But the gift is not like the trespass. (Romans 5:15)
A contrast is rarely a necessary teaching device, in that a thing is often knowable without perceiving its relations, its similarities, and its differences with something else. We must reject the assertion that things like love and goodness are without meaning, such that they cannot even exist, without hatred and wickedness. There are Christians who make this an integral assumption in their theology and a foundation for their theodicy. But since these qualities belong to the divine attributes, and since God is self-existing and independent, so that he can exist without Satan – indeed this must be so for him to be the creator of Satan, who had not eternally existed with God – this means that love and goodness, and many other things, can be in existence and be meaningful, so that they can be known and understood, without the existence of hatred and wickedness.
Rather, to assert that a contrast is necessary when it is not betrays an ignorance of the things spoken of, and an ignorance that is not overcome by the contrast. Thus to say that love is meaningless without hate shows that the person does not understand love, since love is not something that requires such a contrast to be understood. Instead, what the person thinks that he understands is not love itself, but the relation or contrast that supposedly exists between love and hate. And since he in fact does not understand love or hate, his understanding of this relation is also erroneous. In other words, he understands nothing.
That said, as long as we do not insist that a contrast is necessary when it is not, it can be a useful teaching device. When we place two different things close to each other for examination, their qualities often become clearer to our perception. Perhaps these qualities have always been there, but they are emphasized in our consciousness because of the contrast. Since it can sharpen our appreciation and precision concerning the things of God, it can be a helpful tool in theology. Then, some things can only exist because of other things. A trespass can only happen when there is a law (although there can be a law without a trespass). And there can be redemption only when there is transgression. Thus because God decided to reveal himself in redemption, he also decided that there would be transgression.
God is pleased to display his glory by making all of history a contrast between Adam and Christ. Paul refers to an aspect of this earlier in the letter, saying that “our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly.” He does not deny this; in fact, it is a chief pillar in his doctrine. Rather, he denies the false inferences that because of this God would be unjust to punish sinners and that we should “do evil that good may result.”
Theologians introduce difficulties into Christian doctrines when they lack the courage to affirm the Bible’s teachings and their straightforward implications. Then from unbelief spawns traditions that receive the stamp of orthodoxy. But when we have respect for Christ alone and shake off the shackles of men’s inventions, we find that the truth brings no troublesome baggage with it. Its yoke is easy, and its burden is light. When we, spurning all the traditions and threats of men, boldly affirm what the Bible teaches and all that it implies, we discover instant intellectual perfection. Without effort, we have arrived at the pinnacle of wisdom.
This theology of courage and simplicity begins with the truth that God is sovereign over all things and that he has predetermined all things. This dissolves all mystery when it comes to the fall of Adam, because from this perspective Adam was doomed from the start. He was commanded not to eat from the tree with the promise of death if he transgressed. And then he transgressed. His role was to set up the depravity of humanity so as to prepare for the promise of redemption and the arrival of Jesus Christ. If one suggests that “if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly…God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us,” then his understanding has not passed Romans 3, and he should revisit the apostle’s argument again. Or rather, he can get over it instantly by acknowledging that God is God, that he is always right and just as long as he considers himself right and just.
In any case, while theologians imagine for Adam a promise to attain eternal life and lament that he failed to achieve such greatness for humanity with no thanks to any member of the Trinity, I am delighted that I do not forever owe Adam the heavenly bliss of an endless life with God. Instead, the promise was given to Jesus Christ and fulfilled by him. God himself came to attain eternal life for his people and to receive this honor. This was his design all along. Now the Messiah is the Lord of Glory, seated at the right hand of the Most High, and we owe him gratitude and worship forever.
The bare idea of transgression is plain. It is any disagreement with God, any rebellion against God, and any reluctance or failure to perform all his commands. There is nothing difficult to understand. Nevertheless, to overcome the dullness of sinful minds, God has ordained the effect of Adam’s fall to run its course and to produce all its concrete implications. All the evils that we witness in the world – idolatry, murder, rape, adultery, homosexuality, dishonest businesses and corporations, theft and robbery, poverty and starvation, war and all kinds of violence, sickness and death – have resulted from the initial transgression of Adam.
A fundamental misunderstanding of redemption is that we save ourselves by the choices that God has set before us. However, just as it is not our choice to be included in Adam, it is not our choice to be included in Christ. Yet we do choose, because God causes that motion of the mind that we call choosing. A man does not choose to be in Adam, but his choice of unbelief is a manifestation of being in Adam. God has placed all of humanity under sin through Adam, and out of Adam he chooses some to be in Christ. The choice of faith, then, is a manifestation of being joined with Christ.
Many regard this an unjust arrangement, and even those who call themselves Christians are possessed with uneasiness, because they still think that the history of salvation is chiefly about them. But history is about a revelation of God and not the significance of men. This revelation unfolds through the centuries as God, by his sovereign choice, includes some in Adam and causes them to continue in him, bearing fruit according to his nature, and as God includes some in Christ and causes them to continue in him, bearing fruit according to his nature. It is not about individuals choosing whether to join themselves to Adam or to Christ, but whether God joins them to Adam or to Christ in order to reveal his glory and his purpose.
As Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit.” And he told the disciples, “Come with me. I will make you fishers of man.” In other words, “Congratulations, I have chosen you. You are now removed from the realm of sin and death, and into the realm of life and glory. Follow me. You work for me now.” It has never been a matter of our choice or freedom, but a matter of God rescuing us and drafting us into his service. This is the true picture of redemption.
Therefore, it is absurd to ask as some do, “Why does God give us only one way to salvation?” The answer is that history is not about you or saving you. To use another imagery, you ask, “Why can’t we marry any husband we choose? Why doesn’t God prepare more than one option for us?” It is because the history of salvation is not about God preparing a Christ for the bride, but it is about God preparing a bride for Christ. God does not exist for us, but we exist for him. Or, to use still another, it is not about God preparing a head for the body, but about God preparing a body for the head.
There is a kind of preaching that represents God as saying, “I know you have many options, but would you please pick me? Here are my good qualities, would you please consider them? I know you can deposit your soul anywhere. Thank you for worshiping at God & Son.” This comes from an utterly erroneous view of history and of salvation. It is the voice of advertising, not the voice of divine calling. Preaching that is faithful to the gospel declares, in one way or another, “You, come to Jesus and work for him, or remain in Adam, and burn.”
This insight, however, sometimes leads to a rather avoidable misunderstanding. There is nothing wrong with the doctrine, but the fault lies in men’s confusion and misguided agenda. I recently came across another book that claims to restore the proper focus of the gospel as a message about Jesus Christ instead of the salvation of individuals. Although this seems to agree with what we have established, the harmony is superficial, because although the gospel is about Jesus Christ, an essential aspect of the message has to do with how he saves individuals. Then, there is also the teaching that faith is a community affair. A contrast is posed between the individual and the community, a private faith and a public faith. If the thesis amounts to a denial that one of the chief interests of the Christian faith has to do with the salvation of individuals, then it must be denounced as a denial of the gospel and a damnable heresy.
The idea sounds very pious, although not to me, and it purportedly reduces our individualistic focus and self-centered faith, but it distorts reality. Perhaps it will help those who burn in hell: “Stop screaming! This is not just about you. So don’t think you are suffering as an individual. Hell is a community affair.” That would be extremely annoying, and perhaps for this reason it will be preached in hell. The damned burn in hell as individuals, not as an entity. And just as each individual cannot literally share another person’s suffering, or suffer “as a group,” no one can share another person’s salvation or be saved “as a group” in a sense that reduces the significance of individuals.
The power of Christ is not in dissolving individuality, as in some pagan religions, but it is in uniting individuals who remain acutely conscious of their individuality. The beauty of the gospel is that because of a common faith in Jesus Christ, we are able to relate to God both as individuals, as communities, and even as one body. So to say that salvation is not an individual affair is not only strange and nonsensical, but it is a deprecation of the gospel. There is no need to diminish either the individual or the community, but it is harmful to attribute to one what properly belongs to the other.
The Christian faith is highly individualistic. Jesus himself made a sharp distinction between the individual and the community, and he relates to the church on both levels. This is so much the case that it takes an extraordinarily stupid person – or an accomplished theologian – to overlook it. For example, he said to Peter, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” In one admonishment Jesus forever established the distinction between the faith of each individual, and the right and duty of each one to follow him as an individual considered independently of any other individual.
John is different from Peter. Jesus relates to John and Peter as unique individuals, and Peter has no authority to inquire into the private aspect of John’s faith. Of course, there is only one Christ and one doctrine, but the point is that each person lives out this same faith before God as individuals. There is a public aspect to faith, so that in the context of community, we ought to obey our leaders (Hebrews 13:17). Yet as in the case of John and Peter, there is a private aspect to faith in which we deal with God as individuals, independently from all other individuals. As the Lord said, “To him who overcomes…I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it” (Revelation 2:17). We must resist anyone who tries to maintain the significance of community, or even to rescue the Christ-centeredness of the faith, by reducing the significance of individual faith, because to do so would be to defy Christ himself rather than to offer him a service.
The Bible is not against individuality; in fact, it offers the most absolute foundation for individuality. Rather, it is against a demonic individuality that turns the self into an idol to be served and worshiped. The Bible’s individuality is one that has been sharpened and made even more distinguished before the throne of God, but then throws itself at the feet of Christ. God’s presence and power ought to make us more aware of our individuality, not less. What are the motives of those who advocate the faith of the community at the expense of the faith of the individual? Are they really attempting to restore genuine faith for the glory of Christ and the betterment of the church, or are they attempting to dissolve their own individuality into the community so as to relinquish their responsibilities as individuals? We ought to be suspicious of them.
To deny the public aspect of faith is also to deny the gospel; however, we must insist that the public aspect is never necessary to the salvation of the individual. Other people are never necessary. Only Christ is necessary. If God has to drop me a Bible from heaven and if Jesus has to appear and teach me the gospel himself, he could and he would. I do not find this even slightly farfetched to believe. And if this is at least possible – if you do not think that it is possible, you do not believe in God and you are not a Christian – then it follows that, however important it is, the community is never necessary. The slogan that there is no salvation outside of the church is false, shameful, and outright demonic, unless it is meant that anyone who believes in Christ (as an individual!) becomes a part of the church in the spiritual and cosmic sense, in which case the slogan is useless even in its usual context. There is a lot of salvation outside the church – in fact, sometimes it seems there is more outside than inside! – but there is none outside of Christ.
Whereas the community is not necessary to the individual, the individual is necessary for the community, because there is no community without individuals. There is no such thing as a forest without trees, but there can be one tree without any other tree or a forest. The forest is not a thing in itself, but it is a designation for a group of trees. Likewise, the church is not a thing in itself, but it is only a name to designate a group of individuals. In this sense, there can be individual believers without the church, but there can be no church without individual believers.
Christianity is first about the power of one. Paul does not say that by one man all fell into sin, and by the vote of the majority humanity returns to righteousness. Voting will never do, and even the faith of the majority is powerless. But by Jesus Christ – one person – all of God’s chosen ones are saved. By one person, individuals are united into a community – not dissolved into a community, but united as separate individuals into one community of Christ. Thus the issue is not to defend either the individual or the community, but to grasp how they fit with each other.
Then comes the contrast. If the work of Jesus Christ could effect goodness that is as extensive as the damage wrought by the sin of Adam, it would already be cause for admiration and gratitude. But Paul writes, “the gift is not like the trespass.” The good that Christ brings is “much more” than the evil that came from Adam. This must become a controlling principle and a standard of judgment in our theological formulations. Our theology is unworthy of the gospel of Christ if we portray the gift of God as barely saving us from the depths of depravity. All our preaching and thinking about the Christian faith must reflect this “much more” of Jesus Christ.
Just as the death that Adam introduced brought crippling destruction into our intellect and character, how much more should the life of Jesus Christ infuse us with all kinds of wisdom and virtue! We will be more zealous for God than the non-Christians are for the devil. We will be more intelligent than they are stupid. We will be more kind and upright than they are cruel and crafty. We are able to do this because the life of Christ is greater than the death that Adam brought, and the gift of God is greater, much greater, than the fall of man.
The results of Adam’s sin are all around you, and even within you. You are alarmed at the more concrete effects that it has produced, as seen in the corruption and incompetence in politics, the instability and deterioration of the economy, and then the troubles with education, crime, health care, and innumerable other ills. What will you do? If you take the power of Adam to the problem of Adam, you will only get more of the same. Death on top of death is still death. Adam could not vote himself back to Eden, but Jesus Christ brings us before the very throne of God. The gift is not like the trespass. Salvation in every area of life comes as the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached and applied, and as God causes it to permeate the hearts of men.