J. D. G. Dunn also recognizes the
influence of Isa 53 in Rom 4:25, but, like most commentators, denies a
differentiation between the effect of Jesus’ death and that of his
resurrection, treating the two δια phrases in v. 25 as a pure rhetorical parallelism for
a simple affirmation that Jesus’ death and resurrection took place for our
justification (Dunn, Romans 1-8, 224-25). Certainly Christ’s death and
resurrection belong together as the two moments of the single saving event that
brings about our justification. Yet consider the following three facts: (1)
Christ’s resurrection did not just vindicate his atoning death and confirm his
victory over the powers of sin and death, but also exalted him as “God’s
Son in power” or the universal “Lord,” to that he might go on destroying the
powers of sin and death with god’s kingship for our redemption (1 Cor 15:20-28,
etc.), and eventually intercede for our justification at the last judgment (Rom
8:32-34). 92) the believers have already obtained their justification on the
basis of Christ’s atoning death (Rom 5:1, 8-91a, 10a; 3:23-26), but they are
yet to have in consummation (deliverance from God’s wrath) at the last judgment
through the intercession of God’s Son Jesus as the Lord (Rom 8:32-34; 1 Thess
1:10; cf. also Gal 5:4-5; also Rom 8:23-25). And (3) this “already – but not
yet” structure of justification leads us to believe that Paul is conscious of
the present phase of justification between its “firstfruit” and consummation.
Then, it is natural to think that Paul understands the risen Christ’s present
royal work of destroying the powers of sin and death for our redemption in
terms of sustaining us in the state of justification (or sustaining our present
status as the justified or the righteous) by keeping us away from the Satanic
reign of sin and making us render “the obedience of faith” to his reign of
righteousness, that is, by commanding and enabling us to obey his rule rather
than Satan’s rule (cf. Rom 6:11-23). At the end of this present reign, at his
parousia, the risen and exalted Christ will intercede for us at God’s last
judgment for the consummation of our justification. Those two things, which are
vitally necessary for the consummation of our justification, are precisely what
the risen Christ, the exalted Son of God, is doing and will do by “his
[resurrection] life” (Rom 5:10b). So, “Christ was raised for our justification”
(Rom 4:25b), i.e., to do those two things for our justification “through his
[resurrection] life.” Thus, when in Rom 5:9-10 Paul juxtaposes future salvation
“by him [i.e., Christ]” or “by his [i.e., God’s Son’s] life” with the already
wrought justification or reconciliation “by his blood” or “by the death of his
[i.e., God’s] Son,” he has in view the present reign of the risen Christ, God’s
Son, through his (and God’s) Spirit (Rom 1:4; 8:9), which makes us bear “the
fruit of righteousness/the Holy Spirit” (Phil 1:11; Gal 5:22; 1 Cor 9:10; 1
Thess 3:12-13; cf. also Rom 8:4) for God (Rom 7:4-6; Col 1:10) and so stay in
the state of justification (i.e., maintain our status as the righteous), as
well as Christ’s intercession at the last judgment, which will consummate our
justification and finally deliver us from God’s wrath. (Seyoon Kim, Justification
and God’s Kingdom [Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018], 40-42)
The formulation in Rom 4:25b
(“raised for our justification”) makes it clear that the future “salvation
from the wrath [of God] through him” (5:9b) and “salvation through his
[God]s Son’s resurrection] life” (5:10b) mean the consummation of justification
at the last judgment. But the general (nonmetaphorical) term “salvation” (σωθησομεθα) is used for it in 5:9b and 10b
in order to avoid confusion with the metaphorical terms for salvation, “justification”
(5:9a: “justified by his blood”) and “reconciliation” (5:10a), which we have
already obtained (at baptism). This view is supported by Rom 10:9-10, in which
justification and salvation appear synonymous within a chiastic structure:
A. confess with our mouth that
Jesus is the Lord and
B:
believe in our heart that
God
raised him from the death, you
will be saved
B’:
with the heart one believes for
righteousness
A’: with the mouth cone fesses for salvation
Cf. C. E. B. Cranfield, A Critical
Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, ICC (Edinburgh: T&T
Clark, 1979), 2:530-31; J. D. G. Dunn Romans 9-16, WBC 38B (Waco: Word,
1988), 609; Moo, Romans 658-59.
Romans 8:31-39 confirms that for
Paul the ultimate eschatological salvation is the consummation (final
realization) of justification at the last judgment (cf. 1 Thess 1:10; 5:9-10),
which brings about our ultimate redemption from the Satanic powers of sin, the
flesh, the law, and death (negatively speaking; cf. Rom 8:23-25; 1 Cor
15:50-57), and our attainment of God’s image/glory or divine life, i.e.,
eternal life (positively speaking; cf. Rom 8:28-30; 6:23). (Ibid., 41-42 n. 16)
