Portraits of Salvation: The Substitute Sacrifice -Rom. 5:6-11

Typology is a literary phenomenon that is defined as “a method of biblical interpretation whereby an element/image/theme/figure found in the Old Testament is seen to prefigure one found in the New Testament.” What is seen in the Old Testament is called a “type” and what appears to fulfill or parallel it in the New Testament is called the “antitype.” One example of this phenomenon is witnessed in the relationship between Adam and Christ. Adam, the father of the human race, is understood to prefigure Christ who is the father of the reborn citizens of the Kingdom of God. While Adam’s actions led to the fall of humanity, Christ’s actions led to the salvation of all who believe. Types like these and their corresponding antitypes come in all shapes and sizes.

Pertinent to the next passage we find ourselves in as we continue our Romans series is a type that is introduced in Genesis—a substitutionary sacrifice/atonement. In Genesis 22 Abraham finds himself on top of Mt. Moriah about to sacrifice his son on an altar. However, at the very last second, an angel interrupts Abraham’s radical act of obedience, and a ram caught in a thicket emerges as a substitute sacrifice. Isaac is spared and lives to a ripe old age. This famous Old Testament story is a type that foreshadows an even greater substitutionary act that is connected to salvation itself. Therefore, let us take a close look at the ram’s antitype in Rom. 5:6-11 and appreciate one of many renderings of salvation that Paul provides.

1) The Revelation-5:6

In Paul’s first rendering of the beauty of salvation he is going to capitalize on the idea of Jesus’ substitutionary atonement—a concept that had been solidified in the Jewish mind ever since God spared Abraham’s son Isaac from the alter. In his presentation Paul highlights an even more amazing spectacle that possesses some of the same qualities of this Old Testament story. The summary of what Paul is hoping to explain reads as follows, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (5:6). Few verses encapsulate Jesus’ salvific work more concisely than this important statement.

First, Paul reminds the reader of when salvation was provided—“for while we were still helpless” (5:6a). This is significant as it does not say “when we did enough” or “after having cleaned ourselves off first.” Instead, Jesus showed up right when we needed Him most—when were still desperately lost and “helpless.” Paul describes the timing of Christ’s work as “the right time,” and so it is, for, there is never a time (nor will there ever be a time) in which we or anyone else can bring us closer to God, pay the penalty we owe, or appease the wrath that we have incurred because of our sin. It was precisely when we deserved it the least that God did the unthinkable—He sent Christ to die for the ungodly.

This caption of Christ’s substitutionary atonement calls to mind the first substitute—a ram that appeared in the thicket “at the right time” to take the place of Isaac on Mt. Moriah. Just as the ram took Isaac’s place just in time, so too did Christ take the sinner’s place on the altar before God at the right time—“while we were still helpless.”

After taking the sinner’s place, Paul says that “Christ died for the ungodly” (5:6b). This defines the essence of substitutionary atonement. In the act of being sacrificed on the cross, “Christ died for (in the place of) in the ungodly.” In other words, when believers were lost and deserving of death because of sin, Christ stood in their place. However, the word “for” in “Christ died for” does not only merely mean “in the place of;” it also denotes “for the benefit of.” Ungodly sinners stand to benefit from what Christ did when he stood in their place and offered himself. What grace! What a blessing! Such revelation has served as the inspiration behind Townsend’s hymn “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us.” In reflecting on what Christ did throughout the son, a repentant sinner, ends his reflections with the following stanza:

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom.

2) The Comparison-5:7-8

Such an act is radically unexpected and otherworldly. As Paul reflects on what he has just disclosed he says “For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare event to die” (5:7).

It would seem that Paul’s world was not unlike our own. Self-preservation is one of the most powerful instincts we have as human beings. It is a prevailing force that in many cases keeps people alive in dangerous and/or risky situations. However, because of this, people are not naturally predisposed to give up their lives for others—even good people. If presented with a choice between someone else’s life and our own, the natural self is, on most occasions, bent toward selfishness. So rare is going against this inclination that even the tagline for the Marines—men and women who lay down their lives for our country—reads “the FEW, the proud, the Marines.”

That said, Paul does concede “though perhaps for the good man someone would dare to even die” (5:7). In certain outstanding circumstances, heroes do give up their lives to save those who are either “innocent” or deserving. Not only that, mothers and fathers might lay down their own lives to save their beloved children, risking their own lives and limbs. However, even these heroic cases do not compare to what God has done for us in Christ’s substitutionary atonement.

Some may dare to die for those that are good. Few might die for their country and those that inhabit it. But “God demonstrated his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (5:8).

In order to fully appreciate this, one must first appreciate the precarious situation in which sinners find themselves, especially as it pertains to their relationship with God. Sinners are not just indifferent to God, they are natural born enemies of God. God’s holiness cannot stand sin and, by proxy, the Lord cannot entertain sinners. “Their righteous deeds are as filthy rags to him” (Isa. 64:6). Psalm 5:4-5 even says “For You are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all evildoers.” Add to this the fact that the sinner’s failure necessitated Jesus’ sacrifice in the first place and the notion that God would go out of his way to demonstrate his love to us becomes ever more preposterous. As the Lyric reads:

“Behold the man upon a cross
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished…”

However, in spite of our enemy status and God’s hatred for our sin, he demonstrated his love by sending a substitute on our behalf—Christ. This is grace—unmerited, unprecedented, and unconventional.

As mentioned in the summary statement of verse 6, Paul says “Christ died for us” which means both that Christ died in the sinner’s place and for the sinner’s benefit.

“His dying breath has brought me life, I know that it is finished”

3) The Application-5:9-11

After introducing the substitutionary atonement of Christ and highlighting the impressive nature of Jesus’ sacrifice, Paul discusses how this all applies to those who will receive it. First, Christ’s substitutionary atonement means salvation from God’s wrath—“much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him…” (5:9).

God has maintained wrath against sin ever since it emerged onto the sin and ruined His perfect creation (see Gen. 3). In the garden, his wrath was appeased when he slaughtered an innocent animal to cover the sin of Adam and Eve. Throughout the Old Testament world, a program of sacrifices was established so that the same anger might be dealt with on a yearly basis (see Leviticus). Sin has always required the death of something—a lamb, goat, bull, dove, etc. Instead of taking out his wrath against the human race, God took his wrath out against these lesser substitutes every time they were offered. In the same way, when Jesus served as the greatest sacrifice and substitute, God’s wrath against believers was forever satisfied. Because Jesus stood in the place of believers, God is no longer enraged against them because of their sin. In essence, God took out the wrath that humans had been building up on his Son. 

Because God is no longer enraged against believers, they can re-enter the relationship God designed for them in the beginning. Jesus’ death paved the road of reconciliation—“for if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, shall be saved by His life” (5:10). This verse reflects on both the past and ongoing results of Christ’s substitutionary atonement. Christ’s death—“for if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His son” (5:10a)—satisfied God’s wrath against humanity in the past. However, because Jesus did not stay dead, the believer also enjoys a present and ongoing relationship with God—“much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (5:10b).

In other words, God is not only no longer angry with believers, he embraces believers in lively relationship.

As a result, Christ’s substitutionary atonement affords the believer another application for believers—joy—“And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation” (5:11).

If we return to our Old Testament type—Isaac and Abraham—we might discover another connection their story has with what Paul is teaching here about Christ’s own substitutionary atonement. Imagine the relief and joy that both Isaac and Abraham must have felt after God provided the ram in the thicket for the sacrifice. No doubt the presence of the ram galvanized their joyful worship of the great Provider in ways never before experienced.

The same is true for the believer. Paul believed that when believers fully understood and appreciated how Jesus stood in their place, appeased God’s wrath, and paved the way for a relationship with God, they would “exult.” The term—“kauxaomai”—means to express an unusually high degree of confidence in someone or something being exceptionally noteworthy (Louw Nida). Such an attitude of holy confidence and joy ought to characterize every believer—not because of what they’ve accomplished, but for what God has accomplished for them in Christ.

So What?

Does this confidence and joy characterize your life? Unfortunately, confidence and hope are not words that describe many who call themselves believers today.  Perhaps this is because they have forgotten just what it means to have Jesus stand in your place. These need to understand that because Jesus stood in their place, they can stand before God himself in reconciled relationship! If people can stand before God, they can stand before anyone with confidence and joy.

However, perhaps this joy and confidence is missing from your life because Jesus’ substitutionary atonement has not been applied to your account. If this is the case, isn’t it about time you embrace the salvation that Christ came, bled, died, and rose again to provide? To refuse this is to remain on the altar of judgment and experience the full wrath of God. God has provided a ram in the thicket—a substitute to take your place. Jesus stood in your place, and took the whole of God’s wrath and judgment so that you wouldn’t have to. How could someone remain an enemy of such a God?