Have You Died?

Romans 5:15-18
15 - But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

16 - The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.

17 - For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

18 - So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.

Let me ask you a trick question. Have you died? Yes. As a Christian you have died.

Romans 6:8 –Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

Colossians 2:20 - If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as,

Colossians 3:3 - For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

2 Timothy 2:11 - It is a trustworthy statement:For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;

So, as a Christian you have died. We are not talking about a physical death here but a spiritual one. Whenever we have any Scriptures that talk about any dying in relationship to Jesus, in relationship to His atonement, or in relationship to the cross, in any way, it is only speaking of believers. You never have an unbeliever dying with Christ. You never have an unbeliever dying to the principles of the world. This just refers to the Christians.

2 Corinthians 5:14 - For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died;

Who is the all who died? The Christians. He died for all, therefore all died. Who is the all that died? Only the Christians. Now you might be saying, “Hold on! You’re playing word games.” No I am not. Let me ask you this question. Does God know everyone? No, He does not know everyone.

Matthew 7:23 - "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'

Romans 8:29 - For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

See the ones foreknown are the predestined ones. The text does not say that He looked into the future to see who was going to pick Him and then He picked some of them. It does not say that. God foreknew the predestined ones. It is the exact same group. So, when God says that He knows someone it means they are saved. When He says He does not know them it means they are lost. This is how God uses the term.

What I am trying to illustrate here is that if we are going to use the term correctly we have to see how God uses the term in His Word. We must also look at the context and usage to see what is going on.

Now you know that the Greek term “agape” means divine love right? Nope, not always.

Luke 11:43 - "Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places.

The word love is the Greek is “agape”. So, does it mean divine love? Does this really make any sense? “Woe, to you Pharisees because you divinely love the front seats.” Huh? So here it simply means that their love was a love, complete, given over to feeling. Then it would fit the context of what the scope of the Scriptures was talking about.

The reason I’m trying to illustrate this is words mean what they mean when God defines them not the way we presuppose a word should mean.

For example, “all the world” means everybody who has ever lived. Right? I just don’t think so.

Colossians 1:6 - which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth;

“All the world”. Really? What about Australia? Japan? Canada? Of course not. So, “all the world” doesn’t mean every single individual because it simply just can’t! Words mean what they mean…in context. What we need to do is look at how words mean, what they mean, the way they are being spoken, and the context of what they are being spoken of.

2 Corinthians 5:14 - For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died;

What does this mean when it says all died? The only way to look at that and to know it is by going through the Scriptures and seeing how it is used. All died, it is reference to the believer and their relationship to Christ. So, when Paul says Jesus died for all therefore all died, you either have Universalism, which cannot be true because Matthew 25:46 and Revelation 21:8 clearly refute that. Or the word all is only in reference to the believer. There is no other way around this. We must remember that the Bible interprets the Bible. Again, only the Christians have died in reference to Jesus Christ. Unfortunately some Christians think the Bible is always very easy to understand.