Romans 1: The righteous shall live by faith, The wrath of God – God ‘gave them up’
Romans 2: The judgment of God is upon both Jew and Gentile, rewarding all according to their works and thoughts.
Romans 3: The hopelessness of humanity – of both Jew and Gentile, The righteousness of God revealed apart from the Law, by faith in Jesus Christ
Romans 4: As Abraham believed and was counted as righteous, so we believe in Christ, and are made righteous – Not by works of the Law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. We do not cancel the Law, but by faith, we actually uphold the Law.
There, I condensed it even further so we can have more time chewing on some ‘meat’. Let’s go on to Romans 5. I’m half excited, half intimidated by this, because (1) I draw on this chapter a lot, and (2) I’m afraid I may miss out on some things.
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
First of all, I’m quite happy that Paul gave the reason for the ‘Therefore’ right then and there, so we know where he’s coming from. We HAVE been justified by faith.
Second, well, buckle up – we’re approaching the other side of the coin, and all its benefits. For, see, we apparently don’t just have justification by the faith we have in Christ – And although it may be an obvious result of justification, Paul does emphasize here, like he really wants us to know that by faith, we also have peace with God, ‘through our Lord Jesus Christ’.
Take note that this ‘peace’ we speak of is not merely one more associated with justification, as in peace that is the absence of enmity with God – no, it’s more than that. The word used for ‘peace’ is eirēnē / i-rah’-nay / Probably from a primary verb εἴρω eirō (to join); peace (literally or figuratively); by implication prosperity: – one, peace, quietness, rest, + set at one again.
I’m not going to go too much into prosperity as a good bunch of us like hearing that stuff already, but I will emphasize that when we say we have eirēnē with God, it means that we find quietness and rest with Him. I imagine it’s like how toddlers relinquish their tension when meeting relatives for the first time – we find relief and refuge in Him.
And did you catch that last part, where it says ‘set at one again’? So here we have more reason to believe that we have been THAT reconciled to God, that we are joined with Him, united to Him. That goes beyond merely just having ‘peace’, the way we understand it at first glance!
2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
By faith we have been declared righteous, we have been justified, and we have peace with God… and what a peace that is!
But as the infomercial script goes, ‘Wait… there’s more!’ We also have access ‘by faith into this grace in which we stand’, and based on the word used for grace (charis, one we’ve talked about a lot in the past), we can extend that to say that we have access by faith into the graciousness (as gratifying), of manner or act (abstract or concrete; literal, figurative or spiritual; especially the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life; including gratitude): – acceptable, benefit, favour, gift, grace (-ious), joy liberality, pleasure, thank (-s, -worthy).
Breaking that down a little bit more, we read how, through faith… well, now it doesn’t seem like we have access to anything, more than the divine (now has) influence upon the heart, and we’re to project its reflection in the life; including gratitude.
So by reading ‘peace’ we have more than mere access but full-on, comforting reconciliation to God, and by reading ‘grace’, God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) now has full influence upon our hearts, and in giving thanks (according to the will of God in Christ, 2 Thessalonians 5:18), we reflect His influence in ‘the’ life – our Life.
I know, I took some liberties there, but do feel free to correct me if it sounds off.
But there’s even more! For, see, by faith we receive justification, we enjoy peace with God, and we have access into His grace… But we rejoice, in hope!
Now I’m not about to jump into the Greek – besides, the word has its ties to faith anyway – because Paul already talks to us about it in the verses that follow:
3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Did you notice how we ‘rejoice, in hope’, and we ‘rejoice in our sufferings’, because it ultimately ‘produces hope’? Here I read another case for how we’re to rejoice always (again, in 2 Thessalonians 5:16) – Whether we feel hope, or if we need to climb the ladder (through suffering, endurance, and character), we rejoice, always!
And actually, I’m being led to think that it is our nature (as a people justified by faith, having peace with God, and given access by faith into His grace) not merely to ‘rejoice, always’ as if it was something we forget to do – by the love poured out upon us through the Holy Spirit, we will not always be in shame, but we rejoice, in hope!
Friends, we’ve only barely dug into Romans 5. To be honest, I thought the ‘meat’ would come in the rest of the chapter… but it seems we have so much to celebrate right here!
So I’m going to cut it off here for now. Until the next post, enjoy Christ – the Author and Finisher of our faith; yes, this same faith by which we have justification, peace, grace, and hope!
Until the next post, God bless us all, greatly!
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