart rests, it seems to me, in the expression in verse 15, “the free gift in grace, which is by the one man Jesus Christ, abounded unto the many”.
CAM How do you understand the words, “much rather”?
JT I think it suggests the abundance of things as compared with what Adam brought in. “Much rather” in this chapter suggests the abundance of the result come into the world through Christ.
CAM In what way do you mean abundance?
JT Look at verse 17, “Much rather shall those who receive the abundance of grace, and of the free gift of righteousness”. Notice the expression, “reign in life”, not only live, but “reign in life by the one Jesus Christ”. And so in verses 20 and 21 “Where sin abounded grace has overabounded, in order that, even as sin has reigned in the power of death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life”.
ANW It is not only one Man, but “much more” by Him; and it is for all.
JT Quite so; and what suggests it is the moral question involved, that of good and evil; it could not at all be solved through Adam even though he had remained in obedience. He could not have solved the great question of good and evil. This involved the attributes of God, all of which were infinitely satisfied and harmonised in Christ.
Rem The consequence flowing from Adam’s deed is not only met, but God is glorified in respect of it, and there is a wondrous excess of grace; it reigns through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ.
[p. 56] JT I think an examination of the Scriptures which treat of the divine attributes, such as righteousness, faithfulness, and you might say, love, will show that they enter into the abundance, the much more. The wonderful excess therefore is the result of what God is as revealed in Christ. It is therefore infinite.
Rem Is that not the basis of the question raised at the beginning of chapter 6? Sin abounding has brought out a marvellous excess of the grace of God.
JT The question, “Should we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” is the point of view of the natural mind. How absolutely wanting in moral conceptions is the natural mind! That thought must be banished for ever out of the world in which these wonderful thoughts apply. The puny mind of man must be shut out when dealing with the thoughts of God; “Far be the thought”, says the apostle.
BTF When is God’s thought, expressed in the last verse of chapter 5, reached: “So also grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life”?
JT I suppose the conditions required for it began with the presence of the Spirit here, on the ground of accomplished righteousness. The conditions of eternal life became effective then.
BTF What is the sense of “to” — through righteousness to eternal life?
JT Eternal life is the result of the reigning. Sin reigned unto death, and so grace reigns unto life.
Rem It is the wonderful consequence of the change of head. We do not make enough of the gain we have in our new Head. The result is wonderful!
WLP Say a word about headship — just exactly what it is; our minds do not grasp it at once.
JT I think headship is introduced here in principle and on moral grounds. In Colossians it is introduced on personal grounds, and in Ephesians on the grounds of sovereignty — “gave him to be head”. In Colossians He is Head because of what He is personally. Here it is what He is morally — because He has glorified God in respect of sin through His obedience.
Rem The need existed, and any one who could meet it would necessarily be head. The need was expressed throughout the Old Testament, but no one came forward. Christ brings in what is moral; but what He is in His creatorial right is seen in Colossians.
WLP The expression “Jesus Christ” in this chapter is connected with what is moral?
JT Yes, and it is important to see that, because it shows how the Lord acquires a place in our souls — that which is His right; and what God is as revealed in Him.
Rem In Hebrews 2 He is brought in as Head, all things put under Him, but we do not get this in the chapter before us.
JT His headship is a fixed thing in your soul after a right understanding of Romans.
BTF “What then shall we say? Should we continue in sin ... ?” Open out the bearing of this for us.
JT It is the suggestion of the natural mind, which is entirely devoid of moral conception. There is a great moral defect in the mind of the person who asks such a question. The question shows that sin has not been judged in the one who raises it, and the apostle meets it by, “Far be the thought”, and proceeds to reason it out. The apostle in writing to the Romans reasons things out and enforces the truth on moral lines.
Rem As an illustration, I heard of a priest who influenced Russia a year or two ago, who taught that the more men sinned the more they glorified God, because they thus furnished occasion for the grace [p. 58] of God. That is the question raised here. If the grace of God is so magnified by sin, we should go on sinning. The apostle meets that, he says it is forever impossible because sin brought Christ into death and He died to it.
JT “We who have died to sin, how shall we still live in it?”. It is a question for the soul, and if one has the moral element there, he answers to it.
BTF Our souls are in bondage until we are wholly free from sin.
JT To meet the question the apostle introduces the teaching of baptism. God said, “Out of Egypt have I called my son” (Matthew 2:15). That is God’s affection for the Son; but the believer (who is also a son) has to ask, why it is that he has to leave Egypt; so that baptism is the great issue of this chapter, and the apostle opens up the truth of it here (see verses 4,5). If you compare baptism in this chapter with the teaching based on it in Colossians, I think you will see that here we are regarded as dead to sin, whereas in Colossians as dead from it. In Romans the christian is here in the presence of sin, but the death of Christ is between him and it, it is a constant daily exercise; whereas in Colossians it is “from the elements of the world”; the believer faces heaven in Colossians.
Rem 2 Corinthians 4:10,11 would run somewhat on these lines — “always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body; for we who live are always delivered unto death on account of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh” — the constant daily application of the death of Christ.
PHP Baptism places one in a certain position, but is there not power to maintain it?
JT The Holy Spirit is the power. In Colossians your face is heavenward and your life is hid. But here it is “newness of life”; we should walk in newness of life. The life of Jesus should be manifested in our bodies. In Romans christians are before the eyes of the world; whereas in Colossians our backs are to it, and we are going to heaven.
CAM The type of baptism in Romans is the Red Sea, that in Colossians is Jordan.
JT In the latter you are going out of the world, but in Romans you bring in the death of Christ by baptism; as maintaining this you are saved from the influence of sin.
PHP As baptised you change your position into the wilderness; Colossians leads into the land.
JT The Spirit carefully avoids saying we are raised in Romans. But we are said to be in Colossians.
Rem In Colossians you are indifferent to public gaze, to the estimate that may be formed of you in the world; your life is hid. It is a question of heavenly life and heavenly privilege.
JT Colossians enables us to enter into assembly privileges because we are really on the platform of our own resurrection with Christ on the principle of faith. In Romans it is only that we “shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection”.
CAM It suggests you are a different man from what you were without defining fully what you are; the emphasis is on the fact that you “should walk in newness of life”.
Rem A different man from what you were, but in the same sphere, and liable to be affected by the same things, so the death of Christ is the preservative.
ANW Baptism brings in the lordship of Christ, for it is in His name.
JT Yes, but the emphasis here is that it is to His death — “as many as have been baptised ... unto his death”.
[p. 60] Rem We are not baptised to Jesus as a living Man on earth, but to Him as having died, and so it is to His death; hence there is to be a walk in newness of life. If it had been ‘unto Jesus Christ’ and stopped there, it might well have been turned to all sorts of imitation of the life of Jesus in the flesh, the natural man attempting an imitation of Him, therefore the whole emphasis is on the fact that it is “unto his death”.
JT Baptism “unto his death” should be emphasised; it subverts the whole idea held in christendom. There christianity is adapted to the world, and baptism is the outward sign of it; but there is no practical recognition of the bearing of the death of Christ. What is insisted on in this chapter is that baptism is to His death.
WB-w The eunuch arrived at it when he came to the scripture, “His life is taken from the earth” (Acts 8:33).
JT He would die too! He would be baptised and so identify himself with Christ’s death.
Ques Has He a claim on us through His death? are we to recognise Him as Lord?
JT I do not know that it is so much a question of the lordship of Christ in this chapter, although the blessing is said to be “through Jesus Christ our Lord”; it presses home on the mind the import of His death so that sin should not reign in your mortal body. “Reckon yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to obey its lusts. Neither yield your members instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but yield yourselves to God as alive from among the dead, and your members instruments of righteousness to God”. In Romans God has come in in Christ, and His moral title to us is established. God has come to us through the death of Christ, and we are brought to Him in Christ. I am for God in the wilderness. My members are to be instruments of [p. 61] righteousness to God. He would have the practice of righteousness here, and this result is reached through the body of the believer.
Rem Very touching to see that fruit comes in: “Ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end eternal life”.
CAM How are we to use our physical members in relation to God?
JT The whole man is set up on the ground of redemption, so that my members are to be for God. All my members are held for God’s service.
Rem We get that illustrated in the cleansing of the leper in Leviticus 14. There is the blood in connection with the ear, the hand, and the foot. What the ear receives, what the hand does and where the foot takes — all is in relation to God.
JT The whole man is in that way secured for God. The application of the oil to the cleansed leper afterwards would show that the believer is to be governed by the Spirit in his activities. In chapter 8 of our epistle, it is said that the Spirit is “life on account of righteousness”.
TA Man, once lost, is thus fully recovered to God.
Rem We see this in Paul at Damascus. The same mouth through which he breathed out threatenings and slaughter against the people of the Lord is immediately occupied in announcing that Jesus is the Son of God.
BTF “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body”. Say a word on that.
JT That is our responsibility. We have to hold the house now for God. I am referring to Ecclesiastes 12 — the house is a figure that Solomon used to describe the whole body: he describes the different organs, as you might say; there he is referring to dissolution, but here it is the believer’s body, as alive on earth that is in view.
[p. 62] Rem So that as being made free from sin, to admit it again would be like letting an intruder in; we would not let a burglar into our house and welcome him, so that henceforth sin is an intruder to be kept out.
JT Sin may, alas, gain an entrance at times, but certainly it is not to be allowed to reign.
TA The body of sin is annulled.
JT Quite, that is the totality of it. It is annulled for the believer. We do not undertake to set evil aside in the world, but we will not allow it in our body. Sin in this chapter is what is in the world, not as in chapter 7 working in our members. The legislators of the world little realise what they have to contend with: they cannot really cope with sin, it is too strong. All the legislation from Noah to the present time has not remedied it. The reign of Christ alone can solve it. When God’s “judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness” (Isaiah 26:9). God has given assurance to all as to this in that He has raised Jesus from the dead. I cannot remedy sin in the world, but I can remedy it in my own body. I am not going to let it reign there, so that the body of the believer is an instrument of righteousness for God. The bearing of the crucifixion of “our old man” is therefore effective in the believer, although sin remains in the world as before. Sin has power as the old man is recognised. Statesmen do not see this, so continue their efforts to improve the world.
Rem No matter how perfect the legislation may be it always breaks down, because human nature is never changed.
JT But God “hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). The moral issue was settled at the cross, and this chapter shows how it is settled in the believer, but the direct intervention of God alone can annul sin’s activity in this world. In this chapter we reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God; in chapter 8 we get the power for this. Here we get the doctrine governing our position. The Roman christians are said to “have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered” them.
WLP The want of power in christians is because there is not much light.
JT Our wills too stand in the way. Obedience from the heart is spoken of here. This is what is needed amongst God’s people, I am sure.
ARS You may have light but if the heart does not obey there is no power. Doctrine gives you light, and then when the heart moves in accordance with the light the Spirit helps us.
JT Soul difficulty is generally on account of disobedience.
ARS We have known brethren who have had great light, but they have dropped behind, because the heart has not been subject.
JT Obedience is the principle.
PHP Paul himself is an example of that, he says, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19).
JT The Holy Spirit is given to those that obey Him (Acts 5:32).
Rem I am glad that you emphasise obedience, because we sometimes get an idea that love comes first, whereas obedience comes first.
JT And it must be maintained: “to obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22). The man who has light, and yet is rebellious in heart is to be dreaded.
ANW What about verse 14, “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law but under grace”?
JT As regards failure, I suppose we may as well confess that “we all often offend”. If failure does occur, Satan occupies you with it, so as to darken [p. 64] and distress your soul. In such circumstances one is likely to turn to Hebrews 6 and 10 and reason that he is lost. For such an one there is precious light in this passage: “Ye are not under law but under grace”. God is the same to you that He was before you were converted; He does not give you up whatever happens. Of course, sin is sin, and has to be judged, but it does not change God’s attitude towards me. The knowledge of this is armour against Satan’s attack, and it aids in judging the sin that dishonours God and interrupts communion. The law holds the mind to sin, whereas grace turns you away from it and occupies you with Christ.
BTF This chapter is to set free from the domination of sin as a principle that characterises the world.
JT Before closing it would be well to dwell for a moment on the subjective result in this chapter, what we have, what is worked out in our souls. He says in verse 20, “For when ye were bondmen of sin ye were free from righteousness. What fruit therefore had ye then in the things of which ye are now ashamed? for the end of them is death”, the question is answered. Then he goes on to say, “Having got your freedom from sin, and having become bondmen to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end eternal life”. What has the Christian? He has his fruit unto holiness, and the end of his exercise — eternal life.
WB-w Where does holiness come in?
JT It is the great essential for seeing God: without holiness “no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).
WB-w It is a question of state of soul and it fits us for the house of God.
CAM The end is eternal life.
JT It is put at the end of the soul’s experience here. It is an immense thing that through the practice [p. 65] of righteousness I have my fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life. Then the apostle tells us where eternal life is — it is “in Christ Jesus our Lord”. It is the gift of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.