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Romans 5.5
February 28th 2021
Good old Paul.
What an intelligent exhorter and teacher of the Words of God blessed with the keen intelligence of an highly paid corporate attorney, where after presenting his case, his arguments, and his examples, he always seems to say . . .
“THEREFORE.”
He uses this method and word some twenty-five times in his letter to the Romans.
LALALALALAL . . . . Therefore . . .
The Greek word for “therefore” is “DIO,” and it essentially means, “consequently,” as a result,
“In consequence of all I have said, proven and proposed we can now see that . . . .”
Last week, we finished off the remainder of chapter four with Paul saying that “the righteousness imputed to Abraham for believing God’s promises was not only for his sake, but for . . . “all who believe.”
There is NO other way and he has explained “why” in the first four chapters, repeatedly but in different ways.
And after all of this evidence we begin chapter five with another . . . “therefore” . . . a beautiful therefore.
It is here in chapter five that Paul transitions from the fact that all are saved by faith to the results of this fact in the life of a believer.
And the first verse of chapter five sort of serves as the keystone to all he has taught with all he is “going” to continue to teach thereafter. So let’s read the first five verses together this morning.
Romans 5:1 Therefore . . . (BEAT) . . . being justified by faith, we have peace . . . with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: (beat)
2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us.
Alright.
Now, the design of this chapter, which has been considered by some to be one of the most difficult portions of the New Testament (especially verses 12-21) is to evidently show us the “results or benefits” of the doctrine of justification by faith in the Christian life.
And this is key.
There is no system, plan, path, way, or method in heaven or earth that could or would ever result in what salvation by grace through faith brings in the lives of those who receive it.
And what is this result?
Verse one
Romans 5:1 Therefore . . . being justified by faith, we have peace with God . . . through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Those who have been justified by grace through faith . . . have peace with God . . . through our Lord Jesus Christ.
What an absolutely amazing and blessed result of this great plan of God for fallen man.
Going all the way back to the Book of Leviticus, God commanded the Nation of Israel to present “peace offerings” to the Tabernacle. One reason (of the three described ) was when a vow was fulfilled thanks was offered for the benefits received from the vow.
This was a temporary and diminishing offering of peace, meaning it had to be repeated over and over as the vows came and went.
But in Christ, the author and FINISHER of our faith, vows have all been permanently completed, bring a permanent offering of peace to the heart and life of those who receive Him.
As stated, no other system could accomplish this and those seeking the calm and peace of other systems or products will always found wanting.
Granted, there are kinds and types of peace that this world gives – solving an interpersonal problem with someone, a glass of wine on a Friday night, a relaxing afternoon in the sun, a pill every morning for some people is necessary for life to be normal, but these temporary moments of peace, when not repeatedly followed, are always replaced by increased angst which comes with living in this world largely because the flesh will never be satiated and this world never stops spinning. We remember Jesus of words well –
27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not . . . as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
All things of this world – whether in the flesh or promises of peace through pseudo-spiritual counterfeits – are weighed and found wanting in the Spiritual sense.
Salvation by works of righteousness can never product peace for the simple reason that they are NEVER ending, ever . . . ending.
There’s always another sabbath day, always more tithe to pay, always more prayers to say, always more things to obey.
Like the bumpersticker says:
“No” Jesus, “No” peace.
“Know” Jesus, “Know” peace.
“ Therefore . . . Paul writes . . . being justified by faith, we have peace with God . . . through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The premise is simple. It’s captured in what some Christians call, The Romans Road, a trip through Romans picking out verses and getting people to see the need for Jesus in their lives.
It begins with
All are sinful and sinners are “enemies of God.”
The state of a sinner’s mind – no matter who they are – is far from peace. He is often agitated, alarmed, trembling. He feels that he is alienated from God.
Isaiah 57:20 says it well:
“The wicked are like the troubled sea, For it never can be at rest; Whose waters east up mire and dirt.”
Then, “the plan of salvation by Christ alone” reveals that God is reconciled.
The obstacles to reconciliation, arising from His perfect justice and perfect law, have been removed by Christ, introducing perfect mercy, and Holy God is reconciled to fallen man.
Then, by this, God can now be regarded as our friend, our loving papa, our forever merciful and forgiving God and not an angry God waiting to cast us into a separated hell forever.
And then when His Son is received, the effect is one that nothing in heaven or earth can offer through any other means – otherworldly peace.
Peace with God.
Peace with Man.
Peace with his or her eternal stature,
Peace with the eminent and looming existential fact of physical death.
Peace amidst trials,
Pease that is “not as the world gives, and so Jesus says (LISTEN . . . LISTEN) . . . “let NOT your heart be troubled, NEITHER let it be afraid.”
This “peace” (that Paul and Jesus and most of the prophets of Old speak to) is unique in several ways:
First, as stated, it is NOT like the peace the world gives. I think we can take the peace the world gives and use it to differentiate the peace God gives those who have been justified by faith.
World peace is sensual, God’s peace is satisfying.
World peace is circumstantial, God’s peace is unconditional.
World peace is fleeting, God’s peace is ever present, to some degree or another.
World peace is uncertain in its longevity, God’s peace is certain.
Because of these properties to “the Peace” He gives, Jesus was able to say, to remind those who love Him:
“Let NOT your heart be trouble, NEITHER let it be afraid.”
He said this to twelve men who were going to enter a world of sorrow and pain, showing that the peace of a Christian is internal and not void of strife, difficulty or challenges. This is important to remember.
Years ago I sat down and watched Bishop Earl interview people who were once LDS and are now born-again Christians, or, people “being justified by faith, have peace with God.”
All of them, in describing the difference between being an active Latter-Day Saint and coming to peace through Christ speak of “a burden being lifted,” of “freedom taking hold,” of “being released.”
Some of them said things like:
“It’s not that being LDS was so bad, but NOW I am so free, and at peace, and at ease in my relationship with Him.”
This is what Jesus came to bring – inner peace – which arrives spiritually as a result of being wholly forgiven by and through His merits and not our own.
Many of us have watched films where the directors have tried to express this experience in physical terms.
A man is imprisoned in a dark damp cell of cement in the middle of a foreign land for decades. He eats vermin to survive, goes nearly blind from lack of light, whithers away in his flesh, and then, one day, is released, unshaved and wearing tatters for clothing.
Such films often end with him stumbling out into the light of day, onto a country meadow outside the walls of the prison.
The light is shining, children freely laugh while at play, and after some moments of bewilderment, he smiles . . . then raises his hands to the sky.
While touching, I would suggest physical imprisonment is relatively insignificant to spiritual bondage, terror, and trepidation.
This is why Jesus came. People will continue to be imprisoned. Christians will continue to suffer physically, but the inner peace and tranquility of Christ in us will carry the most tortured soul through to the Kingdom within and above.
This is why Paul adds in verse one that we have peace with God “through our Lord Jesus Christ,” as His very existence is summarized by the fact that the Son of Man had no place to rest His head, was mocked, was hated, and was treated shamefully though he did nothing wrong, and was killed.
Having faced it all innocently, we have peace with Him, though guilty.
Paul adds in verse 2:
2 By whom (meaning By Jesus) we also have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
This “peace with God through our Lord,”
“wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” is what I call the “central living benefit” for all who have been born-from above.
It is one of the factors by which a believer KNOWS they have been saved for it is manifested in the fruits of real life abiding in them by the Spirit instead of the flesh.
This is why Paul writes in
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Through Isaiah, the Lord said it so well:
Isaiah 32:17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever.
Since Paul taught in Romans 3 that, “There is none righteous, no not one,” I think we can assume that when it comes to having “peace with God” that it is a peace HIS “righteousness works produce,” with the effect of His righteousness being “quietness and assurance forever.”
Scripture, having detailed the peace we are given through faith on Him, continues to show us now how to live.
We begin in 1st Corinthians 7:15 which simply says:
“God hath called us to peace.”
Worried about your job?
“God hath called you to peace.”
Worried about the health or salvation of a loved one? “God hath called you to peace.”
Faith in Him and peace are inextricably related.
Trusting in His promises, promises like
“we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” we are enabled, inclined by our Spirit to trust . . . to hope . . . and in this state, bask in His peace.
“God hath called us to peace.”
Philippians 4:6-7 says:
“Be careful for nothing (which means, Don’t be anxious about anything); but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Possessing this marvelous gift of peace, Colossians 3:12-17 makes it clear how we ought to then live then among other believers, saying:
Colossians 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
What wonderful direction, eh? A fantastic template for those seeking to walk and live in Him here.
Having put our hand to the plow of faith, but looking back to Sodom, God will allow our peace in Him to abate (but never flee).
Paul explains how this occurs in Romans 8 saying:
“For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
Such passages make the diagnosis of “Christian unrest” simple:
The focus has slipped from the cross and back onto the self, from an eternal world view to a secular, from the Spirit to the flesh. The results? Unrest internally.
But it also makes the solution quite plain:
“to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
The tension and tug-o-war between the carnal and spiritual mind is truly the central issue related to the intensity of Christian peace.
Where we look for our comfort, and the type of peace we long to possess as believers is decided by the “mind” we choose to feed – whether it be the carnal mind or the renewed.
We recall the passage in Isaiah, taken by Friederich Handel and put to music:
Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of ??? (Peace).
Obviously, and this is really important as I think it is forever true, but Jesus did not bring “physical peace” to the world, as we will soon discover in our study today. His Kingdom is not of this world. And that would be the peace the world brings. Ironically, Jesus Himself brought just the opposite.
In Matthew 10:34-38 Jesus said:
“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.”
Understanding this, we are then able to understand better where Paul begins to take us in the coming passages.
Here, we are introduced to what is a completely paradoxical result of our having been justified by faith having peace with God . . .” (ready – verse 3)
3 And not only so, (Paul adds – “not only having peace with God”) but . . . we glory in tribulations!!!
“Wait! Wait! Wait a minute! I thought being justified by faith we have peace?” And now all of a sudden, amidst this great promise of peaceful reconciliation with God Almighty, Paul mentions. . .
“tribulations?”
This clearly tells us that when we enter into faith, we are like the COI entering into Promised Land, which introduced to them warfare.
And so the paradox of Christian living – we are internally at peace, we are externally at war.
I would suggest that Paul is introducing a number of principles here in verse three.
He has already addressed the fact that there is a “peace” (which Jesus said, “Is not of this world”) that comes with being a believer.
We have talked about how this peace produces a release, a freedom from burden, and a reconciliation with God.
But now Paul begins to speak of the Christian walk, which, when done right, includes trials and tribulations due to the flesh and the ways of the world around us.
The Greek word for “tribulations” is defined in a number of ways with one of them being “pressures.”
“We not only have peace with God but we GLORY in pressures.”
He tells us why we glory (or rejoice) in the pressures of being a Christian in the rest of the verse but let me offer a simple syllogism to add to his explanation:
“The more Peace with God possessed,
The more pressures in the world expressed.”
In other words, tribulations or pressures from the world in some ways affirm the fact that we are at peace with God. They often reciprocate to each other. Paul says:
“but we (believers) glory in tribulations . . . knowing that tribulation worketh patience.”
Remember what Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 5: 11-12?
Matthew 5:11-12
“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice (Glory) and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
Paul says that believers rejoice in such tribulations and pressures “KNOWING” (and better word in this case might be believing strongly to the future) that such tribulations work or produce . . . patience.
Without God, pressure or tribulation produces a number of reactions in the flesh of human beings. We crumble and give up. Bills stack up, hopes evaporates and depression sets in. Or we fight. We retaliate, resist, seek resolution through litigation . . . or a mob hit.
But in a believer, who has possession of His unconditional peace, when faced with such trials and pressures, refrains from looking to the carnal mind (which brings death) for their solutions and instead resorts to the spiritual mind (of faith in the promises of God) which brings . . . life.
It’s interesting. The ability to “rejoice in tribulations” is usually increased (by God) slowly on believers, and when faced successfully through faith in Him, is then incrementally increased to a greater and greater degree.
Many believers when first exposed to the liberty of their first love in Christ are, like babes in the hands of God, protected from the weight and pressures of the world.
We wander about with stars in our eyes, love for everyone, and a desire to save the world through our flesh. The peace is almost tangible and we relish in it.
But over time, God seems to pull our security blanket away, and we discover our ability to walk in our flesh is not so secure.
And then some tribulations come.
What Paul says here is genuine believers “rejoice” in the face of such pressures because they realize that they are going to lead to personal growth, to a stronger character in Christ.
But, as the Lord plainly reveals in the Parable of the Sower, some believers don’t make it under the trials and tribulations, and the word of God never takes root.
What is the difference in each case?
Why does Jesus teach that some “Who receive the word with joy later wither under the sun or are choked out ” but here Paul teaches that some “rejoice at the presence of tribulations?”
I believe it all comes down, my friends, to the strength a believer has gained from being in the Word, from hearing the Word, from studying the Word and from them choosing to feed their spiritual mind over their carnal.
The strength of a Christian is NOT founded in the experiential, the emotional or the fantastic, it is forged on the anvil of His Word and His will by the Spirit.
Here in Romans, Paul is describing the walk (or the thoughts or the heart) of a true believer, not a said believer.
And he states that the true believer, who has heard and loves the word, rejoices in
tribulations.
Why?
Because he or she knows that such pressures produces “patience.” In what?
“In the Lord.”
Notice the word the King James translation uses to describe the growth process – ready?
“knowing that tribulation worketh patience.”
I love this because it perfectly describes the kind of “works” believers are subjected to as believers – the work of submitting our will, focus, responses – to His . . . knowing, trusting, wetting our pillows at night with a heart that says,
“God, I know this pressure, this trial I face will, someday, as I set my will aside in place of yours, benefit me. I don’t want it, but thy will, not mine, be done.”
What happens when (in the face of trouble) we look to Him? Patience is produced in us. Patience in our relationship and trust with the LORD. Which might be described as “longsuffering until He acts,” which in the end, is faith, right?
An ability to calmly wait – in longer and longer intervals, on God, and not on Man, to respond and show himself. If there was never any trials or tribulations, no patience on God would ever be acquired.
Sometimes the tribulation is in the waiting itself. Again, this correlates perfectly to living lives of faith.
How could faith ever increase if it weren’t for trials? Enduring the passing hours while we wait for God to move?
But in the waiting, our patience is tempered by the fires of uncertainty . . . and the willful decision to continue to believe on Him even when He appears to . . . not care or to be taking His sweet time.
Paul goes on (verse 4)
4 And patience, experience;
The patient endurance of a trial then produces in us “experience.”
The Greek word rendered experience is (dokimen) and it is best understood as something that has endured a test or trial. It’s like the tempering of metal.
Trials work patience and patience (works or produces) experience (or something that has been proven and strengthened).
Had the Lord called me out from Mormonism as a twenty-five-year-old man and asked me to handle what Mary and I have faced as people in our forties, fifties and almost sixties, I would have flat out failed.
I would not have looked to Him for longer than five minutes before trying to fix any and all trials on my own – all the while thinking that this was faith.
But when the right time came, He called me out, then introduced me to the process Paul describes here, slowly tempering me with trials, which lead to growth in patience, which tempered me over time to face greater trials over longer periods resulting in stronger proofing of the faulty character I possess.
And the primary result of being proved?
Paul tells us what the tempering does, saying:
“And experience, hope.”
Once the Lord proves us by proving His love and ability “true and real,” we develop hope.
Hope is one of the three fundamental Christian characteristics believers are enjoined to possess, along with faith and agape love. Now think about this:
Having been saved by grace through faith we are found “at peace” with God.
And then after the honeymoon or infancy we begin to face tribulation, and the presence of trials we wait on God which produces patience in us (by cheerfully enduring the trials over time while waiting on God) which produces “experience,” (or a tempering of our Christian character) and then, at the end of this process, we hold in our hearts HOPE.
By sheer definition, biblical hope is not just wishing, nor is it patience, nor is it strength of character in Christ . . . it is what I would call “a tempered reassurance in God.”
Hope is NOT faith, as faith is the sweet residue of God’s promises to Man, but is instead the “tempered or a proven reassurance,” the very expectation, that God will come through on all that he has promised.
It is hope that prompts a person to trust in God when everyone and everything seems to suggest otherwise.
Hope believes in the Sweet residue of God’s promises and looks forward to when they will be accomplished.
Hope is the end-product of things a believer has patiently endured and experienced and it grows stronger and stronger with every victory a person experienced in Christ.
But the ability to have genuine trust and expectancy in God to come through is produced in and through our response to tribulation. Proving that being a Christian is not for lightweights. Not in the least.
Now, let’s conclude with what Paul says about hope in verse five:
5 And hope maketh not ashamed;
It is hope that allows us to hold our head high and say, “Jesus is my king and he alone I follow.” It is hope that empowers a believer to face greater and greater challenges to his or her faith no matter what naysayers may say.
Paul says of himself in Philippians 1:20
“According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.”
Again, this hope comes only by trial, patience, and tempering by the Lord and culminates in the fact that possessor has been equipped to trust that God will come through.
Psalms 22:4-5 says it well:
“Our fathers trusted in thee; They trusted; and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee. And were delivered; They trusted in thee, And were not ashamed.”
On what does this hope thrive?
On the trials? Nope.
Because we were patient?
No.
Because we became stronger through this process? No again.
Our hope thrives on the fact that we have seen and know that God is love, that He has proved this love to us over and over as we patiently wait on Him to act.
This is why Paul concludes verse five with:
5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Here we go full circle RIGHT BACK TO GOD in all of this. Stay with me – almost done.
In verse one Paul speaks of those who are at peace with God because of faith in what Christ did for them.
In verse two he teaches us that this peace is followed by tribulations.
And these tribulations lead to our possessing patience.
And patience leads to temperance of character, and this temperance of character in us leads to hope.
Then again, here in verse five he says
“And hope maketh not ashamed; because (which takes us all the way back to verse one) because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us (How? By faith in Jesus Christ alone).
And we see that everything is always tied to Him – what He has done – and our abilities to face trials and tribulations, and to grow patiently, and to be tempered, and to posses such trust in God, all flows back to Him in us, by the Holy Spirit.
LONG BEAT. Let’s stop there.
Questions/Comments / Let’s pray
