The law must be answered, John! Otherwise God could have simply bypassed it...made it void!

No, the law's demands must be legally and ethically answered. And they were "in Christ".


By His obedience to all the commandments of God, Christ wrought out a redemption for man [mankind - all men!]. [How?] This was not done by going out of Himself to another, but by taking humanity into Himself....To bring humanity into Christ, to bring the fallen race into oneness with divinity, is the work of redemption. [7BC 927]

John, it's simple....All of us - black, white, male, female - come from one man - the fallen life of Adam. We are bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh. We are simply the multiplication of his life again and again....

That life, our corporate life, was assumed by Christ. Since Christ defeated the principle of sin (self-love) and since we were "in Him" we were made obedient. And when Christ died, we died too! How many died according to Paul? Right, "all died"!

Now a question (I hope it's not to hard for you): When did Christ die?

Right, 2000 years ago. And where was your humanity? Right, "in Him"! Hence your life answered the law "in Christ" some 2000 years ago! You were justified unto life in the body of Christ once and for all, not when you believed, by 2000 years ago.

Your faith doesn't make this truth so...it simply accepts it. Now you can reject the gospel...a lot of legalists do and will!

Rob

Romans 6: 6 is plainly talking about believers in Christ who have put their faith in Him. See verses immediately before and after v. 6. I see no evidence there that it is referring to the entire planet. I do agree, however, that Christ did give His life for all of humanity.

Our old self is crucified with Christ by faith when we acknowledge Christ and put our faith in His saving acts. I do not see how the verse can be made to signify that this crucifixion happened before I was born and that Hitler's old self was also equally crucified with Christ.

Yes, Paul does link this truth [the truth as it is in Christ] to faith and growth, but you must make the appropriate distinction:

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

So far Paul is talking about the fruit of accepting the gospel....


5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection....

Now Paul points back to the gospel, the truth as it is "in Christ" to make his point on Christian living:

6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin...

What Paul is referring to here is the actual gospel. "In Christ" God can actually look at us as if we are dead because our old life literally died in Him. That's the gospel...

The gospel is good news, not good advice as you make it out. That's why I accuse you of being an enemy of the gospel.

Rob

* We know that the apostle Paul was called of God to evangelize the Gentile world; but we must keep in mind that, unfortunately, none of Paul’s evangelistic sermons preached to the non-Christians or unchurched have been recorded or preserved. All that we have are his epistles to believers.

* In spite of this fact, there is enough evidence in these epistles to show that Paul gave the in Christ motif an objective application that included all of mankind. That is to say, Paul does not limit the in Christ motif only to believers but includes the entire human race that was redeemed in Christ. To Paul, believers are those who are faithful to the truth as it is in Christ. Note, for example, Paul’s introduction to the Ephesians [Ephesians 1:1].

* Here is my evidence that clearly proves Paul gave the in Christ motif an objective application that included the entire human race:

1. Paul reminds believers that they were redeemed or chosen in Christ before their conversion [Romans 5:6-10; Ephesians 1:4; 2:5,6]. If we limit these statements only to believers, than we would have to admit that Calvin’s doctrine of predestination is correct. But we don’t.

2. Paul points out to the Corinthian believers that just as “in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive,” that is, resurrected to life [1 Corinthians 15: 22]. The point Paul is making in this passage is that Christ is the source of the resurrection for the entire human race. The first resurrection will be experienced by the saints unto eternal life, because they believed in Christ; and the second resurrection will be experienced by the lost unto eternal damnation, because they rejected the truth as it is in Christ.

3. Paul refers to Christ as the “last Adam” in 1 Corinthians 15:45. As already pointed out, the word “Adam” in Hebrew means mankind. In the majority of cases, this word is not used as a proper name but as a truth, i.e., the solidarity of mankind in Adam. When Christ assumed our corporate humanity at the incarnation He, like the first Adam, became mankind, i.e., the entire human race was placed in HIm. That is why Paul calls Christ the last Adam, i.e., Mankind.

4. Paul’s universal texts indicate an accomplished salvation for the entire human race in Christ. But since this salvation is a gift from God, it is made effective by faith only to the believers in Christ [Romans 5:18; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21; 1 Timothy 2:6; 4:10; Titus 2:11; Hebrews 2:9].

5. In most cases, Paul’s subjective application of the in Christ motive to believers, as well as himself, is based on an objective truth already accomplished in Christ [Galatians 2:20; 6:14; 2 Corinthians 5:14. Ephesians 1:3-6; Colosians 2:20; 2 Timothy 2:11]. Faith does not put us into Christ but rather means abiding in Christ [John 15:4-8].

6. To Paul, baptism, as a subjective experience, is always “into Christ.” By it, the believer is confessing his or her faith obedience to an objective truth that took place some 2,000 years ago in Christ and Him crucified, buried, and resurrected [Galatians 3:27; Romans 6:3-8].

* All these facts point to the in Christ motif as the very heart of the gospel message Paul preached in his evangelistic efforts. When the good news of salvation is presented in the context of the in Christ motif, men and women will come to the realization that God has already reconciled them to Himself [read Jn. 12:32]. What is left is for them to be reconciled to God through faith in His Son [2 Corinthians 5:18-20]. Incidentally, it is this goodness of God that leads to true repentance and conversion [Romans 2:4.]

I tend to agree with you that this verse is saying that when Christ died for all humanity, all of humanity died in Christ. The same as when Adam sinned, God considered all of humanity as having sinned.

However, given the context of 2 Cor. 5: 15-17, it appears that verse 14 may be understood to have reference to all who have put their faith in Him.

What are all the verses you know of that teach all of humanity died in Christ or are already justified? I know already of Rom. 5: 16, 19.

Also, do you know of clear passages in the Spirit of prophecy which speak of all humanity's having died in Christ or as having been justified 2000 years ago?

I can give references....


When the voice of the angel was heard saying, “Thy Father calls thee,” He who had said, “I lay down my life, that I might take it again,” “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” came forth from the grave to life that was in Himself. Deity did not die. Humanity died….

Now the question is whose humanity?

By His obedience to all the commandments of God, Christ wrought out a redemption for man [mankind]. [How?] This was not done by going out of Himself to another, but by taking humanity into Himself. ...

...The Saviour has purchased the fallen race with His own blood.”

Then there's no hope for infants who die before they can believe....There's no hope for the ignorant...the mentally handicapped...those billions who, by no fault of their own, never heard the name of Jesus!

The sad thing is a lot of the above folks will be there, but a lot of folks who heard the actual good news won't! Why? It's beyond belief, as Jack would say....

Rob