Through faith in Christ, we have been justified, and thus saved from the wrath of God that Jesus bore for us on the cross.
Here, Paul makes a cause-effect statement. It is unreasonable that the blood of Jesus would justify us, yet we are now justified by His blood because of the love of God (v 9). God’s love supersedes human reason. Now, having been justified in the sight of God by grace through faith, much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him (v 9). It only makes sense that if we are declared righteous in the sight of God that we are then delivered from the wrath of God through Jesus.
In Romans 1, Paul asserts that God’s wrath is poured out upon ungodliness and unrighteousness wherever it is found. In Romans 13, Paul will point out that the government has been appointed by God to execute His wrath against unrighteousness using “the sword.” So, if we cheat on our taxes and are arrested, that is God’s wrath. How then is it that we are saved from God’s wrath when the adverse consequences of sin are still a possibility for us?
There are two ways we shall be saved from the wrath of God. One is that we are saved from the wrath of God in His sight. Since all believers in Christ stand justified before God by the blood of Jesus, the wrath of God was poured out on Jesus instead of being poured out upon us. We do not have to fear being separated from the family of God. That wrath is never a prospect for us. God is our inheritance regardless of our actions (Romans 7:17a). We have been saved from the penalty of sin. This is the past tense of salvation.
But we still live in the world, and we still have our fleshly nature. The world is full of sin and the world is full of wrath from the consequences of sin (from our own sin natures and from Satan). However, as the book of Romans continues, Paul will explain more fully how the resurrection power of Jesus is now available to believers through the indwelling Spirit of God. Therefore we have the power of the Spirit always available to us to be delivered from the power of sin in our daily walk. This is the present tense of salvation—to be delivered from the adverse consequences of sin in our lives.
By walking in faith daily, we can overcome the adverse consequences, the wrath of sin. Paul will tell us that walking in sin brings death, earthly condemnation, and slavery. We have been delivered from all of these things through believing in Jesus. However, we can still choose to sin instead of walk in the resurrection power we have received (Romans 6:16).
The resurrection power of Jesus gives us the power to overcome sin and death and walk in righteousness. Once again, this verse touches the theme of Romans: that the righteous person is one who walks by faith, in the power of the gospel (Romans 1:16–17). This begins with faith in Jesus, being delivered from the penalty of sin in eternity with God. It then continues through a daily walk of faith, walking in the Spirit and putting to death the deeds of the flesh, that we might experience the great benefits of the Spirit, and avoid the adverse consequences of sin (Galatians 6:8).
Biblical Text
9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
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