Romans 5:9

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.  Romans 5:9 ESV


We know, when a sentence starts off with "therefore" that we ought to be looking back at what this sentence is referencing that has been stated previously. In this case, Paul is talking about being justified by the blood of Christ. I think there are three things that Paul has written in the previous verses that really jump out and tie into what he is saying here.

1. Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)
     - This verse tells us that Christ died, his blood was shed, for the sins of the ungodly, whose just punishment would have been eternal condemnation - separation from God. However, Christ died for those sinful creatures who hated God, and shed His blood for them.
     - So, we can then insert Paul's sentence - Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood

2. Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
     - Paul tells us in this verse that we are the ungodly ones that Christ died for. We are the ones that hated God, that hated the light in favor of darkness. We are the ones that Romans 1:18-32 is describing. We are the ones that desperately needed a perfect Savior. We are the ones Christ died for, to rescue us from our just condemnation.
     - So, we can then insert Paul's sentence - Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood

3. We are justified by faith. (Romans 5:1)
     - I included this verse, because it also talks about being justified, but it doesn't mention blood. We need to look at what Paul was talking about before we said we are justified by faith - he describes the faith of Abraham, and then says we too are justified by faith.
     - So, how are we justified (made righteous) by faith, and also justified (made righteous) by the blood of Christ? When Christ's blood was shed, He was taking the punishment that satisfied God's wrath over our complete sinfulness - from beginning to end - the debt we owed was paid in full.
     - The only way we can be counted as righteous then, is through faith in His shed blood. We are justified by faith in his blood, the blood that made our justification possible.

For me personally, I wish I could grasp more what Jesus did when He erased my debt through His sacrifice. The fact that He died for me, an ungodly, evil creature, and made it possible for me to be counted as righteous...I think if any of us truly understood what took place here we would be on our knees day and night, praising Him!



much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God

In the second part of verse 9, Paul talks about the wrath of God. There has been a movement in churches today to move away from speaking of the wrath of God and focusing on the love of God alone. While God is perfect love, He is also perfectly just - which means He cannot overlook sinfulness, nor can it be in His presence. God, being perfect in every way, would cease to be God if He for a moment tolerated sin in any way, which is why the finished work of Christ on the cross was so desperately needed for us to enter in to a restored relationship with God. 

Paul does not dodge the issue of the wrath of God, instead he says that we are spared from the wrath of God because of the blood of Christ. Not only did the blood of Christ make it possible for us to be counted as righteous, but it saved us from the just wrath of God at the same time!

I think that the order that Paul chose to write the beginning of Chapter 5 is interesting. He didn't start by saying we have been saved from the wrath of God, and you have been justified as well. Instead, Paul said you have been justified by faith in verse 1, then told us we now stand in His grace, and gave us two reasons to rejoice (in the glory of God and in our sufferings) , then explained that we are justified by the blood of Christ, and now, finally, he includes that we are also saved from God's wrath.

It is important that we don't get this turned around. We are not saved simply to keep from going to hell. We are not saved simply to get to heaven. We dare not live our life as a Christian thinking our main objective is to stay out of hell and get to heaven - this is not how Paul laid it out. We ought to seek a clear understanding of what happened when Christ died on the cross.

He made it possible - through faith in His blood - to be counted as righteous (meaning our sins, no matter how many, are no longer counted against us). Which in turn means that we can now enter into a restored relationship with a perfect and holy God for eternity! 

Oh, and by the way, we are saved from a complete and eternal separation from Him where evil and torment will have full reign (hell), and instead will enjoy being in His presence where He dwells (heaven) forever!

While heaven and hell can be motivators, they should always be seen in their connection to the presence of God, or the lack of His presence. We are saved to a restored relationship with God, this is the miracle every single one of His children experiences, and our lives become a living sacrifice for Him! We miss the point badly, and steal glory from God when we reduce our salvation to simply getting to heaven or staying out of hell - it's so much more, and so much better than that for those who know Him!

Romans 5:7,8

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-- but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:7,8 ESV



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

Would you willingly and knowingly give your life for your child? Would you willingly and knowingly give your life for someone you know is a good person? Would you willingly and knowingly give your life for a murderer - would you willingly be executed in place of someone who was guilty of murder - what if the victim was your child - what if they showed no repentance whatsoever, would you take their place?

This is a horrible scenario, it is hard to even think about, and was hard to type. I can't fathom being in that situation, and I never want to be. I believe, however, that sometimes we need to be cut deep, while pondering the things of God, in order to properly grasp them.

I believe most people would give their lives for their children. Paul says that yes, some people would perhaps even give their lives for a good or righteous person. These things are not completely out of the question for humans to do - even with our sinful nature we have some knowledge of God and what is "good" within us.

However, God's ways are far, far above ours. When He acts, it is in opposition to what we would do or what we would think makes sense according to our human "wisdom" - God made a restored relationship with Him possible by having His Son brutally beaten and murdered - all for people that hated Him - for the very people that were guilty of so much sin and evil.



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

Coming up in verse 10, Paul says that we were reconciled to God while we were enemies of God. We will dig into that when we get there, but I think that gives us an important perspective. When Christ died on the cross, He was paying the debt for those that were enemies of God. While we may think that rewards are given to those who deserve or earn them, God acts in opposition to our thinking.

Christ's blood is was not shed for those who would prove their desire/ability to be righteous - 

 this is what would make sense to us. 

Paul makes a clear contrast to what makes sense to us and what God does. We would maybe die for those who desire to be righteous, but God shows His love for us by sending His Son to die for us while we were still sinners, and loving it! While we were His enemies, and loving it! God didn't wait for us to make a righteous move, He made a grace move when, according to verse 6, He made salvation possible while we were weak and ungodly! 

Jesus summed this up when He said, ""Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." Mark 2:17. 

Why would God do this? God shows his love for us - God is glorified when He is revealed, and God is revealed when His love is shown. This is why it is so important to grasp how desperately we needed God to help us, when we were His enemies. I don't think that we will ever completely grasp how much love was shown, but if we are not spending time thinking about this truth, about the sacrifice that was made on behalf of people that hated Him, I think we are hindering the pure love of God from being revealed.

Romans 5:6

 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  Romans 5:6 ESV

We know, from the previous verse, that God reveals His love to us by pouring the Holy Spirit into our hearts. Now, in the next few verses, Paul explains this love of God even more.  I think it will make more sense if we look at this verse out of order, and then put it back together at the end.


Christ died

As Christians, it's common knowledge that Christ died for our sins. While it may by impossible for us to truly grasp the immense love that was shown, or what was truly accomplished when Christ gave His life, I would like to look at some scripture that may build in us a deeper appreciation for God and His act of selfless love.

Jesus Christ willingly suffered the brutal beatings, torture, crucifixion:
   - Knowing what was ahead, Jesus prayed to the Father -   "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done."  Luke 22:42

Jesus Christ, completely sinless, felt the full impact of God's just wrath on our behalf by taking the punishment we deserved:
   - we deserve this:  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Romans 1:18
   - Jesus did this: He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2
            - propitiation: is the act of appeasing, atonement, satisfied the debt by paying it in full!


Jesus Christ felt unparalleled agony and anguish on the cross, according to the will and perfect plan of the Father:
   - Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Isaiah 53:10

This link is to a sermon by Charles Spurgeon on the death of Christ on the cross. It sheds a lot more light on what took place, and really reveals how terrible it was in light of who Jesus is.
http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0173.htm

After reading these few Scripture references (there are so many more), we can see that this death that Christ suffered was horrible, brutal, and undeserved. He took the full penalty of our sin in a small amount of time - yet the torture and death was so severe that it satisfied the the condemnation that we would have suffered for eternity.

Below is John Piper's response to a question on the suffering of Christ:

If our sins are punished by eternal separation from God, why did Jesus only have to suffer momentary separation?
That's a good question, and I think there's a pretty clear answer.
Another question would be, How can one man suffer when millions should've suffered? Same kind of issue. How does one suffering become the suffering of millions? The math doesn't work! How does suffering for 3 hours on a cross correspond to delivering people from eternity in hell? All those kinds of questions apply here.
The answer is that the degree of suffering, indignity, reproach, degradation, and fall that Jesus endured is not simply determined temporally. And it's not simply determined by the exquisiteness of the pain of a nail cutting through a nerve in your wrist.
It's determined by the difference between the glory that he had with the Father in heaven and the ignominy that he suffered, naked and hanging like a piece of meat as the Son of God on the cross. It's that distance that is the magnitude that provides the scope needed in his suffering to cover an eternity in hell and to cover the sins of millions of people.
The way to think about it is that we commit a greater indignity against God, not just in accord with how many sins we commit or how bad they are, but in accord with how great he is. Therefore our sins are infinitely great because they're against an infinite person and deserve an infinite punishment.
Christ, being an infinite person, became so low that that drop in suffering, that drop in indignity was such a huge drop—it was an infinite drop—that it suffices to cover the sins of millions and to cover the entire length of eternity that we deserve to be in hell.
He is a great Savior.


So, if Christ willingly suffered to the degree discussed above, who did He do it for?

while we were still weak
Christ died for the ungodly

Jesus died for us while we were weak and ungodly! 

When someone needs an organ transplant, there are several things that come into play. The health of the patient plays a major role in where they may land on the transplant list. How old is the patient, does the patient smoke, does the patient have a history of substance abuse, what is the mental status of the patient? All of these questions, and many more, determine if the patient is suitable for a transplant - and for good reason; donated organs are not be taken lightly. Part of handling them responsibly is ensuring that the one receiving the organ has a high potential of making the most of the donated organ.

When we are lost sinners, we are in desperate need of a heart "transplant":

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Eze 36:26

Like the organ donor recipients at the hospital, are there certain requirements we must meet that determine how qualified we are to receive this new heart?  God's Word says NO!

Christ died for us, paid the debt in full for us, while we were weak (Greek - without strength), we could not even reach out to Him if we wanted to.

Christ died for us, paid the debt in full for us, while we were ungodly (Greek - wicked, showing no respect for God), when we wanted nothing to do with God - He took care of our debt.

There is nothing we can do or anything we can stop doing that will make us more qualified to know a restored relationship with God through Christ, because of the ultimate sacrifice He made on our behalf. No amount of self sacrifice, cleaning ourselves up, or trying to change who we are or what we do has any bearing on whether or not we can enter into a restored relationship with God.

God performs the miracle of conversion in weak, spiritually dead, ungodly, wicked people - not because of anything we do, but in spite of all that we do!

This conversion is a result of grace, which by definition cannot be a result of works or effort, or it would no longer be grace (Romans 11:6). 

Clinging to Romans 5:6, we can know that Christ's sacrifice and atonement for sins can apply to us when we are at our worst - and transform us into a new creation, with a new heart that desires to glorify God completely! 

These Casting Crown lyrics from the song "Who Am I" seem to sum it up pretty well:

Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are

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

What an amazing God we serve, so full of love that He would make salvation available to us at our worst moment, when we are too weak to do anything good, when we don't even want anything to do with Him. WOW!