Since writing the last post, I received some feedback questioning what I meant by saying that, according to Paul, the Jewish law (Torah) brings condemnation. In 4:15 Paul says the law brings wrath. He doesn't go into explanation at this point, but, judging from what he has been saying, it can be taken to mean that the law cannot save us from our sinful nature. If it is the case, as Paul argues, that if there is no law, there is no guilt, then it follows that the Torah gives some guidance as to what to do, and some prohibitions, which we would not have known are wrong without the Torah having told us. The "wrath" Paul refers to is not "the wrath of God" but just "wrath." To us that doesn't sound very satisfactory, but consider the following: we bring condemnation on ourselves. This is not something God wants, but it is inherent in the freedom God gives us to obey or not. God's purpose is redemption, not condemnation.
Paul starts his essay by establishing that God has no favorites and that from the beginning, humans have been acquitted and made right with God by his grace, which we accept through trust that leads to repentance. So some of the Greek Christians say "Great! Now we can live as we like, since God gives us grace, right?" Paul says "No, that's not it." The Jewish Christians said "To know what God wants of us we all have to know and follow the Torah law." Paul says "No, that's not it either." However, Paul's problem is to explain to the Jews what to do with the law.
So Paul embarks on an alternative that applies to all, Greek and Jewish Christians, in chapter 5. God acquits us when we respond in faith and puts us at peace through God the Son, Jesus Christ. We are therefore entitled to boast of our hope of the eternal Kingdom and even in any suffering we encounter because it sets off a process of growth from endurance all the way to a hope based on God's promise, which is therefore secure. That's the first five verses.
Jesus gave his life for all of us while we were still sinners and because of his resurrection, saves us from death (verses 6 to 12). Under the Torah and the sacrificial temple worship, people had to purify themselves and provide the applicable sacrifice before they could come to God. It follows that the Jewish system had it backward: God provides the sacrifice and the life. We come as we are to him in trust, and he is faithful to acquit us. We then respond with faithfulness to God, following Jesus in complete obedience.
In the remainder of the chapter, Paul apparently deals with a question he has been asked or is anticipating may be asked: How can just one man do the full sacrifice for all people for all time? The Jews needed to sacrifice over and over. At the time the essay was written, the temple sacrificial worship was still in operation. The answer is not the kind that would probably convince us post-modern people, but it would make sense to those to whom the essay was read: sin came into the world through one human being. Now God provides the one human being (Jesus) who can undo what Adam did. Now you may be thinking: wasn't it Eve who took the forbidden fruit first? But you see, what Paul's readers and listeners would know is that Adam in Hebrew means "mankind." God's provision more than suffices for all who trust God with their lives.
Paul's teaching is not that we are obliged to believe that Adam (Mankind) and Eve (Life) were individual humans in the creation story. His point is that Jesus and Jesus alone gives life in the eternal kingdom to all who trust fully in him. We need no other.
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