Romans 5:6-11

Love and Reconciliation.

Romans 5:6. The helplessness and ill-desert of the objects, and the timeliness of the intervention, go to commend God's love to us, shown in the death of Christ on our behalf a sacrifice enhanced when one considers that a righteous man will scarcely find another to die for him, though it may happen that a friend ventures his life for the good man (known and loved as such). God's and Christ's love are identified (Romans 5:6; Romans 5:8).

Romans 5:9 f. In the next breath the apostle speaks of God's anger: seeming incompatibles meet at the Cross. The joyous hope of Christians amid life's troubles is explained: justified at the price of Christ's blood (cf. Romans 8:32, 1 Peter 1:18 f.), we need not fear future anger; we know that God is our friend. He who has justified sinners, will never condemn the justified (see Romans 8:31). To the former enemies, brought into peace with God through His Son's death, that Son's risen life (cf. Romans 6:4 f., Revelation 1:17 f., Hebrews 7:25) gives pledge of final salvation. To be reconciled to God means not merely to change one's disposition toward Him, but to receive forgiveness, to exchange God's anger (Romans 5:9) for His smile. Reconciliation corresponds in point of sentiment to justification in point of status (see 2 Corinthians 5:19; also Matthew 5:24, for the use of the passive verb).

Romans 5:11. The sense of reconciliation swells again into a rapturous exultation in God (cf. Romans 5:2).