Romans 5:9-10: Saved by His Life

Romans 5:9-10: Saved by His Life

The passage of Scripture we’ll be studying this morning is Romans 5:9-10. For context, though, I’ll begin reading at verse 6 and continue reading through verse 11. Romans 5:6-11. It says,

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. 

May God bless the reading of his Word.

Let’s pray: Father, we understand from Hebrews 4 that your Word is living and active. So may it be living and active in our lives today. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Most people understand that Easter is a day for celebrating Jesus being raised from the dead. Yet what’s not always as understood is exactly why Jesus’s resurrection is so essential in order for us to be saved. Now, to be fair, I do think most of us understand that the resurrection is an essential part of the Christian gospel and that we couldn’t be saved from our sins without it. But if someone asked us to explain why the resurrection is so essential, there are some who might not be entirely sure how to respond. 

In some ways, it’s a lot like sleep. Everyone knows that our bodies need sleep. If we don’t get enough sleep, it affects us in all sorts of negative ways. We might, for example, have difficulty concentrating and be slightly irritable at times. Yet, even though we’re aware of the fact that sleep is essential, most of us probably don’t understand exactly why it’s essential. Like, what exactly does sleep do for our bodies? What happens in our bodies as we sleep that’s so necessary? Many of us aren’t entirely sure—or, at least, only have a very vague understanding of how all of that works. 

Similarly, even though most of us understand that the resurrection is an essential part of the gospel, we might not be sure exactly why that’s the case. Most of us probably understand why Jesus dying on the cross was so necessary but perhaps aren’t quite as clear in our understanding of why his resurrection was so necessary. After all, when Jesus died on the cross, didn’t he say, “It is finished”? So, was there something that actually wasn’t finished when Jesus uttered those words? And if so, what was it? 

That’s the question I’d like to address this morning. To phrase it the way verse 10 of our main passage phrases it, in what sense are we “saved by his life”—that is, by Jesus being no longer dead but now alive? In what sense is that essential for our salvation? And not only that, what does the resurrection of Jesus mean for our lives today? 

So, let’s work our way through this passage and see what it shows us. Look with me at Romans 5:9-10. Paul writes,  9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

The main idea of these verses is that those who have been justified and reconciled by the death of Jesus will certainly also be saved by his life. Again, those who have been justified and reconciled by the death of Jesus will certainly also be saved by his life.

Now, I believe the first and most foundational thing for us to understand in these verses is that word “justified.” Verse 9 speaks of us being “justified by his blood.” That is, the blood of Jesus that he shed while dying on the cross is the means by which we’re “justified.” 

You see, in our natural condition, all of us stand guilty before a holy God because of the sins we’ve committed—and our guilt deserves God’s punishment. We might even say it demands his punishment. However, the good news of the gospel is that God loved us so much that he sent his own Son Jesus to this earth in order to rescue us. Jesus entered this world as a human being, lived a perfectly sinless life, and then voluntarily died on the cross in order to suffer the punishment our sins deserved. That punishment came down on Jesus so it wouldn’t have to come down on us. He suffered the full force of it so we wouldn’t have to. And that, Paul says, is the means by which we’re “justified.” 

The word “justified” means to be declared righteous. It’s as if we’re being tried in a court of law with God himself presiding as Judge. And typically, he’d have to declare us guilty because of the sins we’ve committed. However, because of Jesus bearing our sins on the cross and us putting our faith in Jesus, God instead pronounces us righteous. That pronouncement is what we call justification. And it’s important to understand that justification doesn’t actually make us righteous but simply declares us to be righteous. It confers upon us a righteous status rather than a righteous nature. It’s a declaration about us rather than a change within us. So, there are very narrow and defined boundaries that govern what justification entails. 

This helps us understand why, here in verse 9, Paul distinguishes between us being “justified” and us being “saved.” Look once again at what he says: “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” So, even though there might be a lot of overlap between justification and salvation, they’re not the same thing. The way Paul speaks of them here shows that they’re distinct. 

Salvation—or being “saved”—is a much broader category that encompasses many different things. For example, theologians often speak of us being saved from the penalty of our sins at our conversion, being saved from the power of our sins as we grow in godliness throughout our lives, and one day being saved from even the presence of sin when we enter heaven. So, there are numerous different ways in which we can speak of being “saved” from sin with the result that “salvation” is a pretty comprehensive term that describes many of the things Jesus does for us. By contrast, justification is just one element or aspect of that broader category of salvation. 

So, what kind of “salvation” is Paul talking about here in verse 9? Well, first of all, he identifies it as something that’s still to come in the future and also speaks of it as being “saved…from the wrath of God.” So, this is a reference to the wrath that God will pour out in the future at the final judgment. Revelation 20 describes what will happen at that judgment. It states in verse 15, “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” That’s the wrath Paul’s talking about in our main passage. 

So, even though those of us who are Christians have already been justified—or declared righteous in God’s sight—we’re still looking forward to the point the future when we’ll be “saved” in the sense of actually being delivered from God’s wrath at that final judgment.

And the point Paul’s making in verse 9 is that our justification in the past guarantees our full salvation in the future. If you notice the structure of the verse, Paul’s arguing from the greater to the lesser. He states, “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” In other words, if God’s already done the greater thing of justifying wretched sinners even at the terrible cost of the blood of his own Son, how much more will he do the lesser thing of making sure those justified sinners—who are now his own children—are actually spared from his wrath at the final judgment?

Think of this this way. Imagine that you’re fast asleep one night and suddenly wake up to discover that your house is on fire, and, for whatever reason, you can’t make it out of the house on your own. Let’s say you’re too disoriented or perhaps have already inhaled too much smoke to be able to get out of the house yourself. However, your neighbor heroically breaks down the front door, enters the burning house, and manages to get you out of there in the nick of time. Your house is destroyed, but your life is saved. Don’t you think, if that were to happen, that your neighbor would also be willing to do relatively minor things after rescuing you to help you be more comfortable until the first responders arrived—such as perhaps getting you a blanket if was cold outside or getting you a bottle of water if you were thirsty after inhaling all that smoke? Of course your neighbor would do that! He’d have already done the greater thing of risking his life to rescue you from the burning house, so of course he’d be willing to do relatively minor things to help you recover in the immediate aftermath. 

Similarly, we can have absolute confidence that God will do the lesser thing of saving us from his wrath on the day of judgment because he’s already done the greater thing of justifying us by the blood of his own Son even when we were actively rebelling against him. Brothers and sisters, our future salvation couldn’t be more secure! 

Although it’s true that we might sometimes waver in our faith and stumble in our walk during this earthly pilgrimage, we can have absolute confidence that the same God who “saved” us in the sense of justifying us in the past will also make sure that we persevere in our faith and experience the consummation of our salvation in the future. We might be weak, but he is strong. All of this means that we don’t have to worry or be anxious about what the future will hold but instead can look forward to the future with joyful anticipation and wonderful assurance that we will indeed experience everything God’s promised us. Our eternal future is unshakably secure. 

And guess what? That’s just verse 9—we haven’t even gotten to verse 10 yet! And as we look at verse 10, we see that it’s more or less parallel to verse 9. Paul writes, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” Again, Paul’s arguing from the greater to the lesser. If God’s already done the greater thing of reconciling us to himself even when we were his enemies and even though it required the death of his own Son, how much more will he do the lesser thing of saving us at the final judgment? 

However, there’s something in particular in this verse that I’d like to focus on and actually spend the rest of our time talking about. What does it mean for us to be “saved by his life”? In the previous verse, Paul simply spoke of being “saved by him”—that is, by Jesus. But here, Paul’s more specific and states that we’ll be “saved by his life.” So, we were reconciled by Christ’s death in the past but will be saved by his life in the future. 

The clear implication of this statement is that the resurrection of Jesus is absolutely essential for our salvation. Apart from Jesus resurrecting from the dead, all hope of salvation would be lost. There wouldn’t be any salvation if Jesus wasn’t raised. 

Now, it’s true that one function Jesus’s resurrection has is demonstrating that Jesus really was who he said he was. In Romans 1:4, Paul states that Jesus “was declared to be the Son of God in power…by his resurrection from the dead.” The resurrection demonstrated that Jesus was the real deal—the sinless Son of God who died to take the punishment for our sins. In this sense, we might say, the resurrection was the Father’s seal of approval of Jesus and his ministry. It was the Father’s public endorsement of Jesus and his public confirmation that the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was indeed sufficient payment for our sins. 

And as we consider the different worldviews and religious philosophies that are out there, the fact that Jesus rose from the dead is a decisive argument for the truth of Christianity. After all, if you were to check the tomb of Buddha, you’d find it occupied. If you were to check the tomb of Confucius, you’d find it occupied. If you were to check the tomb of Muhammad, guess what? You’d likewise find it occupied. But unlike all of these other religious leaders, the tomb of Jesus is empty. That makes him utterly unique among all of the religious leaders who have ever lived and, I believe, is sufficient reason for us to put our faith in everything Jesus taught and everything he accomplished. So, that’s one reason why the resurrection is so significant. It demonstrates that everything Jesus taught and everything he accomplished is absolutely true and legitimate. 

However, that’s only the beginning of why the resurrection is so significant. The resurrection is significant not only because of what it demonstrates but also because of what it accomplishes. Let me say that again: the resurrection is significant not only because of what it demonstrates but also because of what it accomplishes. As Paul clearly teaches in verse 10 of our main passage, it accomplishes our salvation. We’re “saved by his life.” There’s something about the resurrection of Jesus that makes it the means by which we’re saved. 

This is confirmed in numerous other places in the New Testament as well, such as 1 Peter 1:3, where Peter writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Also, in 1 Corinthians 15:17, Paul writes that “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”

So, in what sense, then, is the resurrection so essential for our salvation? How exactly does that work? I mean, if it was sin that was keeping us from heaven and if Jesus already paid the price for our sins in his death on the cross, why was it so vital for him to be raised from the dead? What did his resurrection accomplish that hadn’t already been accomplished on the cross? 

In order to understand this, we have to understand a biblical concept that’s not often talked about but that’s actually quite central to the gospel—and that’s the concept of union with Christ. There’s not a single gospel blessing that those of us who are Christians enjoy that doesn’t come to us through our union with Christ. Our union with Christ is the source of every gospel blessing we enjoy. 

In some ways, it’s similar to the source code that’s behind all the programs on your laptop and all the apps on your phone. For example, if you’re using Microsoft Word, there’s a source code behind that program. You can’t see the source code, but the only reason you’re able to use Microsoft Word is because of the source code behind it. Similarly, we might talk about various gospel blessings such as having our sins forgiven, being declared righteous in God’s sight, being reconciled with God, becoming a new person, being adopted as God’s children, experiencing a progressive growth in godliness throughout our lives, and one day enjoying our eternal inheritance in heaven. But the only way all of these blessings come to us is through our union with Christ—where God thinks of us as being with Christ and in Christ. 

And the passages in the New Testament that talk about our union with Christ are almost too numerous to mention, but one of them is in the very next chapter of Romans. In Romans 6:3-4, Paul writes: 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. In other words, baptism symbolizes our union with Christ in death and resurrection. 

Paul then continues in verses 5-8: 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. So, the basis of us dying to our old way of life and living as new people is our union with Christ in his death and resurrection. 

Yet perhaps we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. If you go back to the very beginning of God’s saving acts, you discover that the reason God even chose us or elected us in the first place was because of our union with Christ. In Ephesians 1:4, Paul states that God the Father “chose us in him [that is, in Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” 

Then, fast-forwarding once again to our union with Christ in his death, Paul writes in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Paul also writes in Colossians 2:12 about us “having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.” 

In addition, perhaps you’re familiar with Ephesians 2:4-6. Paul writes, 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” And 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” So, the reason we’re clothed with the righteousness of Christ is because we’re united with him. Indeed, this is the only reason we’re not condemned. As Paul says in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

It's also by virtue of our union with Christ that we’re born again and become new people. 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Moreover, it’s only as we live out our union with Christ that we bear spiritual fruit. Jesus himself teaches this in John 15:5 when he says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” And indeed, every other spiritual blessing we enjoy only comes to us by virtue of our union with Christ. As Paul states in Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” And all of this only scratches the surface of the verses in the New Testament about our union with Christ.

So, to state it concisely, we’re loved because God loves Jesus—and we’re in him. We’re viewed as righteous because Jesus lived a perfectly righteous life—and we’re in him. We’re forgiven of our sin and dead to our old way of life because Jesus died on the cross—and we’re in him. We’re new people and are looking forward to having glorified resurrection bodies one day in heaven because Jesus was raised from the dead—and we’re in him. 

Perhaps a good way to say it is that God the Father “thinks of us” in this way. Union with Christ means that God thinks of us as sharing in the perfect obedience of Christ, the sacrificial death of Christ, the victorious resurrection of Christ, and, for that matter, the heavenly ascension of Christ and the eternal reign of Christ. God thinks of us as being united with Christ in all of these ways, which means that we get to enjoy all of the blessings that belong to Christ as if we ourselves had earned them. 

Perhaps a couple of illustrations would be helpful. Think of it like being in an airplane. Whatever happens to that plane happens to you. If the plane goes down, you’re going down. If the plane, on the other hand, reaches its destination safely, you reach your destination safely. To a certain degree, your welfare is inextricably linked to the welfare of that plane. Whatever happens to the plane happens to you, and whatever it accomplishes is what you accomplish. That’s similar to the way in which we’re “in Christ” and united with him. 

Another way to think of it is like a joint checking account. Imagine that the entirety of Elon Musk’s wealth was in a checking account and that your name was also listed on that checking account as well. That would mean, in a certain manner of speaking, that the entirety of Elon Musk’s fortune belonged to you. You would own it all and would be legally permitted to draw from the vast riches of Elon Musk whenever you desired. All of his vast financial resources would be fully available and accessible to you at any time. That would be pretty cool. Yet, dear friends, the glorious truth of the gospel is that we have a joint checking account with someone infinitely wealthier and greater than Elon Musk, Jesus Christ. And because of our union with Christ, we can freely draw from all of his infinite riches and resources at any time as if they were our own. In a certain manner of speaking, they are our own. 

So, to tie everything together this morning, hopefully it’s now clear why Jesus being raised from the dead is so vital and essential for us being saved. If Jesus never made it out of that tomb, we too would still be dead in our sins. It’s only as we’re united with him in his resurrection that we we’re transformed into new people and are able to live new lives. It’s also only as we’re united with Christ in his resurrection that we’ll one day be raised from physical death and be given glorified resurrection bodies and enjoy eternal life with God in heaven. None of that would be possible if Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead—because our status and our welfare are entirely bound up in his. 

In addition, returning to verse 10 of our main passage, there’s one other sense in which we’re “saved by his life.” Remember that Paul says we were reconciled by Christ’s death and will one day be “saved by his life.” And this is true, we’ve said, first and foremost because we’re united with Christ. However, in addition to that, we’re also “saved by his life” in the sense that we’re saved by his continuing ministry on our behalf. 

Now that Jesus has been raised from the dead and has ascended into heaven, he’s actively engaging in ministry in ways that our vital to our salvation. The book of Hebrews describes Jesus as our great High Priest and says in Hebrews 7:25, “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” So, as our High Priest, Jesus is—even at this very moment—actively interceding on our behalf before God the Father. And according to this verse, this ministry of intercession is part of the reason Jesus is “able to save.”

The Bible also describes Jesus as our heavenly Advocate. In 1 John 2:1, John writes, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” So, the great comfort we have as those who continue to struggle with sin is that Jesus is continually serving as our Advocate before God the Father, representing our interests and pleading our cause—continually reminding God, as it were, of his atoning sacrifice on our behalf. John speaks of that ministry of Jesus as our Advocate as being absolutely vital in order for us to have any comfort in the aftermath of our sin. 

So, as you can see, our salvation depends not only on what Jesus did 2,000 years ago but also on what he continues to do today. We need his ministry as High Priest, Intercessor, and Advocate in order to be saved. And the only reason Jesus is able to engage in any of these ministries today is because he’s alive. It all comes back to his resurrection. A dead Savior wouldn’t be a Savior at all.  

So, hopefully all of this has been useful in helping us understand why exactly Good Friday by itself isn’t enough and why Easter Sunday is so vital for our salvation. Two reasons: the reality of our union with Christ and the fact that Jesus needs to be alive to carry out his present ministry in heaven on our behalf. 

Yet there’s one additional thing that’s absolutely vital for you to consider. It’s a question, actually. Have you ever received all of these blessings and benefits we’ve talked about this morning by putting your faith in Jesus? You see, none of this is automatic. The only way we benefit from what Jesus has done on our behalf is if we turn away from our sinful rebellion and put our trust exclusively in Jesus to rescue us from our sins. 

Listen: you could have the most thorough knowledge intellectually of everything we've talked about this morning and be able to explain all of the nuances and intricacies of union with Christ even better than I've been able to explain them. But if you haven't actually put your trust in Christ and thereby received the blessings and benefits he offers, nothing we’ve talked about today is of any benefit to you. 

So, the most important thing you could think about this Easter Sunday is whether or not you've done that. At the end of the day, that’s all that matters. That's what determines where you'll spend eternity. So, will you turn from your sin and put your trust in Jesus even today so that you also can experience the salvation he offers?