THE NO-PLACING OF SIN

"Yet now, once, has He been manifested through His sacrifice, 
for the repudiation of sin at the conclusion of the eons,"
(Heb. 9:26).

One has said an attempt to translate Greek into English is like trying to render on the piano, a piece of music that was composed for the violin.  This is true of one word in the above text - ATHETESIN.  The King James Version renders it "put away."  The Concordant Version has "repudiation," which is, perhaps, as nearly correct as it can be rendered in one English word.  It means NO-PLACING.  But this would not be intelligible in our language, and might be mistaken for "remove," which is represented by another Greek word.  Also it might be considered as synonymous with "a failure to place." This is far from correct.  It means that through the sacrifice of Christ, there will be no place for sin at the conclusion of the eons.  Sin is to be destroyed by destroying its place.  It cannot exist when there is no place for it.

The "law of sin and death," (Rom. 8:2), is as unfailing as is the law of gravitation.  Through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death; and death came through into all mankind, on which all sinned, (Rom. 5:12).  Adam was not a sinner when he was created.  Neither was death in him.  More of this later.  When he sinned death took hold of him, carrying out the word of God, "In the day thou eatest thereof, to die thou shalt be dying."  He began to die, in order to die.  All who have ever been begotten by Adam or any other man, were born with bodies of death - mortal bodies.  Because they have bodies of death they sin.  Death is the soil in which sin grows.  A body of death is as sure to sin, as an object with weight is sure to fall toward the center of the earth when it is released.  In other words, as I have already said, the law of sin and death is as unfailing as is the law of gravitation. 

If sin can grow only in the soil of death, how did Adam come to sin, when he had no death in him?  There is only one explanation.  God, Who had purposed to save sinners, and had given grace in Christ Jesus before times eonian, purposed that there should be sin.  Because of this purpose of God, one man sinned before the death process set up in him.  His sin produced death in himself, and in all his posterity.  This death in his posterity produces sin in them. 

But Adam was not the first sinner.  The slanderer, (the devil), is part of God's creation.  "His hand formed the fugitive serpent", (Job 26:13).  What does "fugitive" suggest?  It suggests crime.  "The slanderer is sinning from the beginning," (1 John 3:8).  When God created the "devil," He created a sinner.  This is the origin of sin!  Spirit beings sinned before man came to be on the earth.  This was in the purpose of God, for He had planned that the universe should be reconciled to Himself through the blood of the cross, (Col. 1:20).  There could not be reconciliation without estrangement.  God provided for the estrangement, by creating a sinner and turning him loose among His other spirit beings.  They had no bodies of death, but they sinned, in accord with His purpose.  Since they have all sinned, death is in them, although they are spirits.  Even the wicked gods shall die like men, (Ps. 82).  Death awaits the slanderer, (Heb.1:14).  This will take place after his torment, (Un. 20:10).  

So far as we know, spirit beings do not beget offspring.  But men do; and the law of sin and death operates in all the children of men.  That law makes it certain that every person who has a body of death shall sin.  Christ did not sin, because His father was not a man.   

Many will-meaning persons are trying to abolish sin from the world.  They can no more do this than they can abolish death.  Sin and death are inseparably connected.  "The law of sin and death" operates every day.  

"The spirit's law of life in Christ Jesus frees you from the law of sin and death," (Rom. 8:2).  Here we have another law, and it is as unfailing as is the law of sin and death.  It is the law of life in Christ Jesus.  It is the spirit's law.  Nothing else can free us from the law of sin and death.  There is no freedom out of Christ Jesus.  Likewise, there is no freedom apart from the spirit.  The word "frees," in the above text, is an indefinite verb.  It expresses what is truth and permanent.  It is not true that it "hath" made us free.  Saints yet have bodies of death, and sin makes its home in them.  We will never cease to sin while we have mortal bodies.  When the Lord comes for us and takes us into the heavens, we will be made immortal.  That word means NO-DEATH.  But while we remain here we shall be troubled with sin every day.   

The spirit's law of life in Christ Jesus operates in those who are chosen in Christ.  But it does not free us from the operation of the law of sin and death, until we are made immortal.  Then, when there is no death in us, there will be no place for sin in us.  We shall carry on a most glorious ministry in the heavens, among the celestials, who are, themselves sinful.  But their sins shall never take hold of us, for there shall be no place for sin in us.  Instead, we, in our immortal activities, shall be the glorified instruments in the hands of Christ, to effect reconciliation there.  

The operation of the spirit's law of life in Christ is based on the sacrifice of Christ.  He died for the sake of all; He was made to be sin for us, that we might be becoming God's righteousness in Him; He was given up because of our offenses, and was roused again because of our justification.  Inasmuch as His sacrifice is for all, the spirit's law of life in Him shall operate in all, making all free from the law of sin and death.  

When the conclusion of the eons have come, there shall not be one particle of death in all the universe.  Death is to be abolished, (1 Cor. 15:26; 2 Tim.1:10).  When there is no death, there will be no place for sin.  All shall be vivified in Christ.  We, the saints, are in Him and shall be vivified in Him.  But this same blessing awaits all, in God's own time.  "For even as , in Adam, all are dying, thus also, in Christ, all shall be vivified, (1 Cor. 15:22).  The same spirit whose law of life in Christ Jesus frees us from the law  of sin and death, shall free all others.  Free from death necessarily means free from sin.  As a plant cannot live without soil, so sin cannot exist without death.  

The writer of the Hebrew epistle said nothing about the present conciliation.  This is absent from all the Circumcision writings.  This secret is revealed to Paul.  But the writer of Hebrews views the conclusion, and sees that there shall be no place for sin, and that this condition shall be brought about trough the sacrifice of Christ.  This is in line with other passages in the Circumcision scriptures, such as (John 1:29): "Lo! the Lamb of God Which is taking away the sin of the world"; (John 12:32): And I, if I should be exalted out of the earth, shall be drawing all to myself"; and (1 John 2:2): "And He is the propitiation, concerned with our sins, yet not concerned with ours only, but concerned with the whole world also."  These are high spots in the Circumcision writings, as if the writers became filled with joy at intervals, and burst out of the narrowness usually manifest in scriptures for Israel.  In these outbursts they almost equal Paul in Rom. 5:18: "Consequently then as it was through one offense, for all mankind for condemnation, thus also, it is through one just award for all mankind for life's justifying." 

But, so far as the Circumcision writers knew, salvation is for mankind, alone.  Indeed, except for an occasional broadening of vision, they are concerned only  with Israel.  But Paul, the apostle for the nations, includes the universe in the scope of his writings, (Col. 1:20).  Spirit beings - sovereignties, authorities and messengers - are sinners in no less degree than are we.  Whether or not the writer of Hebrews knew this, sin is among the celestials as well as dwellers on earth.  And they, in no less a degree than mankind, shall be made alive in Christ.  Not only must there be no place for sin among men; there must be no place for it anywhere in the universe.  This shall be accomplished by abolishing death throughout the universe.  This is done through the sacrifice of Christ. 

The fact that God gave grace in Christ before the eons, and then formed the crooked serpent, proves that sin is in accord with His PURPOSE.  The fact that He forbids sin, and will finally save from it, and destroy its place, proves that sin is not in accord with His WILL. 

It is just as easy to wrap a quarter in paper and mail it in an envelope, as it is to mail a letter without the quarter.  The word EXPIRED on your paper means "Please renew your subscription."  When you neglect this it works a hardship on me.  The point is DO IT AT ONCE.  You can get the quarter. 

I thank God for the financial help I receive from time to time, from the saints, many of whom have never seen me.  God knows I need it, and it is like Him to supply the need.  The reason Why I need it, is because so many are slow to renew their subscription.