Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Christ's Blood Covers Second Death
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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Romans 3:31
Considered in totality, Paul is in no way against God's law. However, he is very much against misapplying it, such as thinking we can approach the Father because we have never killed anyone or did not lie this week, etc. Instead, as he reasons, we must begin with the fact that we are sinners, and our best efforts can never justify us once we have transgressed. We can approach the Father only through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Even so, that critical point does not mean the law is unnecessary. Indeed, the law is extremely valuable because it reveals where we are out of alignment with God so we can change course. Thus, God gives us His law as a lamp to our feet (see Psalm 119:105)—to teach us how to walk and live as He lives. Even if a man feels at peace with God in how he is living, it does not mean God has no controversy with him. Psalm 7:11 says, “God is angry with the wicked every day,” despite also sending rain and sun on the good/just and evil/unjust alike (Matthew 5:45). Psalm 50:21 describes how His silence can lead sinners to the assumption that He is on their side. Still, neither God's silence nor how a man feels are good indicators of what He thinks. Instead, His Word reveals what He thinks. Understanding the principle of justification by faith, we can work backward, step by step, and understand how faith confirms or upholds the law. The first step is that the faith Paul has in mind in Romans 3:31 is belief in Christ's sacrifice to pay for our sins. The second step is that, since there are sins that need to be atoned, a law—a definition of right and wrong—is still necessary. I John 3:4 teaches that sin is the transgression of the law, so a standard of conduct must exist to be transgressed. Such transgression triggers the death penalty and the sinner's need for a Redeemer. The conclusion, then, is that inherent within our belief that Christ's blood pays the death penalty is an acknowledgment that God's law has been broken. Rather than nullifying God's law through our belief, we implicitly confirm that God's law is still very much in effect and admit we still need to be saved from the death penalty when we break that law. If we have this faith, forgiveness is available when we repent, but repentance means turning from transgressing God's standards. In Romans 6:15, Paul is aghast at the thought of continuing in sin—of persisting in behaviors that activate the death penalty, which includes breaking the fourth commandment by not treating the seventh day as holy. Likewise, Jude 4 warns of those who turn God's grace into license, and Hebrews 10:26-27 contains a thunderous yet ignored declaration: “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.”
David C. Grabbe
How Does Faith Establish the Law? (Part Two)
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Hebrews 9:27
Everybody dies this death, including believers. At first, a person may think this says that Satan has supreme rule—because he has the power of death (Hebrews 2:15)—and every human loses. However, we cannot forget Christ's death on the cross. His death wiped out the curse of death hanging over us due to our sins, and He remains our faithful High Priest. Thus, more remains to be understood about this verse. How does this verse affect us? Paul writes in Colossians 2:11-14: In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. The apostle explains that a Christian is free from the bondage of death because Christ's death has removed the charges of sin against us. Jesus, in Revelation 1:18, adds another factor in our favor: “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” Christ, because He paid the penalty for our sins and simultaneously defeated Satan, now holds the power of life and death for the converted. At this point, matters become clear. For Hebrews 9:27 to be true, Christ's blood does not cover the first death, which everybody faces, but it indeed covers the second death, eternal death of the Lake of Fire. Revelation 20:14 confirms a second death: “Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” Revelation 21:8 adds detail: “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Paul offers us assurance in Romans 8:37-39: Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. At this time, the unconverted face both the first and second deaths. They are still held eternally in Satan's slavery unless converted between now and the igniting of the Lake of Fire.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Ecclesiastes and Christian Living (Part Eight): Death
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