by George Sidney Hurd The following is an excerpt from the book, The Ways of God. The objective of this article is to demonstrate that Christ’s substitutionary death delivered mankind from two penalties: 1) the penalty for Adam’s original sin which is death, and 2) the penalty for personal sins which, for the unrepentant, are weighed and followed by a measured and just condemnatory sentence commensurate with each individual’s sins. The Death Penalty for Sin The sinless Christ not only suffered and died in our stead for our sins, thereby removing from us all legal guilt and the resulting judicial condemnatory sentence (Rom 8:1; see also my blog, Forensic Atonement in Romans), but His death also freed us from the death penalty which came upon all mankind due to Adam’s original sin. Paul said in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” It is common to hear someone emphasize from this verse that committing just one sin results in death. However, what it is actually saying in the context is that the one sin resulting in death was Adam’s original sin, way back in Eden, which brought death upon all humanity. When the noun “sin” appears in its singular form in a context where no particular sin is in view, it is normally referring to Adam’s original sin and the resulting sin nature which all of us inherited from him as his descendants. This is clear from the context of Romans 6:23 where Paul earlier said: “Therefore, just as through one man (the) sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned — 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.” (Rom 5:12-14) Paul here says that all mankind sinned (past aorist tense) and the death penalty passed to us all in the garden when Adam originally sinned. To prove this, he points out that, although sins were not imputed in the period from Adam to Moses before the Law was given, they nevertheless all died due to Adam’s original sin. When Adam sinned, he, along with all his descendants, were condemned to die both spiritually and physically. I believe that when Paul said, “the wages (plural) of sin – death” in the original, instead of “the wage of sin – death,” it is because he was referring to both spiritual and physical death as being the result of Adam’s sin. Because of this, even if there were one born of Adam’s seed who never sinned during his entire lifetime, he would have still died due to Adam’s original sin. That is why Jesus could not have been conceived of Adam’s seed. He took on human flesh through Mary, but His conception was by the Holy Spirit, thereby exempting Him from the death penalty from Adam’s original sin. As the last sinless Adam, He was unjustly slain, thereby gaining the victory over death for all mankind: “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (Heb 2:14-15) Christ, through death, destroyed him who had power over death and rose victorious, thereby freeing mankind from the death penalty. Death lost its sting and its victory over mankind because in Christ all will be made alive. Potentially, the death sentence for Adam’s sin could have doomed mankind for all eternity. I say potentially because from eternity God had a glorious plan for the ages which culminates in all who have died in Adam being made alive in Christ – the Last Adam: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 6:23) “But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense (the) many died, MUCH MORE the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to (the) many. 16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17 For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, MUCH MORE those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” (Rom 5:15-17) [1] “The first man Adam became a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” (1 Cor 15:45) “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order…” (1Cor 15:22-23) “Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.” (Rev 21:5) [2] Through Jesus Christ’s substitutionary death and resurrection, becoming victorious over death, the many who died in Adam (i.e. “all”) will be finally made alive in Christ – the Last Adam, who in His resurrection commenced a new creation in which all will be made new. Once all have become subject to Christ, bowing the knee to Him, then death - the last enemy, will finally be destroyed (1Cor 15:20-28). If even one soul were left in an eternal state of death or separation from God, it would be an unspeakably tragic ending to God’s creation story. But Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, made reconciliation for all creation, both visible and invisible (Col 1:16,20). When we finally come to the end of the ages, all will have been made alive in Christ - all death or separation will cease to exist, and God will then be all in all (Rev 21:4; 1Cor 15:28). The Just Punishment for our Personal Sins Christ’s substitutionary death not only delivered us from death – the penalty for Original Sin, but He also bore all our personal sins, suffering our due punishment and dying a criminal’s death in our stead, thereby obtaining free justification for all mankind, which is applied to each sinner the moment he believes on Christ as his Savior. “who Himself bore our SINS in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness — by whose stripes you were healed…. For Christ also suffered once for SINS, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.” (1Peter 2:24; 3:18). “It (righteousness) shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.” (Rom 4:24-25) “and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.” (Acts 13:39) The moment we were regenerated by the Holy Spirit, receiving Christ, we were baptized or immersed into Christ by the Holy Spirit (1Cor 12:13). Having been baptized by the Spirit into Christ, His death to sin became our death to sin (Rom 6:3-4). Not only is His resurrection life now ours through our vital union with Him, but His resurrection is also evidence that His suffering and death on our behalf satisfied in full the just penalty due unto us, both for Original Sin and also for all our personal sins. This is what Paul is arguing in Romans 6 when he says: “For he who has died has been freed (“justified”) from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 6:7-11) In a very real, vital, and also judicial sense, we become united with Christ in His death and resurrection. This is not to be understood as merely a positional truth. The Spirit united us with Christ upon believing, making us one spirit with the Lord (1Cor 6:17). His death to sin is now our death to sin. His resurrection is our resurrection unto His own eternal righteous resurrection life. Judicially speaking, becoming united with Him in His death and resurrection obtained our justification. In Romans 6:7, Paul uses the judicial term dikaiáo, which was erroneously translated as “freed” in the King James Version. The practical benefit of being freed from sin is referred to earlier in chapter 6 when he asks: “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (v.2). However, here Paul is speaking of “justification” or “acquittal” from our sins. The Greek Scholar Marvin Vincent comments on the meaning of dikaiáo in the following manner: “Literally, as the English Revised Version (1885): ‘is justified;’ i.e., ‘acquitted, absolved;’ just as the dead person sins no more, being released from sin as from a legal claim. ‘As a man that is dead is acquitted and released from bondage among men, so a man that has died to sin is acquitted from the guilt of sin and released from its bondage’ (Alford).” [3] To me, the denial of Christ’s penal substitutionary atonement is tantamount to a denial of the gospel of the Scriptures. Paul clearly presents Christ’s substitutionary death, burial and resurrection as being the gospel he preached: “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you…that Christ died for (huper “on behalf of”) our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” (1Cor 15:1,3,4). [4] When Paul said that Christ died for our sins “according to the Scriptures” what Scriptures was he referring to? He was referring to Isaiah 53 and also the Old Testament sacrificial system by which blood sacrifices were made “on behalf of” the sins of the people. The blood of the innocent was shed on behalf of the guilty. As God says in the Scriptures: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” (Lev 17:11) The New Testament reiterates this saying: “without shedding of blood is no remission.” (Heb 9:22). The blood of the innocent was taken into the Holy of holies and sprinkled upon the propitiatorium (gr. hilasterion) or what we commonly know of as the Mercy Seat, which covered the Ark of the Covenant that contained the 10 Commandments, some manna and Aaron’s rod which budded – all three representing Israel’s sin and rebellion. The blood was sprinkled upon the propitiatorium in order to make propitiation for the sins of the people before God. However, it is not possible that the blood of animals should take away sins (Heb 10:4). The Old Testament sacrificial system only foreshadowed the divine Lamb of God who would come and take away the sins of the world once and for all (Jn 1:29). Christ, the sinless Lamb of God entered into the heavenly sanctuary with His own blood, once and for all, propitiating our sins and obtaining eternal redemption for us: “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” (Heb 9:11-12) [1] The highly esteemed Greek scholar Marvin Vincent, correctly applies the passive meaning of “receive” (lambano) here in Romans 5:17. He says: “They which receive (hoi lambanontes). Not ‘believingly accept,’ but simply ‘the recipients.” (Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament, Romans 5:17). Although he does not go into further detail, his rendering of lambano in the passive sense is necessitated by the context. The contrast throughout is between what all men receive in Adam as opposed to what all men receive in Christ, the Last Adam. As all men passively receive death, condemnation, and bondage to sin through the one man’s disobedience, even so all receive life, justification, and dominion restored, through the one man, Christ. [2] Our English word “things” does not have an equivalent in Greek. Neither does the neuter form in Greek always indicate objects as in English. When the translators insert “things” in contexts that are evidently referring primarily to persons and not inanimate objects I take the liberty to cross it out in order to keep the focus where it belongs. [3] Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament, Romans 6:7 [4] The preposition huper – always carries the idea of substitution “on behalf of” in contexts which speak of Christ’s death for us. Mark 14:24; Luke 22:19,20; John 6:51,10:11; 11:50-52; Rom 5:6; 8:32; 
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