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).

Justified by the Spirit of our God

In this study I’m going to be defending the following points concerning the doctrine of justification:

1. At the present time, only believers have been justified. Unbelievers are presently excluded from this blessing.

2. Every believer is justified when, upon believing the evangel, he or she is given the spirit of God by the authority of Christ.

It will be further demonstrated that these truths concerning justification are not merely “relatively true.” Rather, they’re true from God’s perspective (just as much so as the truth that, for example, Christ is sitting at God’s right hand, or the truth that believers have not yet been vivified in Christ).

I’ll begin my defense of the first point with a consideration of what Paul wrote in Romans 3:21-26. In these verses we read the following:

Yet now, apart from law, a righteousness of God is manifest (being attested by the law and the prophets), yet a righteousness of God through Jesus Christ's faith, for all, and on all who are believing, for there is no distinction, for all sinned and are wanting of the glory of God.

Being justified gratuitously in His grace, through the deliverance which is in Christ Jesus (Whom God purposed for a Propitiatory shelter, through faith in His blood, for a display of His righteousness because of the passing over of the penalties of sins which occurred before in the forbearance of God), toward the display of His righteousness in the current era, for Him to be just and a Justifier of the one who is of the faith of Jesus.

When Paul referred to “all who are believing” in v. 22, he had in mind those who have been given the faith to believe the evangel with which he was entrusted to herald among the nations (Gal. 2:2) – i.e., the evangel that he referred to elsewhere as “the evangel of the Uncircumcision” (Gal. 2:7) and “the evangel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24)[i] – and who have thus become members of that company of saints referred to by Paul elsewhere as  “the body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12:12-13, 27; Rom. 12:4-5) and “the ecclesia which is [Christ’s] body” (Eph. 1:22-23; 4:4; 5:23-24, 30). It is on these individuals that the “righteousness of God” referred to in Rom. 3:21-22 has come (i.e., the righteousness that is said to be “for all, and on all who are believing”).

It’s further evident from what we go on to read in verse 24 that to be one on whom this righteousness of God has come is to be “justified gratuitously in His grace.” As is clear from the English translation of the Greek words translated “justification” and “justify” in Scripture  (dikaiósis and dikaioó), these words are derived from a word meaning “just” or “righteous” (dikaios). The most commonly-accepted definition of “justify” is simply, “to declare or pronounce just, or righteous.” In support of this definition, consider Luke 7:29 (where we’re told that the “entire people, even the tribute collectors, justify God”), and compare this verse with Paul’s quotation of Psalm 51:4 in Rom 3:4.

Now, as is evident from what we read elsewhere (see, for example, Rom. 3:26, 30; 4:5; 8:30, 33; Gal. 3:8), it is God who is the Justifier of those who are said to be “justified gratuitously in His grace.” Moreover, since there is no one who has been “justified gratuitously in [God’s] grace” who doesn’t have the ”righteousness of God” referred to in Rom. 3:21-22 – and since this righteousness of God is “on all who are believing” – it follows that those who have been “justified gratuitously in [God’s] grace” are those who have believed Paul’s evangel.

It’s further evident from v. 22 that the righteousness of God/justification that is “for all, and on all who are believing” is “through Jesus Christ’s faith.”[ii] This is further confirmed by what we read in Galatians 2:15-16:

We, who by nature are Jews, and not sinners of the nations, having perceived that a man is not being justified by works of law, except alone through the faith of Christ Jesus, we also believe in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by the faith of Christ and not by works of law, seeing that by works of law shall no flesh at all be justified.

According to what we read here, “the faith of Christ Jesus” can be understood as the basis on which God justifies those who have been (or who will be) justified. In other words, “the faith of Christ Jesus” is why God is able to justify sinners. Moreover, since Christ’s obedience ”unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8) was the ultimate expression of his faith in God, it’s this act of obedience that Paul likely had in mind when he referred to justification as being “through the faith of Christ Jesus.” And just as we read in Rom. 3:22 that the righteousness of God that’s “through the faith of Christ Jesus” is “for all,” so we later read in Rom. 5:19 that it’s “through the obedience of the One” that “the many shall be constituted just.” The “all” of Rom. 3:22 refers to all mankind, and corresponds to “the many” of Rom. 5:19 (cf. v. 18, where it’s clear that “the many” is a reference to “all mankind”).

Now, concerning the nature of justification, we read the following in Romans 4:5-8:

Yet to him who is not working, yet is believing on Him Who is justifying the irreverent, his faith is reckoned for righteousness. Even as David also is telling of the happiness of the man to whom God is reckoning righteousness apart from acts: Happy they whose lawlessnesses were pardoned and whose sins were covered over! Happy the man to whom the Lord by no means should be reckoning sin!

Those to whom God is reckoning righteousness have been justified by him (and vice-versa). It’s further evident that to be justified (or declared just/righteous) by God is to be one “to whom the Lord by no means should be reckoning sin.” It must be emphasized that, when God justifies sinners, it doesn’t mean that God believes something that isn’t true about them. That is, it doesn’t mean that God believes that those whom he has justified have never sinned, or that they’re no longer sinners (for God can’t believe or affirm anything that isn’t true). Instead, when God justifies sinners, it means he’s no longer reckoning their sins to them, and that the sinners are thus no longer condemned (i.e., he regards them as no longer deserving of, or liable to, the penalty of which they were formerly deserving). Thus, being justified by God essentially means being freed from condemnation. This is evident from Rom. 8:33-34, where we find Paul asking the following rhetorical questions:

Who will be indicting God's chosen ones? God, the Justifier? Who is the Condemner? Christ Jesus, the One dying, yet rather being roused, Who is also at God's right hand, Who is pleading also for our sakes?

The implication in Paul’s contrast between “the Justifier” and “the Condemner” is that justification and condemnation are opposite states. But what is the nature of the condemned state of those who haven’t yet been justified, and to whom God is reckoning sin? Answer: In Romans 1:32, the condemned state of unjustified sinners is described by Paul as follows: ”…those who, recognizing the just statute of God, that those committing such things are deserving of death, not only are doing them, but are endorsing, also, those who are committing them.” In accord with the “just statute” referred to in this verse, we read in Romans 6:22 that the “consummation” of the things that people do as “slaves of sin” is “death.” And in the next verse, Paul (personifying sin as if it were a human slave master) adds that “the ration of Sin is death” – i.e., it is the “fixed portion” that sinners can expect to receive as the judicial consequence of their sins.[iii]

Paul also makes it clear that there are some who, “in the day of indignation and revelation of the just judgment of God,” will receive from God “indignation and fury, affliction and distress” (Rom. 2:3-10). That those who will be undergoing this adverse judgment from God will be subject to it because of their sins is clear from what we go on to read in verse 11: “For there is no partiality with God, for whoever sinned without law, without law also shall perish, and whoever sinned in law, through law will be judged.” This means that God is going to be reckoning the sins of those who will be facing this adverse judgment to them. In other words, those who must face this adverse judgment (which will involve God’s indignation) will not have yet been justified by God.

In 1 Cor. 15:17-19, Paul wrote the following: “Now if Christ has not been roused, vain is your faith – you are still in your sins! Consequently those also, who are put to repose in Christ, perished.” For anyone to still be “in [their] sins” means that God is still reckoning their sins to them. That this is the case is evident from the fact that, in v. 18, it’s implied those who have died while still being “in their sins” have “perished.” Since the saints to whom Paul was referring in this verse were already dead at the time he was writing, we can conclude that Paul was not using the word “perished” to simply mean “died.” Rather, the word “perished” here communicates the idea of dying in one’s sins (cf. John 8:21-24, where Christ told a group of unbelieving Pharisees that, if they remained in unbelief, they would be “dying in [their] sins”). Since dying in one’s sins means dying in a condemned state, we can conclude that being “still in your sins” means remaining in a state of condemnation (i.e., deserving of death).

Thus, apart from a change in their condemned status – that is, apart from being declared righteous by God – everyone to whom God is reckoning sins (and who are thus considered “deserving of death”) will, after dying, remain deserving of death until they are “justified gratuitously in His grace.” It is for this reason that those whose names will not be found “written in the scroll of life” will be cast into “the lake burning with fire and sulfur, which is the second death” (Rev. 20:11-15; 21:8). Those whose names will not be found written in the scroll of life at the time of this future judgment are not yet justified by God, and will still be “deserving of death” (in accord with God’s “just statute”). 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 therefore die a second time (and will remain dead until the consummation when, in accord with 1 Cor. 15:22-26, death is abolished and all are vivified in Christ).

Since the condemnation of which unjustified sinners are deserving is death, it follows that God’s justification of sinners involves declaring them undeserving of death. However, we know that, at the consummation, all are going to be vivified in Christ (and will thus no longer be deserving of death). In accord with this fact, we read in Romans 3:22 that the blessing of justification is “for all” (for it was procured for all through Christ’s death). This means that all are going to be justified, eventually. Until then, the blessing of justification is only “on all who are believing.”

In contrast with what we find affirmed in Rom. 3:22, there are some who believe that the justification of all mankind actually occurred when Christ died for our sins. But that’s contrary to what’s revealed in Scripture. As noted earlier, when God justifies someone, they’re no longer condemned – i.e., they’re regarded by God as being no longer deserving of death (or any expression of divine indignation), and are no longer among those whom we’re told will be facing “indignation and fury, affliction and distress” in “the day of indignation and revelation of the just judgment of God” (Rom. 2:5-10). Since there are many who will suffer the adverse judgment referred to here, it’s evident that they have not yet been justified. Again, it’s clear from Romans 3:22 that the righteousness that one is declared to have when justified by God is “on all who are believing” (which implies that it’s not presently on unbelievers).

In addition to what we read in this verse, there are other verses that make it clear that justification is not the present blessing of all, but rather a blessing that, at the present time, is only being given to those who believe the evangel. For example, in Rom. 3:27-31 we read the following:

Where, then, is boasting? It is debarred! Through what law? Of works? No! But through faith’s law. For we are reckoning a man to be justified by faith apart from works of law. Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not of the nations also? Yes, of the nations also, if so be that God is One, Who will be justifying the Circumcision out of faith and the Uncircumcision through faith. Are we, then, nullifying law through faith? May it not be coming to that! Nay, we are sustaining law.

Here it’s evident that the faith of which Paul was writing – and which is the faith by which one is justified “apart from works of law” – is the believer’s faith (i.e., the faith that one has when one believes the evangel). This faith is the God-given “channel” through which we receive the blessing of justification.

That Paul had in mind the faith of the believer is further confirmed by what we go on to read in Romans 4 (where Paul uses Abraham as an example of one who believed God, and whose faith was consequently “reckoned for righteousness”). For example, in verse 5 we read, “Yet to him who is not working, yet is believing on Him Who is justifying the irreverent, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.” And in v. 11, Abraham is referred to as “the father of all those who are believing through uncircumcision, for righteousness to be reckoned to them…” The rest of this chapter (see verses 12-25) makes it abundantly clear that the faith through which God reckons righteousness to (i.e., justifies) sinners is the faith that they have when they believe the evangel concerning the death and resurrection of Christ.

Although it’s certainly true that the believer’s faith has been given to them by God (Rom 12:3; Phil 1:29), it’s equally true that the faith we have when we believe the evangel (and by virtue of which one can be called a “believer”) is the faith that God “reckons for righteousness.” And for God to reckon the faith of the believer “for righteousness” is equivalent in meaning to God’s justifying the believer (i.e., declaring him or her righteous).

We go on to read the following in Rom. 5:1-2:

Being, then, justified by faith, we may be having peace toward God, through our Lord, Jesus Christ, through Whom we have the access also, by faith, into this grace in which we stand, and we may be glorying in expectation of the glory of God.

It’s only believers who have been “justified by faith,” and who “may be having peace toward God.” Unbelievers can’t have “peace toward God,” because they haven’t yet been justified by God. And it’s because they haven’t yet been justified that, on them, “the indignation of God is coming” (Eph. 5:6; Col. 3:5-7). In contrast, believers are not appointed to God’s indignation (1 Thess. 5:4-11), and are thus promised salvation from it. In Romans 5:8-9 we read the following:

“…yet God is commending this love of His to us, seeing that while we are still sinners, Christ died for our sakes. Much rather, then, being now justified in His blood, we shall be saved from indignation, through Him.”

Notice that it’s those who are “now justified in [Christ’s] blood” who “shall be saved from indignation, through [Christ].” The indignation of God that Paul had in view here is that which will be manifested during the day of the Lord (1 Thess. 1:10; 5:4-11). Since it’s only believers who shall be saved from this coming indignation, we can conclude that those referred to as having been “now justified in His blood” are believers as well.

Even where it’s revealed by Paul that Christ’s faith is the basis on which God is able to justify believers, Paul is equally clear that it is those who believe in Christ who have been “justified by the faith of Christ.” Here, again, is Galatians 2:15-16:

We, who by nature are Jews, and not sinners of the nations, having perceived that a man is not being justified by works of law, except alone through the faith of Christ Jesus, we also believe in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by the faith of Christ and not by works of law, seeing that by works of law shall no flesh at all be justified.

So the blessing of justification of which Paul was writing here is not a blessing that unbelievers have received at this time. It is only believers – those whom Paul said “believe in Christ Jesus” – who have been “justified by the faith of Christ and not by works of law.” In Galatians 3:7-9 we read,

Know, consequently, that those of faith, these are sons of Abraham. Now the scripture, perceiving before that God is justifying the nations by faith, brings before an evangel to Abraham, that In you shall all the nations be blessed. So that those of faith are being blessed together with believing Abraham.

The blessing of which Paul wrote here is justification. And according to Paul, this blessing is received “by faith” – i.e., the kind of faith that Abraham had when he “believes God, and it is reckoned to him for righteousness” (Gal. 3:6). Thus, while Christ’s faith is the basis for our justification, it is our faith (the faith God gives us when we believe the evangel) that is the channel through which the blessing of justification is given.

The last passage I’ll consider in this section is Romans 8:28-30:

Now we are aware that God is working all together for the good of those who are loving God, who are called according to the purpose that, whom He foreknew, He designates beforehand, also, to be conformed to the image of His Son, for Him to be Firstborn among many brethren. Now whom He designates beforehand, these He calls also, and whom He calls, these He justifies also; now whom He justifies, these He glorifies also.

Contrary to what some believe regarding when the justification of sinners takes place (or when it took place), Paul is providing us with an absolute viewpoint here. It’s not merely “relatively true” that God foreknew believers (i.e., singled them out in his mind beforehand) and designated them beforehand to be conformed to the image of Christ. Nor is it merely “relatively true” that the same ones who were designated beforehand by God are subsequently called and justified by him. Everything of which Paul wrote here is true from God’s perspective. Thus, just as the glorification of those in the body of Christ is subsequent to our justification, so our justification is subsequent to our being “called” by God.[iv]

Justified by the spirit of our God

In 1 Corinthians 6:11 Paul reveals how believers are justified:

“…but you are bathed off, but you are hallowed, but you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God.”

From this verse it’s evident that our justification is both “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (i.e., it occurs by his authority) and it’s “by the spirit of our God.”

In Titus 3:4-7, Paul wrote the following concerning the connection between our justification and the holy spirit:

Yet when the kindness and fondness for humanity of our Savior, God, made its advent, not for works which are wrought in righteousness which we do, but according to His mercy, He saves us, through the bath of renascence and renewal of holy spirit, which He pours out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that, being justified in that One's grace, we may be becoming enjoyers, in expectation, of the allotment of life eonian.

Notice that the holy spirit by which we’re justified is said to be poured out on us richly “through Jesus Christ, our Savior.” In other words, Christ is the agent through whom God gives us the holy spirit (which is in accord with the fact that our justification is in Christ’s name – i.e., it occurs by his authority). Moreover, those whom Paul described as being saved “through the bath of renascence and renewal of holy spirit” are believers. That is, Paul was referring to those of whom we read the following in 1 Cor. 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.”

And it’s the very same people on whom the holy spirit has been richly poured out through Christ who have been ”justified in that One's grace,” that “we may be becoming enjoyers, in expectation, of the allotment of life eonian.”

Another passage in which the connection between our justification and the spirit of God is made clear is Galatians 3:5-9. In these verses we read the following:

“…did you get the spirit by works of law or by the hearing of faith, according as Abraham believes God, and it is reckoned to him for righteousness? Know, consequently, that those of faith, these are sons of Abraham. Now the scripture, perceiving before that God is justifying the nations by faith, brings before an evangel to Abraham, that In you shall all the nations be blessed. So that those of faith are being blessed together with believing Abraham.”

The answer to Paul’s question is that those to whom he wrote had received the spirit “by the hearing of faith” (and not “by works of law”). In other words, it was by hearing and believing the evangel that they received the spirit (just as, in the case of Abraham, it was by hearing and believing God’s promise to him that righteousness was reckoned to him; cf. Rom. 4:1-5, 16-22).

In Galatians 3:13-14, Paul went on to refer to the obtaining of “the promise of the spirit” as if it were inseparable from “the blessing of Abraham” (which, in the previous verses, is identified as justification by faith):

“Christ reclaims us from the curse of the law, becoming a curse for our sakes…that the blessing of Abraham may be coming to the nations in Christ Jesus, that we may be obtaining the promise of the spirit through faith.”

The “spirit” to which Paul was referring in these verses (and which the Galatian believers are said to have received “by the hearing of faith”) is, of course, the spirit of God by which we’re justified (and which is poured out on us through Christ). This spirit is obtained “through faith” – i.e., through faith in the evangel that was entrusted to Paul to herald among the nations.

In Romans 8:1 we read that, “Nothing, consequently, is now condemnation to those in Christ Jesus.” In other words, after having received the spirit of God, there is nothing that “those in Christ Jesus” (i.e., believers) can do that can result in our being condemned. For we who are in the body of Christ, it’s impossible for our sins (past, present or future) to result in condemnation. The reason for this is provided in the next verse: “For the spirit's law of life in Christ Jesus frees you from the law of sin and death.”

The “law of sin and death” refers to the fact that sin results in condemnation (being deserving of death). In accord with this fact, we read in 1 Cor. 15:56 that “the sting of Death is sin, yet the power of sin is the law.” When Paul wrote that the “sting of death is sin,” he was essentially saying that sin is what gives death the ability to injure us. Death is the judicial consequence of sin. However, since those who are “in Christ Jesus” have received the spirit of God (and have thus been justified), we have been set free from this “law of sin and death.” Although we still sin in these mortal bodies, our sins cannot make us deserving of death. 

We go on to read in Romans 8:9-11 what’s in store for those who, because of “the spirit’s law of life,” have been freed “from the law of sin and death”:

Yet you are not in flesh, but in spirit, if so be that God’s spirit is making its home in you. Now if anyone has not Christ's spirit, this one is not His. Now if Christ is in you, the body, indeed, is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is life because of righteousness. Now if the spirit of Him Who rouses Jesus from among the dead is making its home in you, He Who rouses Christ Jesus from among the dead will also be vivifying your mortal bodies because of His spirit making its home in you.[v]

It’s only believers (and not unbelievers) in whom “the spirit of Him Who rouses Jesus from among the dead is making its home.” And because this spirit is making its home in believers, God is going to “be vivifying [our] mortal bodies,” just as he roused Jesus from among the dead (cf. Phil. 3:21, where we read that Christ “will transfigure the body of our humiliation, to conform it to the body of His glory”). We’re thus told that “the spirit is life because of righteousness.” That is, the spirit to which Paul is referring in the immediate context (i.e., God’s spirit) is a source of life for us because of the fact that it’s making its home in us (which, again, is how we’re justified/made righteous by God, and thus made undeserving of death).

In accord with what we read of the future vivifying work of the indwelling spirit in this passage, Paul went on to refer to this spirit given to believers as follows in verses 22-23:

For we are aware that the entire creation is groaning and travailing together until now. Yet not only so, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruit of the spirit, we ourselves also, are groaning in ourselves, awaiting the sonship, the deliverance of our body.

Here it’s implied that having “the firstfruit of the spirit” is what will result in believers receiving “the sonship, the deliverance of our body” (i.e., the vivification/glorification of our body). In accord with this understanding, we read the following in Ephesians 1:13-14:

“In Whom you also–on hearing the word of truth, the evangel of your salvation–in Whom on believing also, you are sealed with the holy spirit of promise (which is an earnest of the enjoyment of our allotment, to the deliverance of that which has been procured) for the laud of His glory!”

Later, Paul referred to this spirit as “the holy spirit of God by which [we] are sealed for the day of deliverance” (Eph. 4:30) – i.e., the day when we receive “the deliverance of our body,” and are thus glorified/conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29-30; see also 2 Cor. 1:22 and 5:1-6, where Paul used the expression “the earnest of the spirit” in connection with our being made immortal).

Being justified by faith and being sealed with the holy spirit of promise when believing the evangel are not two different blessings; rather, Paul was simply referring to the same blessing in two different ways. Being sealed with the holy spirit of promise is how the believer is justified/declared righteous by God (for it is by this spirit – which is “the spirit of our God” – that we’re justified).

That our justification takes place when we receive the holy spirit is further evident from the fact that, when we believe the evangel, we’re sealed with this spirit “for the day of deliverance.” Since everyone who receives this spirit will necessarily be vivified by Christ at the appointed future time referred to by Paul in 1 Cor. 15:50-55 and 1 Thess. 4:14-18, it necessarily follows that everyone who has this spirit has been justified (i.e., is no longer condemned/deserving of death), and everyone who has been justified has this spirit. And because we’re “sealed” with the spirit for this “day of deliverance,” it follows that the justification of everyone in the body of Christ is permanent. It cannot be undone by anything we do or fail to do.

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[i] In 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 we read the following concerning the elements of this evangel: 

Now I am making known to you, brethren, the evangel which I bring to you, which also you accepted, in which also you stand, through which also you are saved, if you are retaining what I said in bringing the evangel to you, outside and except you believe feignedly. For I give over to you among the first what also I accepted, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that He was entombed, and that He has been roused the third day according to the scriptures… 

To believe that “Christ died for our sins” is to believe that Christ died so that our sins would be eliminated/taken away. That is, Christ died so that our sins would cease to be reckoned to us by God, and we would thus be justified. This means that the sins for which Christ died – which include the sins of all mankind – shall be (and not merely “can be,” or “may be”) eliminated as a source of condemnation. 

Moreover, the evangel that Paul heralded among the nations (and which essentially includes the truth that “Christ died for our sins”) should be distinguished from the evangel that was entrusted to, and heralded by, the apostle Peter (for a defense of this point, see the following three-part study: http://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2019/10/revisiting-two-evangels-controversy.html). The evangel heralded by Peter (the “evangel of the Circumcision”) is a message that was being heralded to Israel before Paul was called to be an apostle (and before the body of Christ came into existence), and is a message that concerns Jesus’ Messianic identity and the kingdom that is going to be restored to Israel (hence it is also referred to as “the evangel of the kingdom”). 

[ii] For a defense of the translation “through Jesus Christ’s faith,” see my remarks in the fourth footnote for the following article: https://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-golden-chain-of-salvation-study-on_21.html. 

[iii] That Paul had in mind literal death here in Romans 6:22 is evident from the contrast made in v. 23 (where we read that “the ration of Sin is death, yet the gracious gift of God is life eonian, in Christ Jesus, our Lord”). Because eonian life involves being literally alive during the eons to come (i.e., the “oncoming eons” referred to by Paul in Eph. 2:7), so the alternative fate – i.e., death – involves being dead during these future periods of time. 

[iv] We know that it’s through the evangel that God calls those whom he has designated beforehand (Gal. 1:6-7; 2 Thess. 2:13-14). However, the “calling” that Paul had in mind in these verses is not a general “calling” that one can choose to ignore or fail to respond to. It is, instead, a calling from God that invariably results in the justification of those whom he calls. This is evident from v. 30, where we find that the same individuals who are called by God are justified by God also. It’s not simply the case that all who are justified were also called (which might imply that only some who are called end up being justified). Rather, everyone that Paul referred to as being called by God end up justified as well. Thus, the nature of this calling must be such that it involves a person’s meeting the conditions necessary to being justified. And since only those who believe Paul’s gospel are presently being justified, the “calling” which Paul had in view must involve one’s being given the faith necessary to being justified. 

Paul referred to this special “calling” in 1 Corinthians 1:21-29: 

For since, in fact, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom knew not God, God delights, through the stupidity of the heralding, to save those who are believing, since, in fact, Jews signs are requesting, and Greeks wisdom are seeking, yet we are heralding Christ crucified, to Jews, indeed, a snare, yet to the nations stupidity, yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, for the stupidity of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you are observing your calling, brethren, that there are not many wise according to the flesh; not many powerful, not many noble, but the stupidity of the world God chooses, that He may be disgracing the wise, and the weakness of the world God chooses, that He may be disgracing the strong, and the ignoble and the contemptible things of the world God chooses, and that which is not, that He should be discarding that which is, so that no flesh at all should be boasting in God's sight. 

Notice that, according to Paul’s use of the word “call,” those who are called are not merely those to whom his evangel is heralded. Among those to whom Paul and his co-laborers heralded the evangel, only some were “called.” Thus, being “called” involved more than simply hearing the evangel. It involved believing it as well. Although those who were called by God were called through the heralding of Paul’s evangel, their being called necessarily involved being given the faith to believe. And so it is for those in the body of Christ today. It is through the evangel that we’re called by God, but our calling involves more than simply having the evangel presented to us. It involves being given the faith to believe it. 

[v] Some have understood “God’s spirit” to be distinct from “Christ’s spirit” in this passage. However, we know that God’s spirit can be referred to in different ways depending on what it’s function is (see the following article from BiblicalUnitarian.com for a defense of this point: https://www.biblicalunitarian.com/verses/1-peter-1-11). It should also be kept in mind that (1) Christ is the first man in whom this spirit has “made its home” and permanently indwells, and (2) Christ is the one through whom God gives the spirit to the believer. This being the case, I see no good reason why the same spirit of God couldn’t be referred to by Paul as both “God’s spirit” and “Christ’s spirit” in this passage. This doesn’t, of course, mean that Christ doesn’t have his own personal spirit (i.e., the spirit that he committed to God right before he died); it’s simply that we need not understand Paul to have been referring to this spirit in this passage.