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Results of Justification
Romans 5:6—11
Verses 1—5 look at the results of justification from our standpoint. We are the subjects of justification. We now look at the object of our justification—Jesus Christ. He (the object) is acting upon the subject (us) for our justification.
Verses 6—8
It is clear that our justification was possible only through the death of Jesus Christ. His death is emphasized in each of these three verses.
Notice that our condition is viewed as if we were already born. Verse 6 says that He died while we were helpless and verse 8 says He died while we were yet sinners. To understand this we need to separate God from any time constraints. He is not bound by time and therefore is able to view tomorrow as easily as we would recall yesterday. He could see that we were in a completely helpless state and unable to do anything to help ourselves. Being in a helpless state meant we were completely incapable of doing anything to get us out of the place we were in. We were so incapable that we were called dead and it was only through the work of Jesus Christ that were we made to be alive spiritually.
Ephesians 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
Colossians 2:13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,
This was done according to verse 6 at just the right time. It was all accomplished according to God’s timetable at a time that was prearranged before the world was even created.
Galatians 4:4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,
Acts 2:23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
All of this was done to demonstrate the immense love God had for us. This was a tangible expression of the depth of God’s love for us, giving up His own Son to bear the sins of those who were haters and enemies of God. Since love is His very essence, it is only natural that He would exhibit love toward us.
1 John 4:16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Verses 9—10
These verses build on the previous verses by adding that we shall never see the wrath of God come upon us. Notice that it is assumed that there will be a time when God’s wrath will be poured out, otherwise, how could Paul say we will be saved from something that will never occur. His death on the cross not only paved the way for our justification but also from any form of punishment.
Those who are not in Christ are storing up wrath for themselves and will experience God’s wrath in His righteous judgment of unbelievers.
Romans 2:5—6 5But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS:
In contrast to those who are in Christ, God’s wrath came upon Israel a number of times. When they would turn away from what God commanded, His wrath was evident.
Deuteronomy 9:7 “Remember, do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.
Deuteronomy 29:26—28 26‘They [Israel] went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they have not known and whom He had not allotted to them. 27‘Therefore, the anger of the LORD burned against that land, to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; 28and the LORD uprooted them from their land in anger and in fury and in great wrath, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’
2 Kings 22:17 ” Because they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods that they might provoke Me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore My wrath burns against this place, and it shall not be quenched.”‘
God’s wrath will be poured out during the coming Tribulation after the Church has been raptured. I believe the following verse refers to the Tribulation period when God’s wrath is used to purge the unrighteous from the earth. I understand this to be in the future because God has not yet been their King and Israel has not been brought out from among the nations. There are those who think the Tribulation is not a time that God will pour out His wrath, that it will happen only after He returns to take His rightful throne but the Day of the Lord can cover a period of time from the beginning of the Tribulation until the end of the millennial Kingdom and even into the Eternal State. It is no longer the day of man, it will be the Day of the Lord. (It can also refer to just the coming of Jesus Christ at the Second Coming.) The following verses show the extent of God’s wrath during the Tribulation. We have the promise that we will never experience the wrath of God.
Ezekiel 20:33—38 33“As I live,” declares the Lord GOD, “surely with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out, I shall be king over you. 34“I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out; 35and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. 36“As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you,” declares the Lord GOD. 37“I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; 38and I will purge from you the rebels and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they will not enter the land of Israel. Thus you will know that I am the LORD.
Zechariah 13:7—9 7“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd,
And against the man, My Associate,”
Declares the LORD of hosts
“Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered;
And I will turn My hand against the little ones.
8“It will come about in all the land,”
Declares the LORD,
“That two parts in it will be cut off and perish;
But the third will be left in it.
9“And I will bring the third part through the fire,
Refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested
They will call on My name,
And I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are My people,’
And they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.'”
Zephaniah 1:14—18 14Near is the great day of the LORD,
Near and coming very quickly;
Listen, the day of the LORD!
In it the warrior cries out bitterly.
15A day of wrath is that day,
A day of trouble and distress,
A day of destruction and desolation,
A day of darkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
16A day of trumpet and battle cry
Against the fortified cities
And the high corner towers.
17I will bring distress on men
So that they will walk like the blind,
Because they have sinned against the LORD;
And their blood will be poured out like dust
And their flesh like dung.
18Neither their silver nor their gold
Will be able to deliver them
On the day of the LORD’S wrath;
And all the earth will be devoured
In the fire of His jealousy,
For He will make a complete end,
Indeed a terrifying one,
Of all the inhabitants of the earth.
These verses in Romans preclude us having to do anything to appease God to gain our justification. We are always seen as being acted upon and never supplying the action. In general, mankind always feels they must add God-pleasing works to their salvation. Some religions go so far as having man do good works or praying for dead people to help them along in their purification, this in spite of God’s word declaring us sanctified (holy) if we are in Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:
1 Corinthians 6:11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
This work of sanctification in us is a completed act so when God sees us, He sees us as completely holy. This is not to be confused with the work of sanctification we must pursue during our lifetime. Positionally we are seen as being sanctified but experientially we have a long way to go. We can see this concept in other verses.
Romans 6:19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.
1 Thessalonians 4:1—7 1Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more. 2For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. 7For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.
Verse 11
With Christ dying so we can be reconciled to God and He justifying us so that we will not have any of God’s wrath upon us, Paul can’t help but rejoice in this demonstration of His love, grace and mercy. The Greek word literally means to boast. Paul could never boast in himself but could always boast in God. We too can boast only in God who has made us usable for his service and has given us the hope (confident expectation) of eternal life with Him.
Paul could boast in Christ because it was through Him that he received reconciliation. This reconciliation was given to him at some point in past time, it was nothing that could be earned and it was not a future promise.
