From Romans 5:

9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

N. T. Wright admits the two-stage structure of Paul’s argument here, but then refers back to propitiation in Romans 3 to explain how we are saved from wrath.  This essentially destroys the “much more” in Paul’s argument.  Schreiner refers to the intercession of Christ mentioned in Romans 8.

Romans 8, however, mentions many things, and the distance between the mention of intercession and this passage leaves me unconvinced that Paul can only be thinking of the intercession.

(Sidenote: Many times the way I hear Protestants describe justification leaves me wondering if the fact of Christ’s ongoing intercession is a challenge rather than a blessing–much as I remember seminary students wondering why Christ needs to continue to forgive us.)

The promise that God will “much more” save us from wrath by the new life of Christ is followed immediately by a promise of abounding grace that outstrips the condemnation that results from Adam, and then a description of how the new life of Christ empower our new obedience (Romans 6).  This abounding and new obedience stands in stark contrast to the description of how the world is going to Hell in a handbasket (Romans 1.18-3.20).  God has responded to sin in the nations by giving over the nations to more sin.  This downward spiral has now been reversed.  Now that Jesus has shed his blood as a propitiation for sin, God can, through the new life of Christ, bring the nations to new obedience.  The world movement from wrath to wrath has been replaced with an even more powerful dynamic from obedience to holiness.