9. PEACE WITH GOD - Romans 5:1-11

 

There was a time when God was angry with us; His wrath was piling up against us, breaking forth upon us and would reach its final fury against us in the final judgment. We stood guilty before God, having no excuse for our rebellion against Him (1:1-3:20).

But now a Substitute has stood and bore our guilt, transferring His righteousness to our account and bringing us into a right standing with the Father (3:21-4:24).

Because of this acceptable standing with God, many more blessings flow to us by grace, and now, in this section of the book of Romans Paul begins to show us what these further blessings are. Indeed, these are the evident fruit of justification by faith.

 

Please Read Romans 5:1-11

 

NOTE INDIVIDUAL DISCOVERY QUESTION HERE: What is Peace with God?

 

Verse 1: ‘Therefore,’ or because of what has gone before in the epistle to the Romans, assuming it is true of us, we have peace with God. Because we have been justified by faith, the wrath of God has been appeased and His wrath turned aside from us - ‘propitiation.’  This is because another has borne the punishment in our stead. We now have a right legal standing before God, for the punishment due to us for our sin has been paid in full and our legal standing is as though we had never sinned at all. In the place of wrath, because of the finished work of Christ, we now stand at peace with God, having been restored to divine favour (5:10,11; Col 1:19-22).

The peace referred to here in not primarily that of a subjective feeling, but an objective legal fact (1:7; 2:10; 5:10,11). It is an end to hostilities between God and man because of sin.

Verse 2: Because of the work of Christ accomplished for us, God is no longer angry with us, and He now approves and receives us with a right standing before Him. Through simply receiving this blessed justification by faith, we now have the privilege of approaching the presence of the Father. This is achieved as Christ ushers us in on the basis of His finished work, with total acceptance before God (Eph 2:14-18; 3:12; Heb 4:16).

In Christ we rejoice greatly because of the sure basis of our future hope. Because our future glory rests in God we have a certain hope and great cause for rejoicing. Our acceptance stands forever and God will receive us into His glory because of the now accomplished work of Christ on our behalf (8:18,30; 1 Cor 15:43; 2 Cor 4:16-18; Col 1:27; 3:4; 2 Tim 2:10-13). God now has no right to reject us!

NOTE INDIVIDUAL DISCOVERY QUESTION HERE: Why should we be Happy to Accept Trials?

 

Verses 3,4: But there is more that is true of us because of the salvation we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to pass through various trials and troubles here on earth (Jn 16:33; Acts 14:22; 2 Tim 3:12), and though these are difficult to bear, we also rejoice and glory in the midst of them. These experiences which show up our weaknesses actually magnify the strength of God’s power at work within us (Ps 119:67,71; Jer 31:18; 2 Cor 12:7-10; Heb 12:5-11) and as we seek His aid, our faith is strengthened, and thereby we persevere through the difficulty.

The strength to bear up under affliction is that which we call perseverance (Rev 2:10,25), the fruit of the Spirit which enables us to remain steadfast through adversity. This then produces character that has withstood the test to which it has been subjected (Is 1:25; Zech 13:9; Mal 3:3). Perseverance through trial purifies the believer by the work of the enabling Holy Spirit within, bringing about proven character.

Having sustained the test of trials and conscious that God’s approval rests on him in the Lord Jesus Christ, the believer is strengthened in his hope, growing more assured of his future glory.

Verse 5: The hope of the believer does not disappoint because it will not fail. This hope is based on the promise of God and is therefore assured of fulfillment (Ps 22:5). It is rooted in God’s redeeming love (Rom 8:35; Heb 6:19,20; 7:25), the knowledge of which has been supplied freely and abundantly by the Spirit of God within us.

Verse 6: We can be absolutely sure that God loves us in the difficult times, because if He has given us the greater example of His love in sending Christ to die for us, then He will certainly give us the lesser. This love of God (5:5) was exercised toward us when we were totally helpless and unable to rescue ourselves from our sin (Jn 3:3; 8:43; 14:16,17; Rom 8:7,8; 1 Cor 2:14), when at the time appointed by God (Mk 1:15; Gal 4:4), Christ paid the penalty of our sin by His own death (Jn 3:16; 1 Jn 3:16; 4:9,10).

Verses 7,8: It is rare for a person to die for another, even if that person is a righteous or good man, yet some may do so. Yet God shows powerfully His own great and amazing love for us by Christ dying for us while we were still in our sin and rebellion against Him (Is 1:18; 53:6; Jn 4:10). He died for His enemies - people who were not interested in Him at all.

Verses 9,10: In these two verses Paul argues that if God has already accomplished the greater, will He not then also accomplish the lesser. If we entered into a right standing with God, with the just demands of God’s justice (Is 1:27; 53:5; Rom 8:4) satisfied by the death of Christ (4:24,25; Is 53:7-12; Jn 10:11,15; 1 Pet 2:21-24), will we not also be delivered from the last outpouring of His wrath on judgment day (4:24,25; 1 Thess 1:10; 5:9; 2 Thess 1:5-10). If we have been reconciled to God while enemies by the death of Christ (Lk 22:22; Acts 2:23; Philip 2:12,13; Col 1:21ff; 2 Thess 2:13), surely we will be finally saved by His life (4:24,25; 6:8ff).

Verse 11: Not only will we be glorified in the future, but even now we rejoice and glory in God for our future glory, and our present relationship with God (5:2,3; 2 Cor 10:17; 1 Pet 1:6,8) because of what Christ has done for us.

 

INDIVIDUAL DISCOVERY

Is it fair for Adam’s sin in the garden to be put to our account? Explain.

 

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24/06/2007

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