Romans – A Treatise
Chapter Five
BOAST IN GOD
Scripture Reading: verses 9-11
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. AND NOT ONLY SO, BUT WE ALSO JOY IN GOD THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, BY WHOM WE HAVE NOW RECEIVED THE ATONEMENT.
In this chapter we mount a golden stairway, beginning with the foundation stone in verse 1 – justification by faith and peace with God. We then travel onward and upward into the serene realm of joy and rejoicing in the magnificence of God’s goodness.
In verse 8 we have the commendation of God’s love toward us, “in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” The sinner is so unworthy of even the least of God’s favors. This must be our position before God can do anything for us. We must have a contrite heart, leading us to obey the Gospel so God can blot out our sins. In other words, in order to meet with the favor of God we do not have to work and do all we can in the hope of earning our way to heaven. No, our Father’s love is unmerited and undeserved. It is a mighty ocean which gushes forth from the heart of God in eternal fullness, sweeping everything before it, and bringing to the sinner’s contrite heart the knowledge of sins forgiven and justification from all things.
Mounting the ladder a little further, in verse 9, Paul says: “Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” We do not need to have any grandiose ideas about our own accomplishments. We are justified by the blood of Christ. What does that mean? It means this: in order that we might be cleared from guilt, the Lord Jesus had to shed His blood – the token that He surrendered His life on our behalf. Nothing short of the complete giving of Himself would pay the penalty of our sins. Our transgressions deserved eternal death. The Lord Jesus stepped in and, although He Himself was sinless, He became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. His blood was shed in order that there might be no mistake regarding the completeness of His work on Calvary. By the determinate counsel of God He was offered up; God allowed the soldier to come near Him and with a sword pierce His side, and “forthwith came there out blood and water,” the token to all that the Lord Jesus actually died. It is by virtue of that death, by virtue of the full payment of our penalty, that we are justified. The reasoning presented in this passage by Paul, the defense attorney, is brilliant. He is claiming everything in favor of the condemned criminal.
Here his great claim: because of the transgressions of the sinner, the death penalty is demanded by the righteousness of the throne of God. But, by way of substitution, the Lord Jesus has taken the sinner’s place, dying his death, and now He is alive again, having shed His blood. Thus, through that shed blood, the sinner is justified and cleared from guilt. The Law now has no claim on him because when the Lord Jesus died the penalty of his offences was paid in full. But more than that, the Lord Jesus is alive again, and now in association with Him the pardoned sinner is saved from wrath through Him. In other words, the judgment of God that fell upon the Lord Jesus Christ was exhausted, for “He bore our sins in His own body on the tree.” On the cross that judgment was expended on the Christ of God, so there remains no more wrath, no more judgment for the forgiven sinner – the Christian who stands accepted by God in the risen Christ. It is the legal statement of that grand truth presented by the Lord Himself in John 5:24:
He that heareth my Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
Thus we are saved from wrath through Him.
Then the great apostle goes on: “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.” As we stood in the dock of this universal courtroom our mouths stopped, we were helplessly, hopelessly doomed and condemned in our sins, it was then we were reconciled or brought near to God through the death of His Son; much more then, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. The brilliant argument is that if the goodness of God came out in enough fullness to forgive our trespasses through the work of Christ on the Cross as we stood there condemned as enemies and criminals, surely now that we are forgiven and stand in the risen life of Christ there can be no question as to our eternal salvation. If, because of what Christ has done, the mighty grace of God could pardon us as we stood there in our sins, surely now that as Christians we are brought near to God, He shall not pronounce condemnation on us because we stand in Christ risen.
It now seems as if the great apostle cannot stop, as he goes from one pinnacle of the grace of God to another, higher and higher, mounting in spiritual enthusiasm as he outlines the rich grace of God. He says: “And not only so, but we also joy [or boast] in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” This is a grand truth. The forgiven sinner does not stand trembling in the presence of the One who at one time was his Judge, but who now has forgiven him. Instead of being uncertain of his position, he makes his boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. It may again be illustrated in simple language in the courtroom scene we have sought throughout these passages to keep before our vision. Having been condemned, the helplessly and hopelessly doomed criminal finds his penalty paid by another. He is then taken by the hand and brought into the presence of the One who was his Judge. He stands there before the bench under the benign gaze of God, the Judge of all. Instead of feeling conscience stricken and uncomfortable in His presence, he makes his boast in the One who formerly was his Judge. From then on he goes around telling everybody what a marvelous person of love, goodness, and truth is the One who has forgiven him all his trespasses. He spends the rest of his life boasting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We often wonder why more Christians don’t realize how much God has forgiven, how kind He truly has been.
