Did Paul teach that all mankind “died together with Christ?”

In 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 we read the following:

For the love of Christ is constraining us, judging this, that, if One died for the sake of all, consequently all died. And He died for the sake of all that those who are living should by no means still be living to themselves, but to the One dying and being roused for their sakes.

Some understand the words “consequently all died” in v. 14 to mean that, when Christ died, all mankind died with him. However, Paul didn’t actually say that all died “with Christ” here; this is something that’s being inferred by those holding to this particular view. Moreover – and as I’ll be demonstrating a little later in this article – in the only other verses in which Paul referred to others as having died together with Christ, he had in mind those who have been (spiritually) “baptized into Christ” and thereby “baptized into his death” (Rom. 6:3). But this spiritual baptism into Christ (and into his death) essentially involves the spiritual union that believers (and not unbelievers) have with Christ. That is, being “baptized into Christ's death” is inseparable from the spiritual union that occurs when, upon believing the evangel of the grace of God, we are “justified by the spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:8; Titus 3:5-7), and the spirit of God thus began “making its home in [us]” (Rom. 8:9-11).

So the only other time that Paul referred to people as dying together with Christ, he had in mind something that is true only for those who are now “in Christ,” and who are members of that called-out company of saints that Paul referred to as “the body of Christ.” But unbelievers haven’t (yet) been spiritually baptized into Christ and thus baptized into his death. Unbelievers are not, at present, “in Christ.” So what, exactly, did Paul have in mind in 2 Cor. 5:14 when he said “all died?” What kind of death did Paul have in mind here?

In order to better answer this question, let’s consider what Paul wrote in Romans 5:12-15. In these verses – which follow Paul’s affirmation of the truth that Christ died “for the sake of the irreverent” and that, “while we are still sinners, Christ died for our sakes” (Rom. 5:6-8) – we read the following:

Therefore, even as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death, and thus death passed through into all mankind, on which all sinned -- for until law sin was in the world, yet sin is not being taken into account when there is no law; nevertheless death reigns from Adam unto Moses, over those also who do not sin in the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him Who is about to be. But not as the offense, thus also the grace. For if, by the offense of the one, the many died, much rather the grace of God and the gratuity in grace, which is of the One Man, Jesus Christ, to the many superabounds.

Notice the words, “the many died.” The “many” who “died” consist of the same individuals who comprise the “all” for whose sakes we’re told Christ died in 2 Cor. 5:14:

Romans 5:15

For if, by the offense of the one, the many died, much rather the grace of God and the gratuity in grace, which is of the One Man, Jesus Christ, to the many superabounds.

2 Corinthians 5:14

For the love of Christ is constraining us, judging this, that, if One died for the sake of all, consequently all died.

When Paul wrote, “all died” in 2 Cor. 5:14, he wasn’t referring to what happened to all mankind when Christ died. Rather, he’s giving us the reason why Christ, in love, died for the sake of all. 

The fact that Christ died for the sake of all logically implies that there was a problem that involved the “all” for whom Christ died (and that the purpose for which Christ died was to fix this problem). But what is the problem that Christ’s death for all mankind was designed to fix? Answer: The fact that “the many died.” The death of “the many” (i.e., their death-doomed state of condemnation) is, in other words, the problem that’s implied by the fact that Christ died for the sake of all, and is the problem that motivated Christ to die for them (which is why Paul begins v. 14 with the words, “for the love of Christ is constraining us, judging this…”).

Paul’s use of the word translated “consequently” in 2 Cor. 5:14 (ára) supports this understanding of what Paul had in mind when he said “all died.” The word ára is an inferential particle that “marks a consequence drawn from the connection of thought, and expresses impression or feeling” (perseus.tufts.edu). According to HELPS Word-studies, the word means, “it follows that...” (Strong's Greek: 686. ἄρα). Similarly, Bill Mounce defines the term as follows (emphasis mine): “a particle which denotes, first, transition from one thing to another by natural sequence; secondly, logical inference; in which case the premises are either expressed, Mt. 12:28, or to be variously supplied, therefore, then, consequently; as a result, Acts 17:27 (ἄρα | Free Online Greek Dictionary | billmounce.com)

The following are some more examples of the term being used (Matt. 12:28; 1 Cor. 15:14; Gal. 2:21; 3:29; 5:11; Heb. 12:8). In the last verse referenced, we read the following:

“Now if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, consequently you are bastards and not sons.”

The author of the letter to the Hebrews wasn’t saying that being without discipline is what causes people to be “bastards and not sons.” Instead, the term “consequently” denotes a logical consequence (or inference); if people are without discipline, then it follows that (i.e., it can be inferred that) they’re “bastards and not sons.”

In the same way, when Paul wrote, “if One died for the sake of all, consequently all died,” he meant that the death of all (“the many” of Romans 5:12-19) is an implied truth that can be inferred from the fact that Christ “died for the sake of all” (for to believe that Christ “died for the sake of all” is to believe that he died so that all mankind would be justified and thus vivified – i.e., saved from death). The fact that Christ, in love, died to save all mankind implies that all mankind was in need of being saved. It is this fact that motivated Christ to die for the sake of all. 

The crucifixion of “our old humanity” together with Christ

Having considered 2 Corinthians 5:14 (where the death of all mankind – i.e., “the many” of Romans 5:12-19 – as a result of the offence of Adam is a fact that Paul understood to be implied by the fact that Christ “died for the sake of all”), let’s now consider what Paul wrote in Romans 6:1-13. Here’s how these verses read in the CLNT:

1 What, then, shall we declare? That we may be persisting in sin that grace should be increasing?

2 May it not be coming to that! We, who died to sin, how shall we still be living in it? 3 Or are you ignorant that whoever are baptized into Christ Jesus, are baptized into His death? 4 We, then, were entombed together with Him through baptism into death, that, even as Christ was roused from among the dead through the glory of the Father, thus we also should be walking in newness of life. 5 For if we have become planted together in the likeness of His death, nevertheless we shall be of the resurrection also, 6 knowing this, that our old humanity was crucified together with Him, that the body of Sin may be nullified, for us by no means to be still slaving for Sin, 7 for one who dies has been justified from Sin.

8 Now if we died together with Christ, we believe that we shall be living together with Him also, 9 having perceived that Christ, being roused from among the dead, is no longer dying. Death is lording it over Him no longer, 10 for in that He died, He died to Sin once for all time, yet in that He is living, He is living to God.

11 Thus you also, be reckoning yourselves to be dead, indeed, to Sin, yet living to God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. 12 Let not Sin, then, be reigning in your mortal body, for you to be obeying its lusts. 13 Nor yet be presenting your members, as implements of injustice, to Sin, but present yourselves to God as if alive from among the dead, and your members as implements of righteousness to God.

Notice how Paul begins this section of his letter: “What, then, shall we declare? That we may be persisting in sin that grace should be increasing?”

When Paul wrote “we,” he had in mind himself and the saints to whom he wrote. This is evident from what Paul wrote in the last verses of the preceding chapter (Rom. 5:20-21):

“Yet where sin increases, grace superexceeds, that, even as Sin reigns in death, thus Grace also should be reigning through righteousness, for life eonian, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.”

It is believers – and not unbelievers – for whom this statement is true, since it’s believers – and not unbelievers – who have been promised life eonian (Titus 1:1-3; 3:7). It is for believers that grace superexceeds where sin increases.

Thus, when Paul went on to write “we, who died to sin” in Rom. 6:2, he was referring to believers (and not unbelievers). In the same way, those who have been “baptized [or “immersed”] into Christ Jesus” are believers (and not unbelievers). In other words, Paul was referring exclusively to those to whom the truth affirmed in the following passages applies:

Galatians 3:25-29

Now, at the coming of faith, we are no longer under an escort, for you are all sons of God, through faith in Christ Jesus. For whoever are baptized into Christ, put on Christ, in Whom there is no Jew nor yet Greek, there is no slave nor yet free, there is no male and female, for you all are one in Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 12:13

“For in one spirit also we all are baptized into one body whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and all are made to imbibe one spirit.”

If one’s isn’t in the body of Christ, then one hasn’t been “baptized into Christ Jesus.” And if one hasn’t been “baptized into Christ Jesus,” then one hasn’t been ”baptized into His death” or “entombed together with Him through baptism into death.”

When Paul goes on to say that ”our old humanity was crucified together with Him,” (v. 6), he’s still referring to what’s true of believers. It’s not the “old humanity” of all mankind that “was crucified together with [Christ]”; rather, it’s “our old humanity” – i.e., the “old humanity” of those in the body of Christ.

At this point, some may be inclined to object that, even if “our old humanity” refers only to the old humanity of believers, it doesn’t mean that the “old humanity” of everyone else wasn’t crucified together with Christ and entombed together with him as well. However, this view is contrary to what Paul actually wrote. According to Paul, everyone who was “entombed together with [Christ]” was “baptized into his death” (for it is “through baptism into death” that we are “entombed together with Christ”). But it’s only believers who have been baptized into Christ’s death. Thus, it follows that it’s only believers who ”were entombed together with Him through baptism into death.”

Moreover, according to Paul, the same people whose “old humanity” has been crucified together with Christ were baptized into Christ’s death and thereby entombed together with him through baptism into death. Consider the following syllogism:

1. Everyone whose “old humanity” was “crucified together with Christ” was “baptized into Christ Jesus” and thus “baptized into His death” (Rom. 6:3-4).

2. Only those who are in the body of Christ have, at the present time, been “baptized into Christ Jesus” and thus “baptized into His death” (Gal. 3:25-29; 1 Cor. 12:13).

3. Those whose “old humanity was crucified together with [Christ]” are, at the present time, only those in the body of Christ.

But what, exactly, did Paul mean by “our old humanity?”

Answer: The morphology of the noun translated “humanity” in Rom. 6:6 (anthrōpos) is nominative-masculine-singular. Every other time this word was used by Paul in this particular form, it’s translated as either “man” or “human” in the CLNT. Rom. 6:6 is, therefore, the only verse in which we find this particular form of the noun translated “humanity” in the CLNT. Moreover, every other literal translation of Scripture of which I’m aware (including the Dabhar, Rotherham’s and Young’s) translates the singular noun anthrōpos with the singular noun “man” in Rom. 6:6 (and the expression of which it’s a part as “our old man”).

I’m inclined to think that the CLNT should’ve done the same, and translated the term anthrōpos in Rom. 6:6 as either “man” or “human.” It should also be noted that, in Romans 6:6, “human” is in boldface font while the remainder of the word is in lightface font (i.e., “humanity”). This indicates that it’s the word “human” (and not “humanity”) that has its exact counterpart in the Greek. “Humanity” is not the literal translation, but rather a word that the translator(s) apparently thought would better “clarify the meaning” of what Paul wrote. But regardless of whether the singular noun anthrōpos is translated “man,” “human” or “humanity” in Rom. 6:6, the fact is that this word doesn’t mean “all mankind,” “all humans” or “the totality of human beings.”

In Colossians 3:9-11 we find a similar form of the singular noun also translated “humanity” in the CLNT:

Do not lie to one another, stripping off the old humanity [anthrōpon] together with its practices, and putting on the young, which is being renewed into recognition, to accord with the Image of the One Who creates it, wherein there is no Greek and Jew, Circumcision and Uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but all and in all is Christ.

The same expression translated “old humanity” in the CLNT (and “old man” in other literal translations) is also found in Ephesians 4:20-24:

Now you did not thus learn Christ, since, surely, Him you hear, and by Him were taught (according as the truth is in Jesus), to put off from you, as regards your former behavior, the old humanity [anthrōpon] which is corrupted in accord with its seductive desires, yet to be rejuvenated in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new humanity [anthrōpon] which, in accord with God, is being created in righteousness and benignity of the truth.

We know that Paul didn’t mean “all humans” or “all mankind” when he used the term translated “humanity” in these passages. Paul wasn’t exhorting believers to put off/strip off “all old humans” or “the old all mankind” in these passages; rather, Paul was exhorting believers to put off/strip off who they were before they came to be “in Christ” (i.e., when they were “children of indignation”). In other words, the “old humanity” (or “old human”) of which Paul wrote refers to the believer’s former identity (or old human self), before we were spiritually baptized into Christ (i.e., when we were unbelievers, and “apart from Christ” [Eph. 2:12]). In contrast, the “new humanity” (or “new human”) refers to the believer’s new identity or new human self, after being spiritually baptized into Christ. That is, the “new human” is who we now are “in Christ.”

In Col. 3:11 we’re told that, in the young/new human, “all and in all is Christ.” Since the “new humanity” or “new human” that Paul exhorted believers to “put on” refers to our new identity – i.e., who we are “in Christ” – Paul could refer to the “new human” as Christ himself. In Galatians 3:26-28 we read the following:

“…you are all sons of God, through faith in Christ Jesus. For whoever are baptized into Christ, put on Christ, in Whom there is no Jew nor Greek, there is no slave nor yet free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Since “all” in the new human “is Christ” (as affirmed in Col. 3:10-11), it follows that to “put on the new human” is to “put on Christ.”

 In addition to Eph. 4:24, we also find the expression translated as “new humanity” or “new human” used in Eph. 2:14-16 as well. Here’s how these verses read in the CLNT:

For He is our Peace, Who makes both one, and razes the central wall of the barrier (the enmity in His flesh), nullifying the law of precepts in decrees, that He should be creating the two, in Himself, into one new humanity [anthrōpon], making peace; and should be reconciling both in one body to God through the cross, killing the enmity in it.

It should be noted that the imagery used in these verses is different than that used in Col. 3:9-10 and Eph. 4:20-24. In the latter passages, the new/young human is something that Paul exhorts believers to “put on,” while in Eph. 2:14-16 it’s something that Jews and gentiles (the “two” to whom Paul was referring) have, in Christ, been created into. Christ has, in himself, created Jews and gentiles into “one new human” in the sense that, in Christ, Jews and gentiles have both been made “one” (Eph. 2:14; Gal. 3:28) and been given a new identity (an identity to which one’s ethnicity, covenant status and social status are irrelevant). It is in light of this new identity we have in Christ that Paul referred to one who is in Christ as a “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17).

Now, just as the expression that’s translated in the CLNT as “the old humanity” in Eph. 4:22 and Col. 3:9 doesn’t mean “all old humans” or “the old mankind,” so the expression that’s translated “our old humanity” in Rom. 6:6 shouldn’t be understood in this sense either. Instead, the “old humanity” (or “old human”) of those who have died with Christ – i.e., those who, through faith in Christ Jesus, were baptized/immersed into him – refers to who we were before we became members of the body of Christ. It is this old identity of the believer that is “crucified together with [Christ Jesus]” when we’re spiritually baptized into Christ Jesus (which, again, occurs when, upon believing the evangel, we receive the spirit of God and are thereby justified by God).

What Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17 confirms this understanding of when one’s “old human” (i.e., one’s old identity) is crucified together with Christ. In this verse we read the following:

“So that, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: the primitive passed by. Lo! there has come new!”

One comes to be “in Christ” when one is spiritually baptized into Christ. It is this “baptism” that unites us with Christ. And since one who is “in Christ” is “a new creation,” it follows that one’s old identity (“the primitive,” which is the “old humanity” or “old human”) is no more. And since one who is spiritually baptized into Christ “is baptized into his death,” it follows that it’s this event – i.e., being spiritually baptized into Christ and becoming “a new creation” – that results in one’s old identity being “crucified together with Christ.”

Some may wonder how anyone could be “crucified together with Christ” after Christ was crucified? But Paul is clear that believers are baptized into Christ’s death (and can thus be said to have “died together with Christ”) when we’re baptized into Christ. And again, our baptism into Christ takes place when we’re justified by God and become members of the body of Christ. That is, we die together with Christ (and are thereby “entombed together with him”) when we come to be “in Christ,” and thus become “a new creation.”

It is in light of the fact that the believer’s old identity was crucified together with Christ that I believe Paul could write the following in Galatians 2:20:

With Christ have I been crucified, yet I am living; no longer I, but living in me is Christ. Now that which I am now living in flesh, I am living in faith that is of the Son of God, Who loves me, and gives Himself up for me.

It is Paul’s “old human” – i.e., his old identity, prior to being spiritually baptized into Christ – that was crucified with Christ when he was spiritually baptized into Christ and became a “new creation.” And just as we read in Col. 3:11 that, in the new man, “all and in all is Christ,” so Paul could say, “no longer I, but living in me is Christ.”

In Romans 6:7 we go on to read, ”…for one who dies has been justified from Sin.” The death to which Paul was referring here is the death he’d been writing about in the previous verses, and which is referred to again in v. 8 – i.e., the believer’s death with Christ (when we were “baptized into His death,” and “entombed together with Him through baptism into death”). One who dies – i.e., one who dies together with Christ – is justified from Sin. How? Answer: because the believer’s death with Christ is equivalent to his being spiritually baptized into Christ, and one is baptized into Christ when, upon believing the evangel, one receives the holy spirit (and is thus “justified by the spirit of our God” [1 Cor. 6:11]).

Moreover, when Christ died, he died to Sin (Rom. 6:10) – i.e., he died to that which reigns in death, and which has the power to make humans deserving of death (when one is “obeying its lusts”). Of course, Christ never sinned during his mortal lifetime, and was thus never under condemnation. But as a mortal human, his body produced desires which, had he yielded to them in certain circumstances (e.g., when he was being tried by the Adversary), would’ve resulted in him sinning. But when Christ died, he was permanently set free from the need to endure the trials made possible by such desires (and which, relatively speaking, made it possible for Christ to sin and thereby come under sin’s condemnation).

Because we have the same relation to Sin that Christ had when he died (a relation characterized by complete freedom from Sin’s power to condemn), we can reckon ourselves to be roused with Christ to new life, and living to God rather than to Sin. Sin can no longer result in our condemnation. Having been justified by God, we are under grace rather than law (Rom. 6:14-15).