theologian chokes on Romans 5:18

In the house magazine of the Reformed Alliance, “De Waarheidsvriend”, of February 20, 2015, was published an article by Dr. M. Klaassen, entitled, “will the outcome be good for everyone?”. It starts like this:

”Why would not everyone be saved? I meet many church youth, who live with that question and like to assume ‘that the outcome will be good for everyone’ – God is love? Why would the reconciliation-of-all be a problem?” The idea of the reconciliation-of-all (also known as: universalism) is of all times. Already in the early church, the well-known Scripture Expositor, Origen, embraced the idea that all rational creatures, angels and men, after a process of purification, would eventually return to God. Even today, this thought has its supporters. On the website www.goedbericht.nl – where all kinds of arguments are put forward to support the reconciliation-of-all – you can read: “No enemy will be able to withstand the supremacy of GOD’S LOVE!”.

After clarifying some theological points of view, Dr. Klaassen comments on the argument of Romans 5:18.

What are the arguments that are put forward for the idea of the reconciliation-of-all? Many point to Bible verses that seem to have a universal scope. One text, that in this connection will often be referred to is Romans 5:18: “Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.” This text indicates a parallelism between Adam and Christ. As through Adam all men have become guilty, so through Christ grace comes to ‘all men.’ The question naturally directs us to the meaning of “all” in the second part of the text: does Paul refer here to all men, bar none, or does he refer to those who are “in Christ”? I think the latter. Texts must be read in their context and it is undeniable that in Romans, the justification of which 5:18 speaks, is associated with faith (see 5:1). And does Paul, in chapter 2, not ever so clearly speak about the wrath and judgment of God (Rom.2:5)?

Dr. Klaassen advances three reasons to escape the power of Paul’s statement in Romans 5:18. In the first place, he tries to limit the second “all” to “all who are in Christ”. But apart from the fact that he projects what is not stated in the text, he also makes Paul’s comparison absurd. If we want to know what is the scope of the second “all”, then we only need to ask what is the scope of the first “all”. After all, this is a comparison. “Even as through one…, so it will also be through…”. Would the size of the second “all mankind” not be equal to the first “all mankind”, then Paul’s comparison is not pure and therefore invalid. Because then Adam’s transgression has a (significantly) greater impact than Christ’s act of obedience; wile the tenor of this passage in Romans 5 is precisely that Christ’s is “much more” than Adam’s (5:15,17). With his ‘explanation’, Dr. Klaassen does not only violate the text, but also the context of Romans 5. Although he is complying with orthodox theology, he is altogether in conflict with what Paul wrote down. The second reason that Dr. Klaassen advances to make Romans 5:18 say something else than what it says, is that Paul, elsewhere, in the Roman-letter links justification to faith. Dr. Klaassen, thereby, suggests that those who die in unbelief, cannot be justified. What he overlooks is the fact that God will execute judgment and will set everything straight, so that, one day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess (Gr. ex-omologeo = from the inside!) that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father (Phil.2:10,11). God will convince everyone. He will give faith, sooner or later. “Each in his own order or class” (1Cor.15:23). The third reason Dr. Klaassen presents is that Paul clearly speaks of the wrath and judgment of God. Again, another fallacy. As if wrath and judgment, in Scripture, would have the last word. God’s judgment, however, is never an end, but a means to an end (Lam.3:31-33). God’s wrath is passing, while His mercy is permanent (Ps.103:9.). According to the psalmist, God’s wrath relates to His mercy as a moment to a long life (30:6). Alas, Dr. Klaassen in this article shows himself to be more of a friend to the tradition of the church than to the truth of God. With transparent, weak arguments, he distorts the truth of the saving grace of God, which has appeared to all humanity (Tit.2:11). Adam’s fall in the garden of Eden was, according to this theologian, much more effective than Christ’s resurrection in the garden of Arimathea. Death, which via Adam, is coming to every human being (no exceptions) will only, for a fraction, be nullified by the life that Christ brought to light. What a caricature of the Evangel, which says (1Cor.15:22):

For EVEN AS, in Adam, ALL are dying, THUS ALSO, in Christ, shall ALL be vivified [=be made alive beyond the reach of death].

Please note: “in Christ all”. Not: all in Christ. Moreover, Romans 5:18 is the triumphant echo of what Paul had previously written, already, in Romans 3:23-24.

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

Delen: