Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.  (6) For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  (7) For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.  (8) But God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  (9) Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.  (10) For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.  (11) And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

The Apostle Paul wrote the letter to the Romans.  Quoting from John Pollock this “letter to the Christians of Rome that should be the distillation of his thought, his nearest approach to the writing of a book, a carefully constructed literary composition, which, if he had never written or spoken another word, entitles Paul to rank with Socrates, Plato and Aristotle among the greatest intellects of the ancient world and, indeed, of all time.”

The verses we study today are strong arguments for the assurance and finality of salvation for those who believe in Jesus and his death for the forgiveness of sins, resulting in justification of the faithful.  In the past, while we were unregenerate sinners, God sent His Son to die for us.  We were then enemies of God – helpless and totally unable to do anything to save ourselves.  We were ungodly and while we were enemies of God, He loved us so much that He sent His Son to die for us.  Jesus’ death removed the barrier of sin and reconciled us with God – through Jesus Christ, God ceased to be hostile to those He would save.

Christ was raised from the dead and the faithful with Him just as we sinners were crucified with Him.  Justification is not something we merited.  It is an unearned gift from God who loved us and the basis for justification is the blood of Christ Who atoned for our sin.  God’s love anchors our hope and it has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.  This is why our hope of salvation will not disappoint us; we who are justified in faith are at peace with God and have access to God’s grace.

Because Christ and God are one, Paul can speak of the cross as a demonstration of God’s love – the only perfect sacrifice and God’s plan and purpose, in love, of salvation – in due time (at the right time). Salvation is only through Christ’s death and not in any way is salvation due to human works or merit.  These verses do away with works based salvation.  Heaven is secure because salvation doesn’t have any thing to do with us.

Verse 11 tells us that the result of knowing we are saved through God’s grace and love means that we should exhult in God through Jesus Christ.  Our hope is sure and we should have gratitude and joy and boasting in the blessings of God through our Lord, Jesus Christ.