We’re privileged to share with you a Bible study on Romans 5, the topic of this week’s Sabbath School lesson, written by Robert J. Wieland. He titled the study: “What Jesus Christ Has Already Done For Us All.” Until now, the study remained unpublished. We realize it’s considerably longer than our regular Sabbath School Today, but we hope that it will give you a deeper understanding of Paul’s “big idea” of what Christ accomplished on His cross.
Paul’s Romans chapter five should begin with the last verse of his chapter four: “[Christ] was given up to death for our misdeeds, and raised to life for our justification” (4:25); this leads into his chapter five. In his inspired thinking, Paul sees that the first person plural, possessive pronoun, “our,” means everybody—the entire world, not just the church. John agrees. He says that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son …”
An inspired writer has told us that when we preach we should preach “big ideas.” [1] In Romans 5 the apostle Paul has a very “big idea” that he wants to get across to us: Jesus Christ has not only died for us all; He has done more! He has judicially, legally justified us all “in Himself.” Yes, the whole world! That means more than merely saving us to be justified; it means to be re-made in our hearts and minds spiritually into the image of Jesus. It is the most cataclysmal change that can come to any human, for it means total at-one-ment with the Son of God. Justification means the mind and the soul of the sinner changed into Christlikeness.
Paul couldn’t come up with a bigger idea than this: in fact, Jesus has saved the world with all Paul’s “much more” idea in full function. That doesn’t mean that everybody is going to inherit eternal life, but it means that they could do so if they would cease their resistance of this much more abounding grace of Christ. And just to be saved is far less than the idea means.
The Eleven weren’t thinking “big” enough to grasp Paul’s idea; but the Samaritans got it. When Jesus talked with the woman at Jacob’s well and she went and told her townspeople to come and meet Him, they declared, “This is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world” (John 4:42, KJV). Earlier, the apostle John expressed the same idea, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son …” (3:16).
If the Samaritans were right (and they were!), that means that the Lord Jesus Christ, by virtue of His sacrifice on His cross, has justified every man in a judicial sense when he died on His cross, which means more than just saving them to live eternally; they live eternally justified. Let us look at Romans 5.
Romans 5:1: “Therefore, now that we have been justified through faith, we are at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (The Revised English Version).
The “we” is the world, in Paul’s thinking. Many either don’t know it or don’t believe it, but nonetheless, it is true that Christ saved the world in a judicial sense. It means that He gave Himself for the world and thus He bought the world. This does not mean that everybody is going to be saved at last in God’s eternal kingdom if they don’t want to be; they could be if they would receive the gift that Christ has given them; but many will not humble their hearts to receive what Christ has given them.