Would it be correct for us to say that our Lord Jesus by his death canceled the sins of the entire human family, so that there is now no condemnation to any?

Answer. – No; this would not be a correct statement. The Scriptural declaration is, “There is now no condemnation to them that are IN Christ Jesus.”

There is still condemnation upon all who have not yet come INTO Jesus through faith in the precious blood and through a reformation of life in harmony with that faith. This is directly implied by the Apostle’s words. Again, he says,

“We were children of wrath, even as others [are], but we who believe [who have accepted Jesus] have escaped the condemnation that is on the world.”

These Scriptures imply that the condemnation was still on the world at the time of these letters, after our Lord’s death and resurrection.

Consequently the death of Jesus did not cancel the condemnation, it did not remove the sins, and all the world of mankind not only have continued under the condemnation, but also under its sentence of death, and have died, the same since Jesus died as before – except in the case of the Church, whose death is reckoned as being no longer Adamic death, as a penalty for sin, but as “being dead with him,” as joint-sacrifices, participators in the sin-offerings.

Understand this last only applies to the fully consecrated, those who have entered into covenant relationship with the Father through sacrifice (Psa 50:5). These having taken up their cross have agreed to followed in the Master’s footsteps.

That our Lord’s death did not cancel sin is again attested by the Apostle Peter’s declaration to some at Pentecost (after our Lord’s death and resurrection, ascension, etc.): “Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out when times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and he shall send Jesus Christ [at the Second Advent].”

This Scripture shows that the blotting out is a future work, just as the Apostle elsewhere shows that the sins of those who are IN Christ Jesus (the consecrated) are now covered from God’s sight, to permit us to have present blessings and privileges, prior to the time when the sins shall be blotted out.

The sins of the Church will be blotted out, and no more record will appear of them forever, as soon as the first resurrection shall have taken place, for all who have part in it will have perfect bodies, without a trace of sin, blemish or imperfection in them. And as for the world of mankind in general, the blotting out of the world’s sins will be during the “times of restitution” – a gradual work, as implied in the word “blotting.”

Everyone who accepts Christ and the Kingdom, and endeavors to live in harmony with the Lord under the terms of the New Covenant, will, during the thousand years of Christ’s reign, find his sins, his blemishes, mental, moral and physical, gradually giving way, yielding to perfection, and they will thus be in process of blotting out until, at the close of the Millennial age, there shall no sin remain unblotted out for anyone who has desired to have them blotted out, and who shall have availed himself of the abundant privileges of that time.

Thus, we see, by two lines of demonstration, either of which would be sufficient, that Christ has not canceled the sins of the whole world, nor the sins of any, and that he has merely covered the sins of the Church, preparatory to the cleansing time, while the world’s sins are not even covered.

To make these two proofs the more conspicuous we will state them thus:

(1) The fact that God’s Word speaks of the world as being still under condemnation, and children of wrath, is a conclusive proof that their sins are not blotted out.

(2) The fact that sin, and its wages of death, including pain, sickness, etc., are still inflicted upon humanity, is a second and indisputable proof that the sins are not blotted out, for if they had been blotted out it would be wrong on God’s part to punish for sins no longer recognized.” (R2855)

Continued with next post.