These verses show how God has demonstrated His love for us. When we understand the magnitude of what He has done for us, His love is "shed abroad in our hearts". (Rom 5:5)
6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
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.
11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement .
(6.)
"When we were yet without strength", we were spiritually dead, with no way to please God. (Rom 8:8). We lived in disobedience to God, because of our ignorance and willful blindness (Eph 4:17-20). We lived according to the course of this world " "and it’s god, (II Cor 4:3,4) and could only fulfill the desires of our flesh and mind. (Eph 2:1-3)"In due time Christ died for the ungodly". "When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son," (Gal 4:4). Dan 9:24-26 prophesied exactly when Christ would come, and no one else will ever be able to fulfil this. (A week is 7 if you want to add up the numbers in Dan 9.)
"Ungodly" means unlike God. When we realize that we are born ungodly (Rom 3:23 & 5:12), this verse becomes very good news!
(7.)
A "righteous man" here is one with strict moral standards. A "good man" is a leader of strict moral standards. A person would probably not give his life for someone of high standards, but might for a great leader. No ordinary person would die for his enemies, but Christ did.In John 15:13 Jesus said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." It was prophesied, although not understood, that Jesus would die for His friends and His nation, (Is 53:8; Mark 9:31,32). But Romans shows a further revelation of even greater love, that Jesus died for His enemies as well. That’s us Gentiles.
(8.)
" Commendeth" means to exhibit, to put on display, or to demonstrate. God clearly demonstrated His love for us when He died on the cross in our stead. We can no longer doubt His love, that proved it once forever.(9.)
Notice that " we are now justified". Unlike Israel’s program, we do not need to "endure to the end" (Mat 24:15)" , to keep our sins confessed (I John 1:9) , or do good works (James 2:14-24) in order to become justified. We are right now, already, justified (made righteous), if we have trusted Christ. (I Cor 6:11)If God loved us enough to die for us when we were dead in sins, how much more He loves (values and esteems) us now that we are made righteous (justified) in Christ. (Rom 4:5) Therefore "we shall be saved from wrath". We know we are already saved from hell and any judgment of sin, because our sin debt is paid. So what is this future salvation from?
"The wrath to come" (I Thes 1:10) specifically refers to Israel’s time of tribulation, called the "time of Jacob’s trouble" (Jer 30:7), or the 70th week of Dan 9:24-27. There is a time of judgment and wrath coming to the earth in which God will cleanse and purify Israel (Mat 3:7 & 24:21,22; Is 4:2-4; Zech 13:8,9), and avenge her enemies (Mat 25:31-46).
But in our dispensation, God is not dealing with Israel (Eph 2:11-15; 3:1-5; Gal3:28; 6:15) so we are delivered from that wrath by being "caught up" before it happens (I Thes 4:13-18; II Thes 2:1-8). After our dispensation ends with our exit from earth, God will fulfill all the prophecies about Israel, including the wrath and their following glory (Rom 11:11-15, 25-29) .
(10.)
An enemy is a hostile adversary who hates and opposes another. Until we depend on Christ to be justified, we are enemies of God, no matter how religious or good we are. Anyone who does not believe God’s truth, opposes it with their own ideas or religion" .(Rom 1:18-25)To reconcile means to make friends of enemies. Christ paid the price for our sin, so now each of us can be individually reconciled to God. (Col 1:21,22)
There are 3 other reconciliations in Paul’s letters. (1.) Jew and Gentiles are reconciled in this dispensation, (Eph 2:11-16). (2.) This allowed the reconciling of the world (II Cor 5:19) which used to be separated from God by that middle wall of partition of Eph 2:14. And (3.) in the fullness of times, all things in heaven and in earth will be reconciled to God. (Eph 1:10; Col 1:20).
"We were reconciled (past tense, it happened when we first trusted Christ) to God by the death of His Son," and "we shall be (future tense) saved by his life". From what do we yet need to be saved? Jesus rose from the dead in immortal glorified form and became the first of many who will be resurrected. (I Cor 15:20-23; Rom 8:29; Col 1:18) If we die before I Thes 4:13-18 happens, we will be saved from the grave (corruption) at that event. If that event happens while we are alive (mortal), we will be saved from death by being caught off the earth before the wrath. (I Cor 15:49-55) Either way, because Christ has eternal resurrection life, so will we.
(11.)
Not only can we joy in knowing we will be saved from the wrath to come, and from death and the grave, but we can also joy in what we already have right now.The word atonement here is the same word that is translated as reconciled in verse 10, but atonement brings to mind so much more. " (Like Lev 16:29-34 & 17:11) In Lev 23, Israel’s feast days represented what God is going to do for them in the future. The Passover feast was accomplished when Christ died as the Passover Lamb sacrifice. The feast of Pentecost was fulfilled in Acts 2, fifty days after Passover. But the feast of Trumpets, the day of Atonement, and the feast of Tabernacles are yet to be fulfilled. In Israel’s program, sin will be blotted out on the day of Atonement when Christ returns bringing the "times of refreshing" for the earth as prophesied. (Acts 3:19-21; Rom 11:26,27) .
In contrast, in today’s program, our sin is forgiven when we first trust Christ.(Eph 1:13; 4:32) So "we have now recieved the atonement " which Israel had been promised, but has not yet received. What Israel will get in the future by covenant and promise, (Rom 9:4), we already have received by grace, totally unexpected and undeserved. No wonder that " we joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ "!
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