Romans 4:23–25 Commentary – Raised Again for Our Justification
Romans VerseQuest Commentary Essay 29: Raised Again for Our Justification Text: Romans 4:23–25
Romans 4:23–25 says, “Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” Paul has spent Romans 4 bringing Abraham into the courtroom as the great witness that righteousness is counted by faith apart from works, circumcision, law, ritual, fleshly achievement, or religious credentials. Abraham believed God when every natural circumstance had the smell of death on it. His own body was now dead, Sarah’s womb was dead, time had laughed at the promise, and human possibility had already packed its bags and left town. Yet Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief. He was fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. Then Paul turns from Abraham’s historical record and tells us why the Holy Ghost preserved it: it was not written for Abraham’s sake alone. God wrote Abraham’s story for us.
That one statement tells you how Scripture works. The Bible is not a religious museum filled with dead men whose experiences are displayed behind theological glass. It is God’s living record, written for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction, warning, faith, hope, and spiritual understanding. Abraham had already lived, believed, died, and gone to his fathers long before Paul wrote Romans. He did not need Genesis 15 printed in a later Bible so he could remember what happened. God recorded the event for generations that had not yet been born. He preserved the words so that guilty sinners in the Church Age could understand imputed righteousness, believe on the God who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, and receive a standing before God that no human performance could ever purchase. Abraham’s account was historical, but it was also prophetic in its doctrinal reach. The ink waited centuries for Romans 4 to explain why God put it there.
Romans 4:23–25 brings the chapter to its gospel summit. Abraham believed the God who quickeneth the dead. We believe on Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. Abraham looked toward a promised seed when his body and Sarah’s womb were dead. We look toward the risen Seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification. The cross answers the guilt. The resurrection announces the victory. Christ was not delivered because He had offences; He was delivered because we had them. He was not raised because His own justification had failed; He was raised again for ours. Calvary paid the debt, and the empty tomb is heaven’s receipt stamped “PAID IN FULL.” Religion keeps trying to collect money on a bill God says Christ already settled.
Chapter One: It Was Not Written for Abraham’s Sake Alone
Paul begins, “Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him.” The word “written” matters. Abraham’s justification was not preserved merely as oral tradition, family folklore, or religious legend. God put it in Scripture. Genesis 15:6 says, “And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” That sentence remained on the page for centuries before Paul opened it under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and showed what it meant doctrinally. Abraham lived the event, Moses recorded the event, and Paul interpreted the event. God arranged the whole testimony so no religious system could claim righteousness by works without running headfirst into Abraham.
The verse also teaches that Scripture is written with divine foresight. God knew Rome would build a sacramental maze. He knew Judaizers would try to circumcise Gentiles. He knew legalists would make commandments a condition of justification. He knew moralists would boast in decency, Calvinists would turn faith into evidence of a secret decree instead of the plain response to the gospel, and modern preachers would reduce salvation to emotional self-improvement. Before any of those systems opened shop, God placed Abraham on the page and said righteousness was imputed when he believed. God does not need to update His word because the Book arrived before every heresy and already contained the ammunition to shoot it.
“Not written for his sake alone” also rebukes the shallow reader who treats Old Testament history as interesting biography without doctrinal purpose. Abraham’s life is not there merely so children can color tents, camels, and stars in Sunday school. His record teaches promise, faith, grace, imputation, covenant distinction, divine power, and human inability. The events really happened, but their truth reaches beyond the immediate moment. The Bible is historical without being merely historical. God plants doctrine in real events, then opens the meaning through later revelation. A shallow reader sees an old man looking at stars. Paul sees the doctrine of justification by faith standing under the same sky.
Chapter Two: Written for Us Also
Paul continues, “But for us also.” Those words bring the reader directly into the argument. The record of counted righteousness was written for us. Paul does not say it was written so the Church could become Israel, inherit every national promise, move into Canaan, or replace Abraham’s physical seed. Right division prevents that robbery. He says it was written so we could understand that righteousness is imputed by faith. The principle applies to us, while the historical and covenant distinctions remain where God placed them. A man does not need to steal Abraham’s land to receive Abraham’s lesson.
“For us also” means the Bible believer is expected to read Scripture personally without reading it carelessly. Every verse is for our learning, but not every command is addressed directly to us doctrinally. Romans 15:4 says, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning.” First Corinthians 10 records Israel’s wilderness failures and says they were written for our admonition. We learn from Noah without building an ark. We learn from David without claiming his throne. We learn from Israel without becoming Israel. We learn from Abraham’s imputed righteousness because Paul specifically tells us that part was written for us also. Right division does not remove application; it protects application from becoming theft.
The words also make the doctrine immediate. Imputation is not merely what God did for Abraham in another age. It is what God does for the believer now. The same God who counted righteousness to Abraham counts righteousness to those who believe on Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. The content of revealed faith is fuller because Christ has died and risen. Abraham believed the promise God gave him. We believe the gospel God has now revealed concerning His Son. The historical revelation advances, but the sinner’s boasting remains excluded. God speaks. Faith believes. God imputes. Flesh receives no trophy.
Chapter Three: To Whom It Shall Be Imputed
Paul says, “to whom it shall be imputed.” There is the believer’s hope stated in accounting language. Righteousness shall be imputed. It will be placed to the believer’s account. The sinner does not have righteousness naturally. Romans 3 has already declared, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” He cannot manufacture it by law, religion, baptism, morality, sacraments, penance, reformation, surrender, church activity, or personal determination. His account is spiritually bankrupt, and every effort to pay God with human righteousness is like handing a judge a counterfeit check signed by Adam.
Imputation means God reckons to the believer what the believer could never produce. This is not God pretending the sinner lived a perfect life. It is God placing the believer in relation to Christ’s finished work and counting righteousness on a righteous basis. Christ bore the believer’s sin. The believer receives righteousness in Christ. Second Corinthians 5:21 says, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” The exchange is not sentimental poetry. It is the heart of justification. Our sin laid on Christ; God’s righteousness counted to the believer.
The certainty of imputation also gives assurance. Paul does not say righteousness might be imputed if the sinner performs enough afterward to validate the transaction. He says it shall be imputed to those who believe. God’s reckoning does not depend on a later denominational inspection. The believer’s account is not sent through Rome for approval, through Geneva for election verification, or through a Baptist committee for final stamping. The Judge Himself imputes righteousness. When God enters the figure in the ledger, no priest can erase it, no devil can alter it, and no frightened believer’s feelings can change the ink.
Chapter Four: Believe on Him Who Raised Jesus Our Lord
The righteousness is imputed “if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.” Faith has an object. The believer does not believe in his own sincerity, believe in his decision, believe in his prayer, believe in his church, or believe in the strength of his belief. He believes on God. Specifically, he believes on the God who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. The resurrection is not a decorative appendix added after the cross to give Easter morning better scenery. It identifies the God we trust and the Christ in whom our justification stands.
Notice the title: “Jesus our Lord.” Paul does not present a vague religious teacher raised as an inspiring symbol. He presents Jesus our Lord. “Jesus” identifies the incarnate Saviour who came to save His people from their sins. “Lord” declares His authority, deity, ownership, and exaltation. The One who was crucified in weakness is risen in power. The One whom men mocked is Lord. The One whom Rome sentenced is the Judge before whom Rome will stand. Caesar had soldiers and seals around the tomb. God had a resurrection. Heaven has never been impressed with government paperwork.
Believing on the God of resurrection means believing the testimony He has given concerning His Son. First Corinthians 15:3–4 states the gospel: “that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” Saving faith does not stop at admiration for Calvary. It believes the crucified Christ rose bodily from the dead. Romans 10:9 ties salvation to believing in the heart “that God hath raised him from the dead.” A dead Christ can be remembered, painted, carved, worn around the neck, and carried in a procession. Only the risen Christ can justify, intercede, save to the uttermost, and come again.
Chapter Five: Delivered for Our Offences
Romans 4:25 says Jesus “was delivered for our offences.” That statement places responsibility exactly where it belongs. Christ was delivered because of our offences. The cross was not punishment for His sin, because He had none. He was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,” Hebrews 7:26. Pilate found no fault in Him. Judas confessed he betrayed innocent blood. The thief on the cross said, “this man hath done nothing amiss.” Yet the sinless One was delivered to suffering and death. Why? Our offences.
“Offences” is plural because our guilt was not a single minor defect. Sin has filled the record. Thoughts, words, motives, acts, omissions, unbelief, pride, lust, bitterness, deceit, idolatry, rebellion, and every crooked thing in Adam’s race stood against us. Christ was delivered for all of it. Isaiah 53:5 says, “he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.” Verse 6 says, “the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Calvary was substitution. The innocent took the place of the guilty. The Shepherd died for the sheep. The Just suffered for the unjust.
This destroys every soft theory that reduces the cross to an example of courage, a political execution, a display of solidarity, or a moral influence designed merely to make sinners feel loved. The cross certainly displays love, but love did not bypass justice. Christ was delivered for offences. Our sin required judgment. Our guilt required payment. Our condemnation required a Substitute. Liberal theology removes wrath, blood, substitution, and propitiation, then holds up an empty religious shell and calls it Christianity. That is like removing the heart from a man and praising the quality of his shirt.
Chapter Six: Raised Again for Our Justification
Paul says Christ “was raised again for our justification.” The resurrection is central to the believer’s standing before God. Christ’s death paid the price for our offences, and His resurrection declares the victory of that completed work. The empty tomb is God’s public vindication of His Son, the announcement that death could not hold Him, the sacrifice was accepted, sin had been answered, and the One who died now lives forevermore. A crucified Saviour without resurrection would leave the believer with a tragedy, not a triumph.
First Corinthians 15:17 says, “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” That statement shows how essential resurrection is. Paul does not say the cross was meaningless, but that without resurrection there would be no divine confirmation of victory, no living High Priest, no risen Head of the Body, no guarantee of our own resurrection, and no completed gospel to preach. A dead Christ cannot justify living sinners. A sealed tomb would mean death won, the sacrifice failed, and hope was buried beside the body. But the tomb is empty. Christ is risen. Faith is not vain. The believer is not in his sins.
“Raised again for our justification” means the resurrection stands as the divine declaration connected to our righteous standing. Christ was delivered because of our offences and raised with our justification in view as the accomplished result of His accepted work. The resurrection does not mean Calvary was insufficient and needed a second payment. It means Calvary was sufficient and resurrection proves the payment was accepted. The cross is the transaction; the empty tomb is the receipt. Religion keeps presenting new invoices because it cannot believe God’s receipt.
Chapter Seven: The Resurrection Secures the Believer’s Standing
A living Saviour secures a living salvation. Romans 5:10 will say, “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” Christ did not rise only to return briefly and then disappear into religious history. He rose to live forever. Hebrews 7:25 says He “ever liveth to make intercession” for those who come unto God by Him. The believer’s standing is connected not merely to a past death but to a present, living, interceding Lord.
This is why eternal security is not confidence in human endurance but confidence in Christ’s life. The believer may weaken; Christ does not. The believer may fail; Christ’s blood does not lose value. The believer’s understanding may fluctuate; Christ’s priesthood does not expire. The believer may lose fellowship, reward, testimony, peace, usefulness, and even physical life under severe chastening, but he cannot reverse the resurrection, unseat Christ from the right hand of God, or persuade the Father to reject the propitiation He already accepted. A salvation maintained by the believer would be as unstable as the believer. A salvation maintained by the risen Christ is as secure as Christ.
The resurrection also guarantees the believer’s future. Romans 8:11 says that the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies. First Corinthians 15 calls Christ “the firstfruits of them that slept.” His resurrection is not an isolated miracle but the beginning and guarantee of a harvest. Because He lives, we shall live. Because He rose bodily, the believer’s hope is not floating through eternity as a religious mist. We await the redemption of the body, the resurrection of the dead in Christ, and the catching away of living saints. The empty tomb is the doorway through which the whole redeemed body will eventually walk.
Conclusion
Romans 4:23–25 takes Abraham’s imputed righteousness and brings the doctrine directly to believers in Jesus Christ. Abraham’s record was not written for his sake alone. It was written for us also, to show that righteousness is imputed to those who believe God. But our faith is not left in general terms. We believe on Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. The promise Abraham trusted points us toward the risen Christ in whom every saving promise finds its righteous foundation.
Christ was delivered for our offences. Every sin in the record, every accusation of the law, every righteous demand of God, and every sentence hanging over the sinner met its answer at Calvary. Jesus did not die as a helpless victim caught in unfortunate history. He was delivered according to God’s determinate counsel as the sinless Substitute for guilty men. His blood paid what morality could not pay, religion could not pay, law-keeping could not pay, and human sorrow could never pay. The debt demanded death, and Christ gave His life.
Then He was raised again for our justification. The grave could not hold the sinless Son of God. God raised Him, vindicated Him, declared the sacrifice accepted, and gave believers a living Saviour whose intercession never ends. The cross says the debt was paid. The resurrection says the payment cleared. The believer’s standing is therefore not built on a fading religious feeling but on two immovable historical acts: Christ died for our offences, and God raised Him for our justification. Religion keeps sinners staring at themselves. The gospel points to an empty cross, an empty tomb, and a throne occupied by Jesus our Lord.
Romans 4:23–25 Commentary – Raised Again for Our Justification
Romans VerseQuest Commentary
Essay 29: Raised Again for Our Justification
Text: Romans 4:23–25
Romans 4:23–25 says, “Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” Paul has spent Romans 4 bringing Abraham into the courtroom as the great witness that righteousness is counted by faith apart from works, circumcision, law, ritual, fleshly achievement, or religious credentials. Abraham believed God when every natural circumstance had the smell of death on it. His own body was now dead, Sarah’s womb was dead, time had laughed at the promise, and human possibility had already packed its bags and left town. Yet Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief. He was fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. Then Paul turns from Abraham’s historical record and tells us why the Holy Ghost preserved it: it was not written for Abraham’s sake alone. God wrote Abraham’s story for us.
That one statement tells you how Scripture works. The Bible is not a religious museum filled with dead men whose experiences are displayed behind theological glass. It is God’s living record, written for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction, warning, faith, hope, and spiritual understanding. Abraham had already lived, believed, died, and gone to his fathers long before Paul wrote Romans. He did not need Genesis 15 printed in a later Bible so he could remember what happened. God recorded the event for generations that had not yet been born. He preserved the words so that guilty sinners in the Church Age could understand imputed righteousness, believe on the God who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, and receive a standing before God that no human performance could ever purchase. Abraham’s account was historical, but it was also prophetic in its doctrinal reach. The ink waited centuries for Romans 4 to explain why God put it there.
Romans 4:23–25 brings the chapter to its gospel summit. Abraham believed the God who quickeneth the dead. We believe on Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. Abraham looked toward a promised seed when his body and Sarah’s womb were dead. We look toward the risen Seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification. The cross answers the guilt. The resurrection announces the victory. Christ was not delivered because He had offences; He was delivered because we had them. He was not raised because His own justification had failed; He was raised again for ours. Calvary paid the debt, and the empty tomb is heaven’s receipt stamped “PAID IN FULL.” Religion keeps trying to collect money on a bill God says Christ already settled.
Chapter One: It Was Not Written for Abraham’s Sake Alone
Paul begins, “Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him.” The word “written” matters. Abraham’s justification was not preserved merely as oral tradition, family folklore, or religious legend. God put it in Scripture. Genesis 15:6 says, “And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” That sentence remained on the page for centuries before Paul opened it under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and showed what it meant doctrinally. Abraham lived the event, Moses recorded the event, and Paul interpreted the event. God arranged the whole testimony so no religious system could claim righteousness by works without running headfirst into Abraham.
The verse also teaches that Scripture is written with divine foresight. God knew Rome would build a sacramental maze. He knew Judaizers would try to circumcise Gentiles. He knew legalists would make commandments a condition of justification. He knew moralists would boast in decency, Calvinists would turn faith into evidence of a secret decree instead of the plain response to the gospel, and modern preachers would reduce salvation to emotional self-improvement. Before any of those systems opened shop, God placed Abraham on the page and said righteousness was imputed when he believed. God does not need to update His word because the Book arrived before every heresy and already contained the ammunition to shoot it.
“Not written for his sake alone” also rebukes the shallow reader who treats Old Testament history as interesting biography without doctrinal purpose. Abraham’s life is not there merely so children can color tents, camels, and stars in Sunday school. His record teaches promise, faith, grace, imputation, covenant distinction, divine power, and human inability. The events really happened, but their truth reaches beyond the immediate moment. The Bible is historical without being merely historical. God plants doctrine in real events, then opens the meaning through later revelation. A shallow reader sees an old man looking at stars. Paul sees the doctrine of justification by faith standing under the same sky.
Chapter Two: Written for Us Also
Paul continues, “But for us also.” Those words bring the reader directly into the argument. The record of counted righteousness was written for us. Paul does not say it was written so the Church could become Israel, inherit every national promise, move into Canaan, or replace Abraham’s physical seed. Right division prevents that robbery. He says it was written so we could understand that righteousness is imputed by faith. The principle applies to us, while the historical and covenant distinctions remain where God placed them. A man does not need to steal Abraham’s land to receive Abraham’s lesson.
“For us also” means the Bible believer is expected to read Scripture personally without reading it carelessly. Every verse is for our learning, but not every command is addressed directly to us doctrinally. Romans 15:4 says, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning.” First Corinthians 10 records Israel’s wilderness failures and says they were written for our admonition. We learn from Noah without building an ark. We learn from David without claiming his throne. We learn from Israel without becoming Israel. We learn from Abraham’s imputed righteousness because Paul specifically tells us that part was written for us also. Right division does not remove application; it protects application from becoming theft.
The words also make the doctrine immediate. Imputation is not merely what God did for Abraham in another age. It is what God does for the believer now. The same God who counted righteousness to Abraham counts righteousness to those who believe on Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. The content of revealed faith is fuller because Christ has died and risen. Abraham believed the promise God gave him. We believe the gospel God has now revealed concerning His Son. The historical revelation advances, but the sinner’s boasting remains excluded. God speaks. Faith believes. God imputes. Flesh receives no trophy.
Chapter Three: To Whom It Shall Be Imputed
Paul says, “to whom it shall be imputed.” There is the believer’s hope stated in accounting language. Righteousness shall be imputed. It will be placed to the believer’s account. The sinner does not have righteousness naturally. Romans 3 has already declared, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” He cannot manufacture it by law, religion, baptism, morality, sacraments, penance, reformation, surrender, church activity, or personal determination. His account is spiritually bankrupt, and every effort to pay God with human righteousness is like handing a judge a counterfeit check signed by Adam.
Imputation means God reckons to the believer what the believer could never produce. This is not God pretending the sinner lived a perfect life. It is God placing the believer in relation to Christ’s finished work and counting righteousness on a righteous basis. Christ bore the believer’s sin. The believer receives righteousness in Christ. Second Corinthians 5:21 says, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” The exchange is not sentimental poetry. It is the heart of justification. Our sin laid on Christ; God’s righteousness counted to the believer.
The certainty of imputation also gives assurance. Paul does not say righteousness might be imputed if the sinner performs enough afterward to validate the transaction. He says it shall be imputed to those who believe. God’s reckoning does not depend on a later denominational inspection. The believer’s account is not sent through Rome for approval, through Geneva for election verification, or through a Baptist committee for final stamping. The Judge Himself imputes righteousness. When God enters the figure in the ledger, no priest can erase it, no devil can alter it, and no frightened believer’s feelings can change the ink.
Chapter Four: Believe on Him Who Raised Jesus Our Lord
The righteousness is imputed “if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.” Faith has an object. The believer does not believe in his own sincerity, believe in his decision, believe in his prayer, believe in his church, or believe in the strength of his belief. He believes on God. Specifically, he believes on the God who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. The resurrection is not a decorative appendix added after the cross to give Easter morning better scenery. It identifies the God we trust and the Christ in whom our justification stands.
Notice the title: “Jesus our Lord.” Paul does not present a vague religious teacher raised as an inspiring symbol. He presents Jesus our Lord. “Jesus” identifies the incarnate Saviour who came to save His people from their sins. “Lord” declares His authority, deity, ownership, and exaltation. The One who was crucified in weakness is risen in power. The One whom men mocked is Lord. The One whom Rome sentenced is the Judge before whom Rome will stand. Caesar had soldiers and seals around the tomb. God had a resurrection. Heaven has never been impressed with government paperwork.
Believing on the God of resurrection means believing the testimony He has given concerning His Son. First Corinthians 15:3–4 states the gospel: “that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” Saving faith does not stop at admiration for Calvary. It believes the crucified Christ rose bodily from the dead. Romans 10:9 ties salvation to believing in the heart “that God hath raised him from the dead.” A dead Christ can be remembered, painted, carved, worn around the neck, and carried in a procession. Only the risen Christ can justify, intercede, save to the uttermost, and come again.
Chapter Five: Delivered for Our Offences
Romans 4:25 says Jesus “was delivered for our offences.” That statement places responsibility exactly where it belongs. Christ was delivered because of our offences. The cross was not punishment for His sin, because He had none. He was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,” Hebrews 7:26. Pilate found no fault in Him. Judas confessed he betrayed innocent blood. The thief on the cross said, “this man hath done nothing amiss.” Yet the sinless One was delivered to suffering and death. Why? Our offences.
“Offences” is plural because our guilt was not a single minor defect. Sin has filled the record. Thoughts, words, motives, acts, omissions, unbelief, pride, lust, bitterness, deceit, idolatry, rebellion, and every crooked thing in Adam’s race stood against us. Christ was delivered for all of it. Isaiah 53:5 says, “he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.” Verse 6 says, “the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Calvary was substitution. The innocent took the place of the guilty. The Shepherd died for the sheep. The Just suffered for the unjust.
This destroys every soft theory that reduces the cross to an example of courage, a political execution, a display of solidarity, or a moral influence designed merely to make sinners feel loved. The cross certainly displays love, but love did not bypass justice. Christ was delivered for offences. Our sin required judgment. Our guilt required payment. Our condemnation required a Substitute. Liberal theology removes wrath, blood, substitution, and propitiation, then holds up an empty religious shell and calls it Christianity. That is like removing the heart from a man and praising the quality of his shirt.
Chapter Six: Raised Again for Our Justification
Paul says Christ “was raised again for our justification.” The resurrection is central to the believer’s standing before God. Christ’s death paid the price for our offences, and His resurrection declares the victory of that completed work. The empty tomb is God’s public vindication of His Son, the announcement that death could not hold Him, the sacrifice was accepted, sin had been answered, and the One who died now lives forevermore. A crucified Saviour without resurrection would leave the believer with a tragedy, not a triumph.
First Corinthians 15:17 says, “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” That statement shows how essential resurrection is. Paul does not say the cross was meaningless, but that without resurrection there would be no divine confirmation of victory, no living High Priest, no risen Head of the Body, no guarantee of our own resurrection, and no completed gospel to preach. A dead Christ cannot justify living sinners. A sealed tomb would mean death won, the sacrifice failed, and hope was buried beside the body. But the tomb is empty. Christ is risen. Faith is not vain. The believer is not in his sins.
“Raised again for our justification” means the resurrection stands as the divine declaration connected to our righteous standing. Christ was delivered because of our offences and raised with our justification in view as the accomplished result of His accepted work. The resurrection does not mean Calvary was insufficient and needed a second payment. It means Calvary was sufficient and resurrection proves the payment was accepted. The cross is the transaction; the empty tomb is the receipt. Religion keeps presenting new invoices because it cannot believe God’s receipt.
Chapter Seven: The Resurrection Secures the Believer’s Standing
A living Saviour secures a living salvation. Romans 5:10 will say, “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” Christ did not rise only to return briefly and then disappear into religious history. He rose to live forever. Hebrews 7:25 says He “ever liveth to make intercession” for those who come unto God by Him. The believer’s standing is connected not merely to a past death but to a present, living, interceding Lord.
This is why eternal security is not confidence in human endurance but confidence in Christ’s life. The believer may weaken; Christ does not. The believer may fail; Christ’s blood does not lose value. The believer’s understanding may fluctuate; Christ’s priesthood does not expire. The believer may lose fellowship, reward, testimony, peace, usefulness, and even physical life under severe chastening, but he cannot reverse the resurrection, unseat Christ from the right hand of God, or persuade the Father to reject the propitiation He already accepted. A salvation maintained by the believer would be as unstable as the believer. A salvation maintained by the risen Christ is as secure as Christ.
The resurrection also guarantees the believer’s future. Romans 8:11 says that the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies. First Corinthians 15 calls Christ “the firstfruits of them that slept.” His resurrection is not an isolated miracle but the beginning and guarantee of a harvest. Because He lives, we shall live. Because He rose bodily, the believer’s hope is not floating through eternity as a religious mist. We await the redemption of the body, the resurrection of the dead in Christ, and the catching away of living saints. The empty tomb is the doorway through which the whole redeemed body will eventually walk.
Conclusion
Romans 4:23–25 takes Abraham’s imputed righteousness and brings the doctrine directly to believers in Jesus Christ. Abraham’s record was not written for his sake alone. It was written for us also, to show that righteousness is imputed to those who believe God. But our faith is not left in general terms. We believe on Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. The promise Abraham trusted points us toward the risen Christ in whom every saving promise finds its righteous foundation.
Christ was delivered for our offences. Every sin in the record, every accusation of the law, every righteous demand of God, and every sentence hanging over the sinner met its answer at Calvary. Jesus did not die as a helpless victim caught in unfortunate history. He was delivered according to God’s determinate counsel as the sinless Substitute for guilty men. His blood paid what morality could not pay, religion could not pay, law-keeping could not pay, and human sorrow could never pay. The debt demanded death, and Christ gave His life.
Then He was raised again for our justification. The grave could not hold the sinless Son of God. God raised Him, vindicated Him, declared the sacrifice accepted, and gave believers a living Saviour whose intercession never ends. The cross says the debt was paid. The resurrection says the payment cleared. The believer’s standing is therefore not built on a fading religious feeling but on two immovable historical acts: Christ died for our offences, and God raised Him for our justification. Religion keeps sinners staring at themselves. The gospel points to an empty cross, an empty tomb, and a throne occupied by Jesus our Lord.
Romans Verse-by-Verse Commentary
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