Wednesday, November 2, 2022

Robert Sungenis on Paul's use of δικαιοω in Romans 6:7

  

In being baptized, they become partakers in Christ’s death and thus become “dead” to sin. Paul tells them that they must live a new life — a life free from sin. Paul concludes in Rm 6:7 that one who has “died” [died with Christ in baptism] has been justified from sin. One of the more curious aspects of this verse is that Paul could have used two other words in place of justified that would have given the same meaning he intended. He uses them elsewhere in this context. One appears in Rm 6:18, where Paul says, “you have been set free ("Freed" in Rm. 6:18, 20, 22 is the Greek ελευθερωθεντες, literally meaning "to be free") from sin and become slaves to God.” Romans 6:20, 22 uses the same phrasing. In all three cases Paul is using the “free/slave” metaphors for illustration. The other word Paul could have used is “sanctified” (i.e., “anyone who has died has been sanctified from sin”). Since “sanctified” carries the meaning of “set apart from” or “separated from” it would have been an appropriate term to show the Christian’s separation from sin. In fact, “sanctified” may have been a better word to use since it specifically denotes cleansing and holiness. Its noun cognate is used in Rm 6:19 (“leading to holiness”) and Rm 6:22 (“leads to holiness”). (The noun forms are usually translated as sanctification [e.g., 1Co 1:30; 1Th 4:3, 4, 7; 2Th 2.13; 1Pet 1:2]) Yet Paul chose to use the word “justified” in Romans 6:7, the same word he used singularly in reference to God “justifying the ungodly” in Rm 4:5, for example. In other words, in Rm 6:7 Paul understands and is using the term “justification” as a synonym for sanctification. Now we can understand even more why the latter usage does not refer to a forensic justification but can and must refer to a transformational justification. The justification involves a separation or cleansing from sin. The ungodly become justified because sin has been washed from their soul and they have become renewed.

 

Further evidence regarding the transformational aspect of justification in Rm 6:7 is the emphasis beginning in Rm 6:5-6 in which Paul states: “If we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with...” We will recall that Paul spoke of the same occurrence in Ph 3:10: “I want to know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like [conformed to] him in his death...” In the former verse, Rm 6:5, Paul is connecting “being united with Christ in his death through baptism” with the death of the old self and renunciation of the sinful life. In the latter verse, Paul speaks of becoming like Christ in his death by going through the “fellowship of his sufferings.” Both are speaking about the sanctified Christian life and both anticipate its completion in the resurrection of the body.

 

We will also recall that Paul used a particular word in Ph 3:10 that was used in Rm 8:29 — the word conformed. (The Greek συμμορφομαι or its noun συμμορφος, appearing in Rm. 8:29; Ph 3:10, 21) In Ph 3:10, Paul indicates that he is “conformed to the death of Christ” in anticipation of the resurrection, whereas in Rm 8:29 he is “being conformed to the image of the Son” in anticipation of his glorification, i.e., the resurrection. In Rm 6:1-6 it is baptism that initiates the conforming to the Son in his death. According to 1Co 6:11, it is the “washing,” i.e., baptism, that initiates the justification and sanctification to make one righteous and pure, conformed to the image of Christ. What all of this points to is that when Paul says in Rm 8:33, “It is God who justifies, who is he that condemns,” the justification to which he is referring encompasses the entire life of the Christian. The sanctification of the Christian is subsumed under the term justification in Rm 8:33 just as it is in Rm 8:30. It is the process by which sin is eradicated from the life of the individual so that he may be conformed to the image of Christ presently in his soul and finally in his body at the physical resurrection of the last day. (Robert A. Sungenis, Not By Faith Alone: The Biblical Evidence for the Catholic Doctrine of Justification [2d ed.; State Line, Pa.: Catholic Apologetics International Publishing Inc., 2009], 320-21)