SAVED BY HIS LIFE

(Part 2)

Rom. 5:10

Morning Meditation 10/24/2013

Verse 10 says, “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.”

The words “For if” is a third class condition. It is “if” and it is true. It could be translated “since” and it would have the same meaning. Then he adds “when we were enemies.” This is a hard concept to grasp. First, it is hard for us to consider ourselves as “enemies” of God. Second, it is hard for us to conceive of a God who would make the supreme sacrifice for enemies. But this is true. God loves the world and the world is hostile toward God.

The words “when we were” (on) translated one Greek word. It means “being.” It is a present participle which speaks of continuous action. Man was not an enemy a part of the time. He was not just an enemy by wrong acts. He was an enemy in his very being. This is the answer to the one who thinks, “I know I do wrong things. But I’m not really a bad person.” No you are wrong about that. You do bad things because you are a bad person. You are a sinner to the core. Man is partially described in Romans 3:9-18: “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.” One can argue with God about his analysis of the whole human race but he will not win. If what God says in this passage is not true, then he does not know everything and if his analysis is wrong then he is a God who is ignorant on some subjects and does not know everything. If this is true, he is also a liar and the Bible writers are liars. For both God and the writers of Scripture claim that God is never wrong, that he knows all things and will ultimately bring man into judgment based on his perfect knowledge of them. Paul says, “For if, when we were enemies . . .” The word “enemies” (echthros) “hostile, hating, and opposing another.” These words describe what a man is by nature. Jeremiah put it like this: “ ”The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”(Jer. 17:9).

Then Paul says, “We were reconciled to God.” The words “we were reconciled” (katallasso) translate one word that is made up of two. The word “kata” meaning “ down from, through out.” The word “allasso” means “to change, to exchange one thing for another, to transform.” The Linguistic Key says of this word, “the preposition compound is perfective and means ‘to effect a thorough change back, reconciled.’” It is a verb and is an aorist passive indicative. The aorist tense refers to a point of time in the past. The point of time is twofold. First, the cross is where this reconciliation took place potentially for all men. Second, the time of our salvation is where his reconciling death was applied to us experientially. Paul says, “We (includes himself) were reconciled.” The passive voice of this verse means that the subject “we” were the receivers of the action. “We” were not the actors in the reconciliation. We are the receivers of the action. God in Christ is the Actor. 2 Cor. 5:19 explains the act of the Actor, “To wit, that God was in Christ (the incarnation), reconciling (what he did) the world unto himself (for whom he did it potentially), not imputing their trespasses unto them (what reconciliation does. It makes them trespass proof so far as the RECORDS are concerned); and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”

Then Paul says, “we were reconciled to God” and explains how, “by the death of his Son.” It took the death of Jesus to effect the reconciliation. Negotiations would not do it. There was no bargaining table where the opposing forces sat down to talk things out. Man was not even invited to the table. It was God who did this. Salvation is of the Lord. Man had nothing to say about it. All man is invited to do is after the fact. God offers man the opportunity of repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ. It is not negotiable. The meaning of the words God uses to describe repentance and faith are not negotiable. We either come as guilty sinners (accepting completely God’s verdict) to the cross for salvation or we come before the Great White Throne Judgment to give an account of every sin that we have ever committed in thought or deed as it is brought out in the display of the books (Rev. 20:12-15). We all have a choice. It is not a complicated choice. We either receive Christ by faith and receive reconciliation or we reject Christ and choose to stand before a holy God as enemies and subject ourselves to his righteous judgment in condemning all those who by unbelief rejected his Son as their Saviour.

Then Paul says in our verse, “much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” The “much more” is interesting. There is absolutely no question about the reconciliation. If God has reconciled enemies by the death of his son, now that we are no longer enemies, he will “much more” save us by his resurrection life. Paul does teach that his present ministry conducted through his resurrected body as the one Mediator between God and man has a dynamic effect on the life of the believer on earth right now.

The words “we shall be saved by his life” translated (sozo) means, “to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction.” It is a future passive indicative verb. The question is: is this future tense refering to the rapture or resurrection or is it referring to Christ’s resurrection ministry that he exercises after salvation right here on earth. I believe it is the future tense from the point of reconciliation. Reconciliation is receiving the death of Christ on the cross. Sanctification and holiness is receiving the power of his resurrection ministry in us and through us through the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. “We shall be saved” is a passive voice verb which means that as we trust him with each situation in life, and attempt to do nothing without him, he exercises a saving ministry in our every day lives. As a result we are no longer in bondage to Satan, the flesh or the world. Hebrews 7:25 says, “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” This is not just security for the future it is power for the present. John says in 1 John 5:4: “ For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” It is not what faith does. It is what faith is. Faith in the work of the cross reconciles us to God. Faith in his resurrection ministry empowers us for the present. We are overcomers because of his power. It is a passive voice verb. “We shall be saved by his life.” His life being live by him in us is the dynamics of the Christian life. It is no longer I but Christ which liveth in me. Amen

May the Lord bless you.

In Christ Bro. White