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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(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.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:6-11 Christ died for sinners; not only such as were useless, but such as were guilty and hateful; such that their everlasting destruction would be to the glory of God's justice. Christ died to save us, not in our sins, but from our sins; and we were yet sinners when he died for us. Nay, the carnal mind is not only an enemy to God, but enmity itself, chap. 8:7; Col 1:21. But God designed to deliver from sin, and to work a great change. While the sinful state continues, God loathes the sinner, and the sinner loathes God, Zec 11:8. And that for such as these Christ should die, is a mystery; no other such an instance of love is known, so that it may well be the employment of eternity to adore and wonder at it. Again; what idea had the apostle when he supposed the case of some one dying for a righteous man? And yet he only put it as a thing that might be. Was it not the undergoing this suffering, that the person intended to be benefitted might be released therefrom? But from what are believers in Christ released by his death? Not from bodily death; for that they all do and must endure. The evil, from which the deliverance could be effected only in this astonishing manner, must be more dreadful than natural death. There is no evil, to which the argument can be applied, except that which the apostle actually affirms, sin, and wrath, the punishment of sin, determined by the unerring justice of God. And if, by Divine grace, they were thus brought to repent, and to believe in Christ, and thus were justified by the price of his bloodshedding, and by faith in that atonement, much more through Him who died for them and rose again, would they be kept from falling under the power of sin and Satan, or departing finally from him. The living Lord of all, will complete the purpose of his dying love, by saving all true believers to the uttermost. Having such a pledge of salvation in the love of God through Christ, the apostle declared that believers not only rejoiced in the hope of heaven, and even in their tribulations for Christ's sake, but they gloried in God also, as their unchangeable Friend and all-sufficient Portion, through Christ only.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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

We also joy in God - In Romans 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, Exodus 29:33, Exodus 29:36-37; Exodus 30:10, Exodus 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 Glo'ster 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 Romans 3:25. The word used here καταλλαγὴ katallagē is never used to denote such an offering, but denotes the reconciliation itself.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

11. And not only so, but we also joy—rather, "glory."

in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by—"through"

whom we have now received the atonement—rather, "the reconciliation" (Margin), as the same word is rendered in Ro 5:10 and in 2Co 5:18, 19. (In fact, the earlier meaning of the English word "atonement" was "the reconciliation of two estranged parties") [Trench]. The foregoing effects of justification were all benefits to ourselves, calling for gratitude; this last may be termed a purely disinterested one. Our first feeling towards God, after we have found peace with Him, is that of clinging gratitude for so costly a salvation; but no sooner have we learned to cry, Abba, Father, under the sweet sense of reconciliation, than "gloriation" in Him takes the place of dread 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 all acceptable obedience on "peace with God," laying the foundations of this peace in a righteous "justification" of the sinner "through our Lord Jesus Christ," and making this the entrance to a permanent standing in the divine favor, and a triumphant expectation of future glory! (Ro 5:1, 2). Other peace, worthy of the name, there is none; and as those who are strangers to it rise not to the enjoyment of such high fellowship with God, so they have neither any taste for it nor desire after it. (2) As only believers possess the true secret of patience under trials, so, although "not joyous but grievous" in themselves (Heb 12:17), when trials divinely sent afford them the opportunity of evidencing their faith by the grace of patience under them, they should "count it all joy" (Ro 5:3, 4; and see Jas 1:2, 3). (3) "Hope," in the New Testament sense of the term, is not a lower degree of faith or assurance (as many now say, I hope for heaven, but am not sure of it); but invariably means "the confident expectation of future good." It presupposes faith; and what faith assures us will be ours, hope accordingly expects. In the nourishment of this hope, the soul's look outward to Christ for the ground of it, and inward upon ourselves for evidence of its reality, must act and react upon each other (Ro 5:2 and Ro 5:4 compared). (4) It is the proper office of the Holy Ghost to beget in the soul the full conviction and joyful consciousness of the love of God in Christ Jesus to sinners of mankind, and to ourselves in particular; and where this exists, it carries with it such an assurance of final salvation as cannot deceive (Ro 5:5). (5) The justification of sinful men is not in virtue of their amendment, but of "the blood of God's Son"; and while this is expressly affirmed in Ro 5:9, our reconciliation to God by the "death of His Son," affirmed in Ro 5:10, is but a variety of the same statement. In both, the blessing meant is the restoration of the sinner to a righteous standing in the sight of God; and in both, the meritorious ground of this, which is intended to be conveyed, is the expiatory sacrifice of God's Son. (6) Gratitude to God for redeeming love, if it could exist without delight in God Himself, would be a selfish and worthless feeling; but when the one rises into the other—the transporting sense of eternal "reconciliation" passing into "gloriation in God" Himself—then the lower is sanctified and sustained by the higher, and each feeling is perfective of the other (Ro 5:11).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

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, Romans 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.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire 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.

Geneva Study Bible

{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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Romans 5:11. Οὐ μόνον δέ] Since καυχώμενοι cannot stand for the finite tense (as, following Luther, Beza and others, Tholuck and Philippi still would have it) οὐ μόνον δέ cannot be supplemented by σωθησόμεθα (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 καυχᾶσθαι could not supply any modal definition at all of the future σωθησόμεθα. No, the participle καυχώμ. compels us to conceive as supplied to the elliptical οὐ μόνον δέ (comp on Romans 5:3) the previous participle καταλλαγέντες (Köllner, 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: διʼ οὗ νῦν τ. καταλλ. ἐλάβ., which is an echo of the καταλλσγέντες understood with οὐ μόνον δέ. 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 σωθήσεσθαι ἐν τ. ζωῆ αὐτοῦ (Romans 5:10) is not only based on the objective ground of the accomplished reconciliation, but has also subjectively its corresponding vital expression in the καυχᾶσθαι ἐν τῷ θεῷ κ.τ.λ[1225], in which the lofty feeling of the Christian’s salvation reveals itself.

ἘΝ Τῷ ΘΕῷ] 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.

διὰ τ. κυρίον Κ.Τ.Λ[1226]] This glorying is brought about through Christ, because He is the author of our new relation to God; hence: διʼ οὗ νῦν τ. καταλλ. ἐλάβ. The latter is that κατηλλάγημεν of Romans 5:10 in its subjective reception which has taken place by faith.

νῦν is to be taken here (differently from Romans 5:9) in contrast, not to pre-Christian times (Stölting), 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 οὐ μόνον δέ refers back to ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτοῦ; 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 σωθησόμεθα, but seeks to make καυχώμενοι suitable by referring it to the entire time, in which the salvation is still future, as if therefore Paul had written: οὐ μόνον δέ σωθησόμεθα, ἀλλὰ καὶ νῦν, or ἐν τῷ νῦν καιρῷ καυχώμεθα.

[1225] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

[1226] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Romans 5:11. καυχώμενοι is the best attested reading, but hard to construe. It is awkward (with Meyer) to supply καταλλαγέντες with οὐ μόνον δὲ, and retain σωθησόμεθα 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 καυχώμενοι as adding an independent idea which would have been more properly expressed by the indicative (καυχώμεθα). But see Winer, 441. The Christian glories in God; for though “boasting is excluded” from the true religion (Romans 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. διʼ οὗ νῦν τὴν καταλλαγὴν ἐλάβομεν. Nothing could show more unmistakably that the καταλλαγὴ 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. ὁ καταλειφθεὶς ἐν τῇ τοῦ παντοκράτορος ὀργῇ πάλιν ἐν τῇ τοῦ μεγάλου δεσπότου καταλλαγῇ μετὰ πάσης δόξης ἐπανωρθώθη. For an examination of the Pauline idea of reconciliation, see especially Schmiedel on 2 Corinthians 5:21, Excursus.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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 Romans 5:9.

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

the atonement] the reconciliation; the cognate noun to the verb in Romans 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 Romans 11:15, and 2 Corinthians 5:18-19.

Bengel's Gnomen

Romans 5:11. Καυχώμεθα, we glory (joy)) The whole discourse from Romans 5:3-11 is comprehended in one construction, thus: οὐ μόνον δὲ, ἀλλὰ καὶ καυχώμεθα ἐν τᾶις θλίψεσιν (εἰδότες Romans 5:3—ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτοῦ—Romans 5:10) οὐ μόνον δἐ, ἀλλὰ καὶ καυχώμεθα ἐν τῷ Θεῷ κ.τ.λ. So the edition of Colinaeus, Barb. 4, cod. MS. in colleg. prædicatorum apud Basileam, Bodl. 5. Cov. 2. L. Pet. 1. Steph. ια. Aeth. Arab. Vulg. make the words οὐ μόνον δε, ἀλλὰ καὶ καυχώμεθα 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 καυχώμενοι, as if the construction were, being reconciled, we shall be saved and glorying; according to the reading, which is more generally received.[51]—ἐν τῷ Θεῷ, in God) not before God, ch. Romans 4:2.—τἠν καταλλαγὴν) 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] BCΛ, the weightiest authorities, read καυκώμενοι. Gfg Vulg. read καύχωμεν, gloriamur. Others, καυχώμεθα.—ED.

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

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. And not only so, but we also glory in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. We not only have an assured hope; we also glory already in our restoration to peace with God; our mental state is an exultant one even now. A tacit reference may be supposed to Romans 3:27 and Romans 4:2, where all human glorying was said to be shut out. Yes, this remains true - in ourselves we cannot glory; but in God, who has reconciled us, we can and do. It is to be observed that neither this nor other passages (such as Romans 8:30, seq.), where an exultant assurance of salvation is expressed, justify the doctrine of assurance, as sometimes understood; viz. in the sense that an individual believer may and ought to feel certain of his own final salvation, on the ground of having once been justified. The condition of continued faithfulness is all along implied (cf., among other texts, 1 Corinthians 9:27; Hebrews 6:4, etc.; Hebrews 10:26, etc.). Romans 5:11

Vincent's Word Studies

We also joy (καὶ καυχώμενοι)

Lit., but also glorying. The participle corresponds with that in Romans 5:10, 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 (νῦν τὴν καταλλαγὴν ἐλάβομεν)

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," iv., 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 Romans 5:10. See on Romans 3:24-26.