After referring to the spirit in 2:29, Romans contains a long section to cover the matter of redemption. Since God could not do anything with fallen man, He had to do the work of redemption first. However, redemption is neither God’s central thought nor His final goal. Redemption is simply His procedure. After speaking about redemption, Romans says in the beginning of chapter five that the Spirit of God has poured out His great redemptive love in our hearts. Here it comes back to the Spirit. No doubt, it seems that redemption is a matter outside of us; it is a matter accomplished for us by God outside of us. However, the love of redemption, the feeling of redemption, and our reaction toward redemption still need to be wrought into us, and this can be done only by the Spirit of God. Because the Spirit of God has poured out the redemptive love in us, we have a very subjective response to God’s redemption and have a feeling and sentiment toward it. Therefore, the redemptive love comes into us through the Spirit.
In 5:11 Paul speaks a word which Bible readers have not paid much attention to. In fact, it has been neglected by many. He says that we “rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation” (ASV). The word rejoice in Greek means to glory or to boast, and it also implies enjoyment. To rejoice in God is to have God as our boast, our glory, and our enjoyment. To have God as our boast is objective, whereas to take God as our enjoyment is subjective. Therefore, what this verse means is that now through the redemption of Christ we can enjoy God, taking God as our enjoyment; hence, God is our joy. The first half of Romans, which is also the first major part, ends with rejoicing in God, boasting in God, and taking God as our enjoyment.
However, the book of Romans does not end at 5:11 with redemption. Instead, it makes a big turn here. As I said before, in Romans there are three big terms, which also represent three major sections. The first section deals with redemption, the second section deals with life, and the third section deals with the Body. Redemption is for life, and life is for the Body. In the verses up to 5:11 redemption is dealt with; from 5:12 to the end of chapter eight life is dealt with. God wants to be your enjoyment and your joy, but how can this be accomplished? This requires that God be your life. When God lives in you, you live by God, and God becomes your life in reality. Then and only then will you truly enjoy God. This is why Paul begins to introduce the word life in 5:10.
Romans 5:10 contains the chief point of the book of Romans. There it mentions the death of Christ and the life of Christ. The death of Christ reconciles us to God, whereas the life of Christ saves us subjectively. This subjective salvation, which is a salvation of life, includes five great items: release, sanctification, transformation, conformation, and coordination. This is the subjective salvation which God gives us by being life in us. To be released is to be set free from sins; to be sanctified is to be separated from our naturalness and from the world; to be transformed is to be freed from our old creation; to be conformed is to be shaped into the image of God’s Son; and to be coordinated is to become one Body by being delivered from our independence. These thoughts are all there in chapters six, eight, and twelve of Romans. Romans 5:10 says that since we were reconciled to God through the death of God’s Son, much more we will be saved in His life. This salvation is not a salvation in the past but a salvation from now on. Furthermore, this salvation is not objective but subjective; it is not the blood but the life that saves us.
This can be seen in the type of the Passover in the Old Testament. The shedding of the blood of the Passover lamb was an objective salvation, while the flesh of the lamb eaten by the children of Israel became their subjective salvation. The blood of the lamb enabled the children of Israel to escape God’s condemnation, that is, to be saved out of God’s condemnation, whereas the flesh of the lamb gave them the strength to go out of Egypt. We all know that the lamb typifies the Lord Jesus. Therefore, the Lord Jesus said that His flesh is edible. This is life, and this life saves us subjectively.
Therefore, the matter of redemption completely ends with 5:11. Actually, it ends with verse 9; from verse 10 there is a turn from the Lord’s redemption to life. Verse 11 says that since we have been reconciled to God, we are now enjoying God, and God has become our enjoyment. How can God become our enjoyment? He becomes our enjoyment in the way of life. This is also our salvation. Therefore, the second half of chapter five begins to deal with the matter of life, even to such an extent that it says that we are reigning in life. We have not only been freed and sanctified, but we are even reigning. Everything that is contrary to or against God has been swallowed by life, and we are able to reign in life.
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