“… It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:24-25 ESV).
Having explored the negative repercussions that stem from a denial of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, we can now turn our attention to the ideas presented to us in the closing verses of Romans chapter four. One of those ideas involves an uncomfortable subject: death.
In a broad sense, we can characterize “death” as a state of separation. Physical death is distinguished by the separation of one’s spirit from his or her body, for “…the body without the spirit is dead…” (James 2:26). The Biblical book of Revelation describes another type of death known as the “second death” in Revelation 20:14. This second death involves eternal separation from God in a place of torment and remorse. In essence, God will grant the desire of those who do not care to acknowledge Him in the form of this second death.
In the context of our text from Romans chapter four, we should note that death was not a component of God’s original creation. Instead, the Scriptures tell us that Adam’s transgression brought forth God’s judgment and the subsequent imposition of a death penalty. The following chapter of Romans will discuss Adam’s role in bringing death to humanity at greater length. This leads us to several foundational conclusions…
- Death, by its nature, is the inherent result of sin. As Romans 6:23 will later confirm, “…the wages of sin is death.“
- Jesus was the only sinless human being who ever lived.
- Since Jesus was unblemished by sin, death held no justifiable authority over Him.
- As such, Jesus died because our sins were imputed (or charged) to Him.
- He thus absorbed the wrath and chastisement that we deserve.
Therefore, He “…was delivered up for our trespasses” as we’re told here in Romans 4:25. The following author summarizes these ideas and their ramifications…
“By raising Christ from the dead, God the Father was in effect saying that he approved of Christ’s work of suffering and dying for our sins, that his work was completed, and that Christ no longer had any need to remain dead. There was no penalty left to pay for sin, no more wrath of God to bear, no more guilt or liability to punishment—all had been completely paid for, and no guilt remained…
When the Father in essence said to Christ, ‘All the penalty for sins has been paid and I find you not guilty but righteous in my sight,’ he was thereby making the declaration that would also apply to us once we trusted in Christ for salvation. In this way Christ’s resurrection also gave final proof that he had earned our justification.” (1)
(1) Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Second Edition. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2020). [pp. 35-36]