Romans 5.10b-We Shall Be Delivered From Eternal Condemnation On Account of Christ's Eternal Life
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday April 17, 2008
Romans: Romans 5:10b-We Shall Be Delivered From Eternal Condemnation on Account of Christ’s Eternal Life
Lesson # 154
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 5:1.
This evening we will complete our study of Romans 5:10, in which the apostle Paul once again employs the a fortiori argument in order to teach his readers that if they were reconciled to God through His Son’s death while His enemies, how much more will they be delivered by His Son’s life.
Romans 5:1-11, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die but God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life and not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”
“Much more” is composed of the dative neuter singular form of the adjective polus (poluv$) (po-loos), “much” and the comparative adverb mallon (mallon) (mal-lon), “more.”
If you recall, this same expression appeared in Romans 5:9.
Romans 5:9, “Therefore, because we have been justified on the basis of His blood, how much more will we be delivered from His righteous indignation through Him.”
As we noted in our studies of Romans 5:9, the adjective of degree polus and the comparative adverb mallon form the logical argument called a fortiori, which is a Latin phrase meaning “with stronger reason” and is an idiom of greater degree.
A fortiori has two parts: (1) The greater (2) The lesser.
What requires a greater degree of effort is used as the basis for showing what requires less effort.
It is a conclusion compared with some other conclusion or recognized fact, as inferred to be even more certain or inescapable than the two conclusions it combines.
Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines a fortiori, “with greater reason or more convincing force-used in drawing a conclusion that is inferred to be even more certain than another.”
A fortiori uses an inferential conclusion as being more conclusive than another reasoned conclusion.
It is a system of argumentation or debate which takes an accepted fact and by a comparison produces an inescapable fact and confident conclusion.
Therefore, in Romans 5:10, the adjective polus and the comparative adverb mallon form the principle of a fortiori.
They emphasize that if God has done the most “difficult” or “greater” thing for the believer in reconciling them through the death of His Son while they were His enemies, how much more can God be depended upon to accomplish the “easier” thing, namely, deliver them from the wrath of God by His Son’s life.
The expression pollo mallon introduces the argument that if Christ had done the “greater” work of providing the basis for the justification of sinners by dying for them as their substitute, He will certainly then perform the comparatively “lesser” task of delivering them from the Lake of Fire, now that they are reconciled to Him.
The “most difficult” or “greatest” problem facing God when dealing with sinful mankind was reconciling Himself to sinful humanity since He not only had to fulfill the demands of His holiness that required that sinners face His righteous indignation but also at the same time He needed to express His love for sinners.
So the logical argument of a fortiori as expressed by the words pollo mallon emphasizes that if God the Father who was hostile to sinful humanity due to His holiness, sent His Son to die for them while His enemies, it follows that He will deliver those who have been reconciled to Him through faith in His Son.
If God can do the greater work, it follows a fortiori that He can do the lesser.
The “greater” is the work of reconciling a holy God to sinful mankind through Jesus Christ’s spiritual death on the Cross, which is an accomplished fact of history.
The “less” is God protecting, sustaining and delivering the believer in time and blessing him in the future and delivering him from the eternal Lake of Fire by means of His Son’s life.
Romans 5:10, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
“Having been reconciled” is the verb katallasso (katallavssw) (kat-al-las-so), which means, “to reconcile.”
As was the case the first time we saw the verb in Romans 5:10, it is used of God who is holy, reconciling Himself to sinful humanity through the death of His Son Jesus Christ.
Reconciliation is God’s peace treaty with the entire human race and is appropriated by making the non-meritorious decision to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
“We shall be saved” is the verb sozo (swv|zw) (sode-zo), which means, “to deliver.”
The verb sozo is used of the act of God delivering the sinner from sin, Satan, his cosmic system and eternal condemnation, the moment they exercised faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior (John 3:17; 5:34; Acts 2:21; 16:30-31).
This deliverance is accomplished in three stages.
(1) Positional: The moment the believer exercised faith alone in Christ alone, he was delivered “positionally” from eternal condemnation, the devil, his cosmic system and the sin nature through the crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session of the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 19:9; John 4:22; Acts 4:12; 13:26, 47; 16:17; Rom. 1:16; 10:1, 10; 11:11; 2 Cor. 6:2; Eph. 1:13; Phlp. 1:28; 2 Thess. 2:13; Heb. 2:10; 5:9; 6:9; 1 Pet. 1:9-10; 2 Pet. 3:15; Jude 3; Rev. 7:10).
By “positionally,” I mean that God views the believer as crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ, which was accomplished at the moment of salvation through the Baptism of the Spirit when the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit placed the believer in an eternal union with Christ.
In other words, the “positional” aspect of the believer’s salvation refers to the past action of God saving us from sin, Satan, his cosmic system and eternal condemnation when we trusted in Jesus Christ as our Savior.
Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
The believer’s deliverance positionally sets up the “potential” for him to experience this deliverance in time since this deliverance can only be experienced after salvation through obedience to the teaching of the Word of God.
It also guarantees the believer’s ultimate deliverance at the rapture, which is based upon the sovereign decision of God rather than the volition of the believer.
(2) Experiential: After salvation, the believer can “experience” deliverance from the devil, his cosmic system and the sin nature by appropriating by faith the teaching of the Word of God that he has been crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ.
This constitutes the believer’s spiritual life after being delivered from real spiritual death (2 Cor. 1:6; 7:10; Romans 6:11-23; 8:1-17; Phlp. 2:12; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:5-17; 2 Tim. 2:10; 3:15; Heb. 2:3, 10; 1 Pet. 2:2).
In other words, the “experiential” aspect of salvation is used of the believer’s deliverance from sin, Satan and his cosmic system in the present moment.
1 Corinthians 1:18, “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
(3) Ultimate: At the resurrection the believer will be delivered “ultimately” and permanently from the devil, his cosmic system and the sin nature when he receives his resurrection body at the rapture of the church, which is imminent (Rom. 13:11; 1 Thess. 5:8-9; Heb. 1:14; 9:28; 1 Pet. 1:5).
In other words, the “ultimate” aspect of salvation is used of the believer’s future deliverance from sin, Satan and his cosmic system.
2 Timothy 4:18, “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”
In Romans 5:9-10, the future tense of the verb sozo indicates that the word is referring to the act of God delivering the believer in an “ultimate” sense in the future from eternal condemnation.
The believer’s deliverance from eternal condemnation is in view here in Romans 5:10 and not his deliverance from the tribulation period, which is also called by students of prophecy as “Daniel’s Seventieth Week.”
This is indicated in that Paul used this deliverance in the context of Christ’s spiritual death, which delivers them from real spiritual and eternal condemnation in the eternal Lake of Fire.
Also, up to this point in the book of Romans, Paul has been teaching that the entire human race is under the wrath, or righteous indignation of God due to sin (Romans 18:-3:18).
He has pointed out that the sinner can only be declared justified by God the Father and delivered from the wrath of God through faith in His Son Jesus Christ and not by observing the Law or circumcision (Romans 3:19-4:25).
In Romans 5:1-5, Paul presents results concerning this justification by faith, which is that the believer now has peace with God, permanent access to a relationship with God, confidence that he will be blessed by God through undeserved suffering.
In Romans 5:6-8, he demonstrates that the believer’s confidence in future blessing is not misplaced since Christ died for the believer as a substitute while the believer was still an enemy of God.
Therefore, in Romans 5:9-10, when Paul uses sozo he is speaking in the context of the benefits that accrue to the believer because of the spiritual death of Jesus Christ as their substitute, which delivered them from eternal condemnation and reconciled them to God.
In Romans 5:10-11, he talks about the reconciliation of the sinner to a holy God through this spiritual death of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, in Romans 5:9-10, the verb sozo refers to the believer’s deliverance from eternal condemnation in the eternal Lake of Fire.
Romans 5:10, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
“By His life” indicates that the eternal life that the believer received as a gift the moment they exercised faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior is the “basis upon which” they are delivered from the second death in the eternal Lake of Fire.
This eternal life will deliver them from eternal condemnation in the Lake of Fire, which is called the second death according to Revelation 20:14.
Revelation 20:11-15, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
The unregenerate sinner will experience this second death, which is eternal separation from God because he does not have eternal life, which would enable him to live with God forever.
Thus, the eternal life that the believer received the moment he exercised faith in Jesus Christ as his or her Savior delivers them from the second death, i.e. eternal condemnation in the Lake of Fire.
John 5:21, “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.”
John 6:54, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
John 10:27-28, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”
John 11:25-26, “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?’”