Romans 5:10

Rom_5:10

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.

Enemies of God

I. In what respect unregenerate men are such. In--

1. Their esteem of Him.

2. The natural relish of their souls.

3. Their will.

4. Their affections.

5. Their practice.

II. To how great a degree.

1. They have no love.

2. Their every faculty is subject to this enmity.

3. It is insuperable to any finite power.

4. They are greater enemies to God than to any other being.

III. The reasons for this.

1. God is opposed to their idolatries.

2. They are threatened with damnation because of them. (Jonathan Edwards, A. M.)

Gods hatred of sin

It is no figure but a deep essential truth that God hates sin; and since sin is necessarily personal, the sinner as such, i.e., so far as he wilfully identifies himself with his sin, is hated of God, His enemy (Rom_11:28). But God loves everything that He has made. He cannot love man as a sinner, but He loves him as man, even when he is a sinner. In like manner the Jews are described as being, at the same time, enemies in one relation and beloved in another (Rom_11:28). Human love here offers a true analogy: the more a father loves his son, the more he hates in him the drunkard, the liar, or the traitor. Thus God, loving as His creatures those whom He hates as self-made sinners, devises means whereby they may be brought back to Him. (Archdeacon Gifford.)

Reconciliation with God

I. The believers reconciliation.

1. The previous character of the partakers of this benefit; they were enemies to God. But it is no easy thing to induce men to acknowledge this. They may indeed acknowledge that they have some imperfections and infirmities; but they cannot be persuaded that they are enemies to God.

2. This inestimable boon itself. There are but few who do not know the value of reconciliation. Who has not tasted the bitterness of estrangement? Who has not enjoyed the deliciousness of renewed friendship? How delicious is national peace, domestic peace, ecclesiastical peace. But the blessing of reconciliation must be judged of by the Being whom we have offended and provoked. Who knoweth the power of His anger? And oh, to know that we are one with God again! Why, then, trials have no curse, death no sting, and all things work together for good.

3. The reconciliation is perfect and perpetual. A breach may be so far made up as to exclude hostility. Absalom was allowed to live three years in Jerusalem without seeing the kings face. There may be an admission of civilities and even general intercourse, where there may be no admission of cordialness. But how is it here? (Rom_8:35-39).

4. The medium of it. The death of His Son. We escape, but He suffered. There are some who deny the vicariousness of the sufferings of Christ. But upon their principles it seems hard to account for His sufferings at all. According to these, He died not for others sins, and we know He could not for His own; so upon this ground He suffered in every respect as innocent; and if this were true, we may well ask, Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. Why is He thus making Him to be sin for us who knew no sin? Why, if our tears, or repentance, or alms could have made reconciliation with God, He never would have been pleased to bruise His only begotten Son; and if in His sacrifice God did nothing needlessly or in vain, then there must have been a propriety, a necessity in the great transaction. So the apostle affirms, It became Him to make the Captain of our salvation perfect through sufferings. Thus your reconciliation is made in a way that is as honourable to God as it is safe to us. The just God appears a Saviour. Now, this blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel, having spoken to the justice of God, and satisfied it, speaks to the conscience of the sinner, and gives it quiet and peace. Thus have we boldness to enter into the holiest of all by the blood of Christ.

II. The believers salvation.

1. We are saved by His life. But are we not saved when reconciled? No. The one regards God, the other regards ourselves. But did not He exclaim when He expired, It is finished? Yes; but what was finished? The work of redemption, or the procuring of the thing; not the work of salvation, or the applying of the thing. The case is this. We were guilty, and by the death of Gods Son expiation was made for our offences. He put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and thus removed every hindrance on Gods side to our return to Him. Yet we are not actually saved till we receive Christ, and are found in Him. Indeed, as to the commencement of the work, and the certainty of the issue, Christians are said to be saved already. By grace are ye saved through faith. But as to the actual consummation, they are not saved till death is swallowed up in victory. This work of salvation is a gradual work carried on through the whole of the Christians life on earth. We go from strength to strength, and in the Divine image we are renewed day by day.

2. How this salvation is achieved. By His life; His mediatorial life; that life in which He is now living in our nature in heaven. This is what He referred to when He said, Because I live ye shall live also. Had He not risen, our hopes would have perished in the same grave. But we are begotten again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Everything that concerns our salvation is now to be viewed in connection with His life. He is now making intercession for us. He is a living Saviour, and as such He received the whole dispensation of the Spirit for men (Eph_4:8, etc.; Act_2:33). It is as a living Saviour, it hath pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell, and out of His fulness have all we received grace for grace.

3. From hence you should learn to dwell more upon the present life of Christ. Christians love to hear of Christs death. But it would be in vain to view Him as the crucified One, unless we could view Him as the glorified One. Here is the ground of our highest triumph (Rom_8:34).

III. Their confirmation; derived from an inference drawn from one to the other. For if … much more. Observe the conclusiveness of the inference. What can be more natural than for us to argue from the past to the future; from what has been done to what may be; to feel the remembrance of one favour encouraging our hope of another, especially when we argue from the greater to the less; as Rom_8:32 does? It was wonderful that God should have provided an ark for the saving of Noah and his house; but it was not wonderful, after He had provided it, that He should not suffer him to sink and go to the bottom. It is wonderful that God should have given us exceeding great and precious promises; but it is not wonderful, after He had given them, that He should fulfil the same. It is wonderful, Christians, that He should have begun a good work in you; but having begun it, it is not wonderful that He should perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. (W. Jay.)

Reconciliation with God an earnest of complete salvation

I. More immediately in reference to God. Reconciliation is the restoring to a state of friendship parties Who had been at variance with each other. The parties presented by the apostle in the passage before us being God and man--God being necessarily the justly-offended party, it belonged to guilty, rebellious man to reconcile himself to God. But wherewithal could man thus come before God? What man, however, could never have solved, God hath both unravelled and removed. He was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself; not imputing to men their trespasses. He so far reconciled Himself to man, when He devised the plan whereby He could continue the just God, whilst the justifier of the ungodly who believe on Jesus. And He so far reconciled Himself to man, when He gave and continues with man, the ministry of reconciliation. Now the reasoning of the apostle, as bearing on this view of the case, is shortly this--hath God out of absolutely spontaneous loving kindness thought compassionately on man in his low and lost estate--hath He exerted His infinite wisdom in devising a scheme whereby in the riches of His grace through Christ, He hath even abounded towards man in all wisdom and prudence--hath the character of the Divine holiness been signally vindicated, and the claims of infinite justice and unimpeachable truth satisfied--hath the almighty power of God been put forth in raising up Christ from the dead--hath the Divine machinery, the pattern of things in the heavens, not only been constructed and perfected, but ready at the bidding of the great Artificer to begin the work of mercy and of love--when lo! the hand of the Divine Artificer, ready to touch the life-giving apparatus is suspended--producing the silence of ungratified desire in heaven, of disappointment on earth, of joy in hell. And, would such a part be worthy of the great God to act? Would it be consistent with the all-perfect character of Jehovah? Could the wisdom which devised and consummated the scheme, rest satisfied till its excellence was developed in its glorious effects?

II. The contrast implied between the efficacy and power of the life and the death of Christ. Much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Now, although the death of Christ is not here specifically mentioned, yet it is directly referred to, and a contrast stated, though tacitly, between His death and His life. How was it that God was reconciled to man, and man to God? It was by the death of His Son. Now, if such effects are ascribed to, and naturally flow from the death of Christ, much more may we look for, and naturally expect consequences, even if possible surpassing these, springing from His life. It is not so much His mediatorial life, as affording opportunities for the fruits of His death to appear, and hereby manifesting its incalculable efficacy; as by the transference, as it were, of what gave worth and efficacy in the death, to the activity and energy in the life. And what was it which rendered the death or sacrifice of Christ infinitely meritorious? It was not that He was a man, or even a perfect man, but that He was the God-man. Oh, what encouragement, and what a firm ground of confidence does the apostles reasoning in this view of the case afford to the genuine believer in the name of Christ! Transfer the infinite worth of character, as giving value and efficacy to the death of Christ--transfuse all this into His mediatorial life, and what vitality and power concentrate not only here; but how are all these pledged as a guarantee that the foundation which was laid in the death will be reared into a glorious edifice by the life of Christ. If His death effected so much, much more rather will His life more than perfect all.

III. The third step in the process of the apostles reasoning refers more immediately to man, and carries with it into the bosom of the genuine believer the most irresistible evidence of its truth and power. Having become the subject of this reconciliation, he is conscious to himself that a thorough change hath passed upon his state and character as in the sight of God. Lately he was dead whilst he lived; but now hath he been quickened to newness of life, and is alive unto God, through Jesus Christ. Originally his inner man was a spiritual chaos, without form and void; but now he is created anew in Christ Jesus. A new heart has been given him, and a new spirit put within him. Lately his mind, being carnal, was enmity against God, but this enmity is now transfused into friendship. Once he loved sin, and derived his chief enjoyment from the ways of it; but now he is a lover of God, and Gods law is his delight. Now, observe how forcibly to the experienced Christian the conclusion is which the apostle draws in the text--much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by Christs life. What hath been already wrought in the heart of the believer is an earnest and a pledge of what God will continue to do, and delight in doing. Hath He changed rebellion into loyalty, He will never fail to reward with the smiles of His approval the acts of loyalty cheerfully and submissively rendered. Hath He changed enmity into affection, He will never cease to draw forth renewed and more ardent expressions of this heaven-born love. In short, if our heavenly Father came graciously near when we were repulsive, He will never leave us now that He hath rendered us attractive. (D. Logan.)

Reconciled and saved

1. Among the ten thousand plants that clothe the naked world, none are found where the execution falls short of the design. Nor among the countless tribes of animals does God, in any case, appear to have begun a work and stopped in the middle. He never made an unfinished flower or insect; and it were strange if He should make an unfinished saint.

2. Wherefore hast Thou made all men in vain? I saw the prosperity of the wicked … Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all day long have I been plagued. These plaints prove that Providence is not so easily read as nature. But that is because Providence is not, like creation, a finished work. Take a man to a house when the architect is in the middle of his plan, what is perfect order to the architect, to the other will be confusion; and so stands man amid that vast scheme of Providence which God began six thousand years ago, and may not finish for as many thousand years to come. Raised to the throne of Egypt, Joseph saw why God had permitted him to be sold into slavery and cast into prison. And raised to heaven, the saint, now that Gods works of Providence stand before him in all their completeness, shall take his harp, and sing, Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of Saints.

3. Now, Gods work in grace forms no exception to His works in nature and in Providence. A man designs a great literary work, and he dies; or throwing it aside for something else, he leaves the world but a fragment of it. The studio of the painter has unfinished pictures; our streets have unfinished houses; and man has many a plan lodged in his busy brain that he never or but partly executes. But where God begins a good work He carries it on to the day of the Lord Jesus. Consider--

I. Our state by nature--We are the enemies of God.

1. Some things we are to believe on the simple authority of Gods Word. There are others, again, in which, as face answereth to face in water, so the state of our hearts answereth to the statements of Gods Word; and such is the case with Pauls saying, The carnal mind is enmity against God. For was there ever a saved man who did not feel when he was converted that he was conquered? This enmity does not lie in bad habits, education, or other such circumstances. It is not like a cold which anyone may take, but a consumption which is constitutional and hereditary; and what are all these sins and crimes which the apostle describes as works of the flesh (Gal_5:19); but, like the flushed cheek, languid eye, and bounding pulse of fever, the symptoms of an enmity that lies lurking in every heart? The temptations that call out the enmity no more create it than the showers and sunshine create the deadly hemlock which has its seed in the soil.

2. Nor is this all. Consumption, fell and deadly as it is, usually attacks but one organ. The constitution may be otherwise sound. The best things, indeed, have their defects--there are spots in the sun; there is more or less of alloy in all gold; and weeds deform the fairest gardens. But whenever circumstances occur to call it out, this enmity affects the whole man; so that he is as much under its influence as every sail, yard, mast, and timber of a ship are under the government of her helm. True, that does not always appear; but no more does the fire that sleeps in the cold flint, until there be a collision with steel. The carnal mind not only has, but is, enmity against God. Enmity is of its very nature, as it is of the nature of grass to be green, or sugar to be sweet, or vinegar to be sour. If it were not so, man would not need to be born again to get a new heart; like a watch that had but started a jewel, or lost the tooth of a wheel, it were enough to be repaired without being renewed.

3. What a proof of this we have in the treatment of Christ by man. Fancy a drowning man putting forth his dying strength to wound the hand stretched out to save him! I would hold any man my enemy that would kill my son; and if men by nature were not Gods enemies, why did they kill His Son? why do they still reject Him?

II. The reconciliation. The time has come when Jacob must face an angry brother. He had taken cruel advantage of Esaus necessities and ungodliness, to possess himself of the birthright and the blessing. He had to settle the account with his brother now; and the prospect, as well it might, filled him with alarm. Busy, guilty, fancy conjures up a dreadful retribution. What shall he do? Fight? It is vain to think of that. Flee? Encumbered with wives and little ones, it is vain to think of fleeing. One refuge is still open to him! He betakes himself to prayer; wrestling with God till the break of day. I have seen the sun set on a troubled sea where the billows burst in white foam on rocky headlands, and roared in thunders on the beach; and tomorrow the same sun set on the same sea, smooth as a glassy mirror. A change as great, and in as short a time, has passed on the soul of Jacob. Yesternight was spent in an agony of prayer; and this night he lays his head in sweet peace on its pillow. The long estranged brothers have embraced and buried in one grave Esaus wrongs and Jacobs crimes--being enemies, they were reconciled. Blessed change to Jacob; and yet but a faint image of our reconciliation to God! What is that? what does it imply? what blessings does it bring? We shall never know fully till we get to heaven; for eye hath not seen, etc. But this, meanwhile, we know, reconciliation is sin pardoned; death discrowned; peace of conscience; a sense of Divine love; a sight of coming glory.

III. The means of reconciliation. A man lying under sentence of death has sent off a petition for mercy, and waits the answer in anxious suspense. One day his ear catches rapid steps approach his door--they stop there. The chain is dropped; the bolts are drawn; a messenger enters with his fate; the sovereign pities the criminal, but cannot pardon the crime. His hopes dashed to the ground, he gives himself up for lost. And now the messenger draws near, and tells him that if the kings son would change places with him and die in his room, that would satisfy justice, and set him free. Drowning men will catch at straws; not he at that. The king give up his son! If there is no hope but that, there is no hope at all! Now fancy, if you can, his astonishment, sinking to incredulity, and then rising into a paroxysm of joy, when the messenger says, I am the kings son; it is my own wish, and my fathers will that I should die for you; take you the pardon, and give me the fetters. In me shall the crime be punished; in you shall the criminal be saved. Such love never was shown by man; only by God. Did David, when he considered the heavens the work of Gods fingers, exclaim, What is man that Thou art mindful of him? How much more may Gods people break out into expressions of adoring wonder, when they stand beneath the Cross.

IV. Reconciled by the death of Christ, His people are saved by His life. Suppose that our Lord, having satisfied Divine justice, had left in the grave a body which He needs no more, and returned to the bosom of His Father, still the Son of God, but no longer also the Son of Man, His death had been in vain. There was the medicine, but where was the physician to administer it? When we die our work is done. Not so with Christ. He had a great work to do after His death--a work foreshadowed on the day of atonement in the temple. The high priest, having sacrificed a lamb, carries its blood into the holy of holies; offering it before the mercy seat. By and by, returning with the blood, he takes a bunch of hyssop, and sprinkles it in red showers on the people. Now are they ceremonially clean before the Lord; and so David, with his eyes no doubt on better blood, prays, Sprinkle me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than the snow. Even so, Jesus rises from yonder grave and ascends to yonder throne, that He may apply to His people the benefits of His redemption. He lives to provide for our wants and to advocate our cause; so that our life is as much dependent on His as that of the branches on the tree, or the bodys various members on the life of their heart and head. Because He liveth we live also. We attach little value to what costs us little. Of all men they are the most careful of their money who have earned it by the hardest labour; they guard their liberties most jealously Who have bought them at the greatest price. The great price at which Christ purchased His people is the great security for their safety. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)

Double assurance

How anxious the apostle was in all his letters to convince believers in Christ that their position was absolutely secure. The text suggests the following train of thought.

I. The sad state into which sin has degraded man. We were enemies. Not simply godless and careless, but rebels against God. Hence the heinousness of sin. The carnal mind is enmity against the holiest and best of Beings, and implies alienation, guilt, condemnation, and if persisted in--death.

II. The happy condition into which grace elevates man. Reconciled to God.

1. The exhibition of Divine love, in the sacrifice of Calvary, draws men to God, because there is proclaimed how deep, sincere, and pitiful He is, against whom sinners have revolted; how ready He is to forgive and save.

2. To be reconciled to God is not only to be pardoned, but to be admitted into fellowship with Him; to be in harmony with His will and purposes; to acquiesce in the dispensations of Providence.

3. What honour in such a state of oneness with the Almighty. Reconciled to Him we--

(1) Walk with Him.

(2) Talk to Him and He to us.

(3) Work with and for Him.

(4) Become like Him.

(5) Become prepared to be forever with Him.

III. The Divine means by which that great change is effected. By the death of His Son. The voices of nature call us to grateful acknowledgment of the great and good Creator; but the loudest and sweetest tones come from Calvary. By the death of Gods dear Son, we see--

1. The exceeding sinfulness of sin.

2. The ineffable love of God. Not that He loved His friends, but His foes.

3. The substitutionary character of the Redeemers offering.

IV. The immovable basis upon which we may rest our hope of complete salvation. Much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. The death of Christ was not merely to save us from the consequences of sin, but from the love and practice of it. The love of Christ was seen in His life as well as in His death; and we are saved from sin by--

1. His exemplary earthly life. We may attain to the highest life by imitating Him, and in proportion as we become like Him do we please God.

2. His exalted heavenly life. He lives to see the purposes of redemption fulfilled, to dispense the gifts His atoning death procured. No wonder the apostle staked all on the resurrection of Christ. If we cannot look up to a risen and reigning Redeemer, then our preaching and faith are vain, we are yet in our sins. (F. W. Brown.)

A double contrast, and an argument drawn therefrom

I. Contrasted conditions in the history of those who were now Christians.

1. We were enemies. Some had answered to the description given in chap. 1, others had doubtless been more virtuous heathen, or, like Paul, blameless as touching the righteousness of the Jewish law; but the description enemies, is applied to all (Rom_8:7). We were reconciled to God. Reconciliation may be mutual, or only one party may need to be influenced by its power. The latter is the case here; we are the only parties needing to be reconciled (see 2Co_5:18). This is effected by Christs death, as the manifestation of the love of God.

II. Contrasted conditions in the history of Christ.

1. His death. Death is a time of captivity, therefore of weakness. Christs death was surrounded by circumstances of sorrow and shame.

2. His life. The life which followed His death, when He led captivity captive, when sorrow was exchanged for the joy set before Him, and the Cross for the throne.

III. The argument drawn from this double contrast. If Gods Son by death could reconcile His enemies, how much more by His life will He complete and perfect their salvation, now that they are His friends. If in weakness He could accomplish the greater, how much more in strength can He insure the less. If by imprisonment in the tomb He could give us the liberty of the sons of God, how much more can and will He now sustain us in that freedom. (W. Harris.)

Converting mercy a pledge of preserving grace

I. The position here assumed. Note--

1. The change which Christians have undergone. This change has been effected. Let us separately advert to these two particulars.

(1) They were enemies to God. This, indeed, is naturally the state of all men. Being by nature born in sin, they are children of wrath. It is not, however, by imputation only, but also by wicked works. They dislike His holiness, His law, His service. To dislike God, who is goodness; to hate His service, which is happiness; to have lost His favour, which is better than life; to be exposed to His wrath, which is a consuming fire; who can conceive the real wretchedness of such a state!

(2) Such was once the state of those who are now real Christians. But it is their state no longer.

(a) They are now reconciled to God. His wrath is turned away from them. They are brought into a state of peace and friendship with God.

(b) Their nature has undergone a most wonderful alteration. They are become new creatures in principle and practice. They now love God and find pleasure in His ways. From enemies they have been made friends; from rebels, children; from vessels of wrath, monuments of grace and mercy.

2. The astonishing way in which this change has been effected.

(1) By what means? By the death of His Son. It is plain that the whole benefit of this reconciliation rests with man. God cannot be profited by it; but it was God who brought it about. In His infinite mercy He projected so great a blessing to mankind. In His infinite wisdom He devised a plan for effecting it. And when, according to this plan, it was expedient that His only-begotten Son should suffer for sinners, He spared Him not, but delivered Him up for us all. He delivered Him up as a sacrifice to justice.

(2) Under what circumstances? When they were enemies. Previously to any disposition on their part, to any sorrow felt, any contrition expressed, any desire of forgiveness manifested, any petition for mercy offered, God planned their return to Him, and provided the way.

II. The inference drawn from it. Much more being reconciled, they shall be saved by His life. True Christians in their reconciliation with God have, indeed, undergone a great and a glorious change. But the work is not yet complete. The great obstacle is removed. Their sins are pardoned and their souls are renewed. But they are as yet renewed only in part. The carnal mind, though weakened, is not utterly subdued. Their great adversary constantly harasses them; while the world assails them with all its formidable weapons. Now the natural tendency of all these united obstacles is to oppose their progress; nay, to drive them back, and to leave them at last to perish in sin and wrath. Effectual provision is made for their security. He who died to reconcile them by His blood, now liveth to preserve them by His power. Observe, then, the whole force of the inference in the text. Hath God done so much for His people, and will He do no more? Certainly not. On the contrary, if He has done the greater work for them, much more will He do the less. If He pitied them when enemies, much more will He love them when friends. (E. Cooper.)

The Christian encouraged to expect final salvation

Mankind, in all ages, have been prone to extremes. If we reject the doctrine of infallible perseverance, which has no foundation in Scripture, and has a tendency to lull asleep in carnal security, there is danger lest we conceive that the continuance and final salvation of Gods people is a matter of uncertainty. The consequence is, that some, who might otherwise go on comfortably in the ways of God, are enervated and cast down, while their dejection and sorrow is very discouraging to others. To offer a preventative I have chosen this passage, from which I would observe--

I. Of whom the apostle here speaks. The context shows he does not speak of mankind in general--or of mere nominal Christians--but of those who have obtained peace with God through Christ.

II. The state such were in when the grace of God found them.

1. They were without strength (verse 6), and without ability to recover themselves; ignorant, and without ability to enlighten themselves; guilty, depraved, and wretched, and without strength to expiate their guilt, change their depraved nature, or remove their miseries.

2. But did they not deserve that God should help and save them? No; for they were ungodly (verse 6), devoid of the knowledge, fear, love, favour, image, and enjoyment of God (Rom_3:10-11).

3. They not only had no merit, but they had demerit, for they were sinners (verse 8).

4. Nay, they were enemies (verse 10), to Gods nature and attributes, to His will, word, and ways, manifested by the carnal mind, their disobedience to, or rebellion against His laws, their fretfulness and murmuring against His dispensations.

III. What God has already done for them. He has given His Son (see verses 6-8). And consider--

1. His dignity (Joh_1:1; Col_1:13-17; Heb_1:2), and His dearness to His Father, whom the Father gave to die.

2. The unworthiness of the persons for whom He suffered; how this demonstrates Gods love, as they were enemies, etc. He has justified them by Christs death, reconciled them to Himself, and united their hearts in love to Him. And this He has done on the most easy condition, viz., repentance and faith.

IV. The ground hereby laid for hoping that He will do all that remains to be done. We shall be saved by His life--that is, sanctified and glorified. The solidity of our hope in this respect will appear from three particulars.

1. From what He has done already. The incarnation, life, sufferings, death, resurrection, etc., of Gods Son, have afforded much greater displays of Divine wisdom, power, and love, than any other that can possibly be made. To save the lost, to reconcile the enemy, to heal the sick, to raise the dead, were greater and more difficult than to guard the found, to preserve the friendly, to keep in health the restored, to sustain the life of the quickened and revived, and to save to the uttermost.

2. From the situation of the person from whom this remaining good is to be done. If not less weak, unworthy, and guilty than they were before, yet they are better disposed, and less opposed to the work to be done in them and for them. Therefore there is less obstruction in the way.

3. From the nature of the means employed to do it. If, when enemies, we were reconciled by the death of Gods Son, much easier is it that when made His friends we should be preserved and saved to the uttermost by His life. For life is more powerful than death; especially life after death; life for evermore. (Joseph Benson.)

Conflict prolonged unnecessarily

The battle of New Orleans was fought after the treaty of peace had been signed at Ghent, the news of which arrived soon after. And this is what conflict with God means--warfare continued when there is no longer any occasion for it. (W. Baxendale.)

Salvation by Christs life

1. The resurrection and life of Jesus are the sure pledge of the resurrection and life of all His people.

2. Christ in His present life at Gods right hand, is invested with power to give eternal life to as many as the Father hath given Him.

3. Jesus is employed in interceding for His people: and the evidence of Gods full satisfaction in the finished work of His Son, afforded by His rising to life from the grave, gives us the most assured confidence that He never pleads in vain, that the Father heareth Him always.

4. All the arrangements of providence are in His hands. He not only exercises a general superintendence of the affairs of the world for the advancement and final triumph of His spiritual kingdom; there is a minuter care--a care which extends to each particular individual of His subjects in his passage through life.

5. By the power which is committed to Him in His mediatorial life, He will perfect the salvation of His people, by raising them at last from the grave. He is Lord of the dead. Their spirits are with Him. Their bodies, though for a time left under the power of the last enemy, are still His. He will redeem them from death, He will ransom them from the power of the grave. He ransomed them by price on earth: He will redeem them by power in heaven. (R. Wardlaw, D. D.)

The salvation of believers carried on by the life of Christ in heaven

I. The life of Christ.

1. Its present sphere--

(1) In the glory which He had with the Father before the world was.

(2) At the Fathers right hand of power.

2. Its present occupation.

(1) He ever liveth to make intercession.

(2) All power in heaven and earth which has been given Him He employs.

(a) To serve His friends.

(b) To extend His dominion.

II. How we are saved by this life. He--

1. Perpetuates the justification, and liberty of access to God, procured by Him for us, when we first believed on Him.

2. Frustrates the attempts of our adversaries to injure us.

3. Replenishes us with grace for the furtherance of our sanctification in the use of the appointed means.

4. Revives us with Divine support and consolation in seasons of extremity. (J. Leifchild, D. D.)

The genuine Christian

I. Is the subject of a great moral change in his relation to God. All were once enemies to God. The language presents to us two facts--

1. The most terrible condition in which it is possible to conceive a moral creature. Enemies to God. The fact that men are not conscious of this is no proof that it does not exist. Emotion often settles down into a principle of action too regular to become a matter of consciousness. The fathers love, which in its first stage was a warm emotion, in the course of years becomes a principle of action, that rules the life and explains the conduct; and thought concentrated on the object, can at any time bring up this emotion.

1. There are facts which indicate a mans state of mind towards another. If, e.g., I find a man--

(1) Habitually acting contrary to my well-known wishes.

(2) Habitually ignoring and shunning those who are my avowed friends.

(3) Associating with my determined opponents, he proves himself my enemy in each case. In such ways as these, sinful men demonstrate their enmity to God, whatever they may say.

2. But what a state is this to be in!

(1) How ungrounded! They hated Me without a cause.

(2) How guilty! hating the infinitely Righteous and the infinitely Good.

(3) How mad! a worm raising its head against the thunders of the universe. Hast thou an arm like God? etc.

2. A suggestion which serves to correct a theological error--that God was an enemy whose love had to be purchased, whereas it is quite the other way.

II. Has been thus changed by means of the death of Christ. We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. How is enmity to be destroyed? There is only one way in which from the constitution of mind it is possible--by love. This God does by the death of Christ, which is--

1. The grandest effect of Gods love. The universe is an effect of His love, but this is the grandest.

2. The mightiest demonstration of Gods love. It is impossible for the human mind to conceive of anything more convincing. All arguments and facts bearing on this subject seem to concentrate in this. This is the great focal and ultimate exhaustive argument.

3. The special organ of Gods love. The Cross is the great instrument of His Spirit, in convincing, converting, justifying, and sanctifying sinners. It is that by which the world is crucified unto us, etc.

III. That he has been thus changed by Christs death is an invincible argument that his salvation will be completed. Much more. The following thoughts may develop the force of Pauls a fortiori reasoning.

1. The most difficult part of the work has already been accomplished. Any power may destroy an enemy, but it requires the highest power to destroy enmity. The reconciler or peacemaker is the divinest character in the universe. This work has been done; what remains to be done is the development of this new affection.

2. This most difficult part of the work has been accomplished--

(1) When you were in the most repulsive condition. Enemies repel us from acts of kindness. Vengeance for enemies, says corrupt human nature. Scarcely for a righteous man will one, etc.

(2) By a dying Saviour; the remaining and easier part of the work, now we are in a more pleasing position, is accomplished by a living Saviour. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Reconciliation

See Rom 5:10-11 2Co 5:18-20; Col 1:21.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5:10 saved through the life of his Son: Believers already share in the new life that Christ provided through his resurrection (6:11). Through this vital connection with Christ, believers will also be spared from God’s wrath in the last day (see also Col 3:4).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rom 5:10. Εἰ, [since] if) Often εἰ, if, especially in this and the eighth chapter of this epistle, does not so much denote the condition as strengthen the conclusion.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_5:10. More special development (γάρ, namely) of Rom_5:9.

ἐχθροί] namely, of God, as is clear from κατηλλ. τῷ Θεῷ. But it is not to be taken in an active sense (hostile to God, as by Rückert, Baur, Reithmayr, van Hengel, Mehring, Ritschl in the Jahrb. f. Deutsche Theol. 1863, p. 515 f.; Weber, vom Zorne Gottes, p. 293, and others); for Christs death did not remove the enmity of men against God, but, as that which procured their pardon on the part of God, it did away with the enmity of God against men, and thereupon the cessation of the enmity of men towards God ensued as the moral consequence brought about by faith. And, with that active conception, how could Paul properly have inferred his πολλῷ μᾶλλον κ.τ.λ[1217], since in point of fact the certainty of the (σωθησόμεθα is based on our standing in friendship (grace) with God, and not on our being friendly towards God? Hence the passive explanation alone is correct (Calvin and others, including Reiche, Fritzsche, Tholuck, Krehl, Baumgarten-Crusius, de Wette, Philippi, Hofmann): enemies of God, i.e. those against whom the holy θεοσεχθρία, the ὀργή of God on account of sin, is directed; θεοστυγεῖς, Rom_1:30; τέκνα ὀργῆς, Eph_2:3. Comp Rom_11:28; and see on Col_1:21; comp Pfleiderer in Hilgenfelds Zeitschr. 1872, p. 182. This does not contradict the ἀγάπη Θεοῦ praised in Rom_5:8 (as Rückert objects), since the very arrangement, which God made by the death of Jesus for abandoning His enmity against sinful men without detriment to His holiness, was the highest proof of His love for us (not for our sins).

Consequently κατηλλάγημεν and καταλλαγέντες must also be taken not actively, but passively: reconciled with God, so that He is no longer hostile towards us, but has on the contrary, on account of the death of His (beloved) Son, abandoned His wrath against us, and we, on the other hand, have become partakers in His grace and favour; for the positive assertion (comp Rom_5:1 f.), which is applicable to all believing individuals (Rom_5:8), must not be weakened into the negative and general conception that Christians have not God against them (Hofmann). See on Col_1:21 and on 2Co_5:18. Tittmanns distinction between διαλλάττειν and καταλλάττειν (see on Mat_5:24) is as arbitrary as that of Mehring, who makes the former denote the outward and the latter the inward reconciliation. Against this view, comp also Philippis Glaubenslehre, II. 2, p. 270 ff.

ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτοῦ] by His life; more precise specification of the import of διʼ αὐτοῦ in Rom_5:9; therefore not cum vitae ejus simus participes (van Hengel, comp Ewald). The death of Jesus effected our reconciliation; ail the less can His exalted life leave our deliverance unfinished. The living Christ cannot leave what His death effected without final success. This however is accomplished not merely through His intercession, Rom_8:34 (Fritzsche, Baumgarten-Crusius), but also through His whole working in His kingly office for His believers up to the completion of His work and kingdom, 1Co_15:22 ff.

[1217] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vv. 10 is, strictly speaking, only a stronger repetition of the argument of Rom 5:9. Paul makes the reasoning more evident—1. By adding the term enemies, which renders the a fortiori character of the proof more striking; 2. By substituting for justified (Rom 5:9) the term reconciled, which corresponds better with the word enemies; 3. By describing the death of Christ as that of the Son of God, which presents its value more impressively; 4. By explaining the indefinite term: through him (Rom 5:9), by the more precise expression: by his life.

The for is explained by the new force which the argument derives from these various changes. It is our en effet (in fact); comp. the relation between Rom 5:3; Rom 5:5 in John 3

Three stages are indicated: enemies, reconciled, saved. Divine love, which has brought us from the first to the second, will yet more certainly bring us from the second to the third.

The terms: weak, ungodly, sinners (Rom 5:6; Rom 5:8), are here summed up in the word enemies. Does this word denote man’s enmity to God, or that of God to man? Hating God (Dei osores), or hated of God (Deo odiosi)? The first notion would evidently be insufficient in the context. The enmity must above all belong to Him to whom wrath is attributed; and the blood of Christ, through which we have been justified, did not flow in the first place to work a change in our dispositions Godward, but to bring about a change in God’s conduct toward us. Otherwise this bloody death would have to be called a demonstration of love, and not of righteousness (Rom 3:25). Here, besides, the saying Rom 11:28 should be compared, where the term enemy of God is contrasted with the title beloved of God; the first therefore signifies: one not loved, or hated of God; comp. Eph 2:3 : “by nature children of wrath.” We must obviously remove from this notion of divine enmity every impure admixture, every egoistic element, and take this hatred in the sense in which Jesus speaks of His disciple hating his father, mother, wife, children, and his own life, Luk 14:26. This hatred is holy; for it is related only to what is truly hateful to ourselves and others, evil, and what is fitted to lead to it. But yet it is not enough to say, with many commentators, that what God hates in the sinner is the sin and not the person. For, as is rightly observed by Oltramare (who on this account rejects the passive sense of the word enemies, which we defend), it is precisely hatred against the sinners, and not against the sin, which meets us in the expression enemies of God, if it be taken in the sense: hated of God. The truth is, as it appears to me, that God first of all hates sin in the sinner, and that the sinner becomes at the same time the object of this holy hatred in proportion as he voluntarily identifies himself with sin, and makes it the principle of his personal life. Undoubtedly, so long as this development remains unfinished, the sinner is still the object of divine compassion, inasmuch as God continues to regard him as His creature destined for good. But the co-existence of these two opposite sentiments, of which, Rom 11:28, we have a very striking particular example, can only belong to a state of transition. The close of the development in good or evil once reached, only one of the two sentiments can continue (see on Rom 1:18). While maintaining as fundamental the notion of divine enmity in the term enemies of God, we do not think it inadmissible to attach to it as a corollary that of man’s enmity to God. Our heart refuses to embrace the being who refuses to embrace us. It is in this double sense that the word enemy is taken in common language. It implies a reciprocity; comp. the expression ἐν ἔχθρᾳ ὄντες, used of Pilate and Herod (Luk 23:12).

A somewhat analogous question arises as to the meaning of the expression κατηλλάγημεν τῷ Θεῶ, we were reconciled to God. The words may signify two things: either that man gives up the enmity which had animated him against God, or that God gives up His enmity to man. Taken in themselves, the two meanings are grammatically possible. The words 1Co 7:11 present a case in which the reconciled person becomes so by giving up his own enmity (“if the woman depart, let her remain unmarried, or, be reconciled to her husband”); 1Sa 29:4 and Mat 5:24 offer two examples of the opposite sense. In the first of these passages, the chiefs of the Philistines, suspecting the intentions of David, who asks permission to join them in fighting against Saul, say to their king: “Wherewith should he reconcile himself (διαλλαγήσεται, LXX.) to his master (τῷ κυρίῳ αὐτοῦ), if not with the heads of our men?” In the second, Jesus exhorts the man who would bring his offering to the altar, and who remembers that his brother has something against him, to go and first be reconciled to him. In both cases it is evident that the enmity, and consequently the giving up of the enmity, are ascribed to the man with whom the reconciliation has to take place (Saul, and the neighbor who thinks himself offended). In our passage the true meaning does not seem to us doubtful. The word being reconciled reproducing the being justified of Rom 5:9, it follows from this parallelism that it is God, and not man, who gives up His enmity. In the same way as by justification God effaces all condemnation, so by reconciliation He ceases from His wrath. This meaning results also from that of the word ἐχθρός, enemy, which we have just established, as well as of the term wrath, Rom 5:9. If it is God who is hostile and provoked, it is in Him first of all that the act of reconciliation must take place. This view is confirmed by the main passage, Rom 3:25. If it was man who had to be brought first to abandon his hostility, the reconciling act would consist, as we have just said in speaking of the word enemy, in a manifestation of love, not of righteousness. Finally, as Hodge observes, to make these words signify that it is we who in the reconciliation lay down our enmity to God, is to put it in contradiction to the spirit of the whole passage. For the apostle’s object is to exhibit the greatness of the love testified by God to unworthy beings, in order to conclude therefrom to the love which will be testified to them by the same God in the future. The whole argument thus rests on God’s love to man, and not on man’s to God. On the other side it is true, as Oltramare remarks, that the expression to be reconciled is nowhere applied to God. It is only said, 2Co 5:19: “that He reconciled the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” How explain this fact? Certainly the sacred writers felt that it is impossible to compare the manner in which God becomes reconciled to men, with the manner in which one man becomes reconciled to another. It was God Himself who began by doing everything to establish His righteousness and secure the majesty of His position, that He might then be able to pardon. Here there was a mode of action which does not enter into human processes of reconciliation; and hence the apostles, in speaking of God, have avoided the ordinary expression.

If for the word blood Rom 5:10 substitutes death, which is more general, it is in order to call up better the Passion scene as a whole. The words: of His Son, exhibit the immensity of the sacrifice made for enemies! Conclusion: If God (humanly speaking) did not shrink from the painful sacrifice of His Son in behalf of His enemies, how should He refuse to beings, henceforth received into favor, a communication of life which involves nothing save what is ineffably sweet for Himself and for those who receive it! Thus is proved the certainty of final salvation (salvation in the day of wrath), toward which everything pointed from the first words: we have peace.

The clause ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτοῦ, by His life, must not be regarded as indicating the object of the being saved (introduced into His life). The ἐν, in, can only have the instrumental sense, like that of the ἐν τῷ αἵματι, in His blood, Rom 5:9; saved through His life, from which ours is henceforth drawn; comp. Rom 8:2: “The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” In fact, justification is not the whole of salvation; it is the entrance on it. If sin continued to reign as before, wrath would reappear at the close. For “without holiness no man shall see the Lord,” Heb 12:14. But the mediation of the life completes that of the blood, and makes sure of holiness, and thereby of final salvation. Comp. chaps. 6-8, intended to develop the thought which is here merely enunciated in connection with the grace of justification. The expression be saved therefore denotes salvation in the full sense of the word—the final sentence which, along with justification, assumes the restoration of holiness. A sick man is not saved when the trespass which has given rise to his malady has been pardoned; he must also be cured. There are therefore, as we have elsewhere shown, a sentence of initial grace—justification, in the ordinary sense of the word—founded solely on faith; and a sentence of final grace, which takes account not only of faith, but also of the fruits of faith. The first is the fruit of Christ’s death; the second flows from participation in His life. For both of these graces faith is and remains, of course, the permanent condition of personal appropriation. If this is not expressly mentioned in our passage, it is because it refers solely to believers already justified (Rom 5:1).

We cannot help remarking here, with Olshausen, how entirely at variance with the view of the apostle is the Catholic doctrine, which is shared by so many Protestants of our day, and which bases justification on the new life awakened in man by faith. In the eyes of St. Paul, justification is entirely independent of sanctification, and precedes it; it rests only on faith in the death of Christ. Sanctification flows from the life of Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit.

At the end of Rom 5:2, Paul had passed from the absence of fear (“we have peace,” Rom 5:1) to the positive hope of glory, in which already we triumph. This same gradation is reproduced here from the passage from Rom 5:10 to Rom 5:11, after which the theme contained in the first two verses will be exhausted, and the proposition: “hope maketh not ashamed” (Rom 5:5), fully demonstrated.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_5:10

For if, when we were yet enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, etc. This verse contains nearly the same idea as Rom_5:9, presented in a different form. The word enemies is applied to men not only as descriptive of their moral character, but also of the relation in which they stand to God as the objects of his displeasure. There is not only a wicked opposition of the sinner to God, but a holy opposition of God to the sinner. The preceding verse presents the former of these ideas, and this verse the latter most prominently. There it is said, though sinners, we are justified; and here, though enemies, we are reconciled. The word ἐχθροί has the same passive sense in Rom_11:28. And this is the principal difference between the two verses. To be reconciled to God, in such connections, does not mean to have our enmity to God removed, but his enmity to us taken out of the way, to have him rendered propitious, or his righteous justice satisfied. This is evident,

1. Because the reconciliation is ascribed to the death of Christ, or his blood, Rom_5:9. But, according to the constant representations of Scripture, the death of Christ is a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, or to propitiate the favor of God, and not immediately a means of sanctification. The former is its direct object, the latter an incidental result. This is the very idea of a sacrifice. The most liberal commentators, that is, those least bound by any theological system, admit this to be the doctrine of Scripture, and of this particular passage. Thus Meyer: Christi Tod tilgte nicht die Feindschaft der Menschen gegen Gott; that is, The death of Christ does not remove the enmity of men towards God, but as that which secures the favor of God, it removes his enmity towards men, whence the removal of our enmity towards him follows as a consequence. So also Rückert: The reconciled here can only be God, whose wrath towards sinners is appeased by the death of his Son. On mans part nothing has happened; no internal change, no step towards God; all this follows as the consequence of the reconciliation here spoken of. De Wette also says, that καταλλαγή must mean the removal of the wrath of God, and consequently the reconciliation is of God to man, which not only here, but in Rom_3:25; 2Co_5:18, 2Co_5:19; Col_1:21; Eph_2:16, is referred to the atoning death of Christ.

2. The object of the verse is to present us as enemies, or the objects of Gods displeasure. If while we were the objects of the divine displeasure, says the apostle, that displeasure has been removed, or God propitiated by the death of his Son, how much more shall we be saved, etc. That is, if God has been reconciled to us, he will save us.

3. This is the proper meaning of the word, 2Co_5:18, 2Co_5:19. See also Mat_5:24, First be reconciled to thy brother, i.e. go and appease his anger, or remove the ground of his displeasure; compare Heb_2:17, He is a priest to make reconciliation (εἰς τὸ ἱλάσκεσθαι) for the sins of the people. It is the appropriate business of a priest to propitiate God, and not to reform men. See also 1Sa_29:4 : Wherewith should he reconcile himself (διαλλαγήσεται) to his master? should it not be with the heads of these men? Eph_2:16, That he might reconcile (ἀποκαταλλάξῃ) both unto God by the cross, not remove their enmity to God, but secure for them his favor and access to the Father, Eph_2:18. The verbs καταλλάσσω, διαλλάσσω, and ἀποκαταλλάσσω, are used interchangeably. The main idea, of course, as expressed by ἀλλάσσω, to change, is slightly modified by the force of the several prepositions with which it is combined to change κατά in relation to, διά between, ἀπό from. The three verbs, however, are all used to the idea of reconciliation, i.e. changing the relation of parties at enmity, so that they are at peace. Whether this reconciliation is effected by the propitiation of the justly offended party, or by a change of feeling in the offender, or both, depends on the connection.

4. The context obviously requires this sense here. Being reconciled by the death of his Son, evidently corresponds to the phrase, Being justified by his blood. The latter cannot mean that our feelings towards God are changed, but is admitted to express the idea that we are forgiven and restored to the divine favor. Such therefore must be the meaning of the former. Besides, it is the object of the apostle to illustrate the greatness and freeness of the love of God, from the unworthiness of its objects. While sinners, we are justified; while enemies, we are reconciled. To make the passage mean, that when enemies we laid aside our enmity, and became the friends of God, would be to make it contradict the very assertion and design of the apostle.

We shall be saved by his life. This rather unusual mode of expression was doubtless adopted for the sake of its correspondence to the words, by his death, in the preceding clause, and is a striking example of Pauls fondness for such antithetical constructions; see Rom_4:25; Gal_3:3; 2Co_3:6. The meaning is obvious: If while we were enemies, we were restored to the favor of God by the death of his Son, the fact that he lives will certainly secure our final salvation.

1. His life is a pledge and security for the life of all his people; see Joh_14:19, Because I live, ye shall live also; Rom_8:11; 1Co_15:23.

2. He is able to save to the uttermost, because he ever lives to make intercession or us, Heb_7:25 etc.

3. At his resurrection, all power in heaven and earth was committed to his hands, Mat_28:18; and this power he exercises for the salvation of his people; Eph_1:22, He is head over all things, for the benefit of his Church; Rev_1:18; Heb_2:10; 1Co_15:25, etc.; see also the passages cited on the last clause of Rom_5:9.

There is, therefore, most abundant ground for confidence for the final blessedness of believers, not only in the amazing love of God, by which, though sinners and enemies, they have been justified and reconciled by the death of his Son, but also in the consideration that this same Savior that died for them still lives, and ever lives to sanctify, protect, and save them.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being now--"having now been"

reconciled, we shall be saved by his life--that is "If that part of the Saviour's work which cost Him His blood, and which had to be wrought for persons incapable of the least sympathy either with His love or His labors in their behalf--even our 'justification,' our 'reconciliation'--is already completed; how much more will He do all that remains to be done, since He has it to do, not by death agonies any more, but in untroubled 'life,' and no longer for enemies, but for friends--from whom, at every stage of it, He receives the grateful response of redeemed and adoring souls?" To be "saved from wrath through Him," denotes here the whole work of Christ towards believers, from the moment of justification, when the wrath of God is turned away from them, till the Judge on the great white throne shall discharge that wrath upon them that "obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ"; and that work may all be summed up in "keeping them from falling, and presenting them faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy" (Jde 1:24): thus are they "saved from wrath through Him."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. For if, when we were enemies] See under Ro 5:6.

We were reconciled] The enmity existing before rendered the reconciliation necessary. In every human heart there is a measure of enmity to holiness, and, consequently to the author of it. Men seldom suspect this; for one property of sin is to blind the understanding, so that men do not know their own state.

We shall be saved by his life.]

1. For, as he died for our sins, so he rose again for our justification; and his resurrection to life, is the grand proof that he has accomplished whatever he had purposed in reference to the salvation of man.

2. This may be also understood of his life of intercession: for it is written. He ever LIVETH to make INTERCESSION for us, Heb 7:25. Through this life of intercession at the right hand of God we are spared and blessed.

3. And it will not be amiss to consider that, as our salvation implies the renovation of our nature, and our being restored to the image of God, so, σωθησομεθα εν τη ζωναυτου, may be rendered: we shall be saved IN his life; for, I suppose, it is pretty generally agreed, that the life of God in the soul of man is essential to its salvation.

4. The example also of the life of Christ is a means of salvation. He hath left us an example that we should follow his steps: and he that followeth him, shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of LIFE, Joh 8:12.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. This is an explanation of the former verse, amplified by introducing a comparison between life and death. We were enemies, he says, when Christ interposed for the purpose of propitiating the Father: through this reconciliation we are now friends; since this was effected by his death; much more influential and efficacious will be his life. We hence have ample proofs to strengthen our hearts with confidence respecting our salvation. By saying that we were reconciled to God by the death of Christ, he means, that it was the sacrifice of expiation, by which God was pacified towards the world, as I have showed in the fourth chapter.

But the Apostle seems here to be inconsistent with himself; for if the death of Christ was a pledge of the divine love towards us, it follows that we were already acceptable to him; but he says now, that we were enemies. To this answer, that as God hates sin, we are also hated by him as far as we are sinners; but as in his secret counsel he chooses us into the body of Christ, he ceases to hate us: but restoration to favor is unknown to us, until we attain it by faith. Hence with regard to us, we are always enemies, until the death of Christ interposes in order to propitiate God. And this twofold aspect of things ought to be noticed; for we do not know the gratuitous mercy of God otherwise than as it appears from this — that he spared not his only-begotten Son; for he loved us at a time when there was discord between him and us: nor can we sufficiently understand the benefit brought to us by the death of Christ, except this be the beginning of our reconciliation with God, that we are persuaded that it is by the expiation that has been made, that he, who was before justly angry with us, is now propitious to us. Since then our reception into favor is ascribed to the death of Christ, the meaning is, that guilt is thereby taken away, to which we should be otherwise exposed.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(10) The interval that separates the state of enmity from the state of reconciliation is a large one, that which separates the state of reconciliation from the state of salvation a small one. And yet there is a difference. Reconciliation is the initial act; the removal of the load of guilt, justification. Salvation is the end of the Christian career, and of the process of sanctification. Justification is regarded as being specially due to the death of Christ. Sanctification is brought about rather by His continued agency as the risen and exalted Saviour. The relations in which the risen Saviour still stands to the individual Christian are more fully worked out in Rom_6:4 et seq.; Rom_8:34; 1Co_15:22 et seq.; 2Co_4:10-11; Php_3:10.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. if] i.e. as. The hypothesis is also a fact.

enemies] Personal enemies; the proper force of the Gr. word. Cp. Col_1:21. See below on Rom_8:7.

reconciled to God] On “reconciliation,” see on Rom_5:1. Here certainly the idea of the conciliation of man’s will to God (as a result of the Propitiation revealed) is suggested. But even here it is scarcely the main idea. The language, carefully weighed, points more to God’s acceptance of the sinner than to the sinner’s acceptance of God. For the case is put thus:—“When we were enemies, God was gracious to us: much more (as to our apprehension) will He be gracious to us still.” How was He gracious to us then? Surely by the gift of justification (see Rom_5:9). As our Judge, He acquitted us; in other words, He was reconciled to us, and adopted us. Therefore, as our reconciled Father, He will surely be equally gracious to us still.—Through this context St Paul has not yet come to the result of pardon on the will. When he here uses the phrase “reconciled to God” it is evidently with main reference to the removal of a judicial bar.—Absalom, for instance, was reconciled to David—restored to his filial position—only when David put aside his just wrath: till this was done, no change of will in Absalom would be reconciliation.

by the death] As propitiation, with a view to justification; Rom_3:24-25.

being reconciled] He does not say “being friends;” which, as just stated, is not yet the idea in point. The barrier of condemnation is taken away; therefore à fortiori the Judge, who is also the Father, will continue to us His love.

we shall be saved] See on Rom_5:9.

by his life] Lit. in His life. The “in” here is probably strictly appropriate: “in His life” = “in Him who lives.” The justified are “in Christ Jesus” (Rom_8:1).—Cp. Col_3:4, where the reference to the final appearing of the Saviour, (the appearing to judgment and salvation,) serves to explain this passage. Q. d., “We shall be saved in the day of the Lord because He, who died for us, ever lives as our Life.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For if when we were enemies,.... For the further illustration of the love of God expressed to sinners, by the death of his Son, the state and condition God's elect were in when Christ died for them is taken notice of; they "were enemies"; to God, to his being, perfections, purposes, and providences; to Christ, to his person, offices, grace, and righteousness; to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit, and his divine operations and influences; to the people of God, and to the Gospel and ordinances of Christ; which enmity is deeply rooted in their minds, is causeless, and undeserved, and is implacable, and irreconcileable without the power and grace of God; which grace of God is wonderfully displayed in the reconciliation of such persons,

by the death of his Son. Reconciliation implies a former state of friendship, a breach of that friendship, and a making of it up again; which no ways contradicts the everlasting and unchangeable love of God to his people; for this is not a reconciliation of God to them, but of them to God:

we were reconciled to God; not God to us; and this reconciliation is for their sins, an atonement for them, rather than of their persons; which being done, their persons are reconciled, not to the love, grace, and mercy of God, or to his affections, in which they always had a share, but to the justice of God injured and offended by their sins; and so both justice and holiness on one side, and love, grace, and mercy on the other, are reconciled together, in the business of their salvation; which is brought about by the sufferings and death of Christ: this expresses the wonderful love of God, since this reconciliation arises purely from himself; the scheme of it is of his own contriving; he, whose justice was affronted, and whose law was broken, took the first step towards it, and conducted the whole affair; and which was effected at the expense of the blood and life of his own Son, and that for persons who were enemies to them both. In consequence of this, another reconciliation of them is made by the Spirit of God in regenerations, of which notice is taken in this passage:

much more being reconciled: to God, as a sovereign God, in his decrees, in his providences, and in the method of salvation by his Son; to Christ, to the way of salvation by him, so as to submit both to his righteousness for justification, and to the sceptre of his kingdom, to be ruled and governed by it; to the Spirit, so as to be led by him, to walk after him, and to depend upon him for the carrying on, and finishing the good work of grace begun in them; to the people of God, so as to love them, and delight in their company; and to the Gospel and ordinances, so as highly to value them, long after them, and take pleasure in them. Now from both these reconciliations is inferred the sure and certain salvation of persons so reconciled:

we shall be saved by his life; by the life of Christ, and which designs not so much his life as God; or his living in the hearts of his people by faith; though neither of them are to be excluded; but his life, as man, and that not either his private or public life, as man here on earth, though this has an influence upon, and a concern in the business of salvation; but more especially here is meant the interceding life of Christ in heaven, where he lives, and ever lives to make intercession for his people, and to see the salvation he has obtained by his death applied unto them, and they put into the possession of it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

10 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.

Ver. 10. We shall be saved] Here the apostle reasoneth from regeneration to eternal life, as the lesser.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For if - The idea in this verse is simply a repetition and enlargement of that in Rom 5:9. The apostle dwells on the thought, and places it in a new light, furnishing thus a strong confirmation of his position.

When we were enemies - The work was undertaken while we were enemies. From being enemies we were changed to friends by that work. Thus, it was commenced by God; its foundation was laid while we were still hostile to it; it evinced, therefore, a determined purpose on the part of God to perform it; and he has thus given a pledge that it shall be perfected.

We were reconciled - Note, Mat 5:24. We are brought to an agreement; to a state of friendship and union. We became his friends, laid aside our opposition, and embraced him as our friend and portion. To effect this is the great design of the plan of salvation; 2Co. 5:1-20; Col 1:21; Eph 2:16. It means that there were obstacles existing on both sides to a reconciliation; and that these have been removed by the death of Christ; and that a union has thus been effected. This has been done in removing the obstacles on the part of God - by maintaining the honor of his Law; showing his hatred of sin; upholding his justice, and maintaining his truth, at the same time that he pardons; Note, Rom 3:26. And on the part of man, by removing his unwillingness to be reconciled; by subduing, changing, and sanctifying his heart; by overcoming his hatred of God, and of his Law; and bringing him into submission to the government of God. So that the Christian is in fact reconciled to God; he is his friend; he is pleased with his Law, his character, and his plan of salvation. And all this has been accomplished by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus as an offering in our place.

Much more - It is much more to be expected; there are still stronger and more striking considerations to show it.

By his life - We were reconciled by his death. Death may include possibly his low, humble, and suffering condition. Death has the appearance of great feebleness; the death of Christ had the appearance of the defeat of his plans. His enemies triumphed and rejoiced over him on the cross, and in the tomb. Yet the effect of this feeble, low, and humiliating state was to reconcile us to God. If in this state, when humble, despised, dying, dead, he had power to accomplish so great a work as to reconcile us to God, how much more may we expect that he will be able to keep us now that he is a living, exalted, and triumphant Redeemer. If his fainting powers in dying were such as to reconcile us, how much more shall his full, vigorous powers as an exalted Redeemer, be sufficient to keep and save us. This argument is but an expansion of what the Saviour himself said; Joh 14:19, “Because I live, ye shall live also.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

We were reconciled to God; put into a capacity of reconciliation, God being by Christ’s death made reconcilable, and also actually reconciled, when we believe, through the merits of the death of Christ.

We shall be saved by his life; i.e. by the resurrection to life. Salvation is ascribed to the resurrection and life of Christ, because he thereby doth perfect our salvation, he ever living to make intercession for us, Heb 12:25; and because by his resurrection and life we shall be raised to eternal life at that day.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. Enemies… reconciled… saved—If when enemies God reconciled us, much more, being friends, he will save us. He will deal far better with friends than foes, even though they are the same persons.

Saved by his life—We are reconciled by his atoning death, and saved by his ever-living power.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If - As sure as; so the word frequently signifies; particularly in this and the eighth chapter. We shalt be saved - Sanctified and glorified. Through his life - "Whoever liveth to make intercession for us."

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

10. “For if we, being enemies, were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, being reconciled, should we be saved by his life.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life ;

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. For if … we were reconciled. As sinners, we are the enemies of God, rebels, under his divine displeasure. Through the gospel of the Crucified Redeemer, we obtain peace with God. We turn to him, and are reconciled to him, obtaining forgiveness through faith. God is not reconciled to us, but we to him. His love ever shines, and is shown in his gospel. He is ever ready to pardon, and when we cease our rebellion, and come to him, through Christ, for mercy, he receives us. Shall be saved by his life. He who gave his blood for our reconciliation, will not leave his work incomplete. He died, has risen and ascended on high, and he will not leave us in the grave, but we shall rise with him (1 Cor. 15:22).

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

we were

All occurrences of "we" refer to all believers and should be inclusive. (See: Inclusive "We")

his Son ... his life

"God's Son ... the life of God's Son"

we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son

The death of the Son of the God has provided eternal forgiveness and made us friends with God, for all who believe in Jesus. You can translate this in an active form. AT: "God allowed us to have a peaceful relationship with him because his son died for us" (See: Active or Passive)

Son

This is an important title for Jesus, the Son of God. (See: Translating Son and Father)

after having been reconciled

You can translate this in an active form. AT: "now that God has made us his friends again" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

God

die

Son of God

reconcile

save

life

joy

Jesus

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

10. repeats the a fortiori argument with amplification (cf. Eph 2:11 f.). The two clauses are exactly |[133] Rom 5:6; Rom 5:9.

[133] | parallel to

κατηλλάγημεν ref. to δικαιωθέντες; cf. the aorists below. V[134] and subst. pec. to Rom. and 2 Cor. (alibi 1Co 7:11). ἀποκαταλλ. Eph., Col. only. διαλλ. and συναλλ., implying mutual reconciliation (cf. Mat 5:24), are never used in this connexion. Always therefore of GOD reconciling (not, as being reconciled). It marks the same stage as δικαιοῦν; the means employed is the Death of Christ; man’s state, which necessitates it, is that of ἐχθροί, ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι. The fullest passage is 2Co 5:18 f.

[134] Vb verb

διὰ τοῦ θανάτου τ. υ. α. Cf. Col 1:20; see Rom 6:2 ff.

σωθησόμεθα includes both the maintenance of the state of peace and the final result; as does σωτηρία.

ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτοῦ. This again is worked out in Rom 6:2 f. = the resurrection life of the Lord as the sustaining environment and inspiration of the new life of the Christian; cf. 2Co 4:10-11; Eph 4:18 ff.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10.] The same is substantiated in another form: ‘we were enemies (see below) when He died and reconciled us: much more now that we have been reconciled, and He lives, shall we by His life be saved.’ For if, being enemies (ἐχθροί may either be active, as Col 1:21, ‘haters of God;’ so ἐχθρά, ch. 8:7; Eph 2:15: or passive, as ch. 11:28,—‘hated by God.’ But here the latter meaning alone can apply, for the Apostle is speaking of the Death of Christ and its effects as applied to all time, not merely to those believers who then lived: and those unborn at the death of Christ could not have been ἐχθροί in the active sense), we were reconciled (καταλλάσσεσθαί τινι also may be taken of giving up anger against any one,—see ref. 1 Cor., and Jos. Antt. vi. 7. 4, οὐ γὰρ ἑώρα τὸν θεὸν διαλλαττόμενον,—or of being received into favour by any one,—see 1 Kings 29:4, ἐν τίνι διαλλαγήσεται οὗτος τῷ κυρίῳ αὐτοῦ; and Jos. Antt. v. 2. 8, διαλυσάμενος τὰς μέμψεις, καταλλάττεται πρὸς αὐτήν,—the latter of which meanings, were received into favour with God, must for the reason above given be here adopted) to God by means of the death of His Son (this great fact is further explained and insisted on, in the rest of the chapter), much more, having been reconciled (but here comes in the assumption that the corresponding subjective part of reconciliation has been accomplished, viz. justification by faith: compare 2Co 5:19, 2Co 5:20, θεὸς ἦν ἐν χριστῷ κόσμον καταλλάσσων ἑαυτῷ … δεόμεθα ὑπὲρ χριστοῦ, καταλλάγητε τῷ θεῷ. Both these, the objective reception into God’s favour by the death of Christ, and the subjective appropriation, by faith, of that reception, are included), we shall be saved by means of His Life (not here that which he now does on our behalf, but simply the fact of His Life, so much enlarged on in ch. 6: and our sharing in it).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. κατηλλάγημεν. The natural prima facie view is that the reconciliation is mutual; and this view appears to verify itself on examination: see below.

ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτοῦ. For the full meaning of this see the notes on ch. 6:8-11; 8:10, 11.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Enemies [εχθροι] . The word may be used either in an active sense, hating God, or passively, hated of God. The context favors the latter sense; not, however, with the conventional meaning of hated, denoting the revengeful, passionate feeling of human enmity, but simply the essential antagonism of the divine nature to sin. Neither the active nor the passive meaning needs to be pressed. The term represents the mutual estrangement and opposition which must accompany sin on man's part, and which requires reconciliation.

We were reconciled to God [καταλλαγημεν τω θεω] . The verb means primarily to exchange; and hence to change the relation of hostile parties into a relation of peace; to reconcile. It is used of both mutual and one - sided enmity. In the former case, the context must show on which side is the active enmity.

In the Christian sense, the change in the relation of God and man effected through Christ. This involves,

1. A movement of God toward man with a view to break down man's hostility, to commend God 's love and holiness to him, and to convince him of the enormity and the consequence of sin. It is God who initiates this movement in the person and work of Jesus Christ. See vers. 6, 8; 2Co 5:18, 19; Eph 1:6; 1Jo 4:19. Hence the passive form of the verb here : we were made subjects of God 's reconciling act.

2. A corresponding movement on man's part toward God; yielding to the appeal of Christ 's self - sacrificing love, laying aside his enmity, renouncing his sin, and turning to God in faith and obedience.

3. A consequent change of character in man; the covering, forgiving, cleansing of his sin; a thorough revolution in all his dispositions and principles.

4. A corresponding change of relation on God 's part, that being removed which alone rendered Him hostile to man, so that God can now receive Him into fellowship and let loose upon him all His fatherly love and grace, 1Jo 1:3, 7. Thus there is complete reconciliation. See, further, on ch. 3 25, 26.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.