262 clare k. rothschild
propositions in romans, including 3:25. ἱλαστήριον in rom 3:25 implies
a repeatable sacrifice, typical for the Jewish and other sacrificial systems.
Human beings, however (Jesus included), can only die once. paul per-
mits this tension to remain in romans 3, offering no clarification. Yet, in
rom 6:10 he specifies that, unlike repeatable sacrifices within the Jewish
sacrificial system, Jesus died once-and-for-all (ἐφάπαξ). the unrepeatabil-
ity of Jesus’ sacrifice is not, however, the issue paul addresses in romans 6.
rather, in order to argue the different point that believers are not expected
to persist in sin, he returns to his earlier exposition of Jesus’ sacrificial
act, borrowing one of the obvious implications—its unrepeatability. the
thrust of romans 6 may be formulated as a syllogism:
(1) Jesus’ death on the cross is symbolically reenacted in every believer’s
baptism (rom 6:3–5).
(2) Just as Jesus can only die once (6:10), a believer may only “die” once
in baptism.
(3) sin does not persist after Jesus’ real death (“the death he died, he died
to sin, once for all”); so sin should not persist after a believer’s sym-
bolic death (echoing the decisively negative response in 6:2 [i.e., μὴ
γένοιτο] to the question posed in rom 6:1).
according to rom 6:3–11, baptism (understood as a kind of death) elimi-
nates sin. sin should not persist subsequent to baptism just as it cannot
persist subsequent to death (rom 6:3–11). paul’s exhortation to believers
is, therefore: μηδὲ παριστάνετε τὰ μέλη ὑμῶν ὅπλα ἀδικίας τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, ἀλλὰ
παραστήσατε ἑαυτοὺς τῷ θεῷ ὡσεὶ ἐκ νεκρῶν ζῶντας καὶ τὰ μέλη ὑμῶν ὅπλα
δικαιοσύνης τῷ θεῷ (v. 13). curiously, according to romans, it is not exclu-
sively their fault that believers are not always able to carry out this com-
mand. paul places partial blame for human error on “sin” as a personified
power: “therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies, to make you
obey its passions” (μὴ οὖν βασιλευέτω ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐν τῷ θνητῷ ὑμῶν σώματι
εἰς τὸ ὑπακούειν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις αὐτοῦ, 6:12). of course, paul’s context is
eschatological; the battle being waged involves more than mere human
beings. still, allowing that sin might at times gain the upper hand (“exer-
cise dominion”), paul offers no instructions for a case in which it does.
Hebrews reflects such a case. Hebrews 10:25–27 (cf. 2:1; 10:25–27, 29, 35;
12:8) suggests that no repentance remains for post-baptismal addressees
over whom sin currently exercises (in some capacity) dominion.86 In fact,
86 such a historical circumstance is compatible although not required for the present
argument.