Romans 5:9
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
Truth to Learn
Christians will not experience the effect of God’s wrath.
Behind the Words
The words “we shall be saved” are translated from the Greek verb sōdzō, meaning “to save, deliver, make whole, or preserve safe from danger.” It is written here in the future tense and passive voice, indicating something that will be done to us some time in the future.
“Wrath” is from the Greek word orgē, which refers to “wrath or anger as a state of mind.” Aristotle said that orgē, is strong desire with grief. Another word sometimes translated as “wrath” is thumos, which refers to “indignation, the outburst of angry actions stemming from wrath.” Thus we see that orgē refers to the angry feeling, not the action that stems from it.
Meaning Explained
In the previous verse Paul showed us the greatness of God’s love for us. Though we are sinners and not good or righteous people, Christ died for us. Paul continues with, “Much more then …” In other words, the statement to follow is of even greater significance.
He then says, “having now been justified by His blood.” At first appearance this may seem contradictory to what Paul has just taught us in the previous chapter, that we are justified by grace, through faith. Actually, these are fully in agreement with each other because the shedding of blood is what fulfills God’s law of justice making it possible for Him to mark us as righteous in His record book. As it says in Hebrews 9:22, “without shedding of blood there is no remission (of sins)”
Even though God is all powerful, He can only do what is consistent with His own righteousness and law of justice. That law requires that sin must be paid for with the shedding of blood. Therefore, it is the shedding of Christ’s blood on the cross, the giving of His perfect life as substitutionary payment for our sins, that permits God to declare us righteous.
But Paul doesn’t stop there. The “Much more then” comment doesn’t refer to the shedding of Christ’s blood but to the fact that, “we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” Remember, while we are still sinners Christ died for us. But much greater than the fact that He died for us while we are still sinners is the fact that because of His blood we will be saved!
Once again this appears a little confusing since we refer to ourselves as having already been saved. You see, there are two aspects of our salvation. As a past and completed action we have already been marked in God’s book as righteous, and legally we have already been saved from the penalty of our sins. And, as a result, in the future we will be saved from the wrath of the Almighty Judge who will judge all men. That is to say, we will appear at the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ where we will be rewarded for the things we have done for Him, not at the Great White Throne Judgment where unsaved sinners will suffer the result of the wrath of God in the lake of fire.
Application
For a Christian, being saved doesn’t mean being saved from sin, it means being saved from the consequence of sin. It means that we will not experience God’s indignation. What a blessed truth!
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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