In Romans 5:8-11 we see Christ as the Redeemer, the Reconciler, and the Life-Savior.
In Romans 5:8-9 Paul says, “God commends His own love to us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified in His blood, we will be saved through Him from the wrath.” These verses reveal that Christ as the Redeemer has died for us, the sinners, and that having been justified in His blood, we will be saved through Him from the wrath.
The word redeem means to purchase back something that originally was ours but that had become lost. In other words, redemption means to repossess at a cost. We originally belonged to God; we were His possession. However, we were lost. Nevertheless, God did not give us up. He paid the price to have us back, repossessing us at a great cost. Because we were lost, we had many problems with God with respect to His righteousness, holiness, and glory. We were under a threefold demand, the demand of righteousness, holiness, and glory. Many requirements were laid upon us, and it was impossible for us to fulfill them. The price was too great. God paid the price for us, repossessing us at a tremendous cost. Christ died on the cross to accomplish eternal redemption for us (Gal. 3:13; 1 Pet. 2:24; 3:18; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 10:12; 9:28). His blood has obtained eternal redemption for us (vv. 12, 14; 1 Pet. 1:18-19).
Romans 5:10a reveals that Christ reconciled us to God through His death: “For if we, being enemies, were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.” This verse indicates that before man receives God’s salvation, in God’s eyes man is not only a sinner but also an enemy of God. Through the fall, man has fallen not only into sin but also under the authority of Satan (1 John 5:19). Hence, he has become a child of the devil (3:8a, 10), obeying the ruler of the authority of the air (Eph. 2:2). Being hostile to God, he has also become an enemy of God. Furthermore, the mind of fallen man is set on the evil flesh. Such a mind is hated by God, and it is enmity against God (Rom. 8:5, 7). Therefore, man needs to be reconciled to God.
In Romans 5:10 Paul says that we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, and in Colossians 1:20 we see that this reconciliation was “through the blood of His cross.” We were reconciled to God through the death of God’s Son as the propitiation for the believers’ sins. First John 2:2 says, “He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for those of the whole world.” The Lord Jesus offered Himself to God as a sacrifice for our sins (Heb. 9:28), not only for our redemption but also for God’s satisfaction. In Christ as our Substitute, through His vicarious death, God is satisfied and appeased. Hence, Christ is the propitiation between God and us (1 John 4:10). Hebrews 2:17 tells us that Christ made propitiation for our sins. The Lord Jesus made propitiation for our sins to appease God’s righteousness and thereby to reconcile us to God by satisfying the demand of His righteousness. Since Christ made propitiation for our sins, 1 Corinthians 15:3 says plainly, “Christ died for our sins.” Through His death, with the shedding of His blood on the cross, we have been reconciled to God.
Romans 5:10 tells us that before we were saved, we were not only sinners but also enemies. As sinners we needed justification; as enemies we needed reconciliation. Enmity is the greatest problem between God and man. Through the redeeming death of Christ, God has justified us, the sinners, and has reconciled us, His enemies, to Himself. We were reconciled to God when we believed in the Lord Jesus. By faith we have received God’s justification and reconciliation. Therefore, our being reconciled to God is based on Christ’s redemption and was accomplished through God’s justification (3:24; 2 Cor. 5:18-19). Reconciliation is the issue of redemption with justification.
Romans 5:10b further shows that Christ is also the Life-Savior saving us in His life: “Much more we will be saved in His life, having been reconciled.” We have been reconciled to God through the death of His Son in order to be saved in His life. Being reconciled to God through Christ’s death is an accomplished matter, but being saved in His life from so many negative things is a daily matter. On the one hand, we have been reconciled to God; on the other hand, we still need to be saved in the life of God’s Son. Christ as the Redeemer and the Reconciler died for us once for all, but Christ as the Life-Savior is for our entire life. As long as we are on this earth, we are under the saving of our Savior’s life.
God’s complete salvation is of two aspects—the judicial aspect and the organic aspect. God’s judicial redemption is the judicial aspect of God’s complete salvation. It is according to the righteousness of God, and it is the procedure of God’s salvation to satisfy the requirements of God’s righteous law on sinners (1:17a; 3:21-26; 5:10a; Gal. 3:13; 1 Pet. 2:24; Heb. 9:12). God’s organic salvation is the organic aspect of God’s complete salvation. It is carried out by the life of God and is the purpose of God’s salvation, accomplishing all that He desires to achieve in the believers in His economy (Rom. 1:17b; 5:10b, 17b, 18b, 21b). In His humanity Christ accomplished God’s judicial redemption through His death; in His divinity Christ is carrying out God’s organic salvation in His resurrection. God’s judicial redemption is the foundation of His organic salvation; His judicial redemption is the procedure of His complete salvation for the believers to participate in His organic salvation as the purpose of His complete salvation.
To be saved in Christ’s life is to be saved in Christ Himself as life. He dwells in us, and we are organically one with Him. By the growth of His life in us, we will enjoy His full salvation to the uttermost. Redemption, justification, and reconciliation are for the purpose of bringing us into union with Christ so that He can save us in His life unto glorification (8:30).
The life of Christ within us not only saves us throughout our entire lifetime but also causes us to boast, exult, and glory in God. In 5:11 Paul says, “Not only so, but also boasting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” To boast and exult is to be beside ourselves with joy; it means to have God as our boast and our exultation, indicating that God is our enjoyment and our rejoicing. It is in boasting, in exulting, and in enjoying in this way that we are being saved in the life of Christ. It is worthwhile for us to boast, exult, and glory in God through Christ. Christ is the Life-Savior, saving us in His life and causing us to boast, exult, and glory in God through Him.