ABUNDANT LIFE IN CHRIST: His Reconciling Death

The second time Paul uses the expression, “much more” in Romans Five, he is speaking of the “much more” of Christ’s reconciling death. He states, “For if, being enemies, we have been reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much rather, having been reconciled, we shall be saved in the power of his life. And not only that, but we are making our boast in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom now we have received the reconciliation.” (v.10-11).

The key word is RECONCILED—that is, we are reconciled to Him. Before salvation, we were God’s enemies. But, the death of Jesus made it possible to bring us back to God—through His death reconciliation is possible.

God loved us while we were yet sinners. We were enemies toward God, but, thankfully He wasn’t an enemy toward us. Paul’s argument here is that if He loved us that much while we were His foes, how much more does He love us now that we are His family! “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (v.8). If He loved us enough to send His Son to die for us while we were yet sinners, how much more does He loves is now that we are sons!

But, it isn’t just His death that has reconciled us, but—here’s a new twist on the topic—His life. This unusual expression found in verse ten is that reconciled by His death, we are “saved by His life.” We are given salvation by His death, but we are guaranteed salvation by His life. His redeeming love has saved us, but His resurrection life has secured us! The Bible says, “He always lives to make intercession for them.” (Heb.7:25). John tells us that even if we sin after salvation, “we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous” (1 John 2:1). He pleads our case. Best of all, Christ has never lost in God’s courtroom. Not one of the accused has ever been found guilty! All He does is display the evidence of the nail prints in His hands and the gavel of God’s justice falls and the Judge of all declares, “Not guilty! Case dismissed!”