For if, being enemies, we have been reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much rather, having been reconciled, we shall be saved in [the power of] his life.
Paul says God reconciled us while we were still enemies — the worst thing that could be said about us. Two questions follow: what does reconciliation mean, and what is this saving by His life that is still ahead of us?
"Enemy" is the strongest word used for our old state. One writer refuses to let any reader assume it describes someone else.
Nothing can go beyond this. To be an enemy of God is the most shocking picture we can have of a sinner's state. Yet that is the real condition of any reader of these lines who is not converted. He is an enemy of God. He may be likeable, polite, attractive, refined, educated, moral and even religious on the outside. He may be a church member, take communion regularly, work for God, teach Sunday School, preach or serve as a minister — and all the while be an enemy of God.
But note which side the hostility was on. Paul says we were enemies — not God.
It is certainly a great mistake to think that God became our enemy when sin came in, and that the atoning death of the Son of God was meant to reconcile God to us. The following verses teach the exact opposite… His death does not reconcile God to us; it reconciles us to God.
The word pictures accounts settled and a broken relationship put right.
Reconciliation, in everyday language, means making everything straight. I believe it was first used in money-changing, for making a sum come out even, so that both sides are satisfied. From there it passed into the more common sense of making everything smooth between two sides that have fallen out… It brings back to unity, peace and fellowship what was divided and estranged… but the estrangement was on our side. God was not estranged from us. What was on His side was righteous judgment against sin in His creature, and that righteousness had to be met to bring the estranged creature back into relationship with God.
Justification and reconciliation go together, but they answer different problems.
Justification clears away our guilt. Reconciliation removes the hostility in our hearts and makes us so suited to God that He can look on us with divine delight. The death of Christ declares the righteousness of God that justifies us, and it also reveals the love of God that reconciles us… knowing the love of God takes away our hostility toward Him.
If God did the greater thing while we were hostile, the rest is certain now that we are His.
The work of Christ has done more than put away our sins: it has reconciled us to God. When the Spirit brings home to us the death of His Son for our sins, its persuasive power wins the heart to God. If He could reconcile us like that while we were enemies, how much more will He bring those reconciled ones through, despite every difficulty?… Paul has no thought of an unreconciled Christian, any more than of an unjustified one.
The verse sets His death against the life He now lives for us.
"If we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son" — by what was, so to speak, His weakness — "much more shall we be saved by his life," the mighty energy in which He lives forever. So the love of God makes peace about what we were, gives us security about our future, and makes us happy in the present too.
That living Christ is at work for us right now, and He will not stop until the end:
The salvation we need and receive as believers rests on the death of Christ, but it reaches us through His work as priest for us, as He lives for us on high. We are being "saved by His life" (Rom. 5:10), and because He always lives we shall be saved to the uttermost. We shall be saved completely, right to the furthest point of time — to the moment when the last enemy is gone and we never need saving again.
Reconciliation is already settled. Salvation is still running to its end.
We shall never be more justified than we are today. We shall never be more reconciled than we are today, though one day we shall enjoy that finished reconciliation far more keenly. But we shall be more fully saved than we are today, when in the age to come we have glorified bodies like Christ.
- Enemies — the hostility was all on our side. Even a religious life leaves no one outside that word.
- Reconciled — making everything straight, bringing what was divided back into peace and fellowship.
- By His death — justification clears the guilt, reconciliation removes the hostility, and both flow from the same cross.
- Much more — if God acted for us as enemies, He will surely bring us through now that we are reconciled. There is no such thing as an unreconciled Christian.
- By His life — He who died for us now lives for us, carrying us through the road ahead until salvation is complete.
And not only [that], but [we are] making our boast in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom now we have received the reconciliation.
Earlier in this chapter Paul speaks of rejoicing in the hope of God's glory, and even in trouble. Here he names something higher: God Himself is the believer's joy, through the reconciliation we have now received.
A stronger word stands behind "rejoice" here, and it ties this verse to two earlier ones:
The word translated joy would be better put as boast. It comes three times in this part of the chapter. We boast (or exult) in hope of the glory of God (verse 2). We boast in tribulation (verse 3). And we boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation (verse 11).
Older English Bibles printed "atonement" in this verse. Commentators call that a mistake:
"Atonement" is the greatest blunder in Romans 5:11. We are said to be "reconciled" in verse 10. Then verse 11 speaks of "our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation." It does not say the atonement. Atonement has nothing to do with the sins on our side; atonement is for God.
The verse does not say propitiation. It says reconciliation, and the two are not the same:
Through Him also now we received the reconciliation. That is what the apostle wrote — not the propitiation, but the "reconciliation." Without that mighty work of Christ on the cross we could not, being sinners, be reconciled to God. But this is the theme here: the complete making good of our case with God. We had been at war with Him, and our sins had left us wholly estranged from Him... The first half of Romans 5 brings in His love and therefore the reconciliation, which we have now received through Christ. His atoning death made it possible, and it goes much further in itself.
Reconciliation was never about softening God toward us. The distance ran the other way, and so did the repair:
It was we who were "alienated and enemies in mind by wicked works." So every one of us needed a complete and basic change of mind and attitude towards God. His heart did not need to turn towards us. Our hearts had every need to turn towards Him... When we believed the gospel, the ministry of reconciliation took effect in us, and we could say, "we have now received the reconciliation." Because we have received it, we "joy in God." Before, we feared and even hated Him.
The verse names an object of joy, and it is not a benefit. It is the Giver:
Higher joy than this we can never have. It is infinite, yet we have already entered into it. We joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Completed reconciliation has brought about a blessed, conscious, happy reunion with the living God... Here we have arrived at the source. We look through all the blessings given to us and rejoice in God Himself as the highest spring and object of them all. God Himself is the Christian's joy, glory, and boast! We do not rejoice now just in hope of the glory of God, nor in our tribulation... nor in the many blessings He has given us, but far better, in Himself.
The word "now" settles a question many believers leave open, and it shows how far God has brought us:
We need not wait till the judgment seat of Christ to find out whether we are right with God. He has told us in this Scripture, "We have been reconciled." It is an accomplished fact. Verse 11 confirms and stresses it: "Through Whom now we have received the reconciliation." And God has not restored us to the innocence of man in Eden; that has gone for ever. He has brought us near to Himself to enjoy His love, to a far more blessed portion than Adam in innocence ever knew or ever could enjoy.
Later chapters of Romans say more about privilege and security. Yet this verse reaches a height of its own:
I do not know that any joy even there rises up to the boasting in God we find here. It gives the heart both the deepest rest and the fullest spiritual activity. Worship is how it speaks... We begin the new song that will never end... So the deepest inward poison that Satan put into man at the fall is not just held in check. It is defeated, to the praise of God.
- Received, not achieved — reconciliation comes to us from Christ's hand. The verse says we have it now, so our standing with God is settled, not pending.
- Received as reconciliation — older versions print "atonement" here, but that word is a mistake. Atonement is Godward; reconciliation is what comes to us.
- Received by enemies — God's heart never needed turning. Ours did, and the gospel turned it. The God we once feared is now the God we enjoy.
- Received into God Himself — the boast climbs from hope of glory, to tribulation, to God Himself. He is the source of every blessing, and better than all of them.
- Received now, sung forever — this joy is ours now. It overflows in worship and starts a song that never ends.