“For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” Romans 5:6-11.
Romans 5:6-11 pounds the table on man’s lack of meritorious contribution in reconciliation: “while we were still helpless“, “while we were yet sinners“, and “while we were enemies“. Romans 5:6-11 pounds the table on God doing it all in reconciliation: “we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son” and “we shall be saved by His life” and “we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”
The distinctive mark of Reformed Doctrine is not that we just try harder to reform our doctrine to the Bible. The Baptists and many other denominations study the Bible as much and try as hard as they can to form their doctrine based on the Bible. Rather, the distinctive mark of Reformed Doctrine is its emphasis on the sovereign and unilateral actions of God in salvation. Reformed preachers and teachers see the sovereign and unilateral actions of God in salvation throughout Scripture and preach and teach it. Reconciliation illustrates this distinctive mark of Reformed Doctrine.
Although Reformed preachers and teachers may not necessarily agree with everything that is written and posted at the well-known web site: http://www.monergism.com , the Reformed founders and contributors at the web site do a service to their readers in emphasizing monergism which is their term for the sovereign and unilateral action of God in salvation. Here is a link to their description of it – Click here: What Is Monergism? (Monergism) (There is also a link to the home page of the monergism web site in my “Links” in the right column.)
In conclusion, “… we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” Romans 5:11. Praise God for His sovereign and unilateral action in reconciliation!
Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions 