Romans 5:9
Romans 5:99Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him!
Watchtower commentary takes as describing the initial declaration of righteousness that comes through Christ's blood — but pairs it with the JW two-stage framework: present standing through baptism and dedication to the organisation, with final salvation through Armageddon depending on continued obedience. Most JWs hold unspoken provisional standing, never confident of final survival.
Paul's logic in destroys the two-stage JW framework. Read the verse as Paul wrote it: "Much more, then, since we have NOW been declared righteous by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath." This is an a fortiori argument — the harder thing is already done. If God has declared sinners righteous through Christ's blood (the harder act), the easier act of saving us from final wrath is secured. There is no gap for a second, works-based stage to fail. Pair with : "those whom he justified, he also glorified" — one unbroken chain. The "much more" is decisive: if you are in the chain, you are in the chain to its end.
The NWT renders dikaiōthentes as "declared righteous" rather than "justified" (consensus ESV/NASB/KJV). The choice is forensic and accurate as far as it goes — God declares the sinner righteous in his sight — but it loses the technical Pauline term that holds together the imputation of Christ's righteousness, the believer's union with Christ, and the full forgiveness of sins. The pattern recurs across the NWT (compare Rom 8:33).