But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Romans 5:8-11The love of God is completely supernatural and otherworldly. He demonstrated His marvelous love toward us by sending His beloved Son to die for us while we were still sinners. If we ask why He did it, we must look for the answer in the sovereign will of God Himself. There was no good in us to call forth such love.
Now a new set of conditions exists. We are no longer reckoned as guilty sinners. At the enormous cost of the Savior’s blood, shed for us a Calvary, we have been counted righteous by God. Since He went to such tremendous cost to justify us when we were sinners, will He not much more save us from wrath through Christ? If He has already paid the greatest price to bring us into His favor, is it likely that He would allow us to perish in the end?
Saved from wrath could mean either “saved out of wrath” or “delivered from any contact with wrath.” Here I believe the preposition (Gk. apo) means the latter—saved away from any contact with the wrath of God, either in time or in eternity.
Going back to what we were and what we now are, think of it this way. It was when we were enemies that we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. We were hostile toward the Lord and quite content to have it so. Left to ourselves, we felt no need of being reconciled to Him. Think of it—enemies of God!
God did not share our attitude in the matter. He intervened in a display of pure grace. The substitutionary death of Christ removed the cause of our hostility toward God—namely, our sins. By faith in Christ, we have been reconciled to God.
If God purchased our reconciliation so dearly, will He ever let us go? If we were reconciled through the death of His Son, which is a symbol of utter weakness, shall we not be preserved to the end by the present life of Christ at the right hand of God, a life of infinite power? If His death had such power to save us, how much more will His life have power to keep us!
We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We not only rejoice in His gifts but in the Giver Himself. Before we were saved, we found our joys elsewhere. Now we exult whenever we remember Him, and are sad only when we forget Him. What has produced this marvelous change, so that we can now be glad in God? It is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Like all our other blessings, this joy comes to us through Him.
Finally, a benefit enjoyed by the justified is found in the words
We have now received the reconciliation. Reconciliation refers to the establishment of harmony between God and man through the sacrificial work of the Savior. The entrance of sin had brought estrangement, alienation, and enmity between man and God. By putting away sin, which had caused the alienation, the Lord Jesus restored those who believe on Him to a state of harmony with God. I should note, in passing, that God did not need to be reconciled. It was man who needed it, because he was at enmity with God.