Sunday, February 11, 2024

Ben C. Blackwell on Jesus dying "for all" (υπερ παντων) in Paul's Epistles

  

Twice Paul characterises Jesus’ death as being ‘for all’ (υπερ παντων). The nature of the υπερ’s meaning has been debated—it is more like αντι (‘instead of’) or ενεκα/δια (‘for the sake of’)? While either reading would make sense here, the context points more towards the latter reading. Against ‘instead of’, Christ does not die so that humans do not have to die. Rather Christ’s death is inclusive: ‘he died for them, therefore (αρα) they all die’ (5.14). Substitution is not excluded because, as we will see in 4.21, Christ dies in a way that believers will not. However, the emphasis here is upon believers’ embodiment of the path of Christ. That is, they must experience this death in themselves; otherwise, it will remain external to them. Therefore, the objective accomplishment of salvation in Christ’s death meets the subjective experience of believers as they follow him in death.

 

Just as believers die like Christ, they also live: those who died now live for (υπερ) the one who died and was raised (5.15; cf. Rom 6.4). This use of υπερ must be ‘for the sake of’ and thus coheres with our interpretation of 5.14. Christ’s motivation for action was not his own benefit but that of others, and this same love compels Paul, and even all believers, to live for Christ on behalf of others (cf. 4.13). This ‘living’ corresponds to proper conduct on behalf of Christ. Thus, with this accent on moral living, the focus here is on the present experience of believers. (Ben C. Blackwell, Christosis: Engaging Paul’s Soteriology with His Patristic Interpreters [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2016], 220-21)