Romans 5:9

Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(9) From wrath.—From the wrath, the divine wrath, or the wrath to come.

Benson Commentary

Romans 5:9-11. Much more then — Since, therefore, it hath pleased the blessed God to give us such an unexampled display of his love as this, how high may our expectations rise, and how confidently may we conclude, that much more, being now justified by his blood — Shed for us: that is, by his death, which is the meritorious cause of our justification, while faith in that blood is the instrumental cause; we shall be saved from wrath — From future punishment, from the vengeance of eternal fire; through him — If he so loved us as to give his Son to die for us, when we were mere guilty sinners, we may assure ourselves that, having now constituted us righteous, and accepted us as such, pardoning all our sins for the sake of the sacrifice of Christ’s blood, he will certainly save us from eternal damnation; us who continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel. For if when we were enemies — Through the perverseness of our minds, and the rebellion of our lives, (see Colossians 1:21;) we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son — Which expiated our sins, and rendered God reconcileable, and which procured for us the Holy Spirit, to remove the enmity from our minds, giving us, at the same time, such a display of the love of God to us, as won our affections over to him; much more, being thus reconciled, we shall be saved — Sanctified and glorified; by his life — Restored in order to our being thus saved: that is, by his ever living to make intercession, and his thereby receiving for us, and communicating to us, continual supplies of grace. He that has done the greater thing, which is, of enemies to make us friends, will certainly do the lesser, which is, when we are friends to treat us as such, and be kind and gracious to us. But the opposition is not only between reconciling enemies, and preserving friends, the latter being less difficult than the former, but also between Christ’s death and life; his life here spoken of, being not his life in the flesh, but his life in heaven, that life which ensued after his death. See Romans 14:9. Now if his death, when he was crucified in weakness, performed the harder work, that is, reconciled his enemies, shall not his life, which is stronger, (for he liveth by his divine power as the Prince of life, that could not be held in death,) effect the easier work, and preserve and save to the uttermost, those that are already made his friends? For, we are reconciled by Christ humbled, and finally saved by Christ exalted, it being in consequence of his exaltation to the right hand of God, and his being invested with all power in heaven and on earth, and made head over all things to his church, that he completes and consummates our salvation. And not only so — Namely, that we should be reconciled and saved; but we also joy, Greek, καυχωμενοι, glory, in God — In the relation in which he stands to us as our God, and in all his glorious and boundless perfections, which we see are engaged for us; through our Lord Jesus Christ — By whom we are introduced into this happy state, who is our peace, and hath made God and us one; by whom we have now — That we are believers; received the atonement — Greek, την καταλλαγην, the reconciliation. So the word signifies, and in all other passages where it occurs is so translated, being derived from the verb καταλλασσω, which is twice rendered reconcile in the preceding verse, and to which it has so apparent a reference, that it is surprising it should have been here rendered by so different a word as atonement, especially as it is quite improper to speak of our receiving an atonement which God receives as made for our sins. But, when we are made true believers in Christ, we receive the reconciliation, and that not only averts the terrors of God’s wrath, but opens upon us all the blessings of his perpetual friendship and love; so that the Father and the Son come unto us, and make their abode with us, John 14:23; and we know and believe the love that he hath to us, and in consequence thereof dwell in love, and therefore dwell in God, and God in us. The whole paragraph from Romans 5:3-11 may be taken together thus: We not only rejoice in hope of the glory of God, but also in the midst of tribulations, we glory in God himself through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the reconciliation.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:6-11 Christ died for sinners; not only such as were useless, but such as were guilty and hateful; such that their everlasting destruction would be to the glory of God's justice. Christ died to save us, not in our sins, but from our sins; and we were yet sinners when he died for us. Nay, the carnal mind is not only an enemy to God, but enmity itself, chap. 8:7; Col 1:21. But God designed to deliver from sin, and to work a great change. While the sinful state continues, God loathes the sinner, and the sinner loathes God, Zec 11:8. And that for such as these Christ should die, is a mystery; no other such an instance of love is known, so that it may well be the employment of eternity to adore and wonder at it. Again; what idea had the apostle when he supposed the case of some one dying for a righteous man? And yet he only put it as a thing that might be. Was it not the undergoing this suffering, that the person intended to be benefitted might be released therefrom? But from what are believers in Christ released by his death? Not from bodily death; for that they all do and must endure. The evil, from which the deliverance could be effected only in this astonishing manner, must be more dreadful than natural death. There is no evil, to which the argument can be applied, except that which the apostle actually affirms, sin, and wrath, the punishment of sin, determined by the unerring justice of God. And if, by Divine grace, they were thus brought to repent, and to believe in Christ, and thus were justified by the price of his bloodshedding, and by faith in that atonement, much more through Him who died for them and rose again, would they be kept from falling under the power of sin and Satan, or departing finally from him. The living Lord of all, will complete the purpose of his dying love, by saving all true believers to the uttermost. Having such a pledge of salvation in the love of God through Christ, the apostle declared that believers not only rejoiced in the hope of heaven, and even in their tribulations for Christ's sake, but they gloried in God also, as their unchangeable Friend and all-sufficient Portion, through Christ only.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Much more, then - It is much more reasonable to expect it. There are fewer obstacles in the way. If, when we were enemies, he overcame all that was in the way of our salvation; much more have we reason to expect that he will afford us protection now that we are his friends. This is one ground of the hope expressed in Romans 5:5.

Being now justified - Pardoned; accepted as his friends.

By his blood - By his death; Note, Romans 3:25. The fact that we are purchased by his blood, and sanctified by it, renders us sacred in the eye of God; bestows a value on us proportionate to the worth of the price of our redemption; and is a pledge that he will keep what has been so dearly bought.

Saved from wrath - From hell; from the punishment due to sin; Note, Romans 2:8.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9, 10. Much more then, being—"having been"

now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The apostle’s arguing is cogent, for it is more to justify and reconcile sinners, than to save them being justified; Christ therefore having done the former, he will much more do the latter.

By his blood; i.e. by faith in his blood or sufferings.

From wrath; the Greek reads it with an article, from that wrath, whereby is meant the wrath to come, or eternal punishment.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Much more then being now justified by his blood,.... The apostle here argues from justification by Christ to salvation by him, there being a certain and inseparable connection between these two; whoever is justified shall be saved; and speaks of justification "as being now by his blood". Justification in God's mind from eternity proceeded upon the suretyship engagements of Christ to be performed in time; the Old Testament saints were justified of God with a view to the blood of the Lamb which was to be shed; this blood was "now" shed, and an application of justification by it was "now" made to the persons spoken of; which is the reason of this way of speaking. The blood of Christ intends his death, as appears from the context, and shows it to be a violent death; death by the effusion of blood. There is an emphasis upon it, "his blood"; not the blood of bulls and goats, nor of a mere innocent creature, but of Christ the Son of God; which is therefore efficacious to all the purposes for which it was shed, and particularly justification. This being ascribed to it, shows the concern Christ had in it, his blood is here put for the whole matter of justification; the shedding of that being the finishing part of it; and that our justification before God proceeds upon the foot of a satisfaction made to the law and justice of God: hence such as are interested in it,

shall be saved from wrath through him: not from wrath, as a corruption in their own hearts, which oftentimes breaks forth; nor as appearing among the people of God one towards another, which is sometimes very bitter; or as in their avowed enemies, the effects of which they often feel; nor from the wrath of devils, which is as the roaring of a lion; but from the wrath of God, from a sense and apprehension of it in their own consciences, which the law works; from which justification by the blood of Christ frees them; though under first awakenings they feel it, and sometimes, under afflictive dispensations of Providence, are ready to fear it: and also from the infliction of vindictive wrath or punishment for sin; for though they are as deserving of it as others, yet as they are not appointed to it, so they are entirely delivered from it, through Christ's sustaining it in their room and stead: wherefore they are secure from it both in this life, and in the world to come.

Geneva Study Bible

Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from {k} wrath through him.

(k) From affliction and destruction.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Romans 5:9. To prove that hope maketh not ashamed (Romans 5:5), Paul had laid stress on the possession of the divine love in the heart (Romans 5:5); then he had proved and characterised this divine love itself from the death of Christ (Romans 5:6-8); and he now again infers, from this divine display of love, from the death of Christ, that the hoped-for eternal salvation is all the more assured to us.

πολλῷ οὖν μᾶλλον] The conclusion does not proceed a minori ad majus (Estius and many, including Mehring), but, since the point now turns on the carrying out of the divine act of atonement, a majori (Romans 5:6-8) ad minus (Romans 5:9).

πολλῷ μᾶλλον] expresses the enhancement of certainty, as in Romans 5:15-17 : much less therefore can it be doubted that, etc.; νῦν stands in reference to ἔτι ἁμαρτωλῶν ὅντων ἡμῶν in Romans 5:8.

σωθησόμεθα ἀπὸ τ. ὀργῆς] we shall be rescued from the divine wrath (1 Thessalonians 1:10; comp Matthew 3:7), so that the latter, which issues forth at the last judgment (Romans 2:5, Romans 3:5), does not affect us. Comp Winer, p. 577 [E. T. 743]; Acts 2:40. This negative expression for the attainment of the hoped-for δόξα renders the inference more obvious and convincing. For the positive expression see 2 Timothy 4:18.

ΔΙʼ ΑὐΤΟῦ] i.e. through the operation of the exalted Christ, ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτοῦ, Romans 5:10Faith, as the ΛΗΠΤΙΚΌΝ of justification, is understood as a matter of course (Romans 5:1), but is not mentioned here, because only what has been accomplished by God through Christ is taken into consideration. If faith were in the judgment of God the anticipation of moral perfection (but see note on Romans 1:17), least of all could it have been left unmentioned. Observe also how Paul has justification in view as a unity, without different degrees or stages.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Romans 5:9 f. πολλῷ οὖν μᾶλλον: The argument is from the greater to the less. The supreme difficulty to be overcome in the relations of man and God is the initial one: How can God demonstrate His love to the sinner, and bestow on him a Divine righteousness? In comparison with this, everything else is easy. Now the Apostle has already shown (Romans 3:21-30) how the Gospel meets this difficulty: we obtain the righteousness required by believing in Jesus, whom God has set forth as a propitiation through faith in His blood. If such grace was shown us then, when we were in sin, much more, justified as we have now been by His blood, shall we be saved from wrath through Him. ἀπὸ τῆς ὀργῆς: the wrath to come: see note on Romans 1:18. This deliverance from wrath does not exhaust Paul’s conception of the future (see Romans 5:2), but it is an important aspect of it, and implies the rest. Romans 5:10 rather repeats, than grounds anew, the argument of Romans 5:9. εἰ γὰρ ἐχθροὶ ὄντες: this is practically equivalent to ἔτι ἁμαρτωλῶν ὄντων ἡμῶν. The state of sin was that in which we were ἐχθροί, and the whole connection of ideas in the passage requires us to give ἐχθροί the passive meaning which it undoubtedly has in Romans 11:28, where it is opposed to ἀγαπητοί. We were in a real sense objects of the Divine hostility. As sinners, we lay under the condemnation of God, and His wrath hung over us. This was the situation which had to be faced: Was there love in God equal to it? Yes, when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.κατηλλάγημεν is a real passive: “we” are the objects, not the subjects, of the reconciliation: the subject, is God, 2 Corinthians 5:19-21. Compare Romans 5:11 : τὴν καταλλαγὴν ἐλάβομεν. To represent κατηλλάγημεν by an active form, e.g., “we laid aside our hostility to God,” or by what is virtually one, e.g., “we were won to lay aside our hostility,” is to miss the point of the whole passage. Paul is demonstrating the love of God, and he can only do it by pointing to what God has done, not to what we have done. That we on our part are hostile to God before the reconciliation, and that we afterwards lay aside our enmity, is no doubt true; but here it is entirely irrelevant. The Apostle’s thought is simply this: “if, when we lay under the Divine condemnation, the work of our reconciliation to God was achieved by Him through the death of His Son, much more shall the love which wrought so incredibly for us in our extremity carry out our salvation to the end”. The subjective side of the truth is here completely, and intentionally, left out of sight; the laying aside of our hostility adds nothing to God’s love, throws no light upon it; hence in an exposition of the love of God it can be ignored. To say that the reconciliation is “mutual,” is true in point of fact; it is true, also, to all the suggestions of the English word; but it is not true to the meaning of κατηλλάγημεν, nor to the argument of this passage, which does not prove anything about the Christian, but exhibits the love of God at its height in the Cross, and argues from that to what are comparatively smaller demonstrations of that love. ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτοῦ: the ἐν is instrumental: cf. Romans 5:9 ἐν τῷ αἵματι αὐτοῦ. The Living Lord, in virtue of His life, will save us to the uttermost. Cf. John 14:19.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9. Much more] i.e. as to our apprehension. After this amazing first step of unmerited love we can, with less surprise, rely on its gracious continuance.

now] “As the case stands.”

by his blood] Lit. in His blood. If “in” is to be pressed, the idea may be that of washing, (Revelation 1:5,) though this would not be strictly germane. It is most difficult to pronounce on such uses of “in” in N. T. Greek, in which “in” certainly often = “by.” See on ch. Romans 1:9.

saved] i.e. “kept safe,” till the final preservation at the last day. See 1 Thessalonians 1:10, where lit. “Jesus, who rescues us (or, is our rescuer) from the wrath to come.” Not only did He once die as our Propitiation, but, as the sure sequel, He lives, now and ever, to be, every moment, our accepted Representative and Intercessor; a Saviour in permanence. See Romans 8:34.

wrath] Lit. the wrath; the wrath of final doom. The justified shall be preserved by their Lord unto, and through, even that crisis. Cp. John 5:24; 1 John 2:28.

Bengel's Gnomen

Romans 5:9. Δικαιωθέντες, Being justified) The antithesis to sinners, Romans 5:8.—νῦν, now) The remembrance of Jesus Christ’s death was at that time fresh among believers.—ἀπὸ τῆς ὀργῆς, from wrath) which otherwise does not cease: wrath abides upon those who do not attain to grace.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 9, 10. - Much more then, being now justified by (literally, in) his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by (literally, in) his life. In these verses, the second being an amplification of the first, our relations to God are set forth, as before, by the analogy of such as may subsist between man and man. Men do not usually die for their enemies, but they do seek the good of their friends. If, then, God's superhuman love reconciled us to himself through the death of his Son when we were still his enemies, what assurance may we not now feel, being no longer at enmity, of being saved from the wrath (τῆς ὀργῆς, ver. 9) to which, as sinners and enemies, we were exposed! There is also a significance (ver. 10)in the words "death" and "life." Christ's death was for atonement, and in it we are conceived as having died with him to our former state of alienation from God. His resurrection was the inauguration of a new life to God, in which with him we live (cf. Romans 6:3, et seqq.). The words "enemies" (ἀχθροὶ) and "reconciled" (καταλλάγημεν, καταλλαγέντες) invite attention. Does the former word imply mutual enmity, or only that we were God's enemies? We may answer that, though we cannot attribute enmity in its proper human sense to God, or properly speak of him as under any circumstances the enemy of man, yet the expression might perhaps be used with regard to him in the way of accommodation to human ideas, as are anger, jealousy, and the like. There seems, however, to be no necessity for this conception here, the idea being rather that of man's alienation from God, and from peace with him, through sin; as in Colossians 1:21, "And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works." So Theoderet interprets: Οἱ ἐχθροὶ δὴ τῶν ἐντολῶν αῖς μηδὲ ὑποκηκόασι γενόμενοι ὥσπερ φίλοι οἱ ὑπακηκοότες. So too, Clem. Alex., 'Strom.,' 1. 3.: Καὶ μή τε καθὰπεο ἐπὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐδενὶ μὲν ἀντικεισθαι, λέγομεν τὸν Θεὸν οὐδε ἐχθρὸν εῖναι τινός πάντων γὰρ κτίστης καὶ οὐδεν ἐστι τῶν ὑποστάντων ο{ μὴ θέλει. Φαμὲν δὲ αὐτῷ ἐχθροὺς εϊναι τοὺς ἀπειθεῖς καὶ μὴ κατὰ τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ πορευομένους. With regard to reconciled," it may be first observed that, however orthodox and capable of a true sense it may be to speak of God being reconciled to man through Christ (as in Art. 2, "to reconcile his Father to us"), the expression is not scriptural. It is always man who is said to be reconciled to God; and it is God who, in Christ, reconciles the world unto himself (2 Corinthians 5:19; cf. also Ephesians 2:16; Colossians 1:20, 21). Still, mere is evidently implied than that God reconciles men to himself by changing their hearts and converting them from sin by the manifestation of his love in Christ. The reconciliation is spoken of as effected once for all for all mankind in the atonement, independently of, and previously to, the conversion of believers. Faith only appropriates, and obedience testifies, the appropriation of an accomplished reconciliation available for all mankind. That such is the view in the passage before us is distinctly evident from all that follows after ver. 12. Romans 5:9

Vincent's Word Studies

Wrath (τῆς ὀργῆς)

Rev., better, "the wrath of God." the article specifying. See on Romans 12:19.