VERSE 9
“Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”
“Much more then”–Meaning: “since; therefore.” It is much more reasonable to expect it Paul is making an argument from the greater to the least.
The supreme difficulty to be overcome in the relations of man and God is the initial one: How can God demonstrate His love to the sinner, and bestow on him a Divine righteousness? In comparison with this, everything else is easy. Paul has already shown how the Gospel meets this difficulty (3:21-30). We obtain the righteousness required by believing; i.e., (faith) in Christ, whom God has set forth as a propitiation through faith in His blood. If such grace was shown us then, when we were in sin, much more, having been justified as we have now been by His blood shall we be saved from wrath through Him. This deliverance from wrath does not exhaust Paul’s conception of the future but it is an important aspect of it, and implies the rest.
Since God the Son died for us while were sinner, unlovely and unlovable, rebellious against Him, hating Him, how much more will He save from the future wrath, those who are now in Christ as righteous in their standing as He Himself is in His Person, and so lovely as he is in the sight of God the Father. The greater thing is the justification in Christ’s blood; and the final salvation is less of a mystery.
There are fewer obstacles in the way. If, when we were enemies, Christ overcame all that was in the way of our salvation, much more have we reason to expect that He will afford us protection now that we are his friends. This is one ground of the hope expressed in verse 6. The argument is: If while “we were yet sinners” (v. 8), God loved us so well that Christ died for us, much more now shall we…
“being now justified by His blood”
Literally: “Having been justified in His blood ,” i.e., freed from sin, in His blood, i.e., by faith in His blood or sufferings; saved from the displeasure of God.
Pardoned: accepted as His friends by His death. The fact that we are purchased by His blood (apolutrōsis), and sanctified by it, renders us sacred in the eye of God; it bestows a value on us proportionate to the worth of the price of our redemption; and is a pledge that He will keep that which has been so dearly bought.
NOW: (Grk.-–nun)–As the case now stands.
“by His blood ”
Literally: ‘at the price of His blood ”–“His blood ,” as in 3:25, denote His sacrificial death; while, “by His blood ” here is parallel to “by the death of his Son” (v.10).
“we saved from wrath”
Literally: “We shall be saved from the wrath.” From Hell; from the punishment due to sin.
In I Thess. 1:10 Jesus is called our Deliverer “from the wrath to come;” here, as there, the outpouring of judgment at the end-time is in view.
“And to wait for His Son from heaven, Whom He reaised from the dead, {even} Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (I Thess. 1:10).
“For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Thess. 5:9).
WE SHALL BE SAVED: (Grk.–sōthêsometha)—Meaning the final salvation (see 8:22-23).
WRATH: (Grk.–tês orgê)–Literally: “the wrath,” pointing out a particular wrath, meaning the Lake of Fire which is the display of God’s wrath against sin.
The argument of Paul is from the lesser to the greater: If while we were yet enemies to God a reparation was made for our sins, much more now we have been brought into an actual state of justification, shall we be saved from the coming wrath of God. That is, from all the effects of the wrath of God.
The wrath spoken of here is what the prophets: “That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness” (Zeph. 1:15). It is what the Lord Jesus called the Great Tribulation.
“through Him”–Through Christ. Because of what He has suffered for us.
VERSE 10:
“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
“For if”–The idea in this verse is simply a repetition and enlargement of that in verse 9. Paul dwells on the thought, and places it in a new light, furnishing thus a strong confirmation of his position.
FOR: (Grk.–gar)–Paul is now showing an expansion of his previous thought.
IF: (Grk.–ei)-–Literally meaning: “whether; if; if only; surely; since;” the particle of a fulfilled condition. This word (“if”) is not a word of doubting, but of argumentation. As sure as; so the word frequently signifies. Paul supposes it a known truth, or a principle yielded by all Christians, that the death of Christ was to reconcile sinners unto God.
“when we were enemies”
Literally: “{while} being hostile {ones”–In view of the fact that we were enemies. The work was undertaken while we were enemies.
ENEMIES: (Grk.–echthroi)–This word may be used either in an active sense: “hating God;” or passively, “hated of God.” The context more favors the second (passive) sense; that is, meaning the essential antagonism of the divine nature to sin. Referring to the mutual estrangement and opposition that must accompany sin on man’s part, and which requires reconciliation.
From being enemies of God we were changed to being His friends by that work. It was commenced by God; its foundation was laid while we were still hostile to it; it displayed a determined purpose on the part of God to perform it; and He has given a pledge that it shall be perfected.
“we were reconciled to God”–We are brought to an agreement; to a state of friendship and union. We became His friends, laid aside our opposition, and embraced Him as our Friend and Portion. To effect this is the great design of the Plan of Salvation (II Cor. 5:1- 20; Col. 1:21; Eph. 2:16).
A way of reconciliation was opened to us by death of Christ. Being reconciled; that is, personally and actually, through faith in Christ's death. There were obstacles existing on both sides to a reconciliation; and that these have been removed by the death of Christ; and a union has thus been effected. This has been done:
1. On the part of God— in removing the obstacles
At the same time that He pardons.
a. By maintaining the honor of His law.
b. By showing His hatred of sin.
c. By upholding His justice, and maintaining His truth,
2. On the part of man—by removing his unwillingness to be reconciled; a
a. By subduing, changing, and sanctifying his heart;
b. By overcoming his hatred of God, and of His law; and,
c. By bringing him into submission to the government of God.
So that the Christian is, in fact, reconciled to God; he is His friend; he is pleased with His law, His character, and His Plan of Salvation. And all this has been accomplished by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus as an offering in our place.
The enmity that existed before rendered this reconciliation necessary. In every human heart there is a measure of enmity to holiness, and, consequently to the Author of it. Men seldom suspect this; for one property of sin is to blind the understanding, so that men do not know their own state. As sinners, we are the enemies of God; rebels under His divine displeasure. Through the gospel of the Crucified Redeemer, we obtain peace with God. We turn to Him, and are reconciled to Him, obtaining forgiveness through faith. God is not reconciled to us, but we to Him. His love ever shines, and is shown in His gospel. He is ever ready to pardon, and when we cease our rebellion, and come to Him, through Christ, for mercy, He receives us.
“We were reconciled to God”–He who gave His blood for our reconciliation. Let none dare to try to get God to be reconciled to them through their prayers, their “consecrations,” their works. We were reconciled to God while His enemies, through the death of His Son, and by no other means.
RECONCILE: (Grk.–katallassō)–Literally meaning: “to exchange; exchange; to put (someone) into friendship with God.” Paul did not see that it his or our task to reconcile God to us. God has attended to that Himself.
“The verb (katallassō) means primariy to exchange, and hence to change the relation of hostile parties into a relation of peace; to reconcile. It is used of both mutual and onesided enmity. In the Christian sense, the change in the relation of God and man effected through Christ”– Vincent.
“And all things {are} of God, Who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation:
“To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, no imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (II Cor. 5:18-19).
When we were sinners He justified us, will he now leave us? He reconciled us when we were His enemies, will He not save us now that we are His friends? If His Death has done so much, what will not His life do?
“much more”–It is much more to be expected; there are still stronger and more striking considerations to show it. Again, it is God Who has done the harder thing; delivering Christ to Death to reconcile us to Himself. He will certainly (much more) do the lesser thing for us. He will see that we share Christ risen life forever.
“we shall be saved by His life”– Even in the hour of wrath upon the wicked, “we shall be saved by His life.”
Death has the appearance of great feebleness; the Death of Christ had the appearance of the defeat of His plans. His enemies triumphed and rejoiced over him on the cross, and in the tomb. Yet the effect of this feeble, low, and humiliating state was to reconcile us to God. If in this state–when humble, despised, dying, dead–He had power to accomplish so great a work as to reconcile us to God, how much more may we expect that He will be able to keep us now that He is our living, exalted, and triumphant Redeemer! If His fainting powers in dying were such as to reconcile us, how much more shall His full, vigorous powers, as an exalted Redeemer, be sufficient to keep and save us! This argument is but an expansion of what the Savior himself said (John 14:19), “Because I live, ye shall live also.”
He will not leave His work incomplete. He died, has risen and ascended on high, and He will not leave us in the grave, but we shall rise with Him (I Cor. 15:22). That is, If that part of the Savior's work which cost Him His blood, and which had to be wrought for persons incapable of the least sympathy either with His love or His labors in their behalf (even our “justification,” our “reconciliation”) is already completed; how much more will He do all that remains to be done, since He has it to do, not by death agonies any more, but in “untroubled 'life,” and no longer for enemies, but for friends, from whom, at every stage of it, He receives the grateful response of redeemed and adoring souls?
To be “saved from wrath through Him,” denotes here the whole work of Christ towards believers, from the moment of justification, when the wrath of God is turned away from them, till the Judge on the Great White Throne shall discharge that wrath upon them that “obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ”; and that work may all be summed up in “keeping them from falling, and presenting them faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 1:25): thus are they “saved from wrath through Him.” Jesus died down here to save us; He lives up yonder to keep us saved.
LIFE: (Grk.–zōê)–The life principle. The comparison is with Death. In virtue of the fact that our Lord lives after Death He is able to save us completely and to the end (Heb. 7:15).
“Salvation is in three parts: (1) JUSTIFICATION: the removal of the guilt and penalty of sin and the bestowal of a righteous standing Christ before God’s law, which is given to us at the moment of believing; (2) SANCTIFICATION: the progressive work of the Holy Spirit during the Christian life; and, (3) GLORIFICATION: the glorifying of our bodies at the RAPTURE. It is of the latter two that Paul is speaking, since he is writing in a context of justification”–(Vincent Word Studies in the Greek N.T.).
VERSE 11:
“And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”
“And not only {so}”–“And not only that…” Paul is now begins to recount another effect of justification.
“we also joy in God”
Literally: “But also glorifying in God.” In verse 2, Paul said that we rejoice in tribulations, and in hope of the glory of God. But here he adds that we rejoice in God Himself; in His existence; His attributes; His justice, holiness, mercy, truth, love.
The Christian rejoices that God is such a Being as He is; and glories that the universe is under His administration. The sinner is opposed to God; he finds no pleasure in Him; he fears or hates Him; and deems Him unqualified for universal empire. But it is one characteristic of true piety, one evidence that we are truly reconciled to God, that we rejoice in Him as He is; and find pleasure in the contemplation of His perfections as they are revealed in the Scriptures.
WE JOY: (Grk.–kaucomenoi)—We exult, or glory, boast in God, etc. Verses 1-5tell the reasons for our joy. This Greek word is a present tense participle, which mans it is functioning as a continuous action
We now feel that God is reconciled to us, and we are reconciled to him: the enmity is removed from our souls. We greatly rejoice in His character and will; especially in the gift of His Son and the way of life through Him.
“through our Lord Jesus Christ”–By the mediation of our Lord Jesus, who has revealed the true character of God, and by whom we have been reconciled to Him.
“we have now received the atonement”
Literally: “Through Whom we now received the reconciliation.”-
NOW: (Grk.-–nun)—Now, in contrast with future glory.
ATONEMENT: (Grk.–katallassō)—“The “ATonement,” is really a mis-translation on the part of the KJV translators. The correct rendering would be, “reconciliation.”
“Atonement at the time of the A.V. (KJV) signified reconciliation, at-one-ment, the making two estranged parties at one”– (Vincent Word Studies in the Greek N.T.).
This is the only instance in which our translators have used the word atonement in the N.T. As it is now used by us, it commonly means the ransom, or the sacrifice, by means of which reconciliation is effected between God and man. But in this place it has a different sense. It means the reconciliation itself between God and man; not the means by which reconciliation is brought about. It does not mean that we have received a ransom, or an offering by which reconciliation might be effected; but that in fact we have become reconciled through Him. This was the ancient meaning of the English word Atonement: i.e., AT-ONE-MENT–-being as one, or reconciled