Listen to the study here: Romans 5:6-11
Read here: Romans 5
Review
- Calvin on the theme of Romans: “Man’s only righteousness is the mercy of God in Christ, when it is offered by the Gospel and received by faith.” Romans 1:17 and elsewhere.
- Luther: Simul iustus et peccator = At the same time, righteous and a sinner! Romans 3:23-25, all have sinned AND are justified by His grace
- In Ch. 1-3 Paul shows us our unrighteousness, and God’s wrath against that, and then switches to Christ’s righteousness as our covering, the propitiation of our sins (Romans 3:25) as the final sacrifice for sin, fulfilling the promise to Abraham.
- In Ch. 4 Paul uses Abraham and makes it clear that he had faith before any works (circumcision) were performed, so all could be saved, and none could boast in being saved by their own works.
- Faith being “counted” or “credited to our account” as righteousness is mentioned 11 times in Chapter 4! If “none are righteous” as Paul wrote in Romans 3:10, then this saving faith must be a gift from God.
- In Ch. 5:1-5, we read that, as believers, we have peace with God, access to God, hope.
Intro
- Define atonement: Jesus satisfying God’s wrath through His sacrificial death on the cross. 1 Peter 2:24-“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.” The word is used over 100 times in the OT, usually in the context of a sacrifice, which, after it is made, the debt is removed, covered, taken away.
- Verses 6-11 describe something like an enemy soldier taking a bullet for an ally soldier that hates him. Or maybe, think of the person you despise the most, and think of taking a bullet for them, dying so they might live. What Jesus did was so much more than that! Think about Paul, when he was Saul. In his sin and rebellion, given the opportunity, he would have stoned Jesus to death.
- But, it is people like Saul, and you, and me, that Jesus died for. He died so that if we repent and believe, we gain eternal life. What Jesus did was not simply “take a bullet” for us so that we could live a little longer and then die anyways. No, Jesus died so we could live forever! And living forever with him is kinda pointless unless God is real and separation from Him is eternal hell and torment. Living forever is pointless unless God is real and wants an eternal relationship with us but is at war with us in our “born sinner” nature. Eternal life is pointless unless God, who wants peace with us, is eternal Himself. Think about it, EVERY born thing, every created life, eventually dies. But God is eternal, the plural Elohim of Genesis 1. In existence before light, time, planets, people. And, He wants to “walk in the garden” with us, forever. But, He is both just and the justifier(Romans 3:26), and his eternal wrath will be poured out on us unless we repent and believe (Mark 1:15).
- Verse 6
- While we were still weak, I love this! SO MANY people think they are strong without God, that being “self-made” makes them strong or something, but the reality is, we are weaklings without God. We are weaklings if we are in a position to receive the wrath of God rather than peace with God. We are weaklings if we have no access to God. We are weaklings if we have no hope, if our sufferings are taking us on an unsanctified path towards eternal sufferings. Check out this list by evangelist Shane Pruitt:
- 1980s: “self-esteem” movement
- 1990s: “self-made” movement
- 2000s: “self-help” movement
- 2010s: “believe in self” movement
- 2020s: “self-love” movement
- Pruitt says it’s all “self-worship” with different labels, and reminds God created us to worship Jesus, not self.
- We are weak because of sin. Throughout history, churches have held different views on the doctrine of original sin.
- Original sin doesn’t refer to the first sin of Adam and Eve, but the consequences of that first sin. My current pastor, Jacob Pierce, describes original sin as the first of three “imputations” in soteriology, the doctrine of salvation. First, God imputed Adam’s sin on the rest of humanity. Then, God the Father imputed our sin to his Son, Jesus Christ, so that Christ’s righteousness could be imputed on us, restoring our relationship with God.
- Impute means to credit something to someone else that is not naturally theirs. It is not a perfect definition here, it’s just a word that we use to describe things. Perhaps another word to use for the imputation of our sins to Jesus is scapegoat. Jesus was the scapegoat, he took the blame for our sins, receiving God’s wrath instead of us. We first discussed “impute” in the Romans 4:1-8 study.
- Back to original sin, Sproul says all the progeny of Adam and Eve are born in a state of spiritual death and corruption. All of us. Regarding the doctrine of original sin, churches vary on just “how bad” we are, how far we have fallen from our original righteous state.
- Augustine (354-430 AD) took the “totally bad” view, that we might be alive biologically, but because of the fall, we are in a state of “moral inability,” meaning we don’t have the moral capacity to incline ourselves in any way to the things of God. In other words, we do not have ability in ourselves, in our own hearts, to receive God’s mercy and grace and complete forgiveness and salvation in Christ.
- In other words, when we DO receive God’s mercy and grace, it is not because of a choice WE made. We can choose all kinds of things, but not this, this is a work of God in our hearts so that precedes our ability to receive. And Sproul says we can’t even reach out to receive unless God has already done a work in our heart.
- The standard American evangelical description in 2025 is that God offers the gospel to everyone, and then those who exercise their will, that “make a decision” or “place their faith” in Christ; those are the ones that get saved. God does 99%, we DO the 1% by choosing Jesus freely. So the fate of our eternity rests on OUR own free will.
- Sproul says “unless the Holy Spirit empowers the word of preaching and the outreach of evangelism, no one will come to Christ. That is the point that Jesus made when he said, ‘No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent me draws him’(John 6:44).”
- So, Sproul’s point is Augustine’s point, which is Paul’s point too. Verse 6 is saying Christ died for the ungodly while we were still weak. Spiritually weak. In other words, we have no strength in and of ourselves to effect our salvation.
- Augustine (354-430 AD) took the “totally bad” view, that we might be alive biologically, but because of the fall, we are in a state of “moral inability,” meaning we don’t have the moral capacity to incline ourselves in any way to the things of God. In other words, we do not have ability in ourselves, in our own hearts, to receive God’s mercy and grace and complete forgiveness and salvation in Christ.
- The “when” of at the right time happened in two ways, and “while we were still weak” is one way. The other is that it happened at exactly the point in history that God wanted it to happen.
- Over and over again, the Bible points to real historical events of this “when,” Like Luke 2:1-2, relating Jesus birth to a time when Quirinius was governing Syria.
- As we progress in Ch. 5, we will see more and more how much Paul, and Jesus, and the Bible, are part of real history.
- Who did Jesus die for? Verse 6 says the ungodly. Paul could have said “Christ died at the hands of corrupt Jewish clergy and political leaders.” But Sproul says Paul never focuses on this, as if Jesus was making some sort of social justice warrior statement.
- To clarify, Jesus did not die for ALL the ungodly, as if everyone gets a free pass to Heaven now. Think back to Romans 1, God gives people over, right? His wrath will be revealed from Heaven against them, right?
- EVERY saved believer was 100% ungodly. But what does the “we” in verse 6 refer to? Look back at verse 5:1, “since WE have been justified by faith”…the WE meaning Christians here.
- What we are talking about here is referred to as “limited atonement.” Christ did not die for everyone, otherwise nobody would be in hell. In John 6:39, Jesus says “all He has given me I shall lose nothing.” So, Jesus died for those whom the Father has given to Him, which isn’t everybody.
- What do you think God’s eternal plan was for bringing about the death of His Son as part of history? Was it to save everybody? If so, then why is there Hell, or why is there Heaven for that matter?
- The Bible has many verses on “the elect”, (many in Romans that we will cover) that it’s not for everyone. In other words, the atonement of Christ was not just to make salvation possible. If for Christ’s death to have meaning depends on us and our “choice to accept him,” then Christ would have no fruit from His death. It would not be a work of the Holy Spirit in saving us in other words, it would be about “us choosing Christ.” But verse 6 says the timing is that we were ungodly, and ungodly cannot make a righteous decision on their own.
- To clarify, Jesus did not die for ALL the ungodly, as if everyone gets a free pass to Heaven now. Think back to Romans 1, God gives people over, right? His wrath will be revealed from Heaven against them, right?
- Original sin doesn’t refer to the first sin of Adam and Eve, but the consequences of that first sin. My current pastor, Jacob Pierce, describes original sin as the first of three “imputations” in soteriology, the doctrine of salvation. First, God imputed Adam’s sin on the rest of humanity. Then, God the Father imputed our sin to his Son, Jesus Christ, so that Christ’s righteousness could be imputed on us, restoring our relationship with God.
- While we were still weak, I love this! SO MANY people think they are strong without God, that being “self-made” makes them strong or something, but the reality is, we are weaklings without God. We are weaklings if we are in a position to receive the wrath of God rather than peace with God. We are weaklings if we have no access to God. We are weaklings if we have no hope, if our sufferings are taking us on an unsanctified path towards eternal sufferings. Check out this list by evangelist Shane Pruitt:
- Verses 7-8
- You might die for someone you don’t know but appears to live righteously, or a “good man,” like someone you know personally. So Paul is putting different levels on this, like, it’s more likely you would die for someone you have a good relationship with, a little less likely you would take a bullet for someone you don’t know but that has good qualities. But the amazing thing is that Jesus died for us while we were still sinners, which is synonymous with us being weaklings (verse 6).
- Christ died for US, the “us” being Christians. All of Ch. 5 is about this, this “us” or “we”.
- You might die for someone you don’t know but appears to live righteously, or a “good man,” like someone you know personally. So Paul is putting different levels on this, like, it’s more likely you would die for someone you have a good relationship with, a little less likely you would take a bullet for someone you don’t know but that has good qualities. But the amazing thing is that Jesus died for us while we were still sinners, which is synonymous with us being weaklings (verse 6).
- Verses 9-11
- Saved from what? The wrath of God. Hell is not a nice thing to talk about, so modern Christians tend to avoid it. When was the last time you thought about this question, what are you saved from? As Charles Spurgeon once said, “the infinite became an infant,” the Son of God, body broken and blood shed for us, justifying “the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). Jesus was crushed for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:4-6), altering our eternal destiny from wrath to salvation (I Thess. 5:9).
- The atonement is the reconciliation between enemies, sinful humanity and God, by Jesus Christ the mediator and his sacrificial death on the cross.
- Verse 10 is basically the definition of the atonement: while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.
- If we are no longer enemies, then we must be friends now! Friend is opposite of enemy. And this is not “friend” as in “meet my new friend” that you met 10 minutes ago. This is a Friend you have infinite awe over.
- Reconcile is used 3 times in verses 10 and 11. This word goes hand-in-hand with atonement, it is the result of the atonement.
- KJV, verse 11, “We also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” ESV: “we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
- Greek is katallagentes, meaning “having been reconciled.”
- Reconciliation is the better word choice here. Paul may have used this because Christ’s death was so much more than an OT atoning animal sacrifice, restoring a right relationship with God for ALL the faithful throughout history. No more annual Day of Atonement and animal sacrifices. Instead, through Jesus Christ, one final and eternal sacrifice for the sins of all who believe.
- As believers, being reconciled and justified was only accomplished through the atoning work of Christ on the cross. This is the way, the only way, to avoid God’s wrath.
- Much more is used twice in v. 9-11, and it is pointing to two things, being saved from God’s wrath (verse 9) and eternal life (verse 10). Verse 10 points to Christ’s resurrection. Paul’s words remind us here that a true gospel message includes Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and what those accomplished.
- Sproul concludes that “as long as people are unconcerned about the wrath of God, they feel no need to come to Jesus. If God is real, so is His wrath, and the biblical view of salvation is rescue from wrath.”
- We can watch Top Gun 2 and see Hangman save Maverick and Rooster from the enemy’s wrath, “this is your savior speaking”, he announces. But then we act like unsaved are not in an even bigger and more real and eternal battle against God’s wrath.
- That the unsaved are enemies of God should be huge motivation for us to pray for them and to ask God to use us, however he wants, to share the gospel.
- Next, we are go all the way back in history to Adam, and study the deep, historical context of Scripture and how the whole thing breaks down if we reject history.
- Greek is katallagentes, meaning “having been reconciled.”
- KJV, verse 11, “We also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” ESV: “we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
- Saved from what? The wrath of God. Hell is not a nice thing to talk about, so modern Christians tend to avoid it. When was the last time you thought about this question, what are you saved from? As Charles Spurgeon once said, “the infinite became an infant,” the Son of God, body broken and blood shed for us, justifying “the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). Jesus was crushed for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:4-6), altering our eternal destiny from wrath to salvation (I Thess. 5:9).
- Up next: Romans 5:10-14, and yes that is correct, we repeat v. 10-11.
Studying His Word and His Works 