“...having been reconciled, we shall be saved by (in) His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” Romans 5:10b - 11.
J.B. Phillips translates “saved by His life” as “through His living in us” and I think he hits the mark by translating the Greek preposition with “in” rather than “by” - “in” is the natural translation and it conveys the Divine reality of God living within His people. This reminds me of Galatians 2:20 in the sense that some translate “I live by faith in the Son God” rather than “I live by the faith of the Son of God” - while either translation conveys an important truth, the difference is significant. If “Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20) then His faith lives in me as well and the life I live is not solely mine, but it is more importantly Christ’s.
Thus with Romans 5:10, our reconciliation includes an exchange of life, our old life dead in trespasses and sins for the His Divine life, and our holistic salvation is worked out (Philippians 2:12 - 13) as Christ lives in us. Jesus Christ takes our old life on the Cross on Good Friday and gives us His life on Easter morning.
It seems that we often fight God’s reconciliation in our minds our words our actions. God says that He has reconciled us through His Son and we tend to say “Yes but.” God pours out His love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit and we say “Yes but.” God declares us justified in Jesus Christ and we say “Yes but.” We often have excuses to not really believe in the perfect and complete and comprehensive work and love of Jesus Christ. God has rent the veil that barred us from the Holy of Holies and we try to sew it back together.
A man-centered way of thinking will lead us to a system of works and we will say “Yes but,” but when we live Christocentric lives and think Christocentric thoughts and submit ourselves to the Word of God in Christ then we must confess that “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).
How radical is this reconciliation? Verse 11 leads us to the “therefore” of verse 12, and verse 12 leads us out of Adam and into Christ - it is nothing less than a complete and total change of our identity with the celebration of that identity reaching the crescendo of Romans 8:38 - 39; we are the objects of God love in Jesus Christ.
We have nothing to do with our being reconciled to God, God acts toward us and upon us and within us and through us; by God’s grace we respond. Since we have thus been acted upon, we ought not to think, as the Galatians did, that at some point we take things upon ourselves and seek growth and maturity through our own efforts and devices. Christ is everything and we are nothing, but in Christ God has made us His sons and daughters and the Father has made Jesus the firstborn among many brethren. By God’s grace it is our calling to live as His sons and daughters - to live as those who have received the reconciliation.
The security that we have in God’s reconciliation allows us to stop thinking about ourselves first and foremost and to lay down our lives for others. It allows us to live as the New Jerusalem, being the City of God in flesh on the earth as we live by and in the Holy Spirit. The Incarnation of Bethlehem expands and grows and transcends race and economics and social status and the prejudices of the First Man (humanity) as the Second Man (the Christ humanity, 1 Cor. 15) walks this earth in His Body. Our natural eyes will deceive us, but as we learn to see with the eye of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 4:16 - 18) we are transformed from glory to glory in Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 3:17 - 18).
In Jesus Christ we have been reconciled to God. We are being saved completely by the life of Jesus Christ (see the three tenses of our salvation in 1 Peter 1:1 - 5).
Little wonder Paul is exulting and rejoicing as he writes this passage (Romans 5:2, 3, 11) - I can see him stopping and dancing around the room from sentence to sentence, from thought to thought.
I need to stop now and do a little dance myself. Would you care to join me?
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