Lecture 4. Romans 5:8-218But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10For 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. 11And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. 12Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 13(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. 15But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. 17For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) 18Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 19For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 20Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:8‑21)
WE have seen that in the first three chapters of the epistle, God was bringing out the sinfulness of man, viewing him in every sphere of life. Gentiles, heathen philosophers, Jews―all were brought in guilty before God. God was showing up in these scriptures what was the condition in which the whole world was found, and, as we noticed, the summing up of the whole argument was, that every mouth was stopped and all the world was guilty before God (ch. 3:21). Then we are told what God is, and what God’s remedy is. We might naturally have supposed that when God had proved man to be guilty, He would straightway speak of condemnation; that He would at once have told us how He was going to judge a guilty world. But not so, when God has proved man’s guilt beyond question, He then speaks of justifying him, and, as we have seen, it all comes from the heart of God. In the gospel we learn what God in His grace and love has done in order to bring man out of the terrible state into which his sins had plunged him; it was God devised the means by which the guilty sinner might be brought into His presence at perfect peace with Him.
The opening of this fifth chapter of Romans is familiar to us all, and I do not purpose to dwell upon it now. I suppose the bulk of us here to-night have already received the blessings of which it speaks. That is, I presume that we are all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and if so, we are privileged to know that we are justified from our sins and therefore at perfect peace with God, though there are numbers of true believers who have not learned it. They may not be in the habit of hearing a pure simple gospel, and there may be other reasons why they do not know it. But there can be no question about this, that if we take God’s Word as our guide, the privilege of every believer is to know that he is justified from all his sins, and, thus being at perfect peace with God, the future has no fears for him, but he rejoices in the hope of the glory of God. Then as to his present position, he “has access by faith into this grace wherein we stand,” so that he may live, and walk, and spend the little time until the Lord comes for him, in the full assurance of God’s favor and love. Now all this starts from God Himself, and we read in the eighth verse of our chapter, “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Instead of speaking to us of judgment, instead of telling us, You are guilty, and I am going to condemn you; to such as we are, God commends His own love, a love peculiar to Himself In verse 8 and 9 two things are said about us: first, we were sinners, and, secondly, we were enemies. What is the remedy God has for us as sinners? “God commendeth His love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners” ―while we were still in that state, sinners and guilty― “Christ died for us.” That is to say, that the Lord Jesus Christ has been in the very place where our sins had brought us. God Himself has met us just where we were He has brought us the very things that we need. It is a wonderful thought that― “while we were yet sinners.” He did not wait until we had got out of that state, until we had improved our condition. He did not wait until we had done the best we could, but, just as we were, “yet sinners,” Christ died for us.
But not only were we sinners, we were at positive enmity against God. Now look at these two “much mores” in the ninth and tenth verses. “Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 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.” We are justified by God, not merely forgiven. You know how we were justified; the Lord Jesus Christ has Himself been to the place where the judgment of our sins was. He as our substitute, has been where our sins were, and where the judgment of a sin-hating God was against them; and He has borne them, and has endured that judgment; the wrath of God against sin has been exhausted. The Lord Jesus Christ has taken that upon Himself, He has borne the judgment, He has suffered what we deserved; He suffered and therefore we stand justified by His blood, and, if we are justified by His blood, much more we shall be saved.
Somebody may ask, I thought that every believer was saved already, what then does it mean in this verse when it says, “we shall be saved from wrath”? If the Lord Jesus Christ has borne all the wrath of God for us on the cross, shall we go on continually groaning out in this world, “from Thy wrath, O Lord, deliver us”? The Lord Jesus Christ has already endured that for us. We have been justified by His blood, justified by faith, justified by the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ has borne the wrath and the judgment. “Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved.” But that seems to imply that salvation is not yet complete.
There is a sense in which salvation in Scripture is looked upon as a future state. If you turn to the eleventh verse of the thirteenth chapter, “knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” The moment I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ I am saved. What then is the meaning of saying here that our salvation is nearer than when we believed? Salvation is spoken of in two senses. The moment I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ I am saved, and every believer can say, I am as much saved now as I ever shall be so far as my soul is concerned. In that sense I am saved now, and when I am in heaven I shall not be more saved. And yet it says of the believer here that his salvation is nearer than when he believed. It is speaking of salvation in the complete sense, and that will not be until we have our glorified bodies. We are passing through a world where dangers are on every hand, and where trials and difficulties beset our path, and where all the power of Satan and of the world is against us, and our own evil hearts are against us too, and our salvation in that sense will be complete only when we reach the glory.
Now look at another passage which speaks of the same thing, “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:1212Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12)). We know how misunderstood that verse is. People say, I must do the best I can, I must work it out for myself. These Philippians were already saved; they were believers, and therefore they were saved. The apostle had been with them at one time and helped them through their difficulties when all the power of the world and Satan was against them; but now he is in prison and therefore no longer present with them, so he says, You cannot look to me for any help now, you are thrown upon your own resources. “As ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence “now that you are left to battle through this world by yourselves, much more now that you have not me to look to―” work out your own salvation; “but do not forget that” it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”
Now look at the First Epistle of Peter, and we shall see the same thing there, “You who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:55Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:5)). And further on in the same chapter, “Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls” (vs. 9). We have already received the salvation of our souls, but “we are kept by the power of God unto salvation;” nothing else but the power of God can keep us. There are so many difficulties in our pathway―Satan, the world, the flesh―that unless we are kept by the power of God we should never get to the end at all. But the certainty we possess of getting there fills our hearts with joy nom. Satan might reason with us, You may never get there at all, you may stumble by the way. God says, I will keep you. “We are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed.” I believe that it is in that sense that the word is used here in our chapter. “Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”
Now look at the tenth verse, “when we were enemies” ―not merely sinful and doing things to please ourselves regardless of God, but at enmity against God. At the cross we see the enmity of man’s heart in all its intensity against God. If I am a believer, and am now justified through the death of Christ, is there any fear that I may be lost, or danger that I shall never reach the end of the journey “If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more”―God is now reasoning from His own side, from what He has done to what He is going to do in the future. If God, when I was an enemy, reconciled me, much more is He going to save me now that I am reconciled. It was a more difficult thing, so to speak, when I was an enemy, for God to reconcile me to Himself, than now that I am reconciled to keep me. God brought me out of the state in which sin had put me, to Himself, through the death of His Son, and now He is going to save me by His life. We were pointing out last week the reason of saying “by His life,” because people think that it should be “by His death.”
The salvation of my soul comes to me through the death of Christ, but salvation, in the sense of which we have been speaking, and which includes salvation all through the wilderness journey to the end, is by His life. What keeps me? Just that Christ ever lives for me. We shall be saved by His life. That is a very great blessing—to know that the Lord Jesus Christ lives for me; and that it is by the power of that life, which He now lives on the other side of death, that I shall be kept to the end of my path here.