The loophole is not escape from death but substitution: Christ dies in the sinner's place, and God counts believers as having died in Him.
The law is not canceled. Every son of Adam faces death because all are born in sin. God's loophole is that the sinner may die in the person of Christ on the cross by faith, so Christ's substitutionary death satisfies the law and God reckons the old Adam as crucified.
Genesis 2:17 — It records the first law: eating the forbidden fruit brings certain death, the law that later applies to every sinner.
Ezekiel 18:20 — It restates the law that the soul that sinneth shall die, the law for which God provides the loophole.
Romans 6:6 — It states that our old man is crucified with Christ, showing how believers undergo the death penalty in Him.
Genesis 2:17 records the original law: "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Ezekiel later restates it: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Romans 3:23 shows why this applies to everyone: "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Romans 6:6-7 provides the corresponding death-in-Christ text: "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin." Galatians 2:20 states the believer's identification: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."
Les Feldick describes God's answer to the law as a tremendous "loophole." The law remains: the human race is faced with no alternative but to die because we are born in sin. But God provided a way: we do not have to die in ourselves. Christ's death takes our place — this is substitutionary death. The believer dies in the person of Christ on the cross by identification, by faith, by trust: "When He died, I died." At salvation, the Holy Spirit convicts us that we have broken the law, but God has provided someone who died that death in our place. Paul then teaches that the old Adam has to be crucified and put to death because he is a sinner. Romans 6:6 says our old man is crucified with Him; crucifixion kills, so God puts the old Adam out of commission. This happens at the moment we believe: "the moment we believed God reckoned him dead, crucified."
The first law God gave was the command concerning the tree of knowledge: the day Adam ate of it, he would surely die (Genesis 2:17). Ezekiel later restated the same law: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:20). Because all are born in sin, the human race has no alternative but death.
God's loophole is that believers do not have to die in themselves; they can take Christ's death as their substitution. By faith, the believer dies in the person of Christ on the cross — when He died, the believer died. Scripture says that our old man is crucified with Him (Romans 6:6) and that he who is dead is freed from sin (Romans 6:7).
Les teaches that at the moment we believed, God reckoned the old Adam as dead and crucified. Crucifixion kills, so God puts the old Adam out of commission and destroys the body of sin. This is why Paul can say, "I am crucified with Christ."
What Does It Mean to Be Crucified With Christ?
Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick.
The 'Loophole' of Substitution
God gave a loophole: the sinner still has to die, but he does not have to die in himself because Christ's death takes his place as a substitution. The old Adam must be crucified because he is a sinner.
Death in the Person of Christ
Since the soul that sinneth must die, the believer is permitted to die in the person of Christ on the cross by identification and faith; when He died, we died.
Christ Died the Death We Deserved
As sons of Adam, all are sinners; Christ died the death we deserved, and God reckons our old Adam as crucified.
The Tremendous Loophole
The Holy Spirit convicts us that we have broken the law, but God has provided someone who died that death in our place.
God's Righteousness Explained — Romans 3 Verse by Verse
You're guilty. And then Jesus took the law even further. He took it to the place where nobody can wiggle out from under it. And He said, even if you think it, you've broken it. All right, read on, verse 21. But now, you know I'm always stressing that three-letter word, but, it's the flip side. Oh, under the law, all it could do was condemn.
Old Adam Dies at the Moment of Belief
At the moment of belief, God reckoned the old Adam as dead and crucified; Galatians 2:20 is Paul's personal expression of that crucifixion.
Crucifixion Kills the Old Adam
Being crucified with Christ is not merely symbolic; crucifixion kills, so God puts the old Adam out of commission and frees the believer from sin.
Genesis 2:17: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
This is the original law that sets the death penalty for sin.
Ezekiel 18:20: The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
Restates the death penalty that applies to every soul that sins.
Romans 3:23: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
Shows why every son of Adam falls under the law's death sentence.
Romans 6:6: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Basis for the teaching that the old man was crucified with Christ.
Romans 6:7: For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Confirms that death in Christ brings freedom from sin.
Galatians 2:20: I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Personal testimony of the believer's crucifixion with Christ.
Les uses 'loophole' to describe God's provision that sinners must die, but not in themselves. Christ's death takes their place by substitution, so the law's demand is satisfied. The believer dies in the person of Christ by faith.
Yes. Les teaches that the human race is faced with no alternative but to die because we are born in sin. The loophole is not that death is removed, but that believers can die in the person of Christ, who died in their place.
At the moment of belief. Les says that when we believed, God reckoned the old Adam as dead and crucified. Crucifixion kills, so God puts the old man out of commission and the believer is freed from sin.
Watch the Teaching: What Does It Mean to Be Crucified With Christ?