Faithbase

Here we are again, thinking about the Bible and thinking about salvation, and I'm going to look at Romans chapter 5 verse 10, for if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Now it's interesting that Paul uses the term reconciled rather than justified. In verse 9, we've been justified by his blood, which is more of a legal term, I guess you'd say. Well, it is, obviously. And reconciled is a personal term. So not only are we legally reckoned as not guilty, legally considered free of guilt and righteous, we are also, by the death of Jesus Christ, reconciled, we're made friends, I guess you'd say, once again with God. That was an entire point of humanity's creation, was to be in a relationship with deity, a relationship with the Godhead. And so Jesus Christ restores what was lost in Adam's sin. Jesus Christ brings us back to this relationship, this friendship, this friendly relationship that we should have with God. And it's also interesting that we are saved through the life of his Son. Jesus Christ, if he had simply died and remained in the tomb, it would have been the death of a righteous man. And that's exactly what he was, or is, remains righteous man. But there are two natures joined in the single person of Jesus the Christ. The incarnate eternal Son is Jesus Christ. So he is fully God and fully human, with no confusion of those two natures. This is a mystery, we can't fully understand this, but one of the things that that tells us is that he was a sacrifice that was of immense, immeasurable value. And therefore his death was able to reconcile all those that have been called by God in Jesus Christ. And it is in his life, having risen from the dead, which is proof of his deity. He says he lays down his own life and he takes it up again. And we live in the power of that resurrection. What does that mean? What Paul is talking about here is that we are reconciled to God and we will be saved by his life. Again, I've talked about salvation being more than just the saving of the soul from hell. And I think that's what Paul has in mind here is the comprehensive idea of salvation. That we are saved by his life. It is the power of the living Jesus Christ that resides in us by the presence of his Holy Spirit that enables us to express the new creation, that enables us to bring our life and arena of activity under his lordship. That's the power of the resurrection. It's something that's far beyond human reckoning. It is the power of God in action. And that same power is in us to make us something new, to make us a new creation. And to work that out, to work out our salvation. So what Paul is talking about here is, he's moved a little bit beyond what he said in verse 9. He's talking now about a relationship. He's talking about friendship with God and relationship with God in Jesus Christ. And he's talking about a life of Christ-like resurrection power. Where we express Jesus to others, express Jesus in the way that we live our life. So that's what I want you to think about today as you think about salvation. Think about living the life that Jesus Christ has purchased for us and has secured with his death and his resurrection. God bless you. I'll see you again tomorrow.