Sermon: The foremost contradiction (Rom 5:7-8)

WHAT IS FOREMOST?
The Foremost Contradiction (Rom 5:7-8)
pdf
Dr. Paul Manuel—2012

(This sermon is part of Dr. Manuel's sermon series: "What is Foremost?" Links to
each of the sermons in the series will be found here as they are posted.)

Sometimes, you have to make a substitution, and usually it is not particularly consequential.

• The restaurant does not have the one item you were craving, and you have to choose a different entre.
• The road to your destination is blocked by construction, and you have to find a different route.
• The shirt you were going to wear has a spot on it, and you have to select a different garment.

A Wisconsin couple decided to take their winter vacation in Florida, and they planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier. Because of different responsibilities, it was difficult to coordinate their travel schedules. So, the husband left Wisconsin and flew to Florida first. His wife would fly down the next day. When the husband checked into the hotel, he noticed a computer in the room, so he decided to send a brief email to his wife, but he accidentally substituted one letter for another in her e-mail address and sent the note without realizing his error.

Meanwhile.....somewhere in Texas, a widow had just returned home from her husband's funeral. He was a minister of many years who was called home to glory. The woman decided to check her e-mail, expecting condolences from relatives and friends. After reading the first message, though, she fainted. The widow's son rushed into the room, found his mother revived but flustered and pointing to a message on the computer screen which read:

To my loving wife,
I've arrived. I know you're surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now, and you're allowed to send e-mails.... Everything has been prepared for your arrival...tomorrow.... P.S. It sure is hot down here!

Sometimes, you have to make a substitution, and usually it is not particularly consequential...although it may be. One time, God made a substitution, and it was very consequential. It was also both unlikely and unexpected, certainly undeserved, and may even have seemed to be The Foremost Contradiction.

We prefer clarity to ambiguity, a straight answer rather than an evasive response. We like the fact that we serve a God of revelation not of obfuscation.¹ Therefore, when we read something that is more confusing than clarifying, we are uncertain how to understand it. Please turn to Rom 5, where Paul describes Jesus' sacrifice, which may strike some as....

* LVIII The Foremost Contradiction

...as it exhibits...

• The paradox of God (Rom 5:7-8)

Rom 5:7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

At a first reading, we might think that v. 7 contains a puzzlement, as Paul contrasts two seemingly similar individuals:² "a righteous man [and] a good man."³ How are they different? How is a good man better than a righteous man, and why would someone be more inclined to die for one as opposed to the other?

There may be an individual for whom you would make the ultimate sacrifice, if you had to choose between saving that person's life or saving your own. Members of the president's Secret Service detail are ready to interpose themselves, becoming a human shield and, if necessary, ready to "take a bullet" to ensure his safety. They do it more out of a respect for the office than a love for the office holder, and regardless of whether or not they consider him a "good man." You would probably be even more selective, and that may be what Paul has in mind here: someone who is good to you or for you.⁴ It is much more likely that you might sacrifice yourself for someone you know well and love dearly, someone who feels the same about you, someone you regard as worthy of your devotion and possible sacrifice.

God, however, operates differently. There is nothing we can offer Him that might benefit Him, so His view of us is more detached and less sentimental. It may even seem clinical, as when He says through Isaiah...

Isa 55:8 ...my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways....

Moreover, He has rendered an evaluation of us, and it is not complimentary.

While God loves "the world" (John 3:16), He does not think everyone, or even anyone, is worthy of His favor. David gives God's estimation in...⁵

Ps 14:1b They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. 2 The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are...any who seek God. 3 All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.

In an expression of honest self-reflection, Isaiah says...

Isa 64:6a All of us have become...unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;

Given God's opinion, it is amazing what Paul writes about Jesus in Rom 5, that...

1. Your savior did what no one else would. 

"Christ died for us." Yet, even more important...

2. Your savior did what no one else could. ...because 

"While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."⁶

The multiple sacrifices God instituted for use in the tabernacle/temple were limited in their application and their duration.

• In application, they pertained to ceremonial purification, so man could appear before God in the earthly sanctuary. They had no effect on man's spiritually corrupt condition.

• In duration, they covered only the current cause of ritual impurity and had to be repeated with each new occasion of defilement.

As the author of Hebrews notes...

Heb 9:9b ...the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. 10 They are only a matter of...external regulations.... 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.

In contrast, the singular sacrifice God instituted for use in the exemplar, the temple in heaven,⁷ was unlimited in its application and its duration.

• In application, it pertained to moral (soteriological) purification so man could appear before God in the heavenly sanctuary. It remedied man's spiritually corrupt condition.

• In duration, it covered every cause of moral impurity and did not have to be repeated with each new occasion of defilement.

Again, as the author of Hebrews notes...

Heb 9:11b [Christ] went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.... 12b he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.... 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ...cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

There is another difference between animal sacrifices and Jesus' sacrifice. God requires the highest standard, so an animal offered in the earthly sanctuary had to be physically perfect.

Lev 22:21b it must be without defect...to be acceptable.

To an even greater degree, the savior's offering in the heavenly sanctuary had to be morally perfect.⁸

Heb 4:15b ...we have [a high priest] who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.

The theological term for what the savior accomplished when he suffered on the cross is vicarious or substitutionary atonement, which is what you experience because of what Jesus endured. It is the forgiveness of your sins, not through your efforts at doing good or your attempts to make amends, but through his sacrificial death in your place, which alone satisfied the righteous requirement of God that sin—your sin—must be punished.⁹

Vicarious atonement is the main reason Jesus came. As such, it is a fundamental concept at the core of what we believe and a common theme in scripture,¹⁰ appearing first in the 'suffering servant' prophecy of Isaiah, who said...

Isa 53:6b ...the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Jesus made clear that this was his mission,saying...¹¹

Matt 20:28 ...the Son of Man [came] to give his life as a ransom for many.

John confirms that mission in his first epistle, writing...¹²

1 John 3:5a ...[Jesus] appeared so that he might take away our sins.

Peter, in his first epistle, testifies to Jesus' vicarious atonement.¹³

1 Pet. 3:18a ...Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous....

Paul refers to it earlier in Romans.¹⁴

Rom 3:25a God presented [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.

Rom 5:6b Christ died for the ungodly.

The author of Hebrews declares it several times.¹⁵

Heb 7:27b [Jesus] sacrificed for...sins once for all when he offered himself.

Heb 9:26b ...he has appeared once for all...to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Heb 10:10 we have been made holy through the sacrifice...of Jesus Christ once for all.

Vicarious atonement is what you experience because of what Jesus endured.

Recently in the news, there was an example of this vicarious principle, albeit, a less virtuous one (Sainz 2012).

It was a brazen and surprisingly long-lived scheme, authorities said, to help aspiring public school teachers cheat on the tests they must pass to prove they are qualified to lead their classrooms. For 15 years, teachers in three Southern states paid Clarence Mumford Sr.—himself a longtime educator—to send someone else to take the tests in their place.... Each time, Mumford received a fee of between $1,500 and $3,000 to send one of his test ringers with fake identification to the Praxis exam. In return, his customers got a passing grade and began their careers [...] as cheaters, according to federal prosecutors in Memphis.¹⁶

The use of substitutes occurs in other endeavors as well. The term "ringer" is originally a sports metaphor designating an imposter, "someone who misrepresents his identity or ability in order to gain an advantage in a competition" (Wikipedia). In response to businesses and government agencies that require drug testing, there are web sites that explain how to avoid detection by submitting samples of someone else's urine or hair or blood.

You were facing a far more daunting challenge than taking an employment exam or a drug test, one with far more serious and long-range consequences. This challenge was also tamper-proof and allowed no cheating. Moreover, no amount of preparation or financial remuneration on your part could change the outcome. It was something you could not pass or conquer on your own. If you would not suffer the penalty for your sin, then God required a substitute. Thankfully, you will not suffer the penalty for your sin, because God provided the savior. Elsewhere, Paul writes...

2 Cor 5:21 God made [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for [you], so that in [Jesus you] might become the righteousness of God.

That is what Jesus accomplished for you.

1. Your savior did what no one else would.

...and, more importantly...

2. Your savior did what no one else could.

Only he was both qualified and capable of obtaining eternal pardon for all your sins.

In Rom 5, Paul presents what appears to be The Foremost Contradiction, a scenario in which God makes an unlikely and unexpected substitution—unlikely and unexpected because it was so undeserved, making this paradox of God good reason to praise God.

Having considered The Foremost Contradiction, we will look next at The Foremost Contention, which shows the pledge of God, in 1 Cor 9:9.

For the Bibliography and Endnotes, see the pdf here.

(This sermon is part of Dr. Manuel's sermon series: "What is Foremost?" Links to each of the sermons in the series will be found here as they are posted)