I am sorry for my tardy return to post this entry to complete my entry way back on March 12. Wow! I did not realize that it was so long. My only excuse is that I've been rather busy. I attended two conferences, presenting two different papers. Well, that's enough about how busy my life is. Everyone's life is busy, I'm rather confident. So, here is my next installment on Romans 5:14-17.
But death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression, who is a type of the one to come.
But is not the transgression like the gift? Indeed, for if by the transgression of one the many died, how much more God’s grace and the gift in grace that is from the one man Jesus Christ has abounded for the many. And is not the sin through one man like the gift? Indeed, for the judgment from one sin resulted in condemnation, and the gift from many transgressions resulted in the verdict of righteousness. For if death by the transgression of the one reigned through the one man, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Timotheos, I concur with you that we would be better directed to tranlsate Paul's interrogatives of verses 15 & 16 as expecting an affirmative response than to convert them into non-interrogative indicative sentences as most modern translations do.
I also concur with your sense as to why this is a better direction when you say, "Given what I said above regarding typology, it seems to me that Paul here is working more with comparison between Christ and Adam rather than contrast. Now, of course, there is contrast, for one was obedient, while the other was unfaithful. And there is an a fortiori relationship between the type and the antitype, but I still think there is a great deal of comparison."
Given my earlier presentation concerning an overview of typology, in my Typology Primer, the arrangement of Paul's interrogative questions makes much more sense over against modern translations, such as, the ESV.
Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. If, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Paul's reference point is not Adam; his point of reference is Christ. Like most modern translations, followed by most commentators, the ESV makes Adam the point of reference by saying, "But the free gift is not like the trespass." A few scholars opt for our translation (e.g. Chrys Caragounis, "Romans 5.15-16 in the Context of 5.12-21: Contrast or Comparison?" NTS 31 (1985): 142-148).
What is the significance of seeing Christ as the reference point rather than Adam? As I showed in my Typology Primer, Christ is the pattern, the one who cast the shadow; Adam is the shadow, the type cast by the pattern. Christ is not like Adam. Rather, Adam is like Christ. The gift Christ brings is not like the indictment Adam brought. Rather, the indictment Adam brough is like the gift Christ brings.
Certainly we are to recognize contrasts between Christ and Adam and between what comes by way of Christ and what comes by way of Adam. Paul subordinates the contrasts, however, to the comparison that he makes to dominate by way of his two interrogatives: "But is not the transgression like the gift? . . . And is not the sin through one man like the gift?" His interrogatives keep Christ as the point of reference, not Adam.
Timotheos, you raised a good and necessary concern when you said, "Now the problem with seeing the comparison is that it seems odd that God would set up Adam, who was disobedient to be a type of the obedient one." You pointed to Jonah as an example of a prophet who disobeyed but nonetheless served as a type of him who was yet to come (Matt 12:39-41). We could add other examples, too. The bronze serpent that Moses raised up on a pole in the wilderness is another example (John 3:14-15). Normally, the Bible associates the serpent with the devil, but in this case it is not so.
So in verse 15 Paul is showing the correspondence or likeness between Adam and Christ. Christ is not like Adam; Adam is like Christ. God's gift is not like Adam's transgression; Adam's transgression is like God's gift. The a fortiori element of Paul's argument emphasizes the point of contrast. "Indeed, for if by the transgression of one the many died, how much more God’s grace and the gift in grace that is from the one man Jesus Christ has abounded for the many."
Likewise, Paul emphasizes correspondence or likeness between Adam and Christ when he asks, "And is not the sin through one man like the gift?" And, he reinforces the correspondence by saying, "Indeed, for the judgment from one sin resulted in condemnation, and the gift from many transgressions resulted in the verdict of righteousness."
Verse 17 poses an interesting break in the parallel structure that Paul has given up to this point. One might have expected Paul to say, "For if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will life reign through the one man, Jesus Christ." Paul could have said this, for he says something very much like it later, in 5:21--"so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Paul does not, however, juxtapose death's reign and life's reign. Instead, he juxtaposes death's reign with our reign. He states it this way: "For if death by the transgression of the one reigned through the one man, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ." In other words, while "death" is the subject of the verb "reign" in the first half of the sentence, "life" is not the subject of the verb "reign" in the second half. Instead, "those who receive . . ." is the subject of the future tense verb "will reign."
Is this not significant? Indeed, Paul underscores a point of contrast between what we receive through the one man, Adam, and what we receive through the one man, Christ. The point of contrast focuses upon reception. Death comes to everyone through Adam. Grace and the gift of righteousness comes only to those who receive the gift. Verse 17 is crucial for a right understanding of verses 18 & 19. The point verse 17 makes is that the recipients of death and the recipients of grace and the gift of righteousness are not numerically identical. We can say more on this later, when we discuss the next segment of chapter 5.
For now, we will focus our attention on verse 17. Here is another crucial feature that should leap out at us from the verse. Paul speaks of "those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ." "Those who receive . . . will reign in life" is an expression that taps into at lease two major biblical themes. First, we all should hear the verb "reign" as an echo of Genesis 1:28ff.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so (Genesis 1:28-30; ESV).
Paul is saying that what we lost through Adam is and will be regained through Christ Jesus. In particular, the dominion we lost through the death we received from Adam is being restored to us through the grace and gift of righteousness we receive from Christ. It is not that life reigns. Rather, Paul says, we will reign in life. Thus, we should hear an echo of Psalm 8:6ff in Romans 5:17, also.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
Other New Testament passages should come to mind, also, such as Hebrews 2:5-8 (which quotes Psalm 8:6ff) and Revelation 20:4; 22:5, which speak of the consummation of redemption in Christ, when all who "receive the abundant grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life" forever and forever.
It should be evident, then, that Paul's expression--"those who receive . . . will reign in life"--taps into a major biblical theme, the very theme of redemption, redemption from death and loss of dominion to restoration of dominion in life. This reigning, dominion, kingship, or ruling is and will be ours only through Christ Jesus. Do we reign now? Some, such as James Dunn, contend that because Paul's use of "life" (zōē) in Romans usually refers to the Last Day (i.e., it is eschatological in reference), that his use with the future tense verb, "will reign," makes the Last Day the point of reference here (Dunn, Romans, 282). Nevertheless, it becomes evident in Romans 6 that Paul makes it clear that his expression, "will reign in life," does not await the Last Day for its beginning. Already we do reign. Do we reign now fully? No, not yet do we reign fully. Paul will develop how we already do reign later in his letter to the Romans, as we will see in Romans 6:11ff. Before Christ restores our dominion over the earth, he first restores our kingship over ourselves in preparation for kingship over this world we shall inherit along with all Abraham's seed (Romans 4:13; 8:18-27). In Christ, we first gain dominion over ourselves already; then we will receive dominion over the earth in the Last Day. God's New Creation takes place in reverse order to God's First Creation. In the First Creation, God began by forming the heavens and the earth, and God finished by placing Adam in his creation, whose disobedience brought God's curse upon himself and upon all creation. In the New Creation, God begins by placing his New Adam (i.e., Christ Jesus) within his First Creation in order that Christ's obedience might be reckoned to all who receive this abundant grace and the gift of righteousness, and then God will subject the entire new heavens and new earth to this new humanity forged in Christ, in the Last Day (Revelation 20:4; 22:5). The order of God's forming of the New Creation is noteworthy, for it is the First Adam that plunged the entire created order into frustration under the curse. God's New Creation begins with the Second Adam who first redeems all for whom his one act of obedience is made and then will redeem creation itself, in the Last Day, will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Romans 8:18-27).
Another crucial biblical theme that Paul taps into with his expression--"those who receive . . . will reign in life"--is that of resurrection. Those who come into death through Adam need to come into life through Christ. This is precisely what Paul speaks of with his expression that creates the imbalance of Romans 5:17. We will reign in life. As indicated in the paragraph above, though Paul's use of "life" (zōē) in Romans usually bears an eschatological reference, even though it bears that sense here, too, Paul makes it quite clear to us in the next chapter that the eschatological times have dawned upon us in that the future Day of Resurrection has become a reality in that Christ Jesus has been raised from the dead. Paul elaborates upon resurrection life, as we will soon see, in Romans 6:1-11. Hence, what Paul says in a somewhat unexpected way in Romans 5:17--"those who receive . . . will reign in life"--so as to pose the imbalance with the first half of the verse, anticipates what he will be elaborating upon in chapters 6-8. The resurrection life has begun for all who are in Christ Jesus. Hence, their reigning has also begun.
Therefore, Timotheos, I believe you wrote rightly when you stated,
Paul speaks of those who belong to the one man Jesus Messiah as reigning in life. Wright mentions this in his commentary (p. 528), and I think it is rich. Because of the gift in the one man Jesus, those who belong to him will reign in life, as a fulfillment of the reign given to Man in creation (Genesis 1.26ff). This idea, like the typology of Christ and Adam, is not simply a return to the original design of the first creation. No, instead it is an escalation. We will reign in life, the life brought about by Jesus the one who was marked out as Son of God by the resurrection of the dead (Romans 1.4).
No comments:
Post a Comment