“Justified from Sin”
In Romans 6:5-7 we read the following:
For if we have become planted together in the likeness of His death, nevertheless we shall be of the resurrection also, 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, for one who dies has been justified from Sin.
In a previous blog article (“Did Paul Teach that all mankind died with Christ?”), I shared my understanding of what Paul meant when he referred to the crucifixion of “our old humanity” in verse 6. As noted in the article, the people to whom Paul was referring by his use of the pronouns “we,” “our” and “us” in these verses are believers. That is, Paul was affirming what’s presently true of all who are in the body of Christ. It is believers – and not unbelievers – who have been spiritually “baptized into Christ,” and thereby “baptized into his death” (Rom. 6:3) and “entombed together with Him through baptism into death” (v. 4). Being “baptized into Christ's death” and “planted together in the likeness of His death” is a state that is inseparable from the spiritual union that believers have with Christ.
In accord with this understanding, when Paul referred to “our old humanity” he was referring to who we were before we came to be “in Christ” (i.e., he was referring to our former identity, when we were “apart from Christ,” deserving of death and were, “in our nature, children of indignation”). And the crucifixion of “our old humanity” took place when we were spiritually baptized into Christ (which took place when we were justified/declared righteous by God). Having thus been justified by God, “the body of Sin” – i.e., the mortal body in which Sin is “reigning” (Rom. 6:12) – “may be nullified, for us by no means to be still slaving for Sin.”
It is, therefore, believers – and not unbelievers – whose “old humanity” has been crucified together with Christ. This is in accord with the related truth that everyone who is “in Christ” is “a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). In fact, in an article featured in volume 108 of Unsearchable Riches magazine (see page 73), John H. Essex makes this very point (emphasis mine):
“The new creation is something entirely of God, and shows forth His power and His wisdom. In His sight, the old humanity of a believer in Christ has had its day. It is regarded as being crucified on the same cross as that on which God s Son was crucified.”
As Essex notes, it is “the old humanity of a believer in Christ” that has “had its day.” Although the salvation of everyone who isn’t a believer in Christ was secured by Christ when he died on the cross, unbelievers are not yet “in Christ.” Thus, it can’t be said that their “old humanity” has been crucified with Christ, or that they are now “a new creation.”
But what, then, did Paul mean when he used the words “for one who dies” in Rom. 6:7? Well, it’s reasonable to believe that the word “dies” here refers to the same kind of death that Paul had in mind when he previously affirmed that “whoever are baptized into Christ Jesus, are baptized into His death” (v. 3), and that we “were entombed together with [Christ] through baptism into death” (v. 4). That this is what Paul had in mind is further evident from what Paul went on to write in verse 8 (“Now if we died together with Christ…”). So if this is the kind of death that Paul had in mind when he used the words, “for one who dies” in v. 7, then it necessarily follows that Paul was referring to what’s true of anyone who has been “baptized into Christ Jesus.”
Now, as already noted, some believe that all mankind – and not just those in the body of Christ – have already received the blessing to which Paul was referring when he used the expression “justified from Sin” in Rom. 6:7. Before I consider the main argument for the view that all mankind was justified from Sin when Christ died (and which depends on a certain interpretation of what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:14), I want to first consider what, exactly, Paul meant when he used the expression “justified from Sin” in Rom. 6:7. For, as we’ll see, the actual meaning of this expression is inconsistent with the view that all mankind have already been justified from Sin.
The position that all mankind has been justified from Sin requires that a distinction be made between being “justified by God” and being “justified from Sin.” For example, in a message presented on this topic, the late James Coram (for whom I have a great deal of admiration and respect, despite not having had the privilege of meeting him before his death in 2022) stated the following:
“It’s one thing to be justified from Sin; it’s quite another to be justified by God – to be declared righteous by God Himself.”
According to the view to which Coram held, being “justified from Sin” and being “justified by God” are two distinct conditions, or states of affairs. One can, according to this view, be “justified from Sin” without being justified by God.
Now, Coram went on to speak of being “justified from Sin” as being “declared righteous from Sin,” and then stated that “the only way to be declared righteous from Sin is to be freed from it.” In other words, to be “justified from Sin” means to be “freed from Sin” (it should be noted that Coram provided this same explanation of the expression “justified from Sin” elsewhere in an article he wrote; see page 89 of Unsearchable Riches Volume 110).
I agree with Coram that the expression “justified from Sin” in Rom. 6:7 means “freed from Sin.” In fact, it’s evident that, in the expression “justified from Sin,” the term “justified” can’t be understood to mean what it does in expressions such as “justified by God” or “justified by faith.” Although the expressions “justified/declared righteous by God” or “justified/declared righteous by faith” can be understood literally, one can’t literally be “justified/declared righteous from Sin” (or “away from Sin”); the term “justified” has to be understood figuratively here.
In Thayer's Greek Lexicon's entry for the word translated “justified” (δικαιόω), we read the following:
3.τινα, to declare, pronounce, one to be just, righteous, or such as he ought to be, (cf. ὁμοιόω to declare to be like, liken, i. e. compare; ὁσιόω, Wis. 6:11; ἀξιόω, which never means to make worthy, but to judge worthy, to declare worthy, to treat as worthy; see also κοινόω, 2 b.);
.a. with the negative idea predominant, to declare guiltless one accused or who may be accused, acquitted of a charge or reproach, (Deuteronomy 25:1; Sir. 13:22 (21), etc.; an unjust judge is said δικαιοῦν τόν ἀσεβῆ in Exodus 23:7; Isaiah 5:23): ἑαυτόν, Luke 10:29; passive οὐ δεδικαίωμαι, namely, with God, 1 Corinthians 4:4; pregnantly with ἀπό τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν added, to be declared innocent and therefore to be absolved from the charge of sins (cf. Buttmann, 322 (277)), Acts 13:38 (39) (so ἀπό ἁμαρτίας, Sir. 26:29; simply, to be absolved, namely, from the payment of a vow, Sir. 18:22 (21)); hence, figuratively, by a usage not met with elsewhere, to be freed, ἀπό τῆς ἁμαρτίας, from its dominion, Romans 6:7, where cf. Fritzsche or ((less fully) Meyer).
Note that Acts 13:38-39 is included among the references provided above. The usage of the term “justified” by Paul in Acts 13:39 corresponds to how he used the term in Rom. 6:7. However, instead of speaking of being “justified from Sin” in Acts 13:39, Paul referred to justification from sins (plural). And it’s evident that the idea he was communicating here is that any Jews who believed the evangel he was heralding on this occasion (i.e., the evangel of the Circumcision) would be freed from all of the sins that the law of Moses couldn’t free them from (with the freedom being that which occurs when their sins are “pardoned,” or forgiven; see v. 38). A similar idea is expressed in 2 Peter 1:9 (where Peter wrote of someone who had become “oblivious of the cleansing from the penalties of his sins of old”). Of course, the freedom from sins that believers outside the body of Christ receive by faith in the evangel of the Circumcision is a conditional blessing that can be forfeited if one doesn't continue in both faith and works (with the works “perfecting” the faith). Our freedom from Sin, on the other hand, is permanent.
Thus, while the term δικαιόω doesn't literally mean “freed,” it can be used figuratively to mean this (since freedom from Sin is the necessary implication of the legal consequences of having been justified/declared righteous by God). However, it’s only able to carry this figurative meaning because of the legal implication of the literal meaning of the term.
But who is it that has been “freed from Sin”? Paul actually tells us a few verses later. In Romans 6:17-18 we read the following:
“Now thanks be to God that you were slaves of Sin, yet you obey from the heart the type of teaching to which you were given over. Now, being freed from Sin, you are enslaved to Righteousness.”
To whom was Paul referring when he said “you were slaves of Sin” and “Now, being freed from Sin”? Was he referring to all mankind? No. He was referring to believers only (hence the words, “...yet you obey from the heart the type of teaching to which you were given over.”). That is, it’s those who are in the body of Christ (and not all mankind) who have been “freed from Sin.”
Notice, also, what Paul went on to write concerning those who had been “freed from Sin” (and keep in mind that “freed from Sin” is the very expression that Coram used when explaining what it means to be “justified from Sin”). In Romans 6:21-23 we read the following:
“What fruit, then, had you then? -- of which you are now ashamed, for, indeed, the consummation of those things is death. Yet, now, being freed from Sin, yet enslaved to God, you have your fruit for holiness. Now the consummation is life eonian. For the ration of Sin is death, yet the gracious gift of God is life eonian, in Christ Jesus, our Lord.”
So before someone has been “freed from Sin,” the “consummation” of one’s acts “is death” (for, as Paul goes on to say, “the ration of Sin is death”). But after one has been freed from Sin, “the consummation is life eonian.” This means that everyone who has been “freed from Sin” will receive life eonian. Thus, based on what we read in Rom. 6:17-18 and 21-23, we can conclude that only believers have been “freed from Sin.” For it’s believers (and not unbelievers) who, having been justified by God, will be enjoying “the gracious gift of God” that is “life eonian.”
But what, then, does it mean to be “justified from Sin” (“freed from Sin”)? To answer this question, let’s consider another, related question: What is the state of those who haven’t been “freed from Sin?” That is, what is the state of those who are “slaves of Sin” or “enslaved to Sin”? Well, in light of what we read in Rom. 5:20-21 and 6:21-23, it’s evident that those who are “enslaved to Sin” are those over whom Sin reigns “in death,” and who are receiving death from Sin as a “ration.” Moreover, when we understand verses such as Romans 5:20-21 and 6:21-23 in light of Romans 1:32, we can reasonably conclude the following: It’s those who are “deserving of death” for whom “the ration of Sin is death” and over whom “Sin reigns in death.”
Since those for whom “the ration of Sin is death” (and over whom “Sin reigns in death”) are those who are “enslaved to Sin” (and who haven’t yet been “freed from Sin”), we can therefore conclude that to be freed from Sin is to no longer be deserving of death because of one’s sins. Or, to put it another way, to be freed from Sin is to be one to whom God will by no means be reckoning sin (and to whom “nothing, consequently, is now condemnation”). In other words, those who are freed from Sin are those who’ve been justified by God.
Thus, in light of what it means to be “justified from Sin” – and which Coram himself affirmed as being the correct meaning of this expression (i.e., “freed from Sin”) – we can conclude that it’s only believers (and not all mankind) who have, at the present time, been “justified from Sin.”
Having demonstrated that only believers have presently been justified/freed from Sin – and that being justified/freed from Sin implies that one has been justified by God – let’s now consider the main argument for the view that all mankind was justified/freed from Sin when Christ died. The argument basically runs like this:
Premise 1: All died with Christ when Christ died for all (2 Cor. 5:14).
Premise 2: One who dies has been justified from Sin (Rom. 6:7).
Conclusion: All were justified from Sin when Christ died.
The main problem with this argument (aside from the fact that being justified from Sin implies that one has been justified by God) is that 2 Cor. 5:14 need not be understood as supporting the first premise of the argument (i.e., that “all died with Christ when Christ died for all”).
As I argued in the article referred to above (“Did Paul Teach that all mankind died with Christ?”), the death to which Paul was referring when he wrote “consequently all died” can be understood as the death that “passed through into all mankind” as a consequence of Adam’s sin (Rom. 5:12), and to which Paul later referred when he wrote that, “by the offense of the one, the many died” (Rom. 5:15). According to this understanding of 2 Cor. 5:14, Paul wasn’t referring to what happened to all mankind when Christ died. Rather, he was saying that Christ’s death for the sake of all implies that all were condemned to die. Or, to put it another way, to believe that Christ “died for the sake of all” is to believe that he died so that all mankind would be saved from the condemnation of death. It is this that motivated Christ to die for the sake of all.
But let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that the interpretation of 2 Cor. 5:14 for which I argued is incorrect, and that the death that Paul had in mind when he wrote “all died” in 2 Cor. 5:14 is the same kind of death as that which we find referred to in Romans 6 (i.e., being spiritually baptized into Christ’s death). If that’s the case, then the conclusion we should draw is simply that Paul was using the figure of speech “prolepsis” when he wrote that “all died.” According to this figure of speech, that which is certain to occur in the future is spoken of as if it already occurred in the past or present (the following are a few examples of prolepsis: Luke 20:38 [“Now God is He, not of the dead, but of the living, for all, to Him, ARE living”], 2 Cor. 5:1 [“...we HAVE a building of God, a house not made by hands, eonian, in the heavens”] and 1 John 5:13 [“These things I write to you that you who are believing in the name of the son of God may be perceiving that you HAVE life eonian”]).
Understood in this way, Paul was emphasizing the certainty of the future outcome that was secured by Christ’s death for the sake of all (i.e., all will die – that is, die together with Christ – in the future). For we know that, although all mankind hasn’t yet been justified (only believers have already been justified by God and thus spiritually baptized into Christ), all mankind will be justified in the future (i.e., at the consummation).
Thus, even if the words “all died” in 2 Cor. 5:14 should be understood as referring to all mankind being spiritually baptized into Christ’s death, this verse would still be consistent with the fact that only believers have, at present, been justified/freed from Sin.
It should be noted that, in the message that Coram gave in support of the view that all mankind have been justified from Sin, Coram also appealed to what we read in Revelation 20:11-15 to support this position. He argued that, because the judgment of all who will be raised to be judged at the great white throne will be based on/in accord with their “acts,” it follows that this judgment has nothing to do with the sins of those who are going to be judged. But this conclusion simply doesn’t follow. The acts according to which people are going to be judged will obviously include various acts that God considers to be sins/offenses.
Coram went on to say concerning those judged at the great white throne, “When the judgment comes we should not infer that they’re not justified from sin. They are.”
No one who doesn’t already believe that all mankind have been justified/freed from Sin would conclude, after reading Rev. 20:11-15, that being “cast into the lake of fire” (and thus “injured by the second death”) isn’t an example of condemnation, or that those whose names won’t be found written in the scroll of life won’t be suffering God’s indignation while being judged. Instead, we have good reason to believe the following:
1. Those whose names won’t be found written the scroll of life will, in fact, suffer God’s indignation while being judged before the great white throne (and, as argued earlier in this study, only those to whom God will be reckoning sin will suffer his indignation);
2. Those who will be cast into the lake of fire will be regarded by God as deserving of death (which is “the ration of Sin”), and thus aren’t yet “justified from Sin”;
3. Being cast into the lake of fire is an adverse judgment, and is thus an example of the condemnation that Paul said is for “the world” (and condemnation is God’s just response to sin).
Those whose names won’t be found written in the scroll of life at the time of this future judgment will still be considered to be “deserving of death” (in accord with God’s “just statute”). It’s for this reason that they’ll be cast into “the lake burning with fire and sulfur, which is the second death” (Rev. 20:11-15; 21:8). Rather than getting to enjoy eonian life on the new earth (as will be the case for those whose names will be found written in the scroll of life), these sinners must die a second time. And they must remain dead until they’re “constituted just” (in accord with Romans 5:18-19) and thus vivified in Christ. In accord with this consideration, it would be unjust of God to cast anyone who isn’t deserving of death into the lake of fire after being judged at the great white throne judgment.[i]
Another passage that has been appealed to in support of the view that all mankind have been justified from Sin is Romans 8:3. In this verse we read the following:
For what was impossible to the law, in which it was infirm through the flesh, did God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sin’s flesh and concerning sin, He condemns sin in the flesh, that the just requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who are not walking in accord with flesh, but in accord with spirit.”
According to what we read in this passage, it was by sending Christ “in the likeness of sin’s flesh and concerning sin” that God “condemns sin in the flesh.” And this, in turn, makes it possible for “the just requirement of the law” to be “fulfilled in us, who are not walking in accord with flesh, but in accord with spirit.” But what, exactly, did Paul mean by the words “He condemns sin in the flesh”? Well, let’s first consider the meaning of “sin in the flesh.”
Earlier, Paul referred to sin “making its home” in those who sin, and as being that which sinners “obey” when they sin. But how was this condemned by God? Answer: As noted in part one of this study, condemnation is an adverse sentence or judgment of God; for God to condemn someone (or something) is for him to judge adversely, or execute an adverse sentence (a good example of this is found in 2 Peter 2:6). But what is the nature of the adverse judgment being referred to in Rom. 8:3? What did it involve?
As I understand what Paul wrote here, God condemned (or adversely judged) sin in the flesh by doing that which will result in its certain destruction. And what did God do? Answer: He sent Christ “in the likeness of sin’s flesh and concerning sin.” The words “concerning sin” mean “as a sin offering” (see Psalm 40:6 [LXX]).[ii] A sin offering is a sacrifice that, once offered, will result in the one for whom it was offered being cleansed from their sin, and in the sin being forgiven (such that it will not be reckoned to them by God). Since Christ died as a sin offering for all, it follows that all mankind will ultimately be cleansed from “sin in the flesh,” and made fully pleasing to God.
Although sin in the flesh still exists (for sin is still “making its home” in people), its doom has been pronounced, and its future eradication is thus guaranteed (having been secured by Christ’s death). By sending his Son “concerning sin,” God devoted “sin in the flesh” to complete destruction. As George L. Rogers put it, “Condemnation is not eradication. Sin is still present in the flesh of the saints, but its doom has been pronounced” (see page 41 of Unsearchable Riches Volume 25).
Because Christ died for our sins, sin in the flesh is certain to be destroyed (and all mankind is thus certain to be saved). And for those who have already been justified by God (i.e., those who have received the spirit of God and have thus been freed from “the law of sin and death”), it is by walking in accord with spirit – which is done by faith – that “the just requirements of the law may be fulfilled in us.”
[i] The belief of most students of Scripture throughout history is that no one being judged at this judgment will be “found written in the scroll of life.” That is, it’s commonly believed that all who will be appearing before the great white throne will end up being cast into the lake of fire. One of the beliefs that seems to underpin this popular view is that the standard by which God will be judging people at this time is God’s absolute righteousness – i.e., the righteousness that is “through Jesus Christ’s faith,” and which is “for all, and on all who are believing” (Rom. 3:21-22).
However, when we keep in mind that there were righteous, believing pre-Israelites (such as Abel, Enoch, Noah, Melchizedek, Job, etc.), the view that all who will be judged at the Great White Throne will be cast into the lake of fire is very much undermined. This category of righteous people – being non-Israelites – will not be among those raised by Christ at the “former resurrection” (Rev. 20:5) to enjoy an allotment in the land of Israel during the millennial reign. And we have no scriptural reason to deny that they’ll be among those judged at the great white throne judgment.
However, since Hebrews 11 leaves us little doubt that they will have an allotment on the new earth during the last and greatest eon, we can conclude that their names will be written in the “scroll of life.” The people in this category (i.e., righteous pre-Israelites) are not, therefore, going to be cast into the lake of fire. And if that’s the case, then the same can be said for righteous non-Israelites who lived in subsequent time periods (including those alive today, who aren’t members of the body of Christ and haven’t been “justified gratuitously in God’s grace”).
Now, if the standard by which people are going to be judged at this time is the absolute righteousness of God, then no one outside of those in the body of Christ will be found in the “scroll of life,” and will be able to avoid being cast into the lake of fire. Since some – perhaps many – human beings will, in fact, be found in the scroll of life, then it follows that the standard according to which people will be judged at the great white throne is not an absolute standard. Rather, the sort of righteousness that will qualify people for inclusion in the scroll of life (and thus eonian life on the new earth) will be a relative righteousness. God is going to mercifully treat them the same way he’s treated multitudes of death-deserving sinners long before Christ died for their sins.
[ii] These two words in Greek (peri amartias) are the very words the Septuagint Version of the Hebrew Scriptures uses for what has been traditionally translated “for a sin offering” (e.g., Lev.5:6,7,11; 16:3,5,9; Num. 6:16; 7:16; 2 Chron.9:23,24, etc.; cf. Heb.10:6, 8), although the word “offering” is not there in the Hebrew or Greek.
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