📜WEB · Romans 5:11
What does Romans 5:11 mean?
"Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation."
— Romans 5:11 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him.
For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.
Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
Therefore as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, because all sinned.
For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law.
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.
Explanation
Romans 5:11 comes at the climax of a passage where Paul has been building an argument about the benefits believers receive through faith in Christ. In plain language, the verse says that believers do not merely endure their new standing with God as a relief from danger, but actually delight in God himself, and this joy comes specifically through Jesus Christ, who has brought about reconciliation—a restored relationship—between God and humanity that is already a present, accomplished reality ("have now received").
To understand the context, Paul is writing to the church in Rome, a congregation he had not personally founded, made up of both Jewish and Gentile believers who needed a clear explanation of the gospel he preached. In chapter 5, Paul has just finished describing the results of justification by faith: peace with God (v. 1), access into grace (v. 2), hope of God's glory (v. 2), and the ability to rejoice even in sufferings because they produce endurance, character, and hope (vv. 3-5). He then explains the basis for all this: while believers were still weak, ungodly, sinners, and even enemies of God, Christ died for them (vv. 6-10). Verse 11 caps this argument with a "not only so"—meaning that beyond simply being saved from wrath (v. 9) or being saved through Christ's life (v. 10), believers now have something more: joyful communion with God himself.
Theologically, this verse highlights that reconciliation is not a distant hope but a completed transaction, received now, not earned by human effort but given through Christ's mediating work. The word "reconciliation" implies that
Compare translations
Go deeper with ScriptureCompanion AI
Ask questions about any verse, follow reading plans, write personal prayers, and track your daily habit — all grounded in verified scripture text.