The Normal Christian Life
Chapter Two
The Cross of Christ
We have seen that Romans 1 to 8 falls into two sections,
in the first of which we are shown that the Blood deals with what we have
done, while in the second we shall see that the Cross[2] deals with what we
are. We need the Blood for forgiveness; we need also the Cross for
deliverance. We have dealt briefly above with the first of these two and we
shall move on now to the second; but before we do so we will look for a
moment at a few more features of this passage which serve to emphasize the
difference in subject matter and argument between the two halves.
Some Further Distinctions
Two aspects of the resurrection are mentioned in the two sections, in
chapters 4 and 6. In Romans 4:25 the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is
mentioned in relation to our justification: "Jesus our Lord...was delivered
up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification." Here the
matter in view is that of our standing before God. But in Romans 6:4 the
resurrection is spoken of as imparting to us new life with a view to a holy
walk: "That like as Christ was raised from the dead...so we also might walk
in newness of life." Here the matter before us is behaviour.
Again, peace is spoken of in both sections, in the fifth and eighth
chapters. Romans 5 tells of peace with God which is the effect of
justification by faith in His Blood: "Being therefore justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (5:1mg.) This means
that, now that I have forgiveness of sins, God will no longer be a cause of
dread and trouble to me. I who was an enemy to God have been
"reconciled...through the death of his Son" (5:10). I very soon find,
however, that I am going to be a great cause of trouble to myself. There is
still unrest within, for within me there is something that draws me to sin.
There is peace with God, but there is no peace with myself. There is in fact
civil war in my own heart. This condition is well depicted in Romans 7 where
the flesh and the spirit are seen to be in deadly conflict within me. But
from this the argument leads in chapter 8 to the inward peace of a walk in
the Spirit. "The mind of the flesh is death", because it "is enmity against
God", "but the mind of the spirit is life and peace" (Romans 8:6,7).
Looking further still we find that the first half of the section deals
generally speaking with the question of justification (see, for example,
Romans 3:24-26; 4:5,25), while the second half has as its main topic the
corresponding question of sanctification (see Rom. 6:19,22). When we know
the precious truth of justification by faith we still know only half of the
story. We still have only solved the problem of our standing before God. As
we go on, God has something more to offer us, namely, the solution of the
problem of our conduct, and the development of thought in these chapters
serves to emphasize this. In each case the second step follows from the
first, and if we know only the first then we are still leading a sub-normal
Christian life. How then can we live a normal Christian life? How do we
enter in? Well, of course, initially we must have forgiveness of sins, we
must have justification, we must have peace with God: these are our
indispensable foundation. But with that basis truly established through our
first act of faith in Christ, it is yet clear from the above that we must
move on to something more.
So we see that objectively the Blood deals with
our sins. The
Lord Jesus has borne them on the Cross for us as our Substitute and has
thereby obtained for us forgiveness, justification and reconciliation. But
we must now go a step further in the plan of God to understand how He deals
with the sin principle in us. The Blood can wash away my sins, but it
cannot wash away my `old man'. It needs the Cross to crucify me. The Blood
deals with the sins, but the Cross must deal with the sinner.
You will scarcely find the word `sinner' in the first four chapters of
Romans. This is because there the sinner himself is not mainly in view, but
rather the sins he has committed. The word `sinner' first comes into
prominence only in chapter 5, and it is important to notice how the sinner
is there introduced. In that chapter a sinner is said to be a sinner because
he is born a sinner; not because he has committed sins. The distinction is
important. It is true that often when a Gospel worker wants to convince a
man in the street that he is a sinner, he will use the favourite verse
Romans 3:23, where it says that "all have sinned"; but this use of the verse
is not strictly justified by the Scriptures. Those who so use it are in
danger or arguing the wrong way round, for the teaching of Romans is not
that we are sinners because we commit sins, but that we sin because we
are sinners. We are sinners by constitution rather than by action. As
Romans 5:19 expresses it: "Through the one man's disobedience the man were
made (or `constituted') sinners".
How were we constituted sinners? By Adam's disobedience. We do not
become sinners by what we have done but because of what Adam has done and
has become. I speak English, but I am not thereby constituted on Englishman.
I am in fact a Chinese. So chapter 3 draws our attention to what we have
done -- "all have sinned" -- but it is not because we have done it that we
become sinners.
I once asked a class of children. `Who is a sinner?' and their
immediate reply was, `One who sins'. Yes, one who sins is a sinner, but the
fact that he sins is merely the evidence that he is already a sinner; it is
not the cause. One who sins is a sinner, but it is equally true that one who
does not sin, if he is of Adam's race, is a sinner too, and in need of
redemption. Do you follow me? There are bad sinners and there are good
sinners, there are moral sinners and there are corrupt sinners, but they are
all alike sinners. We sometimes think that if only we had not done certain
things all would be well; but the trouble lies far deeper than in what we
do: it lies in what we are. A Chinese may be born America and be unable to
speak Chinese at all, but he is a Chinese for all that, because he was born
a Chinese. It is birth that counts. So I am a sinner not of my behaviour but
of my heredity, my parentage. I am not a sinner because I sin, but I sin
because I come of the wrong stock. I sin because I am a sinner.
We are apt to think that what we have done is very bad, but that we
ourselves are not so bad. God is taking pains to show us that we ourselves
are wrong, fundamentally wrong. The root trouble is the sinner; he must be
dealt with. Our sins are dealt with by the Blood, but we ourselves are dealt
with by the Cross. The Blood procures our pardon for what we have done; the
Cross procures our deliverance from what we are.
Man's State By Nature
We come therefore to Romans 5:12-21. In this great passage, grace is
brought into contrast with sin and the obedience of Christ is set against
the disobedience of Adam. It is placed at the beginning of the second
section of Romans (5:12 to 8:39) with which we shall now be particularly
concerned, and its argument leads to a conclusion which lies at the
foundation of our further meditations. What is that conclusion? It is found
in verse 19 already quoted: "For as through the one man's disobedience the
many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one shall the
many be made righteous." Here the Spirit of God is seeking to show us first
what we are, and then how we came to be what we are.
At the beginning of our Christian life we are concerned with our doing,
not with our being; we are distressed rather by what we have done than by
what we are. We think that if only we could rectify certain things we should
be good Christians, and we set out therefore to change our actions. But the
result is not what we expected. We discover to our dismay that it is
something more than just a case of trouble on the outside -- that there is
in fact more serious trouble on the inside. We try to please the Lord, but
find something within that does not want to please Him. We try to be humble,
but there is something in our very being that refuses to be humble. We try
to be loving, but inside we feel most unloving. We smile and try to look
very gracious, but inwardly we feel decidedly ungracious. The more we try to
rectify matters on the outside the more we realize how deep-seated the
trouble is within. Then we come to the Lord and say, `Lord, I see it now!
Not only what I have done is wrong; I am wrong.'
The conclusion of Romans 5:19 is beginning to dawn upon us. We are
sinners. We are members of a race of people who are constitutionally other
than what God intended them to be. By the Fall a fundamental change took
place in the character of Adam whereby he became a sinner, one
constitutionally unable to please God; and the family likeness which we all
share is no merely superficial one but extends to our inward character also.
We have been "constituted sinners". How did this come about? "By the
disobedience of one", says Paul. Let me try to illustrate this.
My name is Nee. It is a fairly common Chinese name. How did I come by
it? I did not choose it. I did not go through the list of possible Chinese
names and select this one. That my name is Nee is in fact not my doing at
all, and, moreover, nothing I can do can alter it. I am a Nee because my
father was a Nee, and my father was a Nee because my grandfather was a Nee.
If I act like a Nee I am a Nee, and if I act unlike a Nee I am still a Nee.
If I become President of the Chinese Republic I am a Nee, or if I become a
beggar in the street I am still a Nee. Nothing I do or refrain from doing
will make me other than a Nee.
We are sinners not because of ourselves but because of Adam. It is not
because I individually have sinned that I am a sinner but because I was in
Adam when he sinned. Because by birth I come of Adam, therefore I am a part
of him. What is more, I can do nothing to alter this. I cannot by improving
my behaviour make myself other than a part of Adam and so a sinner.
In China I was once talking in this strain and remarked, `We have all
sinned in Adam'. A man said, `I don't understand', so I sought to explain it
in this way. `All Chinese trace their descent from Huang-ti', I said. `Over
four thousand years ago he had a war with Si-iu. His enemy was very strong,
but nevertheless Huang-ti overcame and slew him. After this Huang-ti founded
the Chinese nation. Four thousand years ago therefore our nation was founded
by Huang-ti. Now what would have happened if Huang-ti had not killed his
enemy, but had been himself killed instead? Where would you be now?' `There
would be no me at all', he answered. `Oh, no! Huang-ti can die his death and
you can live your life.' `Impossible!' he cried, `If he had died, then I
could never have lived, for I have derived my life from him.'
Do you see the oneness of human life? Our life comes from Adam. If your
great-grandfather had died at the age of three, where would you be? You
would have died in him! Your experience is bound up with his. Now in just
the same way the experience of every one of us is bound up with that of
Adam. None can say, `I have not been in Eden' for potentially we all were
there when Adam yielded to the serpent's words. So we are all involved in
Adam's sin, and by being born "in Adam" we receive from him all that he
became as a result of his sin -- that is to say, the Adam-nature which is
the nature of a sinner. We derive our existence from him, and because his
life became a sinful life, a sinful nature, therefore the nature which we
derive from him is also sinful. So, as we have said, the trouble is in our
heredity, not in our behaviour. Unless we can change our parentage there is
no deliverance for us.
But it is in this very direction that we shall find the solution of our
problem, for that is exactly how God has dealt with the situation.
As In Adam So In Christ
In Romans 5:12 to 21 we are not only told something about Adam; we are
told also something about the Lord Jesus. "As through the one man's
disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of
the one shall the many be made righteous." In Adam we receive everything
that is of Adam; in Christ we receive everything that is of Christ.
The terms `in Adam' and `in Christ' are too little understood by
Christians, and, at the risk of repetition, I wish again to emphasize by
means of an illustration the hereditary and racial significance of the term
`in Christ'. This illustration is to be found in the letter to the Hebrews.
Do you remember that in the earlier part of the letter the writer is trying
to show that Melchizedek is greater than Levi? You recall that the point to
be proved is that the priesthood of Christ is greater than the priesthood of
Aaron who was of the tribe of Levi. Now in order to prove that, he has first
to prove that the priesthood of Melchizedek is greater than the priesthood
of Levi, for the simple reason that the priesthood of Christ is "after the
order of Melchizedek" (Heb. 7:14-17), while that of Aaron is, of course,
after the order of Levi. If the writer can demonstrate to us that
Melchizedek is greater than Levi, then he has made his point. That is the
issue, and he proves it in a remarkable way.
He tells us in Hebrews chapter 7 that one day Abraham, returning from
the battle of the kings (Genesis 14), offered a tithe of his spoils to
Melchizedek and received from him a blessing. Inasmuch as Abraham did so,
Levi is therefore of less account than Melchizedek. Why? Because the fact
that Abraham offered tithes to Melchizedek. But if that is true, then Jacob
also `in Abraham' offered to Melchizedek, which in turn means that Levi `in
Abraham' offered to Melchizedek. It is evident that the lesser offers to the
greater (Hebrews 7:7). So Levi is less in standing than Melchizedek, and
therefore the priesthood of Aaron is inferior to that of the Lord Jesus.
Levi at the time of the battle of the kings was not yet even thought of. Yet
he was "in the loins of his father" Abraham, and, "so to say, through
Abraham", he offered (Hebrews 7:9,10).
Now his is the exact meaning of `in Christ'. Abraham, as the head of
the family of faith, includes the whole family in himself. When he offered
to Melchizedek, the whole family offered in him to Melchizedek. They did not
offer separately as individuals, but they were in him, and therefore in
making his offering he included with himself all his seed.
So we are presented with a new possibility. In Adam all was lost.
Through the disobedience of one man we were all constituted sinners. By him
sin entered and death through sin, and throughout the race sin has reigned
unto death from that day on. But now a ray of light is cast upon the scene.
Through the obedience of Another we may be constituted righteous. Where sin
abounded grace did much more abound, and as sin reigned unto death, even so
may grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our
Lord (Romans 5:19-21). Our despair is in Adam; our hope is in Christ.
The Divine Way of Deliverance
God clearly intends that this consideration should lead to our
practical deliverance from sin. Paul makes this quite plain when he opens
chapter 6 of his letter with the question: "Shall we continue in sin?" His
whole being recoils at the very suggestion. "God forbid!", he exclaims. How
could a holy God be satisfied to have unholy, sin-fettered children? And so
"how shall we any longer live therein?" (Romans 6:1,2). God has surely
therefore made adequate provision that we should be set free from sin's
dominion.
But here is our problem. We were born sinners; how then can we cut off
our sinful heredity? Seeing that we were born in Adam, how can we get out of
Adam? Let me say at once, the Blood cannot take us out of Adam. There is
only one way. Since we came in by birth we must go out by death. To do away
with our sinfulness we must do away with our life. Bondage to sin came by
birth; deliverance from sin comes by death -- and it is just this way of
escape that God has provided. Death is the secret of emancipation.
"We...died to sin" (Romans 6:2).
But how can we die? Some of us have tried very hard to get rid of this
sinful life, but we have found it most tenacious. What is the way out? It is
not by trying to kill ourselves, but by recognizing that God has dealt
with us in Christ. This is summed up in the apostle's next statement:
"All we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death"
(Romans 6:3).
But if God has dealt with us `in Christ Jesus' then we have got to
be in Him for this to become effective, and that now seems just as big a
problem. How are we to `get into' Christ? Here again God comes to our help.
We have in fact no way of getting in, but, what is more important, we need
not try to get in, for we are in. What we could not do for ourselves
God has done for us. He has put us into Christ. Let me remind you of
I Corinthians 1:30. I think that is one of the best verses of the whole New
Testament: `Ye are in Christ'. How? "Of him (that is, `of God') are ye in
Christ." Praise God! it is not left to us either to devise a way of entry or
to work it out. We need not plan how to get in. God has planned it; and He
has not only planned it but He has also performed it. `Of him are ye
in Christ Jesus'. We are in; therefore we need not try to get in. It is a
Divine act, and it is accomplished.
Now if this is true, certain things follow. In the illustration from
Hebrews 7 which we considered above we saw that `in Abraham' all Israel --
and therefore Levi who was not yet born -- offered tithes to Melchizedek.
They did not offer separately and individually, but they were in Abraham
when he offered, and his offering included all his seed. This, then, is a
true figure of ourselves as `in Christ'. When the Lord Jesus was on the
Cross all of us died -- not individually, for we had not yet been born --
but, being in Him, we died in Him. "One died for all, therefore all died" (2
Cor. 5:14). When He was crucified all of us were crucified.
Many a time when preaching in the villages of China one has to use very
simple illustrations for deep Divine truth. I remember once I took up a
small book and put a piece of paper into it, and I said to those very simple
ones, `Now look carefully. I take a piece of paper. It has an identity of
its own, quite separate from this book. Having no special purpose for it at
the moment I put it into the book. Now I do something with the book. I post
it to Shanghai. I do not post the paper, but the paper has been put into the
book. Then where is the paper? Can the book go to Shanghai and the paper
remain here? Can the paper have a separate destiny from the book? No! Where
the book goes the paper goes. If I drop the book in the river the paper goes
too, and if I quickly take it out again I recover the paper also. Whatever
experience the book goes through the paper goes through with it, for it is
in the book.'
"Of him are ye in Christ Jesus." The Lord God Himself has put us in
Christ, and in His dealing with Christ God has dealt with the whole race.
Our destiny is bound up with His. What He has gone through we have gone
through, for to be `in Christ' is to have been identified with Him in both
His death and resurrection. He was crucified: then what about us? Must we
ask God to crucify us? Never! When Christ was crucified we were crucified;
and His crucifixion is past, therefore ours cannot be future. I challenge
you to find one text in the New Testament telling us that our crucifixion is
in the future. All the references to it are in the Greek aorist, which is
the `once-for-all' tense, the `eternally past' tense. (See: Romans 6:6;
Galations 2:20; 5:24; 6:14). And just as no man could ever commit suicide by
crucifixion, for it were a physical impossibility to do so, so also, in
spiritual terms, God does not require us to crucify ourselves. We were
crucified when He was crucified, for God put us there in Him. That we have
died in Christ is not merely a doctrinal position, it is an eternal fact.
His Death and Resurrection Representative and Inclusive
The Lord Jesus, when He died on the Cross, shed His Blood, thus giving
His sinless life to atone for our sin and to satisfy the righteousness and
holiness of God. To do so was the prerogative of the Son of God alone. No
man could have a share in that. The Scripture has never told us that we shed
our blood with Christ. In His atoning work before God He acted alone; no
other could have a part. But the Lord did not die only to shed His Blood: He
died that we might die. He died as our Representative. In His
death He included you and me.
We often use the terms `substitution' and `identification' to describe
these two aspects of the death of Christ. Now many a time the use of the
word `identification' is good. But identification would suggest that the
thing begins from our side: that I try to identify myself with the Lord. I
agree that the word is true, but it should be used later on. It is better to
begin with the fact that the Lord included me in His death. It is the
`inclusive' death of the Lord which puts me in a position to identify
myself, not that I identify myself in order to be included. It is God's
inclusion of me in Christ that matters. It is something God has done. For
that reason those two New Testament words "in Christ" are always very dear
to my heart.
The death of the Lord Jesus is inclusive. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus is alike inclusive. We have looked at the first chapter of I
Corinthians to establish the fact that we are "in Christ Jesus". Now we will
go to the end of the same letter to see something more of what this means.
In I Corinthians 15:45,47 two remarkable names or titles are used of the
Lord Jesus. He is spoken of there as "the last Adam" and He is spoken of too
as "the second man". Scripture does not refer to Him as the second Adam but
as "the last Adam"; nor does it refer to Him as the last Man, but as "the
second man". The distinction is to be noted, for it enshrines a truth of
great value.
As the last Adam, Christ is the sum total of humanity; as the second
Man He is the Head of a new race. So we have here two unions, the one
relating to His death and the other to His resurrection. In the first place
His union with the race as "the last Adam" began historically at Bethlehem
and ended at the cross and the tomb. In it He gathered up into Himself all
that was in Adam and took it to judgment and death. In the second place our
union with Him as "the second man" begins in resurrection and ends in
eternity -- which is to say, it never ends -- for, having in His death done
away with the first man in whom God's purpose was frustrated, He rose again
as Head of a new race of men, in whom that purpose shall be fully realized.
When therefore the Lord Jesus was crucified on the cross, He was
crucified as the last Adam. All that was in the first Adam was gathered up
and done away in Him. We were included there. As the last Adam He wiped out
the old race; as the second Man He brings in the new race. It is in His
resurrection that He stands forth as the second Man, and there too we are
included. "For if we have become united with him by the likeness of his
death, we shall be also by the likeness of his resurrection" (Romans 6:5).
We died in Him as the last Adam; we live in Him as the second Man. The Cross
is thus the power of God which translates us from Adam to Christ.