Romans 5:1-11 - Part 2 (6-11)

Last week we looked at the first five verses in this section, and I realized there was no way we’d get all 11 verses, so we are going to finish that section tonight. We will read the whole section to get our minds focused on where we are going with it.

Romans 5:1–11 ESV

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Last week we looked at Paul’s argument for justification by faith. We talked about how justification is being made right with God.

And we saw the benefits of this justification, or the “fruits” of this justification, as some of the commentaries put it.

We see peace (v. 1), grace (v. 2), and joy (v. 2 & 3). We see that the joy is in the hope of the glory of God (v. 2) and we rejoice in our sufferings (v. 3) because the suffering produces endurance, endurance produces Godly character, and that character produces hope (v. 3-4). And we see that the hope doesn’t put us to shame because of God’s love being poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (v. 5).

And, I mentioned this last week, but that verse - verse 5 - has to be one of the most comforting to all believers in the Bible. God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. That is something that I hope none of us ever get over.

Now, we understand that is where Paul has been in his argument regarding justification, and we see the deepening of that argument.

Romans 5:6 ESV

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

Paul has spent this time building up about how we are justified by faith, not by heritage or works, and he starts to hammer his argument home here.

While we were still weak. Some translations say “while we were still powerless.” Others say while we were still helpless, or without strength.

In ourselves, we were unable to provide justification for ourselves.

See, Paul has told us that, based on his argument from Abraham, we are made right, or justified by faith. But he doesn’t tell us the how. He doesn’t show us why we are justified, he provides evidence that we are.

Now, he shows the evidence of why we are made right.

We don’t do it ourselves. In fact, his wording makes it clear that we are incapable of justifying ourselves. We were weak. We could in no way redeem ourselves. We needed help.

And what was the help?

Christ.

Christ died for the ungodly. But even that wasn’t all of the picture. You see, it wasn’t just a, “OK, I’ll go save them” thing, like we got so bad off that Jesus felt sorry for us. This was a plan that was set in motion before the foundation of the world. So, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

Sproul notes this:

The Gospel of God: Romans Benefits of Justification (4:23–5:11)

The whole emphasis in this text is that God does not wait for us to become righteous before he brings about our redemption.

He further states: (And this is long, but I think helpful in understanding this verse as it relates to the phrase “at the right time”)

The Gospel of God: Romans Benefits of Justification (4:23–5:11)

In addition to this chronological flow of second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour and year by year, there is also in Greek (cheiros) and in English the distinction between the historical and the historic. Not everything that happens in history is historic; everything that happens in history is historical, but not everything is historic in the sense of having pregnant meaning and radical significance for everything that went before and everything that comes afterwards.

The Bible has this concept of a pregnant moment in the midst of time that changes everything. There is a cheiros, an historic moment that God had planned from the beginning of the world, by which he sends his only-begotten Son into the world to die upon the cross in an historic, once-for-all event. It is an event that can never be repeated, duplicated, surpassed, or even augmented. This is one of the reasons why Protestantism has reacted so negatively to the Roman Catholic celebration of the Mass. For the Roman Catholic Church, the Mass is, in a very technically defined sense, a repetition of the death of Christ, a representation of Christ to the Father. God certainly doesn’t need to be reminded of it, because that atonement, made in the fullness of time, was so rich, so inexhaustible and of such infinite worth that it never needs to be repeated. Nor can we possibly add anything to it by way of merit or value.

So, you have to understand that God, who is the Sovereign Lord of All, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise, orchestrated events so that Christ would die at the exact second that He needed to.

And again, we see that Christ didn’t die just for the good. He didn’t die for the nice. He died for the ungodly. And “the ungodly” there is you and I.

Romans 5:7 ESV

7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—

Now, this is a verse that, quite honestly, has always tripped me up. I get the gist of it: people don’t die for other people in the main. There are exceptions, yes, but in general, people don’t sacrifice themselves. But the wording feels clunky. And I’ve always struggled to figure it out.

And I have always sort of landed on the fact that Paul does seem to be making a distinction between the “righteous” and the “good.”

He says that it is rare that someone would die for a righteous man, although some might be willing to die for a good man.

The Greek there does have two different words. The first is dikaios, which means a person characterized by righteous actions and morals. The second is agathos, which means a person who is good to other people.

Now, your milage may vary here, because some believe that Paul is repeating himself to provide emphasis. Others think that the word difference highlights the righteous, but cold: A person who obeys the law, who is just, but has no warmth, no care; versus a good person who is characterized by kindness, love, and warmth.

Either way, the likelihood of someone dying for even the best among us is slim.

I like how John Calvin summarizes the thought of this verse in his commentary:

Commentary on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans Chapter 5

The import of the sentence is this, “Most rare, indeed, is such an example to be found among men, that one dies for a just man, though this may sometimes happen: but let this be granted, yet for an ungodly man none will be found willing to die: this is what Christ has done.” Thus it is an illustration, derived from a comparison; for such an example of kindness, as Christ has exhibited towards us, does not exist among men.

Even though the JFB calls that reading flat, and prefers to make the distinction between the “righteous” and the “good,” this way:

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible Chapter 5

“Scarce an instance occurs of self-sacrifice for one merely upright; though for one who makes himself a blessing to society there may be found an example of such noble surrender of life”

In either case, we see the rarity of what Christ has done. Because no one is really lining up to sacrifice their very lives for ungrateful, ungodly whelps such as ourselves.

Yet that is very much what Christ does for us. Why? Why would He do that?

Romans 5:8 ESV

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God’s love. We saw in verse 5 that God pours His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. He demonstrates or shows that love further by electing, at the right time, for Christ to die for us.

And Christ’s death was not at the time when we were the most lovable, the most godly, the most righteous, or good. No, it was while we were still sinners.

Listen to how R. C. Sproul puts it:

The Gospel of God: Romans Benefits of Justification (4:23–5:11)

A sinner is a transgressor of the law, and so we can say that while we were being actively disobedient to God, while we were in a state of rebellion against God, while we were hostile to God, while we were ignoring God, while we were refusing to submit to him, refusing to love him, refusing to worship him, at that time, while we were at enmity with God, Christ died for us.

Think about that. We, before our justification, were openly at war with God. We were disobedient, vengeful children set in our own ways and defiant towards our Creator. Yet, even in that pitiful state, God loves us so much that He sent Christ to take our penalty - a penalty we earned and owned. God sent Jesus to pay our price. We deserved and had earned death. We still do. Yet God, in His love, demonstrated that love by sending Christ to be the propitiation of our sin.

Now, propitiation is a $3 seminary term, but it is an important one. You see, our sin demands punishment. That punishment is death. We have sinned against a holy God. However, we cannot appease God’s holy wrath - and it is holy. He has every right to bring vengeance upon us. We deserve death. We have nothing to offer Him. But Christ, at the right time (see verse 6) died for us. In His death on the cross, not only did he pay our debt, as it were, by dying for us. But, because He was fully innocent - He was completely without sin - He actually became the sacrifice that appeased God. He bore God’s wrath in full. He wasn’t just the propitiator, or the person who gets the wrath appeased. Jesus is the propitiation, He is the thing, or more clearly, the person who satisfies God’s wrath. We are judged not by our sins, but by Christ’s blood that covers or atones for our sins.

That verse that so many of us memorized early on in our Christian walk carries a lot of weight. God shows His love for us in that while we were still militant enemies of the Just and Holy God, Christ took our full punishment - the death we deserved and had earned - and He bore our sins on the tree so that we could be reconciled to the Father. That is why it is good news. That is why we can see the love of God poured into our hearts. Because Christ was the target of God’s wrath that was intended for us.

Romans 5:9 ESV

9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

We see that in verse 9. Christ’s sacrifice turned God’s wrath away from us. His blood has justified us, and His sacrifice has saved us.

And I want to take a minute and remind you, as I have in the past when we have studied Paul’s epistles, that how we use the term “saved” and “salvation” versus how the New Testament views those terms is a bit different.

We tend to think of salvation as a one-time event. “I was saved on a Wednesday in 1984.” But we have to understand Paul’s use of such terms. Paul here uses a future tense, saying we “will be saved.”

We think of being saved, and that is it. From a New Testament perspective, salvation is a three-fold process. There is the moment of regeneration, the moment we believe. The moment we put our faith in Christ. We say that is when we are “saved.” The New Testament, and most people who (I think) rightly understand Scripture would more correctly refer to that as the moment of justification.

Then, we begin the long, arduous process of becoming more like Christ. Of maturing in our faith. Of leaving behind the milk for the meat. This process of growing in our spiritual understanding and growing more like Christ is the lifelong journey of sanctification.

Finally, because we are still fallen creatures who sin, but we are sanctified and justified, we don’t get there in this life. We won’t be fully made like Christ until we die. Then, we experience our glorification, where we receive our new body and live with God in heaven.

Again, Sproul is helpful here in explaining this:

The Gospel of God: Romans Benefits of Justification (4:23–5:11)

Here is a distinction between the present and the future, a distinction between justification and salvation. People say, ‘I was saved the day I believed in Jesus Christ,’ and they use the term salvation as if it were an exact equivalent to justification. But that’s not the case in the New Testament. Justification is one step in the process of salvation. The concept of salvation is used in a very complex way. It is used in the past tense, the imperfect tense, the present tense, the future tense, and so on. There is a sense in which we are saved, we are being saved and we shall be saved, because the full complex of salvation covers the whole of Christian experience. Justification occurs the moment I believe, and at that point I am brought into a state of salvation; but my salvation is still to be finalised, still to be consummated, still to be fully realised through my sanctification and my glorification. I don’t receive my ultimate salvation until I am in heaven. If I am justified, I will certainly receive that ultimate salvation in heaven.

Salvation is an ongoing process that starts at our justification and carries on in our sanctification until our glorification.

And because we are covered by the blood of Christ, the coming judgment, which is sure, because God has promised that it will come - that judgment will not come for us as it comes for those who are not justified.

Romans 5:10–11 ESV

10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Paul logically argues this out in verses 10 and 11.

If Christ died for us while we were enemies, granting us reconciliation with God, then we have an assurance that our salvation is secure in Christ’s resurrection. Christ’s resurrection offers not only hope (for Jesus spoke of the resurrection on the last day, and Paul speaks about it as well) for the future, but also proof. If God raised Jesus up - and Paul testifies as an eye witness that Christ has been raised from the dead - then we know that we will be raised to be with Him in eternity as well.

Paul doesn’t use church words or Christanese, pithy statements that mean nothing. He uses logic, historical evidence, and incontrovertible proof of God’s goodness.

In verse 11 Paul reminds the Romans that we already have reconciliation. This isn’t some forward-looking thing. We have already been reconciled. That doesn’t mean that we are not supposed to be growing in our maturity. We should and must be. But we can have joy in the fact that Christ died for us, even though we had nothing to offer Him in return, and even though we didn’t (and don’t) deserve it. God’s great love for us allows us this reconciliation and allows us to have relationship with Him.

And that gives us hope beyond all we could ever ask or think or do. And in response, we should praise Him.