<p>5:10&nbsp;<i>For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son</i>- In the argument so far, Paul has talked about justification, declaring us right in a legal sense. Now he talks about us being reconciled- as if the impartial judge becomes personally reconciled to us as we stand in the dock. G.E. Ladd has made the informed comment that the surrounding first century religions didn&rsquo;t speak of reconciliation, because they didn&rsquo;t offer nor even conceive of the personal relationship between God and man which Christianity does (3). The need for such personal reconciliation has been implied by Paul earlier, in talking of God&rsquo;s &ldquo;wrath&rdquo; against sin (Rom. 1:19-32; 2:5). So the legal declaring of us as right is going to have a more personal aspect between us and our judge; if we are now justified, His wrath is no more, and we become reconciled on a personal level. Note that Strong defines the Greek for &ldquo;reconciled&rdquo; as meaning &lsquo;to change mutually&rsquo;. This raises the whole question as to whether God in some sense has changed as a result of His relationship with us, just as a person changes when they marry or have a child. Seeing that God &ldquo;is Spirit&rdquo; and isn&rsquo;t therefore static, it would seem to me that there is an element of growth associated with His present nature. Hence we read in the continuous tense of the Father growing to know the Son and vice versa (Mt. 11:27). This &lsquo;growth&rsquo; or change within God Almighty as a result of the supreme God of the cosmos being reconciled to a few specks of dust and water on this tiny planet&hellip; is not only awesome of itself, but a testimony to the colossal consequences of the reconciling work of His Son. &ldquo;Being reconciled&rdquo; is clearly a state- for 2 Cor. 5:18 likewise rejoices that we have been reconciled to God in Christ, yet 2 Cor. 5:20 goes on to appeal to the Corinthians to therefore &ldquo;be reconciled to God&rdquo;. This idea of living out in practice who we are by status is perhaps the essence of Paul&rsquo;s practical appeal throughout Romans.&nbsp;</p><p><i>Much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life</i>- i.e. His resurrection, in that our personal salvation depends upon resurrection from the dead and being given eternal life. This is the significance of our baptism into His death and resurrection. His resurrection, His life, must become ours today.&nbsp;</p><p>We must beware lest our theories of the atonement obscure the connection between salvation and&nbsp;<i>life</i>- both His life and ours. Having been reconciled to God by the death of Jesus, we are &ldquo;saved by his life&rdquo; (Rom. 5:10). This is not only a reference to His resurrection. When He died, He outbreathed His breath of life towards His people who stood beneath the cross. His death, and the manner of it, inspires us to live the life which He lived. And this is the eternal kind of life, the life we will eternally live in the Kingdom with Him. His death was not solely the merit that supplies forgiveness. The cross was His life the most fully displayed and triumphant, forever breaking the power of sin over our street-level human existence by what it inspires in us. Our lives, the ordinary minutes and hours of our days, become transformed by His death. For we cannot passively behold Him there, and not respond. We cannot merely mentally assent to correct doctrine about the atonement. It brings forth a life lived; which is exactly why correct understanding of it is so important. We are inspired to engage in His form of life, with all the disciplines of prayer, solitude, simple and sacrificial living, intense study and meditation in the Father&rsquo;s word which characterized our Lord&rsquo;s existence. For His cross was the summation of the life He lived. We quite rightly teach new converts the need for attending meetings, giving of time and money to the Lord&rsquo;s cause, doing good to others, Bible reading. But over and above all these things, response to the cross demands a life seriously modelled upon His life.</p>