V. 9

In verse 9, Paul lays out a premise: Because we have been justified by Jesus’ death on the cross—having died for us not because we were good but while we were yet sinners—we can trust He will spare us from God’s condemnation. Paul then develops and supports this premise.

Paul reasons that if through Jesus’ death while we were His enemies, Jesus reconciled us to God, just imagine what Jesus can do for us while alive at the right hand of the Father now that we are His friends. As I mentioned in a previous post, our reconciliation to God (“justification”) is just the first part of our salvation, and is followed by the process by which, as we follow and are obedient to Jesus, we are conformed to His image (“sanctification”), and ultimately obtain eternal life (glorification). Paul here is saying, that if Jesus was willing to justify us through His death while we were His enemies, how much more can we trust that He will sanctify us and give us eternal life since we are now his friends and He is alive to help us. Indeed, Jesus is with God the Father and intercedes for us (Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25), and He is an advocate for us (I John 2:1).

This does not mean we can sit back and do nothing and expect to be changed. Paul described the means by which we are sanctified as a cosmic joint venture with God. Paul said “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” because God is “at work in you both to will” (i.e. give you the desire) “and to work” (i.e. provide you the strength) “according to His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13). We work, and God works. We work together with God to become more like Jesus. And the great confidence we can have is that if Jesus saved us through His death while we were His enemies, we can be confident that now that we have been made His friends, and He is alive to intercede and advocate for us, that He can transform us and get us to the finish line.