not raised for all?

Originally posted on July 25, 2008 – by Andre Piet

This week I received from the Netherlands Bible Study Center (Ab Klein Haneveld) a Circular in which the following is asserted:

The Lord Jesus Christ died for an entire world, and yet we do not read in Scripture that the Lord Jesus Christ was raised for an entire world. The death of the Lord Jesus has to do with redemption. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ has to do with justification.

To limit myself to one point in this weblog; the reasoning goes approximately as follows:
a. the resurrection of Jesus Christ took place with a view to our justification (Rom. 4:25);
b. not all people are justified;
c. conclusion: Jesus Christ was not raised for all people (“… yet we do not read…”).

It is, however, not difficult to demonstrate that assertion no. 2 is directly contrary to what Scripture teaches and therefore the conclusion of no. 3 is also invalid. Stronger still: assertion no. 3 is also directly contradicted by what “is written.”

all people justified

In Romans 5 Paul fundamentally shows how Adam is a type of Christ, “the last Adam.” All people are sinners and mortals, not because of their own choice but because they are included “in Adam.” In chapter 5 verse 12 Paul begins making a comparison, which he completes only after a long parenthesis (verses 13 through 17):

consequently, AS it was through one offense
for ALL MANKIND
for condemnation,
THUS ALSO it is through one just award
for ALL MANKIND
for life’s justifying.
Romans 5:18

Can it be clearer? If the first statement is absolute and universal, then so is the second. Otherwise the comparison is not sound. If through one offense all people were actually condemned to be sinners and mortals, then through one just award all people are actually justified.

only through faith

That a person is justified exclusively through faith in Christ does not detract from the above in any way. It merely implies that all people will come to the recognition of Jesus Christ as Lord. Well then, that is exactly what Scripture teaches elsewhere. Every knee shall be bowing and every tongue (not every lip!) shall be acclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord, for the glory of God, the Father (Phil. 2:11)!

in Christ all made alive

Added to this is that, contrary to what is asserted in the Circular of the NBC, Scripture does indeed explicitly teach that the significance of Christ’s resurrection includes all people.

For EVEN AS, in Adam, ALL are dying,
THUS ALSO, in Christ, ALL shall be vivified.
1 Corinthians 15:22

In Adam all people are mortals; in the risen Christ those same all are made alive. Note that it does not say “all in Christ,” but “in Christ all.” It speaks twice of the same “all,” that is, all descendants of Adam.

vivification more than resurrection

Consider also that in 1 Cor. 15:22 it concerns vivification of which Christ is the Firstfruit (15:23). Christ was not the first to rise from the dead (for example, Lazarus preceded Him), but He was the first to rise in incorruption, glory, and power (15:42–44). 1 Corinthians 15:22 does not teach that all people will one day rise only to possibly die a second death afterward. No, 1 Corinthians 15 teaches that all people will receive the Life that Christ, as Firstfruit, brought to light!

the oncoming eons

The justification and vivification of all people does not take place during Christ’s reign in the coming eons. That is, neither during the coming eon of “the thousand years,” nor in the subsequent eon of the New Jerusalem. Also in that latter eon Christ reigns (Rev. 22:1,5) and death will not yet have been abolished, since many will be in “the second death” (Rev. 21:8). Yet Christ must reign until death, as the last enemy, is abolished. Only then will GOD be “All in all.” Paul’s outlook in 1 Corinthians 15 reaches further than that of John in the book of Revelation.

conclusion

The assertion in the Circular of the NBC is therefore directly contradicted by Scripture. Christ did not merely die for all. After all, He does not do half work. Christ died precisely in order to be raised and to give Life to all. Only thus is death swallowed up in victory (2 Tim. 1:10; 1 Cor. 15:54)!

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