United in the Results of Our Justification (preaching resource for 6/15/25, first Sunday after Pentecost)
This post exegetes Romans 5:1-11, providing context for the Epistles reading on Trinity Sunday (6/15/25. the first Sunday after Pentecost). Insights are drawn from "The Message of Romans: God's Good News for the World" by John Stott, and "The Expositor’s Bible Commentary."
Introduction
In Romans chapters 1-4 Paul proclaims that justification is God’s gift to all who put their trust in God (and not in anything else, including racial/ethnic identity or obedience to the Law of Moses) to deliver them from God’s judgment and to credit them with God’s righteousness. This justification, which comes through Christ, makes the believer one with God and one with all other believers (including Abraham, the ‘father’ of all who have this faith). Whether Jew or Gentile, circumcised or not, Law-observing or not, all believers are of one family on the basis of faith in Christ: all God’s people are united in Christ. This is Paul’s theme throughout Romans 5:1-6:23.
Paul begins this extended section with multiple, joyous, ‘we’ affirmations that exclaim how believers are united in their enjoyment of the results of their justification. In this list, Paul enlarges on what he referred to in Romans 4:6 as 'the blessedness' of those whom God justifies.
We have peace with God
Romans 5:1
The pursuit of peace is a universal human obsession, whether it is international, industrial, domestic, or personal peace. Yet more fundamental than all these is *peace with God*, the reconciled relationship with him which is the first blessing of justification. Thus 'justification' and 'reconciliation' belong together, for God does not confer the status of righteousness upon us without at the same time giving himself to us in friendship and establishing peace between himself and us. And this peace becomes ours *through our Lord Jesus Christ* (Rom. 5:1), who was both delivered to death and raised from death (Rom. 4:25), in order to make it possible. This is the heart of the peace which the prophets foretold as the supreme blessing of the messianic age—the ‘shalom’ of the kingdom of God, inaugurated by Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. Through Christ, *we have peace with God*. Because we are justified, it is our wonderful, precious and present possession.
We are standing in grace
Romans 5:2
The phrase is literally, 'through him [Christ] we have obtained our introduction into this grace in which we have taken our stand'. Two verbs are used here in relation to *this grace*, denoting respectively our entry into it, and our continuance in it. The first verb, *access* is perhaps better translated ‘introduction’ (as in NASB), because the initiative for entering this grace is God’s, not ours. The verb in Greek is suggestive of being brought into God's sanctuary to worship (cf. Heb. 10:19ff.) or into a king's audience chamber to be presented to him. The second verb, to *stand* suggests that we are privileged to stand firmly in or on the grace into which we have been introduced.
Knowing, by faith, of our justification in Christ, we enjoy a blessing far greater than a periodic approach to God or an occasional audience with a king. We are privileged to live at all times in the temple and in the palace. The perfect tenses of these two verbs express this. Our relationship with God, into which justification has brought us, is not sporadic but continuous, not precarious but secure. We do not fall in and out of grace like courtiers who may find themselves in and out of favor with their king, or politicians with their voters. No, we *stand* in it, for that is the nature of God’s grace. Nothing can separate us from God's love (Rom. 8:38).
We rejoice in (our) hope of the glory of God
Romans 5:2
Christian *hope* is not uncertain, like our ordinary everyday hopes about the weather or our health; it is a joyful and confident expectation which rests on the promises of God, as we see in the case of Abraham. And the object of our hope is *the glory of God* (Rom. 5:2), namely in his radiant splendor which will in the end be fully displayed. Already his glory is being continuously revealed in the heavens and the earth (Ps. 19:1; Is. 6:3). Already it has been uniquely made manifest in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word (Jn. 1:14; 2:11), most notably in his death and resurrection (Jn. 12:23f.; 17:1ff.). One day, however, the curtain will be raised and the glory of God will be fully disclosed. First, Jesus Christ himself will appear 'with great power and glory' (Mk. 13:26; cf. Tit. 2:13). Secondly, we will not only see his glory, but be changed into it (1 Jn. 3:2; cf. Col. 3:4), so that he will 'be glorified in his holy people' (2 Thess. 1:10). Then redeemed human beings, who were created to be 'the image and glory of God' (1 Cor. 11:7; Gen. 1:26f.; 9:6; Jas. 3:9), but now through sin 'fall short of the glory of God' (Rom. 3:23), will again and in full measure share in his glory (Rom. 8:17). Thirdly, even the groaning creation 'will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God' (Rom. 8:21). The renewed universe will be suffused with its Creator's glory. All this is included in *the glory of God* and is therefore the object of our sure hope. We exult in it. And our vision of future glory is a powerful stimulus to present duty.
We pause here, after Paul's first three affirmations about the 'blessedness' of the justified, and reflect. The fruits of justification relate to the past, present and future. 'We have peace with God' (as a result of our past forgiveness). 'We are standing in grace' (our present privilege). 'We rejoice in the hope of glory' (our future inheritance). Peace, grace, joy, hope and glory. It sounds idyllic. It is - except for Paul's fourth affirmation:
We rejoice in our sufferings
Romans 5:3-8
The 'sufferings' Paul refers to here are the opposition, even persecution of a hostile world. John used the same word to report Jesus’ warning to his disciples that 'in this world' they would 'have trouble' (Jn. 16:33), and Paul warned his converts that they 'must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God' (Acts 14:22, same word). What attitude should Christians adopt to these pressures, troubles and hardships which they endure for the cause of Christ? Far from merely enduring with stoic fortitude, we are to *rejoice*, not as masochists, but as those who recognize and appreciate God’s reasons for allowing such circumstances. Paul points to three such reasons:
1. Suffering leads to glory
It was so for Christ; it is so for Christians. As Paul will soon express it, we are 'co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory' (Rom. 8:17). That is why we are to rejoice in them both.
2. Suffering leads to maturity
Suffering can be productive, if we respond to it positively. *We know* this, especially from the experience of God's people in every generation. *Suffering produces perseverance* (Rev. 5:3, *hypomone*, endurance). We could not learn endurance without suffering, because without suffering there would be nothing to endure. Next, *perseverance* produces *character* (*dokime*) which is the quality of a person who has been tested and passed the test. It is 'a mature character' (JBP), the temperament of the veteran as opposed to that of the raw recruit. Then the last link in the chain is that *character* produces *hope* (Rom. 5:4), perhaps because the God who is developing our character in the present can be relied on for the future too.
3. Suffering assures us of God’s love
*Hope does not disappoint us* (Rom. 5:5), it is ‘no fantasy’ (REB). The reason our hope will never let us down is that God will never let us down. Our hope of glory rests on the triune God’s steadfast love. But how can we be sure of that love? Paul points to two reasons. The first is that *God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us* (Rom 5:5b). The Spirit is God's gift to all believers, and one of the distinctive ministries of the Spirit is to pour God's love into our hearts. He makes us deeply and refreshingly aware that God loves us. The second reason is that God has proved that love by Christ's death on the cross (Rom. 5:6-8). The essence of love is giving, and 'God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son' (Jn. 3:16). The degree of love is a function of the costliness of the gift to the giver and the worthiness (or unworthiness) of the beneficiary. The more costly the gift to the giver, and the less the recipient deserves it, the greater the degree of love:
a. The costliness of God’s gift of love
God's gift of love in his Son cost him everything. Rom. 5:6, 8 say that '*Christ* died' and Rom. 5:10 adds that this Christ is God’s Son. God gave his only Son, and in doing so he was giving himself.
b. The unworthiness of the recipients of that love
We, for whom God made this costly sacrifice as our sin offering, are described by Paul with four epithets:
- First, we are *sinners* (Rom. 5:8).
- Secondly, *at just the right time...Christ died for the ungodly* (Rom. 5:6). Instead of loving God with all our being, we rebelled against him.
- Thirdly, *we were God's enemies* (Rom. 5:10). This certainly means that we had a deep-seated hostility to God ('the sinful mind is hostile to God', Rom. 8:7). But the context here also indicates that God, in his just wrath toward sin, had a holy opposition toward our sin. But God, in his love, took the initiative and paid the great price to reconcile us to himself and thus to put an end to his hostility.
- Fourthly, *we were still powerless* (Rom. 5:6), meaning that we were helpless to rescue ourselves.
Thus, Paul tells us, the recipients of God’s supremely costly gift of his Son are the most unworthy of recipients. Yet it is for these, it is for us, that God's Son died. Why, he adds, *very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man* (probably referring to somebody whose uprightness is rather cold, clinical and unattractive), *though for a good man* (whose goodness is warm, generous and appealing) *someone might possibly dare to die* (Rom. 5:7). *But God* (the stark contrast is underlined) 'commendeth' (AV), *demonstrates* (NIV), even 'proves' (REB) *his own love for us* (a love distinct from every other love, a love uniquely God's own) *in this: While we were still sinners* (neither good nor righteous, but ungodly, enemies and powerless), *Christ died for us* (Rom. 5:8).
Human beings can be very generous in giving to those they consider worthy of their affection and respect. The unique majesty of God's love lies in the combination of three factors, namely that when Christ died for us, God (a) was giving himself, (b) even to the horrors of a sin-bearing death on the cross, and (c) doing so for his undeserving enemies. How then can we doubt the love of God? To be sure, we are often profoundly perplexed by the tragedies and calamities of life. But then we remember that God has both proved his love for us in the death of his Son (Rom. 5:8) and poured his love into us by the gift of his Spirit (Rom. 5:5). Objectively in history and subjectively in experience, God has given us good grounds for believing in his love. The integration of the historical ministry of God's Son (on the cross) with the contemporary ministry of his Spirit (in our hearts) is one of the most wholesome and satisfying features of the gospel.
We shall be saved through Christ
Romans 5:9-10
Have you been saved? If you are a believer, Paul’s answer in Romans 5:9-0 is ‘yes and no.’ For yes, we have been saved through Christ from the guilt of our sins and from the judgment of God upon them. But no, we have not yet been delivered from the indwelling sin or been given new (glorified) bodies in the new heavens and new earth. Paul has in mind here the future tense of our salvation. He uses two expressions, the first negative and the second positive.
First and negatively, we shall *be saved from God's wrath* through Christ (Ro. 5:9). Of course we have already been rescued from it in the sense that through the cross God has himself turned it away from us, so that now we have peace with him and are standing in his grace. But at the end of history there is going to be a day of reckoning which Paul has called 'the day of God's wrath when his righteous judgment will be revealed' (Ro. 2:5) and his wrath (which is an expression of his holy love) will be poured out on those who continue to reject Christ (Rom. 2:8, and see Eph. 5:6; Col. 3:6). From that fearful coming wrath against sin that we shall be saved (1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9), for, as Jesus put it, the believer 'will not be condemned; he has [already] crossed over from death to life’ (Jn.5:24).
Second, and positively, we shall *be saved through his life* (Rom. 5:10). For the Jesus who died for our sins was raised from death and lives, and means his people to experience for themselves the power of his resurrection. We can share his life now, and will share his resurrection on the last day. Paul will elaborate these truths in Romans 8; he does no more than sketch them here in promising that we shall be saved through Christ's life.
So the best is yet to be! In our present (though incomplete) saved condition, we are eagerly looking forward to our full, final salvation. But how can we be sure of it? It is mainly to answer this question that Paul pens Rom. 5:9-0. The basic structure of both these verses is identical, namely that 'if one thing has happened, *much more* will something else take place'. We have been *justified* (9), and *reconciled* (10), both of which are attributed to the cross. On the one hand, *we have now been justified by his blood* (9a), and on the other, *we have been reconciled to him (God) through the death of his Son* (10a). So the Judge has pronounced us righteous, and the Father has welcomed us home. In addition it is essential to Paul's argument that he stresses the costliness of these things. It was *by his blood* (9a), shed in a sacrificial death on the cross, that we have been justified, and it was *when we were God's enemies* (10a) that we were reconciled to him.
Here then is the logic: If God has already done the difficult thing, we can trust him to do the comparatively simple thing of completing our salvation. If God has accomplished our justification at the cost of Christ's blood, *much more* will he save his justified people from his final wrath (9)! Again, if he reconciled us to himself when we were his enemies, *much more* will he finish our salvation now that we are his reconciled friends (10)! These are the grounds on which we dare to affirm with complete assurance that we *shall...be saved*.
We also rejoice in God
Romans 5:11
In Rom. 2:17 Paul chastised Jews for ‘bragging’ about their relationship to God as if he were their exclusive property. Yet here in Rom. 5:11 Paul uses the same word to declare that as believers we are privileged to *rejoice in God*. This rejoicing in God is quite different than the Jews bragging in God. It begins with the shamefaced recognition that we have no claim on God at all, it continues with wondering worship that while we were still sinners and enemies Christ died for us, and it culminates with the humble confidence that God will complete in us the work he has begun. So to exult in God is to rejoice not in our status but in his mercies, not in our possession of him but in his of us.
In spite of our knowledge that for Christian people all boasting is excluded (Rom. 3:27), we nevertheless boast or rejoice in our hope of sharing God's glory (Rom. 5:2), in our tribulations (Rom. 5:3) and above all in God himself (Rom. 5:11). This exulting is *through our Lord Jesus Christ*, because it is through him that *we have now received* ('the' or 'our') *reconciliation* (Rom. 5:11).
Conclusion
From what Paul declares here, we conclude that among the identifying attributes of believers are a supernatural sense of peace, hope and joy--characteristics of the Triune God in whose peace, hope and joy we are given to share--a gift of grace from the Father, through the Son, by the Holy ySpirit. Amen.