In 5:10 Paul says that “while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.” The death of Christ is for redemption, justification, and reconciliation. But all this is for life. As Paul goes on to say in this verse, “Much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved in His life.” We have enjoyed the benefits of Christ’s death; now we need to enjoy His life. He who died on the cross for our sins is now living within us and for us as our life. Just as we participate in the death of Christ, so we also need to experience the life of Christ. The life of Christ is Christ Himself living within us.
This life saves us from all kinds of negative things. It is not the life of Christ, however, that saves us from hell or from God’s judgment, because we have already been saved from these things through the death of Christ on the cross for our sins. Although we were sinful and destined to be eternally condemned by God, Christ’s death has solved this problem. Therefore, by the death of Christ we have been saved from hell and from the eternal judgment of God. This salvation has been accomplished once for all. Nevertheless, Paul says that “we shall be saved in His life,” indicating that we still need to experience the saving life of Christ.
From what are we saved? If we would answer this question fully and in detail, we would need to mention hundreds of items, including temper, disposition, self-pride, and jealousy. Everyone has a problem with temper or with the natural disposition or with self-pride or with jealousy. You may even feel jealous of someone who gives a good testimony in the meeting. How much we need to be saved in the life of Christ! Although we need to be saved from hundreds of items, in the book of Romans the Apostle Paul deals with just a number of major things from which we need to be saved, including sin, worldliness, naturalness, individualism, and divisiveness.
Let us first consider being saved in life from the law of sin. Romans 8:2 says, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and of death.” This verse speaks not merely of sin, but of the law of sin. All negative things such as temper and self-pride are related to this law. The reason you cannot overcome your temper is that your temper is involved with the law of sin. There is a certain law that causes you to lose your temper, to be proud, and to be jealous. For example, if I throw a ball into the air, there is no need to pray that it will fall to the ground. The law of gravity will automatically cause the ball to fall. Likewise, we need no help in losing our temper, for we lose it spontaneously according to the working of the law of sin within us. Furthermore, there is no need for us to try to be proud or jealous, because the law of sin produces pride and jealousy in us. The speaking of lies is also an issue of the law of sin. Christians know that they should not tell lies, but in one way or another nearly all Christians have lied, even if it was just in putting on a false appearance or expression. Lying, like all other sinful things, is not something we are taught to do; it comes from the law of sin within us.
In order to impress you with this fact, I would like to use the word “law” as a verb. The law of sin “laws” us; we all have been “lawed” by this law. We simply cannot escape the “lawing” of the law of sin within us. According to 8:2, this law of sin is also the law of death. When this law “laws” us, we are involved not only with sin but also with death. Only in the life of Christ can we be saved from this dreadful law.
Many great philosophers, especially the Chinese ethical thinkers, have tried to conquer this law. Certain Chinese philosophers spoke of the war between the principle and the lust. This is just what Paul refers to in Romans 7:23: “But I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and making me captive in the law of sin which is in my members.” What the Chinese ethical thinkers have referred to as the principle is the law of good, and what they have referred to as the lust is the law of sin that brings us into death. By our own efforts we are unable to conquer the law of sin. The only way to be free from this law is the way revealed in 8:2: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and of death.”