Sam Frost (Clearly a Universalist!)

Sam maintains that "the sin" and "the death" were magically removed in 70ad when the age of death ended. He believe we are now living in the "age to come" where sin and death do not reign. Despite the fact fact that the "age to come" is not a temporal period, Sam focus on 70ad erodes his view, instead of placing those outside of Christ as in the "present age" and those in Christ in the "age to come". Placing a dispensational line in 70ad clearly makes many wrong assumptions. Those who are earthly will continue to be earthly and will reside in death. Those who have been born again, will pass from death to life. It has NOTHING to do with 70ad, but everything to do with your relationship with Christ.

Observations
All mankind (Rom 5.18) was under "the condemnation" that came as a result of Adam's "breaking of the commandment" (5.13). His penalty meant separation from God's holy presence. All men were born outside the Garden of God. The theme of Edenic imagery comes back again in the Hebrew Bible in that it comes to symbolize the time of God's restoration; a time when God would remove the sentence of death for those in Adam by renewing them in the image of his Son, through the "body" of his Son's death and resurrection.

Also, these two parallels, "the sin reigning in the death" and "the grace reigning in righteousness" had two results: The former resulted in "condemnation" whereas the latter results in "eternal life." It is to be understood as well that these two parallels are representative of two ages. The former represents the dispensation of the "present evil age" and the latter represents "the age to come" or "the new heavens and new earth wherein righteousness dwells" (II Pe 3.12). This "righteousness" in 5.21 is none other than the "righteousness by faith" Paul had been expounding upon all along. It is by "grace" that this "righteousness" comes. It is not a righteousness by Torah (which characterized the present evil age under the dominion of the Sin and the Death, the Sin which was increased by Torah), but a righteousness by faith. The end of the reign of the Death and the Sin that reigned in the Death are contemplated here by Paul. What is also contemplated is that the end of their reign means the beginning of the reign of grace and righteousness. The end of the age meant the end of the reign of the Death and the Sin and life in the fullness of Son eternally. This last statement is a virtual powder keg for preterism in terms of its implications.

I believe that the Apostle John has this in mind when he saw the end of "the Death" in Rev 20.14,15. Here, again, "the Death" is brought to the end of its once triumphant reign (pictured as riding on the fourth horse - Rev 20.8 used with the article, "the Death") and "the Life" is granted to those found written in the scroll. This is the same "the Life eternal" in Rom 5.21. The end of the reign of the Death meant the granting of the Life and the beginning of the reign of the Grace. To the quick, the theology of Rom 5.21 is the same in Rev 20.14,15. For the preterist that believes the end of the "thousand years" marked the end of the age in 70 A.D. this has major implications. I am one of those preterists.

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