Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 5:11

And not only [so,] but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

11. not only so ] We shall not only be welcomed then, but we are permitted to feel now the bliss of our position.

we joy ] Lit. joying; the participle. The meaning is practically the same as in E. V. Grammatically the word perhaps connects with “being reconciled;” q. d., “We shall surely be ‘saved’ then, because we are now admitted not to acquittal only, but to rejoicing confidence of Divine Love,” “we are not reconciled only, but rejoicing.”

now ] See on Rom 5:9.

received ] Ideally, when He died and rose; actually, when we believed (Rom 5:1). The Gr. is an aorist.

the atonement ] the reconciliation; the cognate noun to the verb in Rom 5:10. According to the explanation there, it here means the grant of “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” in virtue of His propitiation. The Gr. noun occurs elsewhere in N. T. only Rom 11:15, and 2Co 5:18-19.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

And not only so – The apostle states another effect of justification.

We also joy in God – In Rom 5:2, he had said that we rejoice in tribulations, and in hope of the glory of God. But he here adds that we rejoice in God himself; in his existence; his attributes; his justice, holiness, mercy, truth, love. The Christian rejoices that God is such a being as he is; and glories that the universe is under his administration. The sinner is opposed to him; he finds no pleasure in him; he fears or hates him; and deems him unqualified for universal empire. But it is one characteristic of true piety, one evidence that we are truly reconciled to God, that we rejoice in him as he is; and find pleasure in the contemplation of his perfections as they are revealed in the Scriptures.

Through our Lord … – By the mediation of our Lord Jesus, who has revealed the true character of God, and by whom we have been reconciled to him.

The atonement – Margin, or reconciliation. This is the only instance in which our translators have used the word atonement in the New Testament. The word frequently occurs in the Old, Exo 29:33, Exo 29:36-37; Exo 30:10, Exo 30:15-16, etc. As it is now used by us, it commonly means the ransom, or the sacrifice by means of which reconciliation is effected between God and man. But in this place it has a different sense. It means the reconciliation itself between God and man; not the means by which reconciliation is effected. It denotes not that. we have received a ransom, or an offering by which reconciliation might be effected; but that in fact we have become reconciled through him. This was the ancient meaning of the English word atonement – at one ment – being at one, or reconciled.

– He seeks to make atonement.

Between the duke of Gloster and your brothers.

– Shakespeare.

The Greek word which denotes the expiatory offering by which a reconciliation is effected, is different from the one here; see the note at Rom 3:25. The word used here katallage is never used to denote such an offering, but denotes the reconciliation itself.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Rom 5:11

And not only so, but we Joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom we have received the atonement.

Joy in God

I. Joy in God is the climax of Christian privilege.

1. In the whole passage from Rom 5:1 we have an account of the new feelings that are introduced by faith into the heart of a believer.

(1) Peace with God, of whom we could never think formerly, if we thought of Him aright, but with disquietude.

(2) Exultation in the hope of glory.

(3) Exultation, even in tribulations, the process which manifests a work of grace here, and so serves to confirm all our expectations of a harvest of glory and blessedness hereafter.

2. And indeed how can it be otherwise, the apostle reasons. He hath already given us His Son, will He not with Him freely give us all things? And now that He has done so much in circumstances so unlikely, will He not carry on the work of deliverance to its final accomplishment when circumstances have changed? It is thus that the believer persuades himself into a still more settled assurance of the love of God to him than before; and whereas (Rom 5:2) he only rejoiced in the hope, he now rejoices in possession.

3. To feel as if you were in the company of God–to have delight in this feeling and find that the minutes spent in communion are far the sweetest intervals of your earthly pilgrimage–to have a sense of God all the day long, and that sense of Him in every way so delicious as to make the creature seem vain and tasteless in the comparison is certainly not a common attainment; yet no true saint can be altogether a stranger to it. Rejoice evermore, says the apostle, the Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice, says the patriarch. It is easy to walk in the rounds of a mechanical observation. It is easy to compel the head to obedience against the grain of the heart. It is very easy to bear towards God the homage of respect, or fearfulness, or solemn emotion. To serve Him as a master to whom you are bound in the way of obligation is more the tendency of nature than to serve Him as a friend to whom you are bound by the heart. But is not the latter the far more enviable habit?–to have the spirit of adoption and cry out Abba, Father, rather than to drivel before Him among the restraints and the reluctances of a slave?–to do His will, not as if by the force of a compulsory law, or as if under the stipulation to discharge the articles of a bond, or as if pursued by an unrelenting taskmaster? This is the way in which Gods will is apt to be done on earth; but it is not the way in heaven–where the doing of His pleasure is not a drudgery for which they get their meat and drink, but where their meat and drink is to do the will of God, where the presence of God ever enlivens them, and their own pleasure is just His pleasure reflected back again. To carry onward the soul to this were to work upon it a greater transformation than to recall it from profligacy to mere external reformation.

II. Many are strangers to this joy.

1. There are those who care little about the matters of the soul and eternity, who live as if the visible theatre which surrounds them were their all; all they mind is earthly things, and of joy in God they have no comprehension. Give them a warm habitation, stock it well with this worlds comforts, and surround them with a thriving circle of companionship, and they would have no objection to he done with God and eternity forever. When the preacher speaks of the woefulness of their spiritual condition, their response is, We pay our debts; we can lift an unabashed visage in society; we compassionate the necessitous, etc., etc. We do not deny this, but we charge you with joying in the creature, and not at all in the Creator; and, to verify your woefulness, you have only to read the future history of this world. That scene, on which you have fastened your affections so closely that you cannot tear them away from it, will soon be torn away from you. It is then that God will step in. And had your joy been in Him, then heaven would have been your fit habitation. But as the tree falleth so it lies; and you rise from the grave with the taste, the character, the feelings which you had when you breathed your last; and so all that is in your heart, carrying upon it a recoil from Him, will meet with nothing but that which must give dread and disturbance to your carnal affections; and these affections will wander in vain for the objects which solaced them upon earth. It is thus that he who soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption.

2. There are others who make the interest of their soul a topic of great care and thought; who have recourse to active measures in the prosecution of this great interest, and are all alive to the great object of being right with God. It is indeed a most natural forth-setting of the whole man on such an occasion, to proceed on the principle of work and win, just as an ordinary workman does. It is not his work or his master that gives him pleasure, but only the receipt of his wages. There is many a seeker after life eternal, toiling with all his might, who has no joy in God–satisfied if he can escape hell and reach heaven; but who does not reflect that it is altogether essential to this blessedness to have such a taste for the Divine character as to be glad in the contemplation of it–to have such a liking for the Divine life as that the life itself shall be reward enough for him. Without this, all he can do is but the bodily exercise that profiteth little; and that, instead of heightening his affection for God, may only exasperate the impatience, and aggravate the weariness and distaste that he feels in His service.

III. How is this privilege to be obtained. There is a high ground of spiritual affection and of joy in God, to which you would like to be elevated. But you see nothing between you and that lofty region, saving a range of precipice that you cannot scale, and against which you vainly wreak all the native energies that belong to you. Let one door, hitherto unobserved, be pointed out, open to all who knock at it, and through which an easy and before unseen ascent conducts you to the light and purity and enjoyment of those upper regions after which you aspire; and what other practical effect should all the obstacles and impossibilities you have before encountered have upon you, than just to guide your footsteps to the alone way of access that is at all practicable? This is just the open door of Christs mediatorship.

1. It has been objected to the gospel–

(1) That it exacts an unnatural and unattainable elevation of character; and this is a most likely objection to proceed from him who looks at this economy with half an eye.

(2) The very same people may also, on looking at another side of this dispensation, be heard to object to the freeness of the gospel.

2. Now these two parts are those which give support and stability to each other. It is just by faith that you enter upon peace and hope and love and joy; through Jesus Christ, not by working for the atonement, but simply by receiving the atonement, that you are translated into this desirable habit of the soul. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)

Joy in God through Christ

There is a remarkable peculiarity in Pauls disposition. Thwarted in his movements, yet he is not despondent. Exposed to persecution, yet he is not embittered in his feelings, he ever rejoices in the hope of the glory of God; and not only so, but joy and triumph pervade the very heart of his trials. Singular, and aside from revelation, inexplicable circumstance, that a man so sorely tried, should have derived his only joy from an invisible, incomprehensible source! Not so does human nature joy in God. Yet it is strange that man should not seek his chief happiness in the Author of his being. If it were not now essentially deranged, the world of mankind would be advancing in its cycles of holy happiness around the throne of unsullied blessedness with the harmony and celerity with which the planets move on in their majestic orbits around the source of material light. Until man, then, shall be led to seek his happiness in God, not only must he be in pursuit of shadows, but be defeating the true and ultimate purpose of his being. But how shall he be brought to joy in God? I need not ask whether it would have been possible, had we been left to the dim light of nature, to look up to God as the source of joy. The great spirit of natural religion comes not within the definite purview of a finite mind. He is too retired and silent to influence our habitual emotions. Let us think of God as the omnipotent Creator, the beneficent Father of the universe. Man may not fail to be wrapt in admiration as he casts his eye over the beauty and brightness of creation; but when the thunders utter their voices, and the cloud surcharged with the element of death approaches nearer and yet nearer, shall not fear and trembling take hold on him? The wiser heathen thought that God was good; but how can man be just with God? was their natural inquiry. What is the Divine goodness but that all-pervading feeling of Gods mighty heart, which leads Him to promote the highest happiness of His moral universe by at once rewarding the righteous and punishing the wicked? It is in vain to say that your conviction of Gods goodness fortifies your heart against all prognostications of evil. If you feel that you have sinned, you must know that you enjoy no harmonious alliance with your Maker and Judge. Lave you no fear of Him when you think that He may be strict to mark iniquity? Can you commit yourself with conscious and joyous safety to His supreme disposal. I contend that it is impossible to joy in God, unless He be revealed to mans distinct and intimate knowledge; unless we have been made to feel that He takes a deep and deathless interest in our welfare; has no pleasure in our death; yea, that He may glorify His own name, and illustrate the stability of His throne, in our salvation. Now, where can be gathered any satisfactory knowledge of God, except from the Word of God Himself? As the sun reveals to us the beauties and sublimities of Gods works, so does Jesus Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, unveil the glories of the eternal throne. Through Him all the attributes of Deity shine forth with vindicated and resplendent lustre, yet sweetly attempered to human vision. God, the great, the unsearchable One: is brought down to us in such an attitude that we cannot fail to comprehend. God, the infinite Spirit, is brought near to our hearts. Let us appeal to the true Christian, and I ask him whether it be not solely through Christ that he is enabled to joy in God as the Ruler of the universe, and to rejoice in the contemplation of His perfections? Whether a sense of Gods favour in Christ be not more to him than the riches and honours and pleasures of the world. The joy of the Lord is their strength. Or let us summon in testimony the newborn soul. You were transfixed with the arrows of remorse and dread. You wandered about vainly seeking peace for your soul. God shined into your mind to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of Himself in the face of Jesus Christ; and then it was that the tear was wiped away and that your heart leaped for joy. Or, we might transport you to the bed of death. See there the dying Christian! Why does he not flinch from the king of terrors? Oh, it is the remembrance that God is in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself; it is the deathless conviction of his soul that God, even his own God in Christ, will never leave, and never forsake him. (R. W. Dickenson, D. D.)

Joy in a reconciled God

And not only so. It is the second time in which these words occur, and a similar expression is used (Rom 5:2). The apostle had been mentioning great privileges, and had gone to yet greater; from silver to gold, and from gold to the priceless crystal; and when he had reached conceivably the highest point, he adds, And not only so. There is always in Christian privilege a yet beyond. The ancient mariners spoke of Ultima Thule, the end of the universe; but more venturous prows forced their way to a new world, so we concluded in the early days of Christian experience that we never could enjoy greater privileges, but we have pushed far beyond, and at the end of all there will be written, And not only so. The text seems to me to describe the progress of a soul towards God.

I. The first step is rather implied than expressed. There was a time when we had not received the reconciliation and were made sensible that we needed it.

1. We were led to see that from necessity of His nature God must be angry with us. A being who has no anger against evil has no love towards goodness. This is a painful discovery, but a very simple one. One would think that every man ought to see this, but no man does see it till the Spirit of God convinces him of sin, and even then the natural heart endeavours to shut its eyes to it.

2. Another degree of this same step is a consciousness that we are at enmity with God. Why, says one, I pay respect to God, and go to a place of worship, and therefore I am not at enmity with Him. Yet listen; I am certain that if I could assure you that there was no God, and consequently no need of repentance, and no fear of punishment, and consequently no need of pardon, it would be a relief to many.

3. A further portion of this step is the perception that, in order to perfect reconciliation with God, there must be something done Godward, by which the insult and injury done to His law shall be recompensed; and, next, a thorough change in us before we can walk with God in perfect communion. In order to reconciliation it is not enough that one party should be forgiving, the other must yield too.

5. The last degree of this step is the desire to be reconciled to God. This is the dawn of grace, and a blessed dawn it is.

II. The next step is receiving the reconciliation. Observe how we are reconciled.

1. It is not by working out a reconciliation; although this is the first instinct of a man who finds himself at enmity with God. The heart suggests a multitude of expedients–ceremonialism, amendment, future carefulness, etc., etc. But the text does not say that we have made any atonement. We do not make it, or buy it, or complete it, we receive it. It is a free gift. We receive it perfect.

2. The process of receiving reconciliation.

(1) The man being already on the first step, knowing that he wants reconciliation, believes the truth about the gospel. Now, the gospel is that reconciliation, which is made for every soul that believes in Jesus. God is not reconciled to anybody who will not believe in Christ, but He is reconciled to every soul that does.

(2) The next step is to become a believer, because reconciled.

(3) Then peace flows into the soul as the result of the reconciliation.

(4) Then the heart drops her former enmity to God.

III. The third step is joy in God.

1. No man ever rejoices in God except he who receives the atonement. Suppose a man should say, I do not want an atonement; I am a goodman, and always have been; I have not broken the law. Well, he will rejoice in himself, but if we have nothing of our own, and have simply to receive salvation as a matter of the free grace, then we joy in God.

2. The moment a man is reconciled to God his view of God alters entirely. A neighbour has done you a displeasure, perhaps he is a very excellent man, but you read everything he does in the evil light of suspicion. If, however, by a discovery of his kindness you escape from prejudice, his whole conduct wears another aspect. So the soul when reconciled to God from that moment reads Him aright.

3. He delights in God.

(1) In His very existence and person. That there is a God is to the Christian supreme bliss. The infidel may say there is no God, but if that were true I should have lost my father, my friend, my all. The Christian feels that his hope of prevailing over injustice and wrong lies in the fact that there is a reigning God who will set all things right at last. And since we believe there is to be a fuller revelation of Himself in heaven, is not that our main reason for longing to be there? As loyal subjects rejoice that they have a king, as affectionate children rejoice that they have a father, as a loving spouse rejoiceth that she hath a husband; so do we, but infinitely beyond all this, rejoice that we have a God.

(2) In His character. All the attributes of God are themes of joy: His power; His mercy; His immutability; His faithfulness to His promises, etc., etc.

(3) In His sovereignty. Before our reconciliation we cavil at the Divine will, and set up our own. But, the moment we are reconciled we consent that Jehovah should do as He wills. What better rule could be than the absolute empire of love? What can be better as a government for mankind than the absolute authority of one so good, so true, so holy, and so just?

(4) Under all His dispensations. Of course we joy in God under comfortable dispensations. Query, whether we do not then very much divide our joy between the comforts and the God; but in dark times, when the comforts all go, we can joy in God if reconciled.

4. Joy in God is–

(1) The happiest of all joys.

(2) The most elevating. Those who joy in wealth grow avaricious; in their friends, too often lose nobility of spirit; but he who boasts in God grows like God.

(3) Solid; there are good reasons for it.

(4) Abiding. If I rejoice in the sun, it sets; if in the earth, it shall be burnt up; if in myself, I shall die; but to triumph in One who never fails or changes, this is lasting joy. Conclusion: The only sad reflection is, that there are so many who know nothing about joy in God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The joy of salvation

There are various kinds of joy–

1. Maternal: such as was expressed by Eve at the birth of Cain, or Hannah at the birth of Samuel.

2. The mariners: when, after a long and dreary absence, he again beholds his native land.

3. The warriors: such as David experienced when the women went out to greet their youthful champion with their songs.

4. That of the emancipated: such as that of the slaves on that memorable morning when their liberty was proclaimed.

5. The nations: at the coronation of a king. These are instances of legitimate joy; but what are these when compared with the joy of salvation?

I. In the nature of salvation are contained all the elements of the highest joy. Suppose yourself to be a prisoner driven away to an inhospitable clime–as the Poles were–there to toil in gloomy mines; and suppose yourself suddenly restored to liberty and home. Suppose you were sick, nigh unto death, and a skilful hand should restore you. Or suppose yourself condemned to die as a criminal, and the royal clemency should send you a full and free pardon, when you had mounted the scaffold and were expecting death. Salvation is all this, and more (Isa 61:3)

II. Many mistakes have been made on this subject. The joy we contend for arises out of a sense of pardon, peace, reconciliation with God. (Psa 32:2; Isa 52:7; Isa 52:9; Rom 8:1; Rom 8:3.) This reconciliation is complete (Rom 8:33; Rom 8:39), honourable and abiding; we therefore assert every Christian has reason for being joyful. To prevent mistake–note–

1. That we do not assert this joy to be perfect. Some imagine there can be no joy if it be not of the highest kind, without alloy or interruption. Persons entertaining such extravagant notions are sure to be disappointed. We are imperfect creatures in an enemys country, and surrounded by temptations. Is it always midday? Is there no dawn, and no evening? Is it always midsummer? Is there no spring, and no autumn? And why, then, expect joy in perfection, or not at all?

2. We must not, therefore, be surprised if the Christian is sometimes depressed.

3. There is often more joy experienced than we are inclined to believe, and than others give us credit for. Suppose you were to be deprived of your Christian privileges, then you would value your present enjoyments. We only know the real value of our mercies when we have lost them.

III. Let us view this as a matter of fact.

1. Christians might, and ought to be happy, for there is every provision and reason for it (Jam 1:5; Luk 11:13). Perhaps some Christian will reply, I am not as happy as I expected, or as I was wont to be. Very possibly. But perhaps–

1. You have grieved, quenched, and so expelled the Holy Spirit. Business may have been encroaching more than is legitimate.

(2) You have given way to a petulant and angry spirit.

(3) You have been regarding religion as a privilege, and not as a duty. Idle Christians never can, and never ought to be happy. If, then, the Christian is not joyful in God, it is his own fault. There is guilt as well as folly in such a state of mind.

2. Now let us look at those who have illustrated the joy of salvation. See it exemplified–

(1) In the conduct of Christians during the time of trial (Hab 3:17; Act 20:24; 2Co 7:4). Think of the apostles and martyrs.

(2) In the peace which pervades the various holy communities of Christians (Isa 26:1; Isa 26:4).

(3) In the peace which has always been the result of real religious revivals.

(4) But the fullest examples of it yet remain to be seen. This is clear from the prophecies. The golden age of the Church and the world is yet future.

IV. Let us now inquire whether salvation will warrant such feelings of delight.

1. What is the object in which the Christian rejoices? Certainly not himself, his attainments, or his merits (Gal 6:12). But–

(1) In God the Father.

(2) The Son.

(3) The Holy Ghost.

(4) In the prospect of eternal glory.

2. Do not these objects then justify us in cultivating the highest joy? At present, however, the Christians joy is only in the bud, it doth not yet appear what it shall be.

3. If you submit to this salvation, you will fill all heaven with joy; for there is joy in heaven among the angels of God, etc.

4. Compare the Christians with the worldlings joy (Pro 14:13; Ecc 2:2; Ecc 7:3; Ecc 7:6). (C. Dukes, M. A.)

Christian joy

1. The desire of happiness is the most powerful and influential principle of human nature. It is common to man in every circumstance of life–the prince in his palace, and the peasant in his cottage, etc. It is that which governs our feelings, forms Our plans, and directs our pursuits.

2. This desire is lawful and beneficial; it corresponds with the design of mans creation, and is in harmony with the will of his Creator. The glory of God is connected with the happiness of His creatures. To promote these, the commands and promises were given, and the plan of redemption executed.

3. Why, then, is there so much misery in the world? The cause is the influence of sin in the heart and on the conduct. Sin is the greatest enemy to the welfare of man. Consider:–

I. The source from which the joy of the Christian is derived. It does not proceed from himself, or the objects around him–it is not the false joy produced by self-complacency, or by the possessions and amusements of the world. The believer rejoices in God–in Him who is perfectly blessed in Himself, and who is the only source of real happiness to His creatures. The Christians joy arises from–

1. Reconciliation with God (Isa 61:10). He views God, not as an enemy, but as a friend.

2. Communion with God. Reconciliation will promote confidence, and this will lead to intercourse. The Christian dwells in the secret place of the Most High, holds delightful fellowship with the Father of spirits, and gets nearer heaven in devout meditation, ardent desire, and warm affections.

3. A participation in the blessedness of God. The Lord is his portion: all the perfections of Jehovah are engaged for his welfare, and all the promises of His Word are designed for his comfort and encouragement. He enjoys God in everything; in the bounties of Providence, as well as in the ordinances of religion. He has many blessings now in possession–peace of mind, etc., but he has the fulness of joy reserved for him, of which he has now the foretaste.

II. The medium through which this joy is communicated. Christ is the medium of–

1. Reconciliation with God. This arises from that satisfaction which He made to Divine Justice by His voluntary death on the Cross. Those who were enemies, are reconciled to God by the death of His Son.

2. Communion with God. No man cometh to the Father but by Him.

3. All spiritual blessings. In Him there is treasured up a fulness of grace, to pardon, to sanctify, to comfort, to direct, to support under all the trials and duties of life, and to prepare for eternal glory; and of His fulness all true believers have received grace for grace.

III. The properties by which the Christians joy is distinguished. The joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment; the pleasures of sin are but for a season; the triumphing of the wicked is short. This joy is distinguished from these, as it is–

1. Spiritual in its nature. It is not that which depends on external circumstances. It is deeply rooted in the heart, the proper seat of happiness. It is there that the desire of happiness dwells; and till the heart is filled the desire will not be gratified.

2. Holy in its influence. Carnal mirth has a tendency to dissipate the mind and to corrupt the heart; for its source is polluted. But Christian joy purifies the mind, by bringing it into close contact with all that is worthy of its noblest powers.

3. Permanent. The fountain from which it flows is inexhaustible; and as the Christian pilgrim advances in his journey heavenward he arrives nearer its source.

Conclusion:

1. Learn the value of true religion. It is friendly to the best interests of man.

2. Let those who are destitute of this joy seek it by immediate application to the Saviour of sinners.

3. Let the Christian seek an increase of spiritual joy.

True happiness

I. Whence it proceeds–from God.

II. What is its nature–we joy in God as.

1. The God of all grace.

2. Our covenant God and Father.

3. Our everlasting portion.

III. How it is derived–through Christ, etc. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

The atonement

I. What is meant by the atonement. At-one-ment, i.e. reconciliation. This–

1. Supposes that there must have been some disagreement; not so now. Mark the aggravating circumstances with which mans rebellion is characterised. It is–

(1) Most unnatural rebellion; it is the rebellion of children against the parent of their existence.

(2) Most ungrateful; it is the rebellion of children that have been nourished and have been brought up.

(3) Most hopeless. Rebel man could not reconcile himself; he could furnish no consideration sufficiently valuable; his fellow man could not help him; an angels arm could not rescue him from impending ruin.

2. Divine in its appointment.

(1) To the Divine Father it belonged to say what should be done on this awful emergency. It was His sovereign will and pleasure that Jehovah Jesus should assume our nature, and that in our nature He should live, and die, and that His death should be a proper atonement for the sins of our guilty race. It became Him, for whom are all things, etc. Did it so? Why, there are many so-called Christians who will not hesitate to affirm that it became the Divine Being to do no such thing. But let God be true, though every man be a liar. Jehovah alone was competent to say what it became Him to do. And He who alone was competent to say what ought to be done, and what became Him to do, had alone the right. What! had man at the bar the right? Would this be allowed in any well-regulated government?

3. Complete in its nature.

(1) Those typical atonements, which shadowed forth this great sacrifice, were imperfect–

(a) In their nature, because in the mere blood of an animal there was no real intrinsic worth.

(b) In their very design. They were only intended to be shadows of better things to come.

(c) In the fact of their repetition; because if one had been complete why then repeat the sacrifice?

(2) But we are told that Christ was offered once for all, and once offered, it was complete; eternal redemption was procured. The sufferings of our Saviour were intense; but yet without the dignity of Christ as a Divine person, they could have been of no avail. That is the point that stamped His sufferings with infinite value. Hereby justice receives its demands; the holiness of God is preserved untarnished; the wisdom of God is testified in devising such an expedient; the inviolable truth of God is preserved; the Divine penalty of the law is inflicted; sin becomes remissible; the greatest hatred to sin is expressed, while the greatest compassion to the sinner is manifested.

4. Unchanging in its efficacy. There are some remedies that are efficacious for a time only; but this sovereign remedy has not lost its power through the revolution of years.

II. What is it to receive the atonement?

1. It must be received by an act of the mind, on conviction that it is the truth.

2. But it may be admitted by the understanding, where it is not cordially and experimentally received. And no man will ever experimentally receive the atonement till he has received another great truth antecedent to this–the universal depravity and guilt of man. These two things are connected together. If I am not a sinner, or if sin be a very trivial thing, where is the necessity of atonement? But if I am a sinner, and if the demerit of sin be beyond all that I can conceive, why, then, there must be an atonement, or I am undone.

3. It must be practically received. That man does not truly and really glory in the Cross of Christ who is not, by the Cross of Christ, crucified to the world, and the world crucified unto Him.

III. Where the atonement is thus received, great will be the joy.

1. We have joy. Before you received the atonement you had sorrow. At last you were directed to the atonement, and you ventured on it; you received the reconciliation, sorrow fled away, and joy sprung up in your heart.

2. We joy in God. We do not merely joy in justification, nor in this reconciliation, nor in introduction to the throne, nor in the prospect of glory that awaits us yonder, nor tribulation, and (verses 1-4) although there may be grounds of joy. No; if any man joy or glory let him glory in the Lord.

(1) We joy in God Himself. He that has received the atonement dwells in God, and God in him. And where he dwells he joys. He joys in God, in all He has–in His wisdom to guide and direct, in His power to guide and defend, in His grace to renew and save.

(2) But how can we thus joy in God? Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Fallen man, even from the first moment of his apostacy to this hour, has never approached his Creator with success, but through the intervention of blood. I am the way, etc.

3. How rational is this joy. Not like the joy of the wicked, for which no reason can be given.

4. How pure. Those who dwell here dwell in a sacred and holy atmosphere; there is nothing to defile. Not like the polluting joys of sin.

5. How lasting. Not like the short-lived joys of the wicked, which are like the crackling of thorns under a pot.

Conclusion: Learn–

1. How vital to evangelical, saving religion, is this great doctrine of the atonement.

2. That this life-giving religion is a joy-producing religion. Religion is the life of all our delights, and the soul of all our joys.

3. That this life-giving, joy-producing religion may be ours even now. We have now received the atonement.

4. That we who have realised this religion will not wish to monopolise it ourselves. Monopoly in religion is the worst monopoly of all. (R. Newton, D. D.)

The atonement a subjective fact

The word atonement means reconciliation, and this is the old English meaning–at-one-ment. Thus Shakespeare, He seeks to make atonement between the Duke of Gloster and our brothers. Learn that the atonement is–

I. A conscious possession of the soul. We have now received. He does not speak of it as a fact accomplished years ago, nor as a speculative doctrine, but as something of which he and his readers were at that moment conscious. It is one thing for man to have an atonement in his theology, discuss it with ability and defend it with enthusiasm, and another thing for him to have it as a blessed experience. As a mere doctrine–

1. It often makes a man an arrogant bigot; but as a feeling always an humble saint.

2. It may light men to hell, and may there aggravate their misery. As a feeling it will conduct them to heaven, and encircle them with the light of immortality.

II. A conscious possession of the soul imparted by Christ. By whom. Christ is the Great, the only, Reconciler of the soul to God. God is in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. How? In the only way in which reconciliation could be affected. By affording the strongest possible demonstration of Divine love. God so loved the world, etc. Legislation, philosophy, ethics, religion, civilisation, poetry–none, nor all of these, can bring this at-one-ment into the soul. This is the exclusive work of Christ.

III. A conscious possession of the soul, inspiring it with joy in the eternal. We joy in God. The joy springs from the assurance that the Almighty is once more our friend. This joy may include–

1. Thanksgiving, which inspires the songs of immortality; the reconciled soul traces its atonement to the free, tender, boundless love of God through Jesus Christ.

2. Security. If God is our friend, His love is unchangeable, His power almighty, His resources illimitable. And what a sense of security must His friendship inspire!

3. Adoration. Had we a friend that bestowed upon us the highest favours, inspiring our gratitude, and whose promises and capacities assured us of our security, if he were imperfect in moral character, we could not heartily rejoice in his friendship. Moral admiration is the highest element of joy: and this requires moral excellence in the object. God has this in an infinite degree. Thus, if He is our friend, we may well rejoice in Him, with the most ecstatic rapture and triumphant delight.

Conclusion: Learn–

1. The paramount necessity of human nature–atonement with God.

2. To appreciate the intervention of Christ, by whom alone it can be affected. No system of belief, no code of morality can accomplish it. To the gospel men must look.

3. The test of genuine religion–joy in God. The world has joy in creatures and in worthless things–the joy of the truly good is joy in God Himself. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Christs vicarious suffering

A physician testifies: I have been chargeable with forgetfulness of God, and with disobedience to His commands; so that I am numbered among those whom He has threatened with punishment. How, then, can I escape? Such is the constitution of my mind; such has been my education as a man of honour; such is my regard to the inviolability of my own word, and such my contempt for whatever has the semblance of falsehood; that, were God to allow His threatening to remain unfulfilled, in consequence of forgiving me, simply, Immediately, and unconditionally, I could not esteem or pay homage to His character, even though constrained to acknowledge Him as the governor of the world. But, said he, I have read of atonement on the principle of vicarious suffering. It was exhibited, under the Mosaic dispensation, in the erection of the brazen serpent, in the sacrifice of the paschal lamb, and in the ceremony of the scapegoat. This principle is, in fact, a law of Providence, which is traceable throughout society, in every age, and in every state of advancement. It forms the link of connection between the Old Testament and the New; and now that, in seriousness, I am led to ask, How can a sinner be washed from his guilt? reason, feeling, and observation, unite with the authority of Scripture in disposing me to rest on the expiatory efficiency of Christs vicarious suffering. To me has been given faith in Jesus Christ: and, I now perceive, that pardon conferred, in consideration of what my Saviour has endured, sheds a lustre both over the milder and more awful attributes of the Divine character. My soul is satisfied; my heart is enlarged; my eye is fixed in admiration of the glory of God, as it appears in the face of Jesus Christ. (Wilsons Dissertation on the Reasonableness of Christianity.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 11. We also joy (, we exult, or glory) in God, c.] We now feel that God is reconciled to us, and we are reconciled to him: the enmity is removed from our souls and He, for Christ’s sake, through whom we have received the atonement, , the reconciliation, has remitted the wrath, the punishment which we deserved: and now, through this reconciliation, we expect an eternal glory.

It was certainly improper to translate here by atonement, instead of reconciliation; as signifies to reconcile, and is so rendered by our translators in all the places where it occurs. It does not mean the atonement here, as we generally understand that word, viz. the sacrificial death of Christ; but rather the effect of that atonement, the removal of the enmity, and by this, the change of our condition and state; from , intensive, and to change; the thorough change of our state from enmity to friendship. God is reconciled to us, and we are reconciled to him by the death of his Son; and thus there is a glorious change from enmity to friendship; and we can exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received this reconciliation. Though boasting is forbidden to a Jew, because his is a false confidence, yet boasting is enjoined to a Christian, to one reconciled to God; for, his boasting is only in that reconciliation, and the endless mercy by which it is procured. So he that glorieth (boasteth) must glory in the Lord.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

And not only so, &c.: q.d. We do not only rejoice in the hope of glory, and in tribulation, of which he had spoken, Rom 5:2,3, (all that fell in between being a long parenthesis), but we rejoice and glory in God himself, who is become our God and merciful Father in Jesus Christ.

By whom we have now received the atonement; this is rendered as the reason why we should rejoice in God through Jesus Christ; for by him God is atoned or reconciled, satisfaction being made for our sins in his blood. The particle now hath its emphasis, to show the privilege of those who live in these times of the gospel.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

11. And not only so, but we alsojoyrather, “glory.”

in God through our Lord JesusChrist, by“through”

whom we have now received theatonementrather, “the reconciliation” (Margin),as the same word is rendered in Ro5:10 and in 2Co 5:18; 2Co 5:19.(In fact, the earlier meaning of the English word “atonement”was “the reconciliation of two estranged parties”)[TRENCH]. The foregoingeffects of justification were all benefits to ourselves, calling forgratitude; this last may be termed a purely disinterested one. Ourfirst feeling towards God, after we have found peace with Him, isthat of clinging gratitude for so costly a salvation; but no soonerhave we learned to cry, Abba, Father, under the sweet sense ofreconciliation, than “gloriation” in Him takes the place ofdread of Him, and now He appears to us “altogether lovely!”

On this section, Note, (1)How gloriously does the Gospel evince its divine origin by basing allacceptable obedience on “peace with God,” laying thefoundations of this peace in a righteous “justification” ofthe sinner “through our Lord Jesus Christ,” and making thisthe entrance to a permanent standing in the divine favor, and atriumphant expectation of future glory! (Rom 5:1;Rom 5:2). Other peace, worthy ofthe name, there is none; and as those who are strangers to it risenot to the enjoyment of such high fellowship with God, so they haveneither any taste for it nor desire after it. (2) As only believerspossess the true secret of patience under trials, so, although “notjoyous but grievous” in themselves (Heb12:17), when trials divinely sent afford them the opportunity ofevidencing their faith by the grace of patience under them, theyshould “count it all joy” (Rom 5:3;Rom 5:4; and see Jas 1:2;Jas 1:3). (3) “Hope,”in the New Testament sense of the term, is not a lower degree offaith or assurance (as many now say, I hope for heaven, but amnot sure of it); but invariably means “the confidentexpectation of future good.” It presupposes faith; and whatfaith assures us will be ours, hope accordingly expects.In the nourishment of this hope, the soul’s look outward toChrist for the ground of it, and inward upon ourselves forevidence of its reality, must act and react upon each other (Ro5:2 and Ro 5:4 compared).(4) It is the proper office of the Holy Ghost to beget in the soulthe full conviction and joyful consciousness of the love of God inChrist Jesus to sinners of mankind, and to ourselves in particular;and where this exists, it carries with it such an assurance of finalsalvation as cannot deceive (Ro5:5). (5) The justification of sinful men is not in virtueof their amendment, but of “the blood of God’s Son”;and while this is expressly affirmed in Ro5:9, our reconciliation to God by the “deathof His Son,” affirmed in Ro5:10, is but a variety of the same statement. In both, theblessing meant is the restoration of the sinner to a righteousstanding in the sight of God; and in both, the meritorious groundof this, which is intended to be conveyed, is the expiatorysacrifice of God’s Son. (6) Gratitude to God for redeeming love,if it could exist without delight in God Himself, would be a selfishand worthless feeling; but when the one rises into the otherthetransporting sense of eternal “reconciliation” passing into”gloriation in God” Himselfthen the lower is sanctifiedand sustained by the higher, and each feeling is perfective of theother (Ro 5:11).

Ro5:12-21. COMPARISON ANDCONTRAST BETWEEN ADAMAND CHRIST IN THEIRRELATION TO THE HUMANFAMILY.

(This profound and most weightysection has occasioned an immense deal of critical and theologicaldiscussion, in which every point, and almost every clause, has beencontested. We can here but set down what appears to us to be the onlytenable view of it as a whole and of its successive clauses, withsome slight indication of the grounds of our judgment).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And not only so, but we also joy in God,…. Something seems here to be understood, and which is to be supplied thus; not only we are saved by his life, and from wrath through him; not only are we reconciled to God by his Son, and Spirit; not only Christ has died for us while sinners and ungodly; not only do we glory in tribulations, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God: “but we also joy in God”; himself, as our covenant God and Father in Christ, as the God of all grace, peace, and salvation; in his perfections, as engaged on our side, and as glorified in our salvation; in the purposes of God, and his covenant transactions with his Son, as they are made known in the everlasting Gospel; in all his providential dispensations, which are mercy and truth; and in our being of him in Christ, and Christ’s being made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; in all the blessings of grace we receive from him, the glory of which is his due; and in his sight and presence, and in the enjoyment of him. The means by which saints come at this joying and glorying in God, is

through our Lord Jesus Christ; not the light of nature, nor the law of Moses, nor any works of righteousness done by men, nor through angels or saints, but Christ, and him only; for it is only in and through him that God is their covenant God and Father; by him only have they the agreeable view of his glorious perfections; in him only all his purposes and promises have their fulfilment; it is by his hands, and through his blood, that all the blessings of grace are conveyed to them; their access to God is only by him; and by him they give the praise and glory of every mercy to him. And the ground of this joy is the expiation of sin by Christ,

by whom we have now received the atonement; atonement is not made, but received by us; which denotes the application of the atoning blood and sacrifice of Christ to the conscience, the Spirit’s witness of interest in it, and the office of faith, as a recipient of it: it is not faith, nor anything else of the creature’s, that makes the atonement, only Christ; but faith receives it from him, and by him; which, as it is the ground of present joying in God, so it is the foundation of hope of future glory: the word “now” refers to the Gospel dispensation. The poor Jews are at the utmost loss about atonement: sometimes they tell c us it is by confession, repentance, and good works; sometimes by beneficence and hospitality d; sometimes they say their captivity is their atonement e; and, at other times, that death expiates all their sins f. Blessed be God for the atoning sacrifice of Christ!

c T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 85. 2. & 86. 1. Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 6. sect. 2. Zohar in Gen. fol. 107. 1. d T. Bab. Chagiga, fol. 27. 1. & Roshhashana, fol. 18. 1, & Yebamot, fol. 105. 1. e T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 16. 1. & Sanhedrin, fol. 37. 2. Maimon. Hilch. Teshuba, c. 2. sect. 4. f T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 60. 1. Hieros. Yoma, fol. 38. 2. T. Bab. Moed Katon, fol. 28. 1. & Yoma, fol. 42. 1. Gloss in ib.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

But also glorying in God ( ). Basis of all the exultation above (verses 1-5).

Through whom we have now received the reconciliation ( ). Second aorist active indicative of , looked at as a past realization, “now” () in contrast with the future consummation and a sure pledge and guarantee of it.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

We also joy [ ] . Lit., but also glorying. The participle corresponds with that in ver. 10, being reconciled. We shall be saved, not only as being reconciled, but as also rejoicing; the certainty of the salvation being based, not only upon the reconciliation, but also upon the corresponding joy.

We have now received the atonement [ ] . Now, in contrast with future glory.

Atonement, Rev., properly, reconciliation, the noun being etymologically akin to the verb to reconcile. Atonement at the time of the A. V. signified reconciliation, at – one – ment, the making two estranged parties at one. So Shakespeare :

“He and Aufidius can no more atone Than violenist contrarieties.” ” Coriolanus, ” 4, 6.

Fuller : “His first essay succeeded so well, Moses would adventure on a second design to atone two Israelites at variance.” The word at present carries the idea of satisfaction rather than of reconciliation, and is therefore inappropriate here. The article points to the reconciliation in ver. 10. See on ch. Rom 3:24 – 26.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “And not only so,” (ou monon de) “And not only that,” or not that alone, there is more to reconciliation to and with an offended God; peace and joy abide with us, Joh 14:27.

2) “But we also joy in God,” (alla kai Kauchomenoi en to theo) “But are also boasting (of our own will or accord) in God,” we speak out, witness, testify of him, out of sheer joy and gratitude for being his, Joh 16:33.

3) “Through our Lord Jesus Christ,” (dia tou kuriou hemon lesou Christou) “Through our Lord Jesus Christ;” He reconciled us to God by the death of his cross-body, so that we might have sin pardoned, enmity, removed, favor restored, peace given, and make joy abound in us toward God, Eph 2:14-16; Col 3:15; Eph 2:18.

4) “By whom we have now received the atonement,” (di’ ou nun ten katallagen elabomen) “Through whom we have now (and without end) received reconciliation or restoration to God’s favor,” the atonement applied on behalf of our sins, Rom 3:24-25; Rom 4:16; 2Co 5:17-20. And to the obedient believers, the saved, baptized assembly or church, has been committed the ministry of reconciliation, telling the world how that the lost may be found, the condemned may be justified, the, perishing sinner may be saved, Joh 20:21; 2Co 5:18.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

11. And not this only, etc. He now ascends into the highest strain of glorying; for when we glory that God is ours, whatever blessings can be imagined or wished, ensue and flow from this fountain; for God is not only the chief of all good things, but also possesses in himself the sum and substance of all blessings; and he becomes ours through Christ. We then attain this by faith, — that nothing is wanting to us as to happiness. Nor is it in vain that he so often mentions reconciliation: it is, first, that we may be taught to fix our eyes on the death of Christ, whenever we speak of our salvation; and, secondly, that we may know that our trust must be fixed on nothing else, but on the expiation made for our sins.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(11) And not only so.Some such word as reconciled must be supplied from the previous verse. We shall be saved as the sequel of our reconciliation, but we are something more than reconciled. Ours is not merely a passive, but an active state. We exult or glory in God, who, through Christ, has given us this reconciliation.

Now.In this present time, in our present condition. Reconciliation in the present is a foretaste of glory in the future.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

‘And not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.’

Paul now exults in the glory of reconciliation with and from God. We (Paul and the Roman Christians, but of course including all Christians) ‘rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ’ because of it. We cannot get over the wonder of it. Sinners, and yet reconciled to God and therefore no longer under His disapprobation and wrath, but with all enmity removed. It is a cause for rejoicing indeed. He emphasises that it is ‘through our Lord Jesus Christ’. It is the coming of the Lord, Jesus Christ, into the world that has made all the difference. It is through God having sent His Son (Rom 1:2-4).

Notice the glorious progression that has taken place:

While we were yet sinners God commended His love towards us, in that Christ died for us (Rom 5:8).

Being accounted as righteous through His blood as a result, we will ‘much more’ be saved from wrath ‘through Him’ as a result of His sacrificial death (Rom 5:9).

The consequence is that we will be reconciled to God (Rom 5:10 a).

Being reconciled we will be saved by His life (Rom 5:10 b).

Consequently we rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have received reconciliation (Rom 5:11).

‘Through whom we have now received the reconciliation.’ The reconciliation has been effected by God through the blood sacrifice of Christ and is something that we ‘receive’. Thus as we come under His blood we ‘enter into the sphere of reconciliation with God’ having been accounted as righteous before Him. Both justification (legal acceptance) and propitiation (relational acceptance) are necessary if we are to be acceptable to God. And they are offered to us in Christ.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Rom 5:11. And not only so These words join this verse to the third. The Apostle in the second verse says, “We, the Gentiles who believe, glory in thehopes of an eternal, splendid state of bliss.” In Rom 5:3 he adds, “And not only so, but our afflictions are to us matter of glorying:” which he proves in the seven following verses; and then, returning to his subject, adds, “And not only so, but we glory in God also as our God, being reconciled to him in Jesus Christ:” and thus he shews that the convert Gentiles had whereof to glory, as well as the Jews, and were not inferior to them, though they had not circumcision and the law, wherein the Jews gloried so much, but with no ground, in comparison of what the Gentiles had to glory in, by faith in Jesus Christ now under the Gospel. The verse may be paraphrased; “It is true, we Gentiles could not formerly glory in God, as our God; that was the privilege of the Jews, who alone, of all the nations, owned him for their King and God, and were his people in covenant with him. All the rest of the kingdoms of the earth had taken other lords, and given themselves up to false gods to serve and worship them; and so were in a state of war with the true God, the God of Israel: but now we being reconciled by Jesus Christ, whom we have received and owned for our Lord, and therebybeing returned into his kingdom, and to our ancient allegiance, we can truly glory in Godas our God; which the Jews cannot do, who have refused to receive Jesus his eternal Son for their Lord, whom God hath appointed Lord over all things.” As our translators have rendered the Greek verb , by reconcile in the foregoing verse and in all other places, and the Greek word , in all other places, by reconciliation; it should certainly have been so rendered here.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Rom 5:11 . ] Since cannot stand for the finite tense (as, following Luther, Beza and others, Tholuck and Philippi still would have it) cannot be supplemented by (Fritzsche, Krehl, Reithmayr, Winer, p. 329, 543 [E. T. 441, 729], following Chrysostom), so as to make Paul say: we shall be not only saved (actually in itself), but also saved in such a way that we glory, etc. Moreover, the present could not supply any modal definition at all of the future . No, the participle . compels us to conceive as supplied to the elliptical (comp on Rom 5:3 ) the previous participle (Kllner, Baumgarten-Crusius, Hofmann; formerly also Fritzsche); every other expedient is arbitrary. [1224] This supplement however, according to which the two participles answer to each other, is confirmed by the concluding refrain: . . ., which is an echo of the understood with . Accordingly we must render: not merely however as reconciled, but also as those who glory , etc. Thus the meaning is brought out, that the certainty of the . (Rom 5:10 ) is not only based on the objective ground of the accomplished reconciliation, but has also subjectively its corresponding vital expression in the . . [1225] , in which the lofty feeling of the Christian’s salvation reveals itself.

] Luther’s gloss is apt: “that God is ours, and we are His, and that we have in all confidence all blessings in common from Him and with Him.” That is the bold and joyful triumph of those sure of salvation.

. . . [1226] ] This glorying is brought about through Christ , because He is the author of our new relation to God; hence: . . . The latter is that of Rom 5:10 in its subjective reception which has taken place by faith.

is to be taken here (differently from Rom 5:9 ) in contrast, not to pre-Christian times (Stlting), but to the future glory, in reference to which the reconciliation received in the present time (continuing from the conversion of the subjects of it to Christ) is conceived as its actual ground of certainty.

[1224] Most arbitrary of all is the view of Mehring, that refers back to ; and that Paul would say: not merely on the life of Christ do we place our hope, but also on the fact that we now glory in our unity with God ( ? ). Th. Schott refers it to , but seeks to make suitable by referring it to the entire time, in which the salvation is still future, as if therefore Paul had written: , , or .

[1225] . . . .

[1226] . . . .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 1842
HAPPINESS OF THE MORE-ADVANCED BELIEVER

Rom 5:11. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

THOSE remarkable words of the prophet, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him, are usually interpreted in reference to the future world: but St. Paul speaks of them as fulfilled to us under the Christian dispensation: for, having cited them, he adds, But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit [Note: Isa 64:4. with 1Co 2:9-10.]. So great are the privileges and blessings which we enjoy under the Christian covenant, that no words can adequately express them, no imagination can fully conceive them. We may say respecting them, what God said to Ezekiel respecting the abominations practised by Israel in the chambers of imagery, that the oftener we search into them, the more and greater we shall find [Note: Eze 8:3-16.]. Truly, the riches of Christ are unsearchable [Note: Eph 3:8.]. This is strongly intimated by St. Paul in the passage before us. He had expatiated on the blessings which we enjoy in, and by, Christ: We have peace with God by him; and through him are enabled to rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Nay more, we are enabled to glory in tribulations also, as the appointed means of perfecting the Divine work within us, and of fitting us for the glory which God has taught us to expect [Note: ver. 13.]. But neither is this all: for God would have us rise above the mere consideration of our own happiness, even though it consist in a possession of all the glory of heaven; and he would have our minds occupied with the contemplation of his infinite perfections, and filled with all the fulness of his communicable felicity [Note: Eph 3:19.]. Hence the Apostle, declaring this to be the actual experience of the great body of the Church at Rome, says, And not only so, (that is, we not only enjoy the fore-mentioned blessings,) but we also joy in God himself through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

In discoursing on these words, we shall be led to shew,

I.

The happy state of believers in general

The believer has now already received reconciliation with God
[The word translated The atonement is the same with that which twice in the preceding verse is translated Reconciled: and that is its true import here. Reconciliation has been purchased for men by Christs obedience unto death: and it is freely offered to them in the name of Christ, by those who go forth as his ambassadors to a guilty world: and it is accepted by those who believe their testimony, and embrace the proffered salvation. It is on this account that the Gospel is called, The ministry of reconciliation [Note: Deu 33:26-29.]. Those who receive the glad tidings have all their iniquities blotted out from the book of Gods remembrance. He is no more angry with them, as he was in their unbelieving state; but looks upon them as dear children, in whose happiness he will be eternally glorified. They are now privileged to regard him no longer as an angry Judge, but as a loving Father. Their state is precisely that of the Prodigal Son, after he had returned to his Fathers house: they are freely forgiven for Christs sake; nor shall so much as one upbraiding word be ever uttered against them. Their Father rejoices over them as restored to his favour, and delights to honour them with all suitable expressions of paternal love. Are not these persons truly blessed [Note: 2Co 5:18-20.]?]

This is the state of every believer without exception
[If a man have lived in sin for ever so many years, and have at last been led, with deep penitence and contrition, to the foot of the cross, this mercy is instantly vouchsafed to him. The long-continuance of his former iniquities is no bar to his acceptance. The very first moment that he comes weary and heavy-laden to Christ, he finds rest unto his soul.
Neither does the enormity of a mans transgressions make any difference in this respect. He may have been as vile as ever David was; and yet, on coming truly to Christ, his iniquities shall all be pardoned, and it shall be said to him, The Lord hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Though his sins may have been as crimson, they shall instantly become as white as snow [Note: Isa 1:18.]. The healing virtue of the brazen serpent was not felt by those only whose wounds were of a less dangerous nature, but by those who were at the very point of death: and so shall a sight of our crucified Redeemer operate, however long the wounds of sin have been inflicted, or to whatever extent they may have brought death upon the soul.

We may add also, for the encouragement of the young, that, however weakly their infantine minds have embraced the truth, yet, if they be really sensible of their lost estate, and truly look to the Lord Jesus Christ as their only hope, he will take them up in his arms and bless them, and will ordain praise for himself even in the mouth of babes and sucklings.]
But the more immediate object of our text is, to set before us,

II.

The yet happier state of the more advanced believer

Every believer without exception receives reconciliation with God: but the advanced believer is yet more highly privileged. He has this blessing in common with others; but not only so. No: he rises higher; he soars even to God himself; and rejoices and glories in God [Note: It is the same word as is used in ver. 3.],

1.

As a God of all grace

[The more we are advanced in the divine life, the more deeply do we feel our own emptiness and utter helplessness. This, we might suppose, would rather weaken and interrupt his joy: and so it would, if his views of God were not also proportionably enlarged. But he views God as a God of all grace [Note: 1Pe 5:10.]; and whatever grace he more particularly needs, he sees a fulness of it treasured up in his reconciled God for the supply of his necessities. Does he desire peace? God is to him the God of peace [Note: Heb 13:20.]. Would he abound in hope? God is to him the God of hope [Note: Rom 15:13.]. Would he have an increase of patience and of consolation to support him under his diversified afflictions? God is to him a God of patience and consolation [Note: Rom 15:5.]. In short, whatever he want, God is a God of it to him, not only as having an inexhaustible fulness of it in himself, but as, if we may so speak, made up of it, as if it were his one only perfection. What a joyful thought is this to the believer who is accustomed to seek his all in God, and to live altogether by faith in the Son of God, who loved him, and gave himself for him!]

2.

As his covenant God and Father

[God, in the new covenant which he has made with us, has stated this as an inseparable provision of that covenant, that he will be the God of his people, and a God to them [Note: Jer 31:33. with Heb 8:8.]. Whatever he is, he will be for them: whatever he has, he will, as far as they are capable of receiving it, impart unto them. He will not merely be a Friend, or a Father, to them: no; he will be a God: and all that a God can be to them, or can do for them, he will be, and do. All this he pledges to them by covenant, and by oath; that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for him to lie, they might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them [Note: Heb 6:17-18.]. Well then may they who have laid hold on this covenant, rejoice in him. The Jews, on account of their external relation to him, made their boast of God [Note: Rom 2:17.]: and they had reason so to do. But how much greater reason has the Christian to do so, who has laid hold on that better covenant, which is ordered in all things and sure, and which shall never wax old, or decay!]

3.

As his everlasting portion

[It is not here only that God will be the portion of his people, but for ever in the eternal world. Such he was to Abraham; I am thy shield, and thy eternal great reward [Note: Gen 15:1.]. And such he will be to every believer; as it is written, My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever [Note: Psa 73:26.]. In that tabernacle that is above, God will dwell in the midst of his people, and be their God, and will wipe away all tears from their eyes [Note: Rev 21:3-4.]. It is his presence that will constitute the felicity of heaven: there will be no sun or moon there; for God himself, and the Lamb, will be the light of that world; and all created enjoyment will vanish, like the light of the glow-worm before the meridian sun [Note: Rev 21:22-23]. Justly in this view of his privileges does David say, and justly may every believer say, The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup: the lines are fallen to me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage [Note: Psa 16:5-6.].]

Address
1.

Let all avail themselves of the opportunity now afforded them

[At this hour do we preach peace to you by Jesus Christ [Note: Act 10:36.]; and as ambassadors of God, we beseech you in Christs stead, be ye reconciled to God. To all without exception is this invitation given. For every sinner in the universe has Christ purchased reconciliation through the blood of his cross; and to every one does he address those memorable words, Look unto me, and he ye saved, all the ends of the earth [Note: Isa 45:22.]. Will any of you then be content to continue at enmity with God, and to have God an enemy to you? O lay down the weapons of your rebellion, and seek your happiness in God. Surely in his favour is life; and his loving-kindness is better than life itself. Only begin this day to rejoice in your God; and there shall be joy amongst the angels in the presence of God on your account.]

2.

Let all seek the highest attainments in the divine life

[There is a holy ambition which all should feel. We should not any of us be content to obtain reconciliation with God: we should seek to rejoice in God. We should say with David, I will go unto the altar of God, of God my exceeding joy [Note: Psa 43:4.]. It is greatly to he lamented that the generality of Christians live far below their privileges. If only they have peace with God, and can rejoice in hope of his glory, and can glory in tribulations for his sake, they are ready to think, that they are in as good a state as they need to be. But, brethren, whilst we rejoice that ye are so far advanced, we would have you not only so: we would have you forget what is behind, and press forward towards that which is before. We would have you covet earnestly the best gifts. It is your privilege to rejoice in God all the day, yea, to rejoice in him with joy unspeakable and glorified [Note: 1Pe 1:8.]. Nor is it your privilege only, but your duty also: for it is said, In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory [Note: Isa 45:25.]. I call you then to live nigh to God, and to delight yourselves in God, and to have even now the earnest of heaven in your souls [Note: Eph 1:14.]. Let Israel then rejoice in Him that made him; and the children of Zion be joyful in their King [Note: Psa 149:2.].]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

11 And not only so , but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

Ver. 11. Not only so ] Not in tribulation only do we glory, as Rom 5:3 but in the whole course of our lives. Yet not without some damps and dumps, while here. While I live (saith Rollec) I never look to see perfect reformation in the Church, or feel perfect ravishing joys in mine heart. Here Christ comes to his Spouse as a wooer only, and gives her no more than the prelibations and foretastes of his love, as a bunch of the grapes of Canaan.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

11. ] A further step still not only has the reconciled man confidence that he shall escape God’s wrath, but triumphant confidence, joyful hope in God. But ( aber ) not only so, but ( sondern ) glorying in God (particip. not as the finite verb, but in every case either the consequence of an anacoluthon, or finding its justification in the construction: so here “not only shall we be saved,” but that in a triumphant manner and frame of mind. See Winer, edn. 6, 45. 6 [a] ) through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now (not in contrast with the future glory, ‘ even now ,’ as Thol., for that would be more plainly expressed, but as in Rom 5:9 ) received (our) reconciliation (to God [not as in E. V. “ the atonement ,” at least in the common theological acceptance of the term: for that is not here treated of, but our reconcilement to God]).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Rom 5:11 . is the best attested reading, but hard to construe. It is awkward (with Meyer) to supply with , and retain as the principal verb: and not only (as reconciled shall we be saved), but also rejoicing, etc. There is no proportion between the things thus co-ordinated, and it is better to assume an inexact construction, and regard as adding an independent idea which would have been more properly expressed by the indicative ( ). But see Winer, 441. The Christian glories in God; for though “boasting is excluded” from the true religion (Rom 3:27 ), yet to make one’s boast in God is the perfection of that religion. Yet the believer could not thus glory, but for the Lord Jesus Christ; it is in Him, “clothed in the Gospel,” that he obtains that knowledge of God’s character which enables him to exult. . Nothing could show more unmistakably that the is not a change in our disposition toward God, but a change in His attitude toward us. We do not give it (by laying aside enmity, distrust, or fear); we receive it, by believing in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth as a propitiation through faith in His blood. We take it as God’s unspeakable gift. Cf. 2Ma 5:20 . . For an examination of the Pauline idea of reconciliation, see especially Schmiedel on 2Co 5:21 , Excursus .

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

joy = rejoice (Rom 5:2).

atonement = reconciliation, restoration to favour. Greek. katallage, Here, Rom 11:15. 2Co 5:18, 2Co 5:19.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

11.] A further step still-not only has the reconciled man confidence that he shall escape Gods wrath, but triumphant confidence,-joyful hope in God. But (aber) not only so, but (sondern) glorying in God (particip. not as the finite verb, but in every case either the consequence of an anacoluthon, or finding its justification in the construction: so here not only shall we be saved, but that in a triumphant manner and frame of mind. See Winer, edn. 6, 45. 6 [a]) through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now (not in contrast with the future glory, even now, as Thol., for that would be more plainly expressed,-but as in Rom 5:9) received (our) reconciliation (to God [not as in E. V. the atonement, at least in the common theological acceptance of the term: for that is not here treated of, but our reconcilement to God]).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Rom 5:11. , we glory (joy)) The whole discourse from Rom 5:3-11 is comprehended in one construction, thus: , ( Rom 5:3- -Rom 5:10) , … So the edition of Colinaeus, Barb. 4, cod. MS. in colleg. prdicatorum apud Basileam, Bodl. 5. Cov. 2. L. Pet. 1. Steph. . Aeth. Arab. Vulg. make the words , be repeated after a long intervening parenthesis [by epanalepsis,[50] Not. crit.], and the sense, suspended by it, be most elegantly and most sweetly completed, according to the following arrangement of the apostle, although it was only lately that we discovered it, We have peace, and we glory not only in the HOPE of the glory of God; but, even in the midst of tribulations, we glory, I say, in God Himself, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have NOW [opp. to HOPE above] received the atonement [reconciliation]. Most of the more recent copies have made it , as if the construction were, being reconciled, we shall be saved and glorying; according to the reading, which is more generally received.[51]- , in God) not before God, ch. Rom 4:2.- ) the reconciliation. Glorying as to love, which means something more [than merely reconciliation] follows upon the reconciliation and deliverance from wrath.[52]

[50] See Appendix.

[51] BC, the weightiest authorities, read . Gfg Vulg. read , gloriamur. Others, .-ED.

[52] The atonement, Engl. Vers. But implies the reconciliation, already spoken of ver. 10, reconciled.-ED.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Rom 5:11

Rom 5:11

and not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,-Not only are we thus saved by his life, but through the privileges we have in Christ Jesus are enabled to rejoice in God [as our Father, who, having forgiven all our sins, has filled us with the hope of eternal life.]

through whom we have now received the reconciliation.- God offered salvation through the blood of Christ, and the offer must be accepted by complying with the prescribed conditions before the reconciliation is completed. [Hence, to receive the reconciliation is to receive Christs death as a sacrifice for sins. To accept this great fact is to receive the reconciliation, the practical effect of which is to become reconciled. So soon as we accept the fact and become obedient from the heart to that form of teaching delivered unto us, we are made free from sin and become the servants of righteousness. The Holy Spirit is now given. Nothing now remains but to perfect holiness in the fear of God, or to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.]

Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world,-This one man was Adam. [He was the first to violate Gods law, and this violation was the first sin. And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, … Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. (Gen 2:16-17). This was Gods law in the case. Transgression was the act in which sin had its origin in the world. To this three parties stood, each peculiarly related. God was the author of the law, Adam broke it, Satan tempted to the act, and in the act sin began.]

and death through sin;-Death entered into the world through sin-by one sin. [Had Adam never committed another sin, still the death of the whole human family would have followed.]

and so death passed unto all men,-And death extended to all men. [God had directed beforehand that if Adam sinned, both he and his posterity should die. All were thus bound up in the same decree to the same doom. Accordingly, when Adam sinned, the decree took effect, and all died.]

for that all sinned:-[The sin which induced the sin of all was Adams sin. This, then, must have been the sin that all committed. But there is only one admissible sense in which all could have committed that sin-to wit, representatively. Adam, in committing the first sin, stood for and represented the whole of his posterity. If this be not the sense in which all sinned, then that sense is not discernible. Nor should this solution be rejected on the ground of being strange. It is by all admitted that death is the result of the one sin of Adam. There is no more difficulty in understanding how we could all commit that sin than in seeing how we could be justly required to die for it. Indeed, it is much easier to understand how, by representation, we could and did commit it, than to see how, without representation or participation in some sense, we all can be subject to death for it. When it is said, For as in Adam all die (1 Cor. 15; 22), it certainly means that all die in consequence of the sin which he committed, or die by his act. Now, if death resulted from sin on the sole ground of implication in it, then implication by representation must be admitted. We are certainly not on the ground of actual personal sin. Representation, then, is the only alternative. In Heb 7:9-10 we have a parallel case. It is there said that Levi, before he was born and while he was yet in the loins of his father, paid tithes to Melchizedek. Now, if Levi, while in the loins of Abraham, could and did pay tithes, with equal certainty could the whole posterity of Adam, while still in him, sin. And what they could thus do they did, and from the deed came death. But here a distinction should be made. Sin by representation does not imply guilt, as actual personal sin does. It may both justify and demand the appointment of a penalty, as in the case in hand, but no more. Hence, no one of his posterity will ever, after death, be held responsible for Adams sin. As to them, his sin will never, after death, be brought into account. In their case, therefore, death is not the consequence of personal guilt, but connection with a guilty ancestor. Accordingly, though we die for Adams sin, no one of us ever will be judged for it. For our own sins only will we be judged. These alone involve personal responsibility, and, hence, imply guilt. For them alone we shall have to account.]

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

but we: Rom 2:17, Rom 3:29, Rom 3:30, 1Sa 2:1, Psa 32:11, Psa 33:1, Psa 43:4, Psa 104:34, Psa 149:2, Isa 61:10, Hab 3:17, Hab 3:18, Luk 1:46, Gal 4:9, Gal 5:22, Phi 3:1, Phi 3:3, Phi 4:4, 1Pe 1:8

by whom: Joh 1:12, Joh 6:50-58, 1Co 10:16, Col 2:6

atonement: or, reconciliation, Rom 5:10, 2Co 5:18, 2Co 5:19

Reciprocal: Lev 1:4 – atonement Lev 4:20 – an atonement Lev 5:10 – make Lev 23:28 – General Lev 23:40 – rejoice Deu 16:11 – General 2Ch 29:24 – reconciliation Pro 15:15 – but Son 7:12 – there will I give thee Isa 41:16 – thou shalt rejoice Isa 55:12 – ye shall Jer 9:24 – let him Mat 9:2 – be Joh 16:20 – your Act 16:34 – and rejoiced Rom 3:25 – through Rom 6:2 – dead Rom 9:10 – not only 2Co 10:17 – General 1Pe 1:6 – ye greatly

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

:11

Rom 5:11. There is a considerable amount of repetition of thought in several verses. Reconciliation is the same as atonement, and Paul adds it for the sake of emphasis.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Rom 5:11. And not only so. Not only have we been reconciled. Some explain: not only shall we be saved; but this is not so grammatical, since the participle rejoicing (glorying) is the correct reading in the next clause. This verse then introduces the side of human feeling. The reconciliation is Gods act, it gives assurance of complete salvation in the living Christ; but this produces present joy, triumph, glory (comp. Rom 5:2-3).

Rejoicing in God. The verb is the same as in Rom 5:2-3, rendered in three different ways in the E. V. (The correct reading requires us to connect this verse more closely with the preceding; see foot-note.) Our glory is this: that God is ours, and we are His, and that we have in all confidence all blessings in common from Him and with Him (Luther).

Through our Lord Jesus Christ. No glorying that we have as Christians comes to us other than through Him. He reconciles God to us, but He also reconciles us to God; for it is through Him we have now received the reconciliation. In itself the reconciliation primarily means a new relation of God to us, not a moral change in us. The article points to the well-known reconciliation, spoken of in Rom 5:10. But here the Apostle directly refers to the believing act of reception and appropriation. Our is open to the objection that it suggests too exclusively a reconciliation on our part, which exclusive reference is forbidden by the word received. When we were justified by faith, we received this reconciliation, it became ours, through our Lord Jesus Christ who procured it for us, and who by being our personal Saviour makes us glory in God. Thus is completed the circle of thought began in Rom 5:1-2.

The word atonement, found here in the English version, has led to much useless discussion. Within the last half century voluminous controversies have been carried on, which failed to recognize the mistranslation, or recognizing it ignored it in the interest of dogmatic prejudices. The reader must bear in mind the following facts: (1.) That the word corresponds with that rendered (twice) reconciled in Rom 5:10; hence reconciliation is in any case preferable. (2.) Atonement in its old sense (= at-one-ment) meant reconciliation, but does not now mean this. (3.) It is now a technical term applied to the death of Christ, as an expiation, propitiation, satisfaction (see chap. Rom 3:25). All arguments as to the nature of the atonement which fail to recognize these linguistic facts, imply ignorance or dishonesty; neither of which should characterize one reconciled to God.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

As if the apostle had said, “And moreover, we are not only reconciled to, but we glory and rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the atonement or reconciliation.”

Here note, The Christian’s great duty to rejoice, the cause of that is joy, his reconciliation with God, and the means by which he obtains reconciliation with God; through our Lord Jesus Christ; that is, through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, and through faith in his death.

Hence learn, That our rejoicing, as to reconciliation with God, depends upon our believing; it is none, if our faith be none; little, if our faith be little; great, if our faith be great. No man can rejoice in an unknown good; let us therefore give all diligence to clear up to ourselves our interest in this atonement: Christ thought it worth his blood to purchase it; surely then it is worth our pains to clear it, in order to our rejoicing in it. He that seeks not reconciliation with God, is an enemy to his soul; and he that rejoices not in that reconciliation, is an enemy to his own comfort.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Vv. 11. And not only [so], but even glorying in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation.

The general gradation from Rom 5:10 to Rom 5:11 is well explained by Philippi: Salvation is not merely negative: deliverance from wrath; we hope for better: participation in glory. It was by this idea of triumphant entrance into glory that the apostle behooved to crown this whole exposition of justification. For then it is that it will become complete and final.

The construction presents a difficulty. What are we to make of the participle , glorying, which does not rest on any finite verb? The ancients and several moderns (Thol., Philip., Rck., Fritzs., Hodge) regard it as the equivalent of a finite verb, understanding , we are glorying, for we glory. This is the meaning indicated by the reading of L and of the ancient Versions. In this case, we must understand another finite verb after not only, which can be no other than the: we shall be saved, of Rom 5:10. The meaning is: and not only shall we be saved, but we glory in God even now over this assured salvation. The logical progress is from the future to the present. It has been objected that it is impossible to make a simple participle a finite verb, at least in prose, (for poetry furnishes numerous examples of such license). But how otherwise are we to explain 2Co 7:5? The real difficulty is to resolve the disagreement between the future we shall be saved and the present we glory. It seems that if the gradation in the mind of the apostle really bore on the matter of time, the , now, which occurs in the following proposition, should have been placed in this: not only shall we be saved, but we are so certain of it that now already we triumph in God. If Paul has not expressed himself so, it is because this was not his meaning. A second construction is adopted by Meyer, Hofmann, and others: it consists in supplying after not only, not: the verb , we shall be saved, but the participle , being reconciled, so that this participle as well as the , glorying, rest both of them on the we shall be saved of Rom 5:10 : We shall be saved, and that not only as reconciled, but also as glorying. The gradation in this case is not from the future to the present, but from the joy of reconciliation to that of triumph. The objection to this construction is this: The participle being reconciled, in Rom 5:10, is not a simple qualification of we shall be saved; it is a participle of argumentation, as is well said by Oltramare (see also Philippi). It cannot therefore be made logically parallel with the participle glorying. What is to be done if we will not return to the first construction? It only remains, as it seems to me, to derive from the verb , we shall be saved, the idea of salvation, by supplying the participle , saved, after not only, and to refer this participle, as well as the following , glorying, to the time of final salvation: Much more certainly shall we be saved (Rom 5:10), and that not only as saved, but as glorying in God. The meaning is almost the same as in the preceding construction, but more precise: And when this hour of salvation shall come, it will not be as men barely saved, like those rescued from shipwreck or a deserved death, that we shall cross the threshold of eternal salvation: it will be in the triumphant attitude of men whom the Son of God has crowned with His own holiness and renewed in His glorious image, and whom the Father has marked with the seal of His adoption, Rom 8:15; Rom 8:29. It may be objected, no doubt, that by referring this participle glorying to the final hour, we depart from the meaning of the same verb in Rom 5:2, which contains the theme of the whole passage. But Paul, on reaching the close of this development, may easily substitute for the present glorying in hope, the song of triumph at the moment of entrance into glory.

To glory in God was the privilege of which the Jews boasted in virtue of their monotheistic revelation (Rom 2:17). St. Paul here applies this expression to the sanctified Christian who has not only nothing to fear from God, but who as His child is also His heir (Rom 8:17).

Yet he takes care in the same breath to cast down all that might be opposed to humility in this hope of future triumph, by adding: through our Lord Jesus Christ. Even in the possession of perfect holiness and on the threshold of glory, it will be impossible for the Christian to forget that it is to Christ he owes all his eternal triumph as well as his past reconciliation, which was its condition. The last words: by whom we have now received the reconciliation, might be taken to remind the believer in what a sad state he was found, and by what painful means he needed to be rescued from it. The word now would then contrast his present with his past state. But this meaning is not the most natural after the preceding context. In closing, Paul rather contrasts the present with the future state: through whom ye have now already received the reconciliation, that first pledge of the deliverance to come, He who acquired for us the first of these favors by His sufferings, even that which is the condition of all the others, will not fail to carry the work to its completion, if we remain attached to Him by persevering faith. This: by whom we have received, is the parallel of the by whom also of Rom 5:2, as the through our Lord Jesus Christ, which precedes, is the parallel of the same words in Rom 5:1. The cycle is closed. It is now demonstrated by this summary argument, that justification by faith includes the resources necessary to assure us of the final justificationthat spoken of Rom 2:13and even of final triumph, and that, consequently, the grace of justification is complete.

After thus expounding in a first section (Rom 1:18 to Rom 3:20) universal condemnation, in a second section (Rom 3:21 to Rom 5:11) universal justification, there remains nothing more for the apostle to do than to compare these two vast dispensations by bringing together their two points of departure. Such is the subject of the third section, which closes this fundamental part.

Hofmann thinks that, after describing divine wrath in the section Rom 1:17 to Rom 3:4, the apostle from Rom 3:5 to Rom 4:25 contrasts with it the state of justification which Christians enjoy without cause of boasting; this teaching is entirely in keeping with monotheism, strengthens moral life instead of weakening it (Rom 3:31), and is not at all invalidated by the case of Abraham. The conclusion is drawn Rom 5:1-11, namely, to lead believers to enjoy this blessed state fearlessly and full of hope. This construction breaks down before the following facts: Rom 3:5 cannot begin a new section; Rom 3:9 cannot be a question of the Christian conscience; Rom 3:31 does not refer to the moral fulfilling of the law: Abraham’s case cannot have so slight a bearing as that which Hofmann is obliged to ascribe to it;Rom 5:1 is not an exhortation in the form of a conclusion.

The construction of Volkmar is wholly different. According to him, the exposition of justification by faith, begun Rom 3:9, closes at Rom 3:30. Here begins the confirmation of this mode of justification by the Old Testament. It goes from Rom 3:31 to Rom 8:36. And, first, confirmation by the book of the law, chap. 4 (the text of Genesis relating to Abraham); then, confirmation by the law itself, the biblical narrative of the condemnation of all in Adam, which corresponds to the doctrine of the justification of all in Christ,Rom 5:1-21; finally, confirmation by the harmony of the moral consequences of justification with the essence of the law, vi.-viii. But, independently of the false sense given to Rom 3:31 as a general title of iv.-viii., how are we to place the piece Rom 5:1-11 in one and the same subdivision with the parallel between Adam and Jesus Christ, and how are we to see in this last piece only a confirmation of justification by faith, by means of the narrative of the fall in the Old Testament? Finally, this distinction between the book of the law, the law and the moral essence of the law, is certainly foreign to the mind of the apostle. Holsten rightly says: It is unnecessary to prove that these thoughts and this order belong to Volkmar, not to Paul. Our construction approaches much nearer to that which Holsten himself has just published (Jahrb. fr protest. Theol. 1879, Nos. 1 and 2). The essential difference begins only with the following piece regarding Adam and Christ. This passage, while stating the result of the preceding part, belongs nevertheless, according to Holsten, to the following part, chap. 6-8, of which it is in his view the foundation.

Without failing to perceive a certain transitional character in this passage, we must regard it mainly as a conclusion. Thus it is regarded also by Lipsius in his recent work on the Epistle to the Romans (Protestanten-Bibel).

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

and not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. [We have here the external evidences or manifestations of that love of God which, shed abroad in the heart of the Christian, forms the basis of his hope. Before we were strengthened and established by covenant, justification, or any of the blessings of a state of grace (Rom 5:2), yea, even while we were in that helpless weakness of sin which so incapacitated us as to render us incapable of goodness, Christ, at the time appointed by the Father as best for all (at the time when the disease of sin raging in the human race had reached its climax), died for our benefit, though we were then reckoned among the unknown and the ungodly. And how apparent was the love of this action on his part, for though men are reluctant and unwilling enough to die for a righteous, i. e., a just or upright, man, and might, perhaps, be persuaded to die for a good, i. e., a loving and a benevolent, man, yet God commends to us the love he bears towards us, in that we see that he gave Christ to die for us while we were not good, no, not even upright, but while we were sinners. And no wonder that such a love becomes to us a source of hope, for, viewing the situation as to our previous and present states, if he did this for us while in a sinful or unjustified state, much more will he now save us from wrath and deserved punishment, since we are now in a justified state, being cleansed of all our sins by the blood of Jesus. And viewing the situation as to Jesus, and his past and present power, if, by dying, he exercised such a power over our lives that he reconciled us to God, much more, being made amenable to his power by being thus reconciled, shall he be able, by the greater power of his life (for the living Christ is more powerful than a dead one), to keep us in the way of life, and ultimately save us. Thus we see that peace, and a covenant state, and joy triumphing over tribulations, and hope founded on the love of God, are all fruits of justification; but the apostle, in Rom 5:11; adds one more: Not only, says he, do all these fruits result, but there is yet another, viz.: we rejoice in God. We no longer rejoice in rites, ceremonies, ancestries, or legal righteousness, or any such thing; on the contrary, we rejoice in God, approaching him through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom God has also approached us, for through him we have now received this reconciliation which causes us to rejoice in God. In verse 6, instead of saying that Christ died for us, the apostle uses the abstract term “the ungodly.” Had he used the pronoun “us,” it might have confused the mind of his readers, for they might have applied it to themselves as Christians, “us” indicating the unity of church fellowship. But the term “ungodly” admits of no misconstruction; it describes the scattered, the unknown, the lost.]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

11. And not only so, but rejoicing in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have received reconciliation. Salvation is double. Since Satan captured the whole world in view of adding it to hell, our normal place under the law is condemnation and hell. Christ does a double work. He negatively saves us from hell by paying our penalty, and thus blockading hell with His crucified body. This is glorious, but not enough. We also need a positive salvation to prepare us for heaven. Hence, we preach the crucified, i. e., the dead Christ, to the sinner, his atoning substitute who pays his debt, blockades hell, and keeps him out. Hence, the sinner is justified by the dead Christ, who takes his place under the law. Then if we are reconciled by his death there is justification by the crucified Christ how much more shall we be saved by his life? Here comes in the glorious, positive side of the redemptive scheme, including regeneration and sanctification, the mighty works of the living Christ through the Holy Ghost. The a fortiori argument occurs here (9-21),

evolved in a series of climaxes, set forth in the repetitions of the adverb much more, contrasting Adam the First with Adam the Second, the former being the ruin and the latter the redemption.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Verse 11

The atonement; reconciliation.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

5:11 {9} And not only [so], but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

(9) He now passes over to the other part of justification, which consists in the free imputation of the obedience of Christ: so that to the remission of sins, there is added moreover and besides, the gift of Christ’s righteousness imputed or put upon us by faith, which swallows up that unrighteousness which flowed from Adam into us, and all the fruits of it: so that in Christ we do not only cease to be unjust, but we begin also to be just.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Jesus Christ’s death reconciled us to God with the effect that one day in the future we will stand before Him complete (cf. Rom 5:5-10). However we also enter into the benefits of that reconciliation now (cf. Rom 5:1-4). "This" probably refers to our future salvation, the closest antecedent. The seventh benefit of justification by faith is our present relationship with God made possible by Christ’s reconciling work on the cross. We were saved by His death in the past, we will be saved by His life in the future, and we are presently enjoying relationship with God because of His work of reconciliation.

In this section Paul identified the following benefits of justification by faith.

1.    Past justification (Rom 5:1)

2.    Peace with God (Rom 5:1)

3.    Access into God’s grace (having been under God’s wrath, Rom 5:2)

4.    Joy in tribulation (Rom 5:3-5 a)

5.    The indwelling Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5 b)

6.    Deliverance from future condemnation (Rom 5:9-10)

7.    Present reconciliation with God (Rom 5:11)

This section of the argument of the book should help any reader realize that justification by faith is a safe method. It is the doorway to manifold blessings that obedience to the Law could never guarantee.

"Totally apart from Law, and purely by grace, we have a salvation that takes care of the past, the present, and the future. Christ died for us; Christ lives for us; Christ is coming for us! Hallelujah, what a Savior!" [Note: Wiersbe, 1:528.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)