Romans 5 Peace and Hope
Romans 5: 1-2 "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God."
Therefore.....
This chapter begins by explaining the foundation for what Paul is going to be sharing. The foundation is that we have been justified through faith. Romans 1-4 can be summed up as an argument that dismantles the prevalent Jewish teaching that man can be justified (or counted righteous in God’s sight) by keeping the law and builds a strong biblical case that a person can only be justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. In chapter 4 he takes us back to Genesis to the example of Abraham who the scriptures say “believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.” That was not only true of Abraham, but for us as well. But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (Rom. 4:23-25) Our sins were cleansed and we were made righteous by faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection –we were justified in God’s sight by faith in Christ. That’s the connection with the "Therefore". |
How Big is Your Backyard?
I was reading the sermon notes from Grace Community Church in New York based on these verses. The pastor began by sharing a story about a teacher that assigned her students the task of going home that night and counting how many stars they could see from their backyard. Most answers ranged from several hundred to even thousands. But one little boy replied "10". His reason for counting only so few was because his backyard was so small. As believers, we may need to challenge our view of God's grace and develop a greater view of what we see. When it comes to God’s grace, we don’t want to be like that little boy and think that from our backyard, there’s not much grace to see when the truth is God has poured out on our lives grace upon grace. And the great thing is that while a part of the glory of the stars is their distance from us, the glory of God’s grace is its nearness to us. In Christ grace has been brought near – right to where we live, right to our backyards. May the Lord help us to see with the eyes of our hearts the beauty and security and amazing hopefulness of the grace God has given to us in Christ. See Sermon Series |
We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,....
We want to see and rejoice in what God has given us in Christ because we have been justified by faith in Christ.
Blessing #1: Peace with God This is not a reference to an inner peace that God gives us but how positionally and relationally we stand before Him. We are no longer enemies of God. "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior" Colossians 1:21 Because we have been justified we have peace with God through Jesus Christ. Not some time in the future, but right now we have peace with God. The war between us and God is over. We have been reconciled with God through Jesus. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation" 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 Christ died for us. That is the basis of our peace with God. And because we have been justified, we have been reconciled to God. We have peace with God. |
But not only is there a connection between chapter 5 and chapters 1-4, there is a transition between these chapters as well: 1-4 Paul is making an argument, chapter 5 Paul is giving an invitation. These verses aren’t filled with commands or things for us to apply to our lives or principles to follow– these verses are filled with indicatives. Things that are true. In a sense, Paul is taking us out to our backyard and is pointing us upward to look at and marvel at truths that are glorious and fixed and unchanging and he is inviting us to marvel at and celebrate the fact that these things are true.
At War with God A lot of people have a hard time believing that there even is a war between us and God. The average, decent, hard-working person probably doesn’t feel like there’s any big problem between them and God. Most people see themselves as "good people" and don't see a problem. They expect that God should just accept them. Culture says that God should allow them to seek Him by whatever means works for them. The problem is....He is not at the end of their pursuit....they aren't even always seeking after Him but a god that they have idolized. But the Bible tells us that because of sin we were born at war with God – not with religion or false gods we make up in our minds, but at war with the one True God. |
Through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.
Blessing #2: Permanent access to God's grace
Paul describes grace a little differently than he usually does in this verse. Normally grace refers to the benevolent actions of God toward undeserving sinners. But here he speaks of grace as the sphere, or the realm in which we as believers live. Grace is a place – it is where we live, it’s our backyard. We live in the realm of grace through Jesus Christ. And Paul uses a perfect tense, which means that we stand in the realm of grace continuously – all of God’s dealings with us, how God views us, how God will eternally view us and deal with us – is with grace. Our address is grace, and it always will be– and Paul now points us to the eternal implications of that truth. |
In his sermon (where the majority of these notes are coming), the pastor explains as a young boy, his father moved their family almost every year. He was constantly the "new kid" at school and couldn't keep a best friend. How unsettling.
Through Christ our heavenly Father has moved our lives into the sphere of grace and He never moves us out. Not on our best days, not on our worst days. God’s position towards us every day of our lives is one of grace. God never deals with us as we deserve and He always deals with us as we don’t deserve. His love and favor and kindness and mercy and help are all undeserved – they are all of grace. |
And we boast in the hope of the glory of God
Blessing #3: Hope - the certainty of God's glory
Paul is now going to shift our focus to the amazing hope we have in Christ. By faith we stand in grace and (because that is true) we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Biblical hope: when the Bible speaks of hope it means something that hasn’t yet happened but because of God’s promises will certainly happen in the future. Hope is being certain of and looking forward to that future certainty. And the greatest hope we have is the hope of God’s glory. Hope needs to look beyond the trivial earthly things that we strive to achieve lasting satisfaction and we need to see that God’s glory and His presence and His kingdom is what we were created for. God and His glory is the thing our hearts long for. As we see by faith the infinite worth of God and His glory, we find joy rising up in the certainty that we will be with Him in His glory forever. Nothing could be better. |
It is one thing to read these words revealed about such great truths when I am experiencing an up day...and think, yes....life just keeps getting better and better! But it is quite another when I'm feeling down and overwhelmed by the world. BUT it is in these very moments that I am given the opportunity - not to gloss over these truths - but to savor them...to roll around in them - and to let them sink into my very bones. It is because of the hope (the certainty) of knowing that I will experience God's eternal glory and live in His presence, that I should be encouraged in the now - even when I feel oppressed or overwhelmed by the certainty of life's struggles. We all (believers and non-believers) face the certainty of life's struggles but without Christ, there is no hope of a living future (eternal life in Christ).
In fact, that is exactly Paul's point as he continues letting hope wind it's way through the subsequent verses. |
Romans 5: 3- 5 "Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."
Rejoice in our Sufferings
As we see by faith the infinite worth of God and His glory, we find joy rising up in the certainty that we will be with Him in His glory forever. Nothing could be better. So glorious is that hope that Paul goes on to say that we rejoice in our sufferings. Not because we’re masochistic, but because we know that suffering is going somewhere good in our lives and that somewhere is an even stronger hope. Maturing is a process - it takes time There is nothing wrong with asking the Lord to relieve our suffering (as Paul did when he asked God to remove the thorn in his flesh (2 Corinthians 12:8). But what should our response be if He doesn't? God's response to us is the same as it was to Paul....."My grace is sufficient for you" (2 Corinthians 12:9). God's grace could be defined as His provision for us at the point of our need. the problem is, there may be times when it doesn't seem the Lord is truly meeting our need. This is because His grace and strength as to mature in us...and maturing always takes time. His goals for us involves spiritual growth and maturity because it will produce something greater in us. The important issue is how we respond. If all you want is relief, you could descend into anger and doubt. But if your desire is to become the person God wants you to be, you'll see each trial as an opportunity for Christ to display His character and strength in you. |
What does it mean to "glory in" something?
"Thus says the Lord: 'Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord." Jeremiah 9:23-24 NKJV The King James uses the phrase "to glory in...." while other translations render the phrase "to boast in..." The word for "glories/glory" is הלל "hâlal" haw-lal' A primitive root; TO BE CLEAR (originally of sound, but usually of color); to shine; hence to make a show; TO BOAST; and thus to be (clamorously) foolish; to rave; causatively TO CELEBRATE Paul also said in his letter to the Corinthians that we are to boast in our weaknesses and sufferings: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weaknesses. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties, For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 God's strength and power matures in our weakness. |
Chain Link (from glory to glory--from one transformation to the next)
Suffering is linked by a chain that brings even more blessing into our lives.
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What does it mean to contemplate the Lord's glory?
"And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" 2 Corinthians 3:18 God's glory is the essence of His character and goodness. His character is instilled in us when we submit to the Spirit to allow Him to transform us from one glory to the next....an ever-increasing glory. "In all this you greatly rejoice [take joy from, boast], though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so the the proven genuineness of your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." 1 Peter 1:6-7 Trials prove the genuineness of your faith! When we experience grace in the fire and by the grace of God passed the test. Suffering leads to a stronger hope when we walk through it with faith in God. |
How do we know that this hope won't disappoint?
"And hope does not put us to shame...." Other translations render this "And hope does not disappoint". Even if we hold onto our hope until the end, how do we know that our hope won’t in the end be disappointed? How do we know that when we stand before God we won’t be ashamed and our hopes dashed because He doesn’t accept us, doesn’t forgive us, doesn’t love us? Paul gives us two reasons! Reason #1 : Because we experience the love of God in our hearts by the Holy Spirit We experience the love of God for us by the work of the Spirit. We are affected by the knowledge we are loved by God. "Knowing" comes from allowing the Holy Spirit to establish this truth on the tablets of our heart. We also "know" from experiencing God's love in our life. His love is real and as we spend time in our Father’s presence we can ask Him to pour out His love into our hearts by the Spirit. That’s not selfish –experiencing the love of the Father in our own lives will be one of the best motivations we can have to want to share the love of God with others. The second answer Paul gives to the question how do we know that in the end our hope that God loves us won’t be disappointed is the foundation that undergirds his first answer. It is the focus of verses 6-11 but it’s summed up in verse 8 |
Romans 5:6-8 "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person, someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him!"
Reason #2: God shows (proves) His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us
The love of God can never be far removed from the cross of our Savior. The historical, objective, fact of Calvary proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that God loves us. Our hope of experiencing God’s love and glory forever is built on Jesus’ death for us. And Paul continually strengthens our hope for the future by reminding us of what Christ has already done for us: Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood (present reality), much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God (future hope) (vs. 9) If we’re justified now, how much more can we be confident we will be saved from His terrible wrath? That is our hope – Paul is saying, no way that hope isn’t coming true. If God justified, how much more will He save? He didn’t have to give His Son to die for us while we still hated Him, but since He did, will He now decide to damn us forever even though we love and trust in Him, maybe because we didn’t love Him perfectly or trust Him perfectly or maybe because He just changed His mind? No, Paul says, if He justified us, He will much more save us. Hope will not be disappointed. |
A contrast with faulty human love
It is difficult to find commentary that will address the meaning of verse 7 "Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person, someone might possibly dare to die." While it is confusing, the purpose is to make a point of comparison between faulty human love and God's perfect love that is matchless and unparalleled. According to John Gill's exposition of the Bible: By "a righteous man", is not meant a truly gracious, holy man; nor one that is made righteous by the obedience of Christ; but one that is so in his own eyes, and in the esteem of others, being outwardly moral and righteous before men; who keeps to the letter of the law, and does, as he imagines, what that externally requires. He is obliged to do by the law and no more. Such were the Pharisees among the Jews, who, though they had much outward esteem and veneration among the people, yet were rather feared than loved; and it would have been a difficult thing to have found a person that would cheerfully venture, and lay down his life for any of that complexion and cast: By "a good man", is not meant a man made so by the grace of God, and who is indeed truly and properly the only good man; but a liberal and beneficent man, who was very bountiful in his charitable distributions to the poor, and very liberal in contributing towards the charge of sacrifices, repairs of the temple and did more this way than what the law obliged to. Now for such a man perhaps there might be some found so daring and hardy, as to venture and lay down their lives, when there was any danger of his, or any necessity for so doing; so great an interest such men had in the affections of the people. But the Discover Series Having Faith In God's Surprising Plan put it best: We live in a world of the "deserving and undeserving." We are genuinely willing to do something for someone if we feel that they deserve our help or attention. How outside of God's grace do we live? Although we were the most undeserving, Christ died for us! So while someone may consider giving their life for someone they feel is worthy, good and benevolent, Christ gave His life for unrighteous sinners...while we were still in our sin. |
Romans 5:10-11 "For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."
Our relationship with God was hopelessly broken and there was nothing we could do to repair it. We hated God and He was in fierce opposition to us and inevitably his wrath awaited us and there was nothing we could do to change that. We were at war with our Creator and would bear for eternity the damnation of our rebellion against Him.
But vs. 6 says while we were still weak and ungodly, (vs. 8) while we were still sinners, (vs. 10) while we were yet enemies of God Christ died for us. That is the basis of our peace with God – through Christ’s death on the cross all those who trust in Him have been justified (declared righteous) and because we have been justified, we have been reconciled to God. We have peace with God. |
Count Your Blessings!
Come outside with me and look up to the amazing blessings of God we have in Christ – all by grace, all through faith in Christ. These are fixed blessings – no call to do something here, I can’t end by saying, here’s how you apply this. Just look, and marvel and celebrate and rejoice.
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Romans 5:12-14 "Therefore just as sin entered this world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned -To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone's account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come."
Death through Adam, Life through Christ
Paul begins a new section in this verse in which he will compare the work of Adam, as the representative of sinful humanity, with the work of Christ, on behalf of sinful humanity. Sin came into the world through one man That one man is Adam. God breathed life into Adam and placed him in the garden of Eden with only one restriction: Don't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:15–17). Adam, along with his wife, Eve did exactly what they were told not to, and sin entered the world. Adam’s act of sin was imputed to all mankind. Paul then notes that death entered the world through that one sin - because Adam was the representative head of all mankind.- and spread to all because all sinned. This is called the principle of representative headship. I have problems with concepts such as these which is not to say that they are not true theologically...they just don't resonate at a practical level. What I do know is that sin affected creation....even the sin of one man. And as a result of that sin, death entered the world. Death followed sin. We see this first demonstrated in that God slaughtered an animal to provide clothing for Adam and Eve, suddenly made aware of their nakedness by their sin (Genesis 3:21). Adam and Eve passed on their sin to their offspring. Every person ever born in the world, other than Christ (Hebrews 4:15) was born sinful and destined to die. Sin always leads to death First5 puts it this way: Our sinful nature is inherited from Adam. Sin entered the world [and affected humanity] in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God’s will and ways. They chose to ignore His principles, staining God’s perfect creation with sin, forever changing our nature. No longer could we stand in the presence of a holy God without shame or blame. Sin corrupted all of humanity. And the wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23a). This disobedience is in all of our hearts. And consequently, as a result of Adam’s sin, a sin nature is born into the heart of every person since, except for One. And because we all have a self-centered nature that when given a choice, we - in our natural state - will sin. |
The significance of the law
Paul seemed to suggest in Romans 4:15 that without the law, there is no sin, no "transgression." In context, Paul did not indicate the there was no actual sin, but only that one cannot literally "break" a law unless they are rightly subject to it. Here, Paul again clarifies that point: It's not that sin did not exist before the law of Moses. Of course, human beings have always sinned since the garden. Instead, Paul says that specific sin was not counted against specific people before the law. It was not a transgression in the sense of breaking the written words of the law; it was simply sinful humanity expressing its sinful nature: self-serving, hurtful, deceptive, and immoral. This is a matter of perspective. Humanity does not recognize sin when God does not give us something like the law: in our minds, those sins are not "counted." They are still sins, since we still ought to know better (Romans 1:18–20). The presence of the law turns supposed ignorance into certain knowledge of our own wrongdoing. From the time of Adam until the time of Moses, God did not give many direct commands to humanity, at large. In that way, those people were not "lawbreakers." Still, sin existed. Every person was born into it, born with a sinful nature. People lied, stole, murdered, committed adultery, did what was wrong. Though they did not sin in a direct violation of God's written command, they still suffered the consequence of Adam's sin, the sin they were born into. They all died. Paul puts it poetically: Death reigned. Adam as a type of Christ This doesn't mean that Adam had Christ-like qualities, but that they were alike in that their choices affected many, many people. One single action by Adam brought death to all who came after him. Adam broke God's command, bringing both sin and the resulting death into the world. |
Romans 5:15-17 "But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man's sin. The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive [qualifier] God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!"
Paul makes the connection that the source of sin came from one man and the solution for sin will come through the one man, Jesus. God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, lived the perfect, sinless life we could not live and died the death we deserved for sins He never committed.
Adam's action brought death to many people. Jesus' action brought the grace of God to many people. This free gift of God's grace brings the opportunity for life, for salvation, to everyone. All who trust in Christ will receive this gift, rather than facing death because of Adam's introduction of sin into the world. Adam, on the one hand, introduced sin into a world that knew no sin. Jesus, who did not sin, introduced grace into a world that did not deserve the gift that came by grace. Adam, by sinning, brought death and condemnation to all. Jesus, by not sinning and then dying, brought justification to all who believe. This "justification" is a declaration, as if in a courtroom setting. |
The Abundance of God's Grace
Those who receive the abundance of God's grace and the free gift of righteousness will themselves reign in life through Jesus. In other words, receiving God's justification by placing our faith in Christ not only frees us from the kingdom of death, it allows us to rule in the kingdom of life alongside Jesus, as the very children of God. Some translations add the word "will" before reign, since the Greek word here--basileusousin—is in the future tense. This verse very likely points to a future time when Christ's kingdom will be fully established on earth, although our status as His co-heirs is already established (Romans 8:17). t's essential to notice, however, that Paul has added a qualifier in this verse: This freedom from death and life in Christ is available only through Jesus and only to those who "receive" the abundance of God's grace. Not everyone escapes death's reign, because not everyone receives, by faith, God's gift of life (John 1:12). |
Roman 5:18-21 "Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life to all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Paul summarizes the ideas he has been discussing since the beginning of this section in verse 12. One trespass, one sin, led to the condemnation of all men. This was Adam's sin in breaking God's command not to eat from one specific tree. In doing so, he introduced sin and death to the world, where they took root in every person to follow. Because all sinned, all faced God's judgment and the same fate: condemnation.
By contrast, though, one "act of righteousness" leads to the opportunity for justification for every person in the world. This act of righteousness was Jesus' death on the cross to pay for human sin. Those who, by faith, receive this free gift of God's grace are declared righteous by God. They are justified. This is the case Paul has been making throughout Romans. Some read the words "for all men" here to mean that all people are justified by Christ's death on the cross no matter what. In other words, even faith in Christ is not required to be saved from God's wrath; all people will simply find themselves justified and saved, no matter what they do or believe. This is known as "universalism," but it cannot be reconciled with what Paul teaches throughout Romans and throughout the New Testament. Even in the previous verse, Paul insists that God's abundant grace is specifically for those who receive it, by faith. |
So what happened when God gave the law to Moses? How did that change this relationship between human sin and God? Once God gave actual commands about what to do and what not to do in this life, human beings moved from simply being sinners by nature to becoming actual lawbreakers. The existence of God's commands criminalized their sin—our sin—at a new level. Now we were all living in blatant, open rebellion.
In that sense, sin increased. It's not necessarily that people started sinning in greater volume, it's that our sin began to be counted against us as individual acts of rebellion against the will of God. It became an even more overt disobedience to Him. In fact, as Paul reveals in a startling statement, that's one reason God gave the law to the Israelites. He wanted to increase the trespass, the lawbreaking! He wanted it to be deadly clear just how sinful human beings were. Paul follows that with another extraordinary statement, however. As human sin increased, grace "super-increased." God's grace abounded even more. This makes logical sense and yet it is still astounding to us. God's grace—giving good to us when we have earned bad—cannot be overwhelmed by our own sinfulness. The more we sin, the more grace God gives. Human beings cannot escape our own sin nature no matter how badly we want to. In ourselves, without God's intervention, we will always continue to sin. It rules over us, and it leads to death. However, sin cannot grow past God's capacity to give good to those who deserve His angry judgment instead. Paul concludes that God's grace is the greater ruler. It reigns over sin and death. How? He declares righteous all of us sinners who, by faith, receive his grace-gift of Jesus' death for our sin on the cross. With death defeated, those who are in Christ will live forever. Grace reigns through righteousness leading to eternal life. But this eternal life is found only through Jesus Christ our Lord. There is no other way to escape the reign of sin and death. |