What Does It Mean to Be Saved “Much More” in Romans 5:10?
In another post, we saw that our God has a plan, an eternal purpose, which includes our salvation. Being saved from God’s eternal judgment by believing in Jesus is a marvelous matter, but God’s plan of salvation involves even more than that.
In fact, when the apostle Paul wrote of salvation in Romans 5:10, he used the phrase much more:
“For if we, being enemies, were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more we will be saved in His life, having been reconciled.”
Paul indicated that even after we’re reconciled to God through Jesus’ death, there’s still much more. In this post, we’ll read verses and notes in the New Testament Recovery Version to help us understand the meaning of this verse.
We need salvation
Romans 5:10 mentions two matters: being reconciled to God and being saved in His life. We might think being reconciled to God is enough, so why does Paul also say we will be saved in the life of Christ?
To answer this question, we need to go back to God’s creation of humanity. The Bible tells us that from the beginning, God wanted to be joined with and dwell in mankind. God and man would share the divine life, and man would express God. This is God’s purpose for humanity.
After creating Adam and Eve, God placed them in a beautiful garden. In this garden were two main trees: the tree of life, representing the divine life of God, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, representing Satan, God’s enemy. God wanted Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of life to receive His life. He also commanded them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But through Satan’s subtle temptation, they disobeyed God and ate of that tree.
The consequences of man’s fall in the garden of Eden immediately resulted in a twofold problem. And since Adam represented the entire human race, we all inherited this problem.
Our twofold problem
What is this twofold problem we inherited from Adam?
First, all mankind came under God’s condemnation. God is righteous. Although God loved Adam, His righteousness required Him to judge Adam’s sin of disobedience. And through Adam, all of mankind was condemned by God, separated from Him, and became His enemies.
Romans 3:10 says:
“Even as it is written, ‘There is none righteous, not even one.’”
And Romans 3:23 says:
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Second, mankind was poisoned with the evil nature of the devil. Romans 5:19 says:
“Through the disobedience of one man the many were constituted sinners.”
What does the phrase constituted sinners mean?
The first paragraph of note 1 in this verse in the New Testament Recovery Version explains:
“Whether we are sinners or are righteous depends not on our actions but on our inward constitution. Through his fall Adam received an element that was not created by God. This was the satanic nature, which became the constituting essence and main element of fallen man. It is this constituting essence and element that constituted all men sinners. We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners. Whether we do good or evil, in Adam we have been constituted sinners. This is due to our inward element, not our outward actions.”
Due to Adam’s fall, all mankind have been constituted sinners. This constitution is the source of all the problems and evil acts today. Instead of receiving God’s life and expressing Him, fallen human beings reject God and express the satanic nature. But God would never give up on His original plan and purpose for man! So He provided a twofold solution to our twofold problem, which is revealed in Romans 5:10.
Do you need help understanding the Bible?
Order a free study Bible that will help you to understand God’s Word.
God’s full salvation
Let’s reread Romans 5:10:
“For if we, being enemies, were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more we will be saved in His life, having been reconciled.”
In the New Testament Recovery Version, note 2 on much more explains:
“Verse 10 of this chapter points out that God’s full salvation revealed in this book consists of two sections: one section is the redemption accomplished for us by Christ’s death, and the other section is the saving afforded us by Christ’s life. The first four chapters of this book discourse comprehensively regarding the redemption accomplished by Christ’s death, whereas the last twelve chapters speak in detail concerning the saving afforded by Christ’s life.”
Now let’s examine these two sections of God’s salvation more closely.
1. “Reconciled to God through the death of His Son”
We were condemned sinners, but Jesus, the sinless Lamb of God, died on the cross as our Substitute. Because Jesus bore God’s judgment for us and paid the penalty for our sins, God can righteously grant us forgiveness.
Actually, we’re not only forgiven by God, we’re reconciled to Him. Note 1 on reconciled in Romans 5:10 explains:
“Propitiation and forgiveness of sins are adequate for a sinner but not for an enemy. An enemy needs reconciliation, which includes propitiation and forgiveness but goes further, even to resolving the conflict between two parties. Our being reconciled to God is based on Christ’s redemption and was accomplished through God’s justification (3:24; 2 Cor. 5:18-19). Reconciliation is the result of being justified out of faith.”
When we heard the gospel, we were convicted of our sins and of our enmity with God. We repented to God and believed in Jesus Christ as the Savior. As a result, we were forgiven, delivered from God’s righteous judgment, justified, and reconciled to God.
2. “Much more we will be saved in His life”
We’re surely thankful that we’ve been reconciled to God, and that we’re no longer under eternal condemnation. This is wonderful for us, but in itself, our being reconciled to God will not fulfill God’s purpose. That’s because of the other problem we inherited from the fall.
If we think honestly about our lives after we’re saved, we have to admit that the effects of being constituted sinners continue to plague us all the time. For example, we’re impatient with others, stubborn, distracted by the world, and so on. So how can we be saved from our sinful constitution?
Note 2 on much more explains what being saved in Christ’s life means:
“Before 5:11, Paul shows us that we are saved because we have been redeemed, justified, and reconciled to God. However, we have not yet been saved to the extent of being sanctified, transformed, and conformed to the image of God’s Son. Redemption, justification, and reconciliation, which are accomplished outside of us by the death of Christ, redeem us objectively; sanctification, transformation, and conformation, which are accomplished within us by the working of Christ’s life, save us subjectively. Objective redemption redeems us positionally from condemnation and eternal punishment; subjective salvation saves us dispositionally from our old man, our self, and our natural life.”
This is part of the gospel, the good news to us. Today, we’re in the process of being saved much more by the life of Christ. Through the inward working of the life of Christ, we’re saved from our old man, our self, and our natural life, which are all related to our fallen constitution. And on the positive side, this inward working sanctifies us, transforms us, and conforms us to the image of Christ. This is what will fulfill God’s original purpose to be expressed through us.
How we’re saved much more in the life of Christ
But how are we inwardly saved in the life of Christ?
Note 4 on in His life in Romans 5:10 explains:
“To be saved in Christ’s life is to be saved in Christ Himself as life. He dwells in us, and we are organically one with Him. By the growth of His life in us, we will enjoy His full salvation to the uttermost. Redemption, justification, and reconciliation are for the purpose of bringing us into union with Christ so that He can save us in His life unto glorification (8:30).”
First Corinthians 15:45 tells us that in His resurrection, Christ became the life-giving Spirit. When we believed in Him, He as the Spirit came into our human spirit to be one with us and to dwell in us as our life, just as God originally intended.
The life that saves us is Christ Himself within us. We can overcome self, sin, and the world not by our ineffectual effort, but by Christ’s life. Christ is pure, victorious, holy, and full of virtues. He overcomes any negative thing. The more His life grows in us, the more we’re saved from our temper, selfishness, pride, stubbornness, and a host of other things.
Subscribe to receive the latest posts
