So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For in it is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. (Romans 1:15-18 KJ2000)

Paul preaches here that the wrath of God comes against all who hold the truth in unrighteousness. He thus makes the wrath of God part of his gospel. We might wonder, especially if we believe that all unbelievers and sinners are cast into an eternal hell, how God’s wrath could ever be considered “good news” to anyone. Yet, Paul said that is because it is part and parcel of the good news (gospel) he preaches.

Could Paul simply be saying that the wrath of God against sinners is good news to us who believe because it means that a day comes when we will be glad and clap our hands at the fall and destruction of our enemies? No indeed, for God teaches throughout his word that we must not rejoice when we see our enemy judged, lest God turn his wrath away from him.

Rejoice not when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles. Lest the LORD sees it, and it displeases him, and he turns away his wrath from him. (Proverbs 24:17-18 KJ2000)*

Why then is the doctrine of God’s wrath part of the gospel, part of the good news of knowing God? To understand this we must know the purpose of God’s wrath. What does he intend that it accomplish? First we see that God’s wrath comes against or is “revealed from heaven” against “all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” This means that God intends us to be godly and righteous, terms which, of course, represent the intrinsic moral characteristics of God himself. The ultimate purpose of the gospel is to transform humans into beings who are like God. God created us “in his image,” but he did not program us to be always good. Had he done so, we could never have been like him, for we would never have known evil and would never have developed that peculiar godlike character which knows both good and evil and yet chooses the good because his core nature is good.

This explains why God placed the serpent in the midst of the garden of Eden. God knew that the serpent would deceive Eve and cause her to eat the forbidden fruit. Likewise he knew that Adam would eat in order to remain “one” with his wife. He knew they would disobey his command not to eat and yet he planned that they would eat. It was after this that God said,

“Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever…” (Genesis 3:22 KJ2000)

But why is wrath itself important? Because many men simply will not learn God’s ways unless forced to by divine intervention known as “wrath.” Take the time to read the book of Ezekiel. There you will see that God pronounces judgments upon every surrounding nation of Israel and upon Israel itself. Then after the pronouncement of each judgment, in anticipation of the result the wrath will bring, God says, “Then you will know that I am the LORD!” Here Paul begins his gospel by making God’s wrath an actual part of it and by identifying who that wrath comes against. God purposes wrath to bring men to the knowledge of Himself and he purposes his gospel to make men fully into his image.

* God takes no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked and neither should we. When we see or learn of the destruction or judgment of an ungodly person we ought to learn to mourn for them, that they did not learn righteousness while they lived. If they do still live, let us pray for their repentance and faith. This reality is to be distinguished from that of rejoicing when God ends the rule of the wicked and establishes his Kingdom as we see in the following verse:

The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. (Psalms 58:10 KJ2000)

So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For in it is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:15-17 KJ2000)

And now we come to the main point of Paul’s gospel to the Romans, which is “the just shall live by faith.” The word translated “just” here is the Greek word dikaios and means “equitable, innocent, holy.” Sometimes this word is translated as “righteous.” In fact dikaios is the root of the word diakaiosune which is translated “righteousness” earlier here in verse 17. When Paul used this phrase here he was quoting an obscure verse from Habakkuk 2:4 which reads, “Behold, his soul which is proud is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4 KJ2000) It is also interesting to realize that this verse is quoted two more times in the New Testament, in Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38. It obviously states an important tenet of the gospel.

It is clear from Paul’s introduction to the Romans in verses one through eight and his comment in verse 16 that he does not teach that Christians, the “just” here in verse 17, live by or become righteous by one act of faith of “believing in Jesus.” In other words, just because you have made a confession of belief in Christ at some point in your life you should not assume that you, at this instant, are just or righteous. Paul teaches that the just live from faith to faith, from hearing one word of God to hearing the next word of God and on and on. This is what Jesus meant when he said, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Jesus was teaching that men live from faith to faith as they hear one word after another which proceeds from the Spirit of God.

Paul’s point, then, is that if you desire to be righteous, if you desire to be just and holy as your God is, then that is a matter of living by faith, not just reliance upon one magical moment in which you uttered the words, “Jesus save me from my sins,” but a lifetime of divine appointments, of times when you heard God, knew you heard God, and then proceeded down that narrow path that he, and he alone, has set you upon. “The just shall live by faith!” says Paul and then proceeds here and in his other letters to convince us that we will never make it to eternal life if we depend upon our strict obedience to laws of God’s or anyone else’s making.

Yet, in the very next verse Paul declares that in his gospel “the wrath of God is revealed” against “those who hold the truth in unrighteousness!” Do you not know that when God speaks a word of truth to you and you hear it that you could then ultimately “hold that truth in unrighteousness?” Beware, then, Paul warns as he begins to further unveil his gospel…

Part 6: Holding the Truth in Unrighteousness

So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For in it is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:15-17 KJ2000)

Paul begins his letter to the Roman Christians by telling them that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation and that in this gospel the righteousness of God is revealed. Next he says that this gospel of righteousness is revealed “from faith to faith.” What does that mean?

Paul means the same thing that John means in the second part of his sentence when he says, “But these are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you might have life through his name.” (John 20:31 KJ2000) As we saw in Romans 1:1-8 Paul speaks to Christians, to those who already believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. This is their “first” faith in terms of their Christian life and experience, their Christian walk. Paul now says that the gospel itself, wherein the righteousness of God is revealed, must be revealed “from faith to faith.”

Consider your own experience of faith. If yourr has been anything like mine it began with actually feeling the presence of God. First, I remember feeling deep remorse for the way I was living my life. I began to know that I actually lived a sinful life. I remember on one occasion a young woman drove me to work. On the way there I just began to silently weep. She looked over at me and said, “What’s wrong with you?” I just looked over at her and said, “I’m sinning!” She looked me as if to say, “Are you crazy?” I never saw her again, but this was one of my earliest experiences of faith. I had been reading the Bible regularly for a few weeks and those words (and, I’m sure, the presence of the Holy Spirit) were beginning to convict me of sin.

A month or two after this I was still reading my new Bible daily. I had not yet “accepted” or “received” Jesus as my savior. But, I was certainly being convicted of sin! Well, one night I was reading the Old Testament and was suddenly struck with the thought that the author of the Old Testament was the same as the author of the New Testament. I knew the two testaments were written hundreds of years apart and I knew that different men supposedly wrote the various books of each testatment. Yet, I knew that the same person had written both what I had read in the New Testament earlier in the day and what I was reading in the Old Testament this night. It was like reading different books by your favorite author, for example, Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis.  By the time you have read of few of those you would recognize the author of the rest without being told.

So, I said to myself, “This is impossible…unless God wrote the Bible.” Then the voice of God spoke to me and said, “That’s right Glenn, and I want you to teach my word.” Boom! My life was changed. Immediately I said to myself, “Then I better do what it says.” Of course I immediately believed that Jesus was who he said he was. And I began to make changes in my life. This was  the beginning of my faith. This is a literal example of what Paul means when he says, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God,” which we find later in this book to the Romans.

During the first year or two after this profound experience I actually felt the presence of God at various church and small group meetings I attended, or even sometimes when I was just by myself. I knew that I knew that I had heard God speak to me, I knew that he wrote the Bible, and I knew he was real! These were exciting times! Of course, such a revelation from GOD also led to vanity. I was called to be a preacher by God himself! I must be somebody! Well, God then had to cool my heals so he withdrew his presence and took me into many wilderness places and experiences. But he always gave me a word, a fresh revelation from his Spirit, when I needed it. Remember, “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Thus he led me in his way from word to word, that is, “from faith to faith.” This way is the way of the revelation of his righteousness. It is by hearing God, and then believing and putting on God’s own righteousness  that, ultimately John says, we ”have life through his name.” Life, eternal life, only comes to us when we have been clothed in God’s righteousness

Part 5: The Just Shall Live By Faith

He Led Captivity Captive, Part 2

For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit. By whom also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; (1 Peter 3:18-19 KJ2000)

Just who were these spirits held in prison? The righteous? Of course not. Peter explains a little later, saying,

Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 3 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 4 In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. 5 They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. (1 Peter 4:1-6 NKJV)

Pay particular attention to the pronouns in this passages. “They” who will have to give an account to God in verse 5 are “they” who partake of all the sinful behavior listed in verse 3. “They” are then likened to “those who are dead” in verse 6 to whom Christ preached before he ascended on high. Who are these dead sinners?

Well, Peter told us the identity of at least some of them back in chapter 3. He says there that Jesus went and preached to the spirits of those who had been disobedient in the time of Noah. Where were these spirits and where did Jesus preach? Peter says they were in “prison.” What do you think the name of this prison might be? For now just consider that a prison is a place of captivity. These spirits Jesus preached to were thus the captives of a particular captivity. Paul speaks of this to the Ephesians, saying,

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸Therefore He says:

“ When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,
And gave gifts to men.”

⁹ (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰ He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) (Ephesians 4:7-10, NKJV)

When one compares these Scriptures written by Peter and Paul it becomes clear that Jesus descended into the lower parts of the earth in order to preach to the captives in prison. In other words, he descended to hell (Greek=hades, Hebrew=sheol) in order to reveal himself to the prisoners there. Now it should also become clear that the spirits in prison, that is, the occupants of hell, did not consist merely of those who disobeyed in the days when Noah preached of God’s coming judgment upon sin. It would have included the spirits of all men who had walked in disobedience to God.

Now consider the state of these men and women. I do not believe that God was roasting them in a fire that singed their very beings. I do not think that he tortured them that way. But, I do believe that they were in “outer darkness” where there was “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And, further, I believe they were thrilled when their Creator actually stood before them, revealed who he was, and told them what he had done to free them.

Do you think they believed then? I do. Do you think they repented then of their many sins? I do? Do you think Jesus forgave them? Yes, and it was then that he freed them from their bondage and added them to his “train.” We might call this the leading of the captives captive into heaven, but I wouldn’t call it that.  I would call it the leading of the captives into freedom.

Neither do the Scriptures call this the leading of the captives captive. Psalms and Ephesians call it the leading of “captivity captive” or “capturing captivity.” This means nothing less than leading all of hell, all of Hades, all of Sheol, captive to obedience to Christ. This speaks of universal reconciliation, the restoration of all things! And this is the missing link in the Gospel we have heard all our lives.

Paul tells us in his letter to the Colossians that, without the indwelling Christ in our hearts, we possess minds alien to God and hostile to all of his ways.  Then he reveals God’s solution to man’s rebellion.  He calls it, “the Mystery of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”   Following is a summation of this mystery in a nutshell.

First, Paul prays for the Christians at Colossae to be filled with the “knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in  a manner worth of the Lord.”  The entire prayer in chapter one is worth reading.  Indeed we should pray this prayer for ourselves and others we know if we seek to mature in Christ.

Second, he assures us that God has “delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”  Here is one of the Scriptures theologians rely upon when they say that the kingdom of God has already come.  The kingdom has come in this spiritual sense, but as Hebrews teaches, we do not yet see all things in the natural subject to this kingdom.  This explains how the kingdom can already be (in the spiritual) and yet is not (in the natural).  There is coming a day when we will literally see all things subject to the Lord Jesus.

Third, Paul explains how Jesus reconciles all things to God by virtue of the fact that he himself is the image of the invisible God, that he created all things, and that the fullness of God dwelt in him bodily.  By virtue of these truths he was empowered to make peace between God and man by his blood on the cross.

Fourth, he tells how men who were once alienated from and hostile to God in mind have now been reconciled to God in Christ’s flesh by his death.  It is this “alien mind” which causes men to do evil deeds.  The remainder of Paul’s letter deals with fixing this problem.

The solution to man’s alien mind, says Paul, lies in partaking of the “mystery of the Gospel.”  This mystery has been hidden for ages, he says, but has now been revealed.  The mystery is Christ in you, the hope of glory.  “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.“  Col. 1:28

Here, then, lies the key to all Scripture.  Here we come to understand the mind of God with respect to man’s duty and relationship to him.  Now take this key and fly back to the beginning, back to Genesis chapter 1 and God’s (Jesus’) creation of man.  There re-learn that God made man in His image.  His image.  His image.   Now return to Paul’s message.

Colossians teaches us that Jesus in the flesh “is the image of the invisible God” and that in him “all the fullness of God” dwelt.  But, Jesus never sinned.  Jesus never possessed a mind alien to God.  Here we learn that by some spiritual mystery Christ Jesus may dwell within us and that it is this particular indwelling by which we may one day be glorified!  This represents the culmination of man’s creation.  In Christ man comes full circle.  He was created with glory in the first man, Adam.  Through his six thousand year sojourn as a foreigner in a foreign land and with the tutoring help of God’s Law, he learned to discern good and evil.  But, he could not perfectly obey that Law in his own strength.  Thus that Law could never bring him to reconciliation with God on to salvation and then to glorification, being like God.  Now, Paul tells us, the only way to salvation and glory is Christ in you!  Next, we will begin to discover how this works its way out today in the world through each of us.

Ambassadors of a Foreign Kingdom

For our citizenship is in heaven; from which also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our humble body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (Philippians 3:20-21 KJ2000)

The term “Christian patriot” is a misnomer.  Can one be a true Christian and a patriot at the same time?  Remember, the primary definition for patriot is “a person who loves, supports, and defends his or her country and its interests with devotion.” (Dictionary.com)   Should Christians be devoted to the nation where they live in the physical, or should they instead be devoted to their spiritual nation?  Paul tells his disciples that their citizenship resides in heaven, not Greece, Rome, or Phillipi.  The Bible does not teach us to renounce our physical citizenship for Paul did appeal to Caesar on one instance, thus using his worldly citizenship.  Nevertheless, Scripture clearly teaches us to eschew becoming involved in worldly government so long as Satan is the ruler of this world.  I believe the reason for this is that governing in Satan’s kingdom necessarily involves compromise and those who would follow Christ cannot compromise with evil.

One clear example should suffice to prove this from my six year stint as a State Representative.  I believe state-funded public education which denies Christ to be one of the most evil things that today’s governments do.  I voted “NO” on the education budget bill each of the six years I served in office.  The majority of citizens here support public education but, having been a teacher and having home schooled my own children and believing in Christ’s admonition to train up a child in the way he should go, I could not with a clear conscience vote for funding public education.  The Democrats finally figured out a way they could beat me in a political race.  They recruited a public school teacher to run against me my fourth term.  They planned to make this the defining issue of the 1998 campaign.  They probably would have beaten me because my upper middle class, heavily Republican district, was very proud of its public schools.  They just didn’t know I was not running for a fourth term!

As a legislator I did not budge on issues I perceived to have moral significance.  Consequently, I was never chosen to be part of a conference committee on a bill or anything else of legislative significance.  I remember that I could not even get all of the Republicans to support by proposed bill to prohibit homosexuals from adopting children or acting as foster parents.  Then there was the time that certain legislators were bribed with high paying government jobs to support the governor’s pro-abortion agenda although they were known to be “pro-life” politicians.  And these memories do not even touch my own short coming which kept me from doing a really good job as a legislator.  For example, I remember writing letters in support of some free trade group that in retrospect I believe could have harmed American jobs.  I simply did not take enough time to understand the agenda of this organization.  Then there were the lobbyists who took me and the other politicians out to dinner.  Of course I did not think I was being bribed, but the reality is, I was!  I repented then and that’s one of the reasons I did not run for a fourth term.  I realized that being in the legislature corrupted my person and my witness.  But, I can say this also…God protected me from destruction!

Therefore, I say this.  See yourself as an ambassador of a foreign kingdom, a kingdom of righteousness, not a kingdom of sin and seduction.  Be a minister according to the commission God has given you.  Make known the riches of the glory of Christ among the nations, among the worldly kingdoms.  Preach and warn every man, teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect and complete in Jesus Christ.  (Colossians 1:25-29)

Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world— to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”  [38] Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”  John 18:37-38 (ESV) 

Did you ever notice that Jesus did not answer Pilate?  Why not?  Because his entire 3 1/2 year ministry (indeed, his whole life) had exemplified the truth which his own natural and written word had declared to mankind for centuries.   Because Jesus himself IS the truth.  He did not need to speak because HE WAS the truth.  And, he has revealed himself, his truth, to man from the beginning.  As his Word says, ”The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.”  Psalm 119:160 (ESV) 

Concerning truth Paul says, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,  [2] for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.  [3] This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,  [4] who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  [5] For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,  [6] who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.  [7] For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle ( I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.” 1 Tim. 2:1-7 (ESV)

This very interesting passage tells us God’s desire concerning mankind: He wants all people to be saved and he wants all people to come to the knowledge of the truth.  Do you think that God’s desires will be fulfilled?  Or, will the vast majority of the human race be left unsaved and consigned to eternal hell?  Will the masses stay in bondage to sin and lies, or will they come to the knowledge of the truth?  What does God want to happen?  Do you think he is wise enough and powerful enough to get what he wants?  Or, is he simply the God of our imaginations who fails as often as we do?  In other words, is he no God at all?

And who is Jesus?  In this passage we learn that Jesus is the mediator between God and man and that he gave himself as a ransom for ALL men, not just some.  God is the God of ALL.  Jesus is the Savior of ALL.   Jesus and his Father desire ALL men to be saved, that is, to share eternal life with them.  And, in order to be qualified to share life with them,  they desire that ALL men come into the knowledge of the truth.  God is a God of truth, not lies.  Therefore, those who dwell with GOD shall know the truth and walk in it.  Now let us begin to understand it and its ramifications.

Daniel prayed for the sins of his people Israel in the ninth chapter of his book.  Verse 20 sums up Daniel’s prayer: “And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God…” (Daniel 9:20 KJ2000)  Daniel prayed for his people Israel and for the holy mountain of his God.  Israel means “ruled by God” and speaks of the people who believe in God and who desire his rule over their lives.  Remember, Jacob did not begin his life with the name “Israel.”  He received it after he “prevailed” with God, that is, after he sought God’s face and God counted him as an overcomer.  Daniel did not pray for the rest of the world, all of whom lived in disobedience to God.  He only prayed for Israel, for those to whom the Law had been given and who had deliberately rebelled against that Law.  He prayed for those who could still repent and get on with God, who could still possibly overcome and rule and reign on God’s holy mountain, the New Jerusalem.

Nehemiah and the people of his day prayed similarly.  The Word says, “And the descendants of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.” (Nehemiah 9:2 KJ2000)  We see several things here.  First, these people were descendants of Israel.  They represent those over whom God rules.  Second, they separated themselves from strangers.  The word strangers here means “sons of foreigners.”  They separated themselves from those over whom God did not rule, those of other nations.  Third,  they confessed their own sins.  Fourth, they confessed the sins of their fathers, of the Israelites who lived before them and who had departed from God’s ways.

We see this pattern continue in the New Testament.  James teaches us, saying, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (James 5:16 KJ2000)  James does not tell us here to go out into the world to the stranger (as in Nehemiah), the one who does not know God, and confess our sins to him.  No, he means for us to go to another like ourselves, one who obeys God.  When we confess our sins to one another we practice righteousness.  We show that we are not perfect yet in our flesh, but that we maintain spiritual perfection before God by repenting of our sins.  When we repent, then we are indeed accounted righteous.  Then, and only then, may our prayers be heard and answered.  As John says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 KJ2000)

What does Jesus say about praying for the world or confessing the sins of the world?  He says, “I pray for them [his disciples]: I pray not for the world, but for them that you have given me; for they are yours.” (John 17:9 KJ2000)  Yet, he did not pray only for these few disciples he had made in his short ministry on earth.  He also said, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe on me through their word.” (John 17:20 KJ2000)  So, Jesus prayed (made intercession for) all of his disciples and all those who would believe on him through the word of his disciples.  Yet, he did not pray for the world.  Why not?  Because, “they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (John 17:16 KJ2000)  Prayer and confession, therefore, remain duties we owe to those who have believed upon Jesus through the word of his disciples, not duties we owe to the world.

Yet, Jesus did not forsake the world.  The Scripture says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17 KJ2000)  And, remember the great commission:  “And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go you therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 28:18-20 KJ2000)

The disciple’s duty, therefore, is to take God’s truth into all the earth.  While doing that he is commanded to keep himself pure by confessing his sins.  Part of his responsibility is to cover the sins of his (believing) brothers by confessing their sins, as exemplified by Daniel and Nehemiah.  Yet, John even teaches that we do not pray and cover all the sins of the brothers.  “If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.” (1 John 5:16-17 KJ2000)

In summary, none of the Biblical types and shadows teach us to confess the sins of unbelievers.  It is true that Jesus died for their sins and that they will ultimately be “saved.”  Their salvation, though, will come to fruition through the application of “the lake of fire” in the future.  This same lake will also purge the dross of the Christians who “sinned unto death” as John says.  These are the ones who, like all unbelievers, must partake in the future of the second death.  These are the Christians who had their names blotted from the Book of Life.  (Revelation 3:5)