Benefits of Justification
There are many benefits of being justified to God through the blood of Jesus Christ. In Romans 5:1-5, Paul begins to analyze these in more detail. One of the biggest blessings is that Christ's blood allows us to stand holy in God's presence. The best holiness of the best person alive wouldn't be enough to stand in the presence of God in heaven. But the blood of Jesus allows us to not only enter into His presence, but to stay in His presence.
We aren't at war with Him via our sin any longer. We are at peace with God. When you think of what the Old Testament nations experienced when they went to war with God's people (when the people were true to God at least), it was a very one sided battle. That hasn't changed in all the centuries since. To battle God who can either stop the earth's rotation or put all of your army into hyper-speed in order to vanquish an enemy before the sun goes down is a losing proposition. It's just as much of a losing proposition when you consider that He can send a single angel to wipe out whole armies or cause confusion among you ranks to make you turn on one another. The final recorded battle will be when He vanquishes the armies of earth when Satan is loosed after the millennium. But there's also the upcoming battle of Armageddon. Peace with God is a very good thing.
But Paul goes further to tell us that being a Christian can also be a great benefit even when things are going against you. Paul had experienced tribulations of all kinds. Just being on the road was a bit of a tribulation in those days - and today too, sometimes! But Paul was also run out of town often, put in jail, beaten, and debated against often. Eventually, he would go to his death for the cause of Christ. While some Christians today suffer just like Paul did, most of us don't.
But what grace Paul had to be able to declare that tribulations could be considered a benefit. They would increase your patience, experience, and hope. Certainly, most today could benefit from more patience. Knowing that at the end of each tribulation, God will still be there waiting for you is a blessing that the world doesn't understand. The more patience you have, the better you are able to talk with people and give them Christian advice or direct their walk in Christian ways without letting animosity be stirred up in yourself of them. As you gain experience, you begin to see that it actually is going to be worth it all someday. In Paul's case, and I wish in the case of more people today, Paul could see God's hand at work in his tribulations, and God's hand at work via the Holy Spirit in helping the Christian's walk. As Paul shared this experience, it gave hope to others who were also being persecuted and also reminded him that hope was real. This hope being spread changed lives and saved many.
What Christ's Death Meant
In Romans 5:6-11, Paul lets us know that God's plan for salvation was long term. It was hinted at right after Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil as they were evicted from Eden. But God sent Christ to die for all of us ungodly people, and all who had come before His sacrifice.
Paul notes that it is very rare for someone to choose to die for another, even if that other person is one of the holiest men on Earth. There are exceptions. Most parents would step in to save their child if they could, hoping that whatever was going to happen wouldn't actually do them in. But beyond a few close relationships like that - husband and wife, brother and sister, and the like, to die for another, willingly, is a very rare thing.
Yet Christ chose to come and die for all of mankind who were separated from God by sin. Even the Jewish people were separated without the shedding of blood sacrifices which pointed toward Christ's death on the cross. Think of the amount of love that God showed towards us by that action. To take all of the sin on Himself, to be separated from God, and then to rise to set at the Father's side is an awesome act of love.
Paul then comments that if God loved us that much while we were still sinners to be tortured and to die for us, how much more will God do now that we can stand holy and with our sin covered before Him. This should be a cause of great joy in our hearts that the justification is available for the asking. God does want us to repent from evil and turn to Him as well. It is a free gift, with no strings, but with expectations for how we live thereafter. If you don't feel the joy of being free from your load of sin, you need to pray for a renewed in filling of the Holy Spirit.
And once you have that, with Paul, spread the joy to others so that they can see the difference that the Christian life gives. It's possible that if you have lived your life as a Christian, people might not see as much night and day difference between your life now and your life years ago. But for people saved later in life, there should be a night and day difference.
Christ Compared to Adam
Paul concludes the chapter with a comparison between what Adam did to mankind and what Christ did for mankind (Romans 5:12-21). By partaking of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve (although Adam is blamed here) brought sin on all of their offspring, forever. No matter how good you think you have lived your life, in the end you will find yourself against God unless you choose Christ as your Savior. The law was given to make clear what the transgressions were. However even without that hard coded list of laws, the Holy Spirit was working in each heart to let that person know if what they were doing was wrong. The conscience is a strong thing, but if you ignore it long enough, you'll stop hearing it altogether. The law gives you a set of rules to live by, but in failing to follow those rules, sin is imputed.
Paul goes on to say that just as by one individual sin and death entered, so by one individual salvation entered. The sin applied to everyone. The salvation was available to everyone. The fruit was free - no monetary cost to pick or eat it - just a spiritual cost. Salvation is likewise free - no monetary cost to choose it - just a spiritual liberation and justification.
The disobedience of Adam caused us all to be sinners in God's sight. The obedience of Christ in going through with the torture and crucifixion enabled everyone who asks to be made righteous in God's sight. The law, that showed everyone what God considered to be an offense to Him, stood against all humanity for all time. But the grace from God through the obedience of Christ is greater than all of the offenses that the world has produced or will produce. All can be erased if people will only ask Christ to do so. The sin from disobedience leads to eternal death. The salvation through the blood of Jesus leads to eternal life and righteousness.
I cannot stress enough that there is no sin too great for God's grace to pardon via the blood of Jesus. But it isn't automatic. It requires each person do their part. You can't pray someone else into heaven. It's up to each individual to make the choice once they know about Christ. That's hard for us to wrap our minds around. I don't expect that any of the people who have been responsible for huge numbers of deaths would have accepted Christ before they died. But we have to realize that if they truly turned to God before they died, they will be in heaven, just like the thief crucified next to Jesus.
I think of all the people in my long life that I've snapped at or offended - mostly without meaning to - but I wonder what heaven will be like for me, living with all of them for eternity. I'm sure there will be some awkward times. And I'm sure since we each know our own issues, we'll give grace to those others. But I'd think it would be really tough for someone like Himmler or Stalin in heaven if they truly asked God to forgive them before they died. How awkward would that be? And could those they had wronged forgive? We are commanded to forgive, after all. Heaven will be an interesting place, I'm sure.
At any rate, praise God for His plan of salvation and praise Jesus for going through with that plan to the bitter end.