What does Romans 5:9 mean? (2024)

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This and the following verse say very similar things. Paul often repeats words and ideas in his letters to emphasize how important they are. He begins by saying that we have now been justified by Christ's blood. To be "justified" in God's eyes means to be "declared righteous," or to be made right with God. This is important, since earlier verses have made it clear that we are not, actually "righteous" people. Based on our actions and attitudes, we are not "good." In order to be reconciled to God, we need to be forgiven, and "declared" as righteous; this is what it means to be justified.

The way that we were justified is by Christ's blood, by His death for our sin on the cross. In fact, Paul has shown that there is no other way to become right with God than by Christ's death for us. Since that is true, Paul writes that it is even more true that we will be saved by Christ from the wrath of God.

We need to be careful how we read this. Paul is not implying that there is a question about whether those who are in Christ will experience God's wrathful, angry judgment on sin. Those who have expressed saving faith—true believers—absolutely will not. Instead, Paul is simply arguing that the second idea is obvious, once the first is accepted. Writing today, Paul might have said, "Since A is true, then B is really, really true." Both ideas are connected, and both are true.

In other words, those who are justified in God's eyes, through faith in what Christ has done, will certainly never suffer God's wrath for our sin. This is the context of Paul's use of the word "we" in this passage: those who are saved by grace through faith.