Romans 5:1-5

In Romans 5:1-5, Paul gives a summary of the character and qualities of the new life in Christ. Justification by faith is the key to the new relationship we have with God.

In verses 1-2, although Paul does not use the phrase “apart from the Law” here, he could have, for that has been his argument since Chapter 3. Turning in faith to what God has done in Jesus Christ brings people into a new covenant within which they have peace with God. We can see the power of this new relationship in that such persons whose response is with faith and therefore have access to grace, stand in it, and have hope, are no longer objects of wrath, as in 1:18ff. Such persons, whether apart from the Law or under the Law, are under the power of sin. Christ has removed wrath.  To have peace is to end the hostility between God and people.  I stress, however, that we need peace with God. God does not need peace with us, for God has already had that peace. God does not need reconciliation with us, but humanity needs reconciliation with God.

As we move to verses 5:3-5, God has provided reconciliation. It brings about a condition of creative harmony.  This harmony is in the total environment, since God is both creator and ruler, and thus brings inner security and serenity.  Further, Paul lifts up the qualities of faith, hope, and love as special gifts. Suffering becomes the proving ground for the qualities of faith, hope, and love.

These verses detail how the believer should visibly demonstrate confidence in access to this grace. These verses begin to sketch out Paul's master plan for the particulars that one may find in a virtuous Christian's life. Our works do not justify us. Nevertheless, our justification should issue forth in certain attitudes, actions, and habits. Paul is reflecting on his own experience and knows that justified Christians do not flee from the troubles of this world, in which they still live.  He has found that suffering and affliction become precisely the point at which one encounters hope and hope proves itself.  Paul has found that hope in Christian life motivates and develops conduct, endurance, and character. 

 

Further, the sense of the love of God is enough to enable Paul and all Christians to contrast the suffering and affliction with the hope that does not disappoint.  Believers are sure of their fellowship with God, the link between love and Spirit showing plainly that this event that is from God, which the message of the gospel imparts, and into which God takes up believers, has the character of power. The focus in the New Testament is on a love coming down from God to the world. Christian love, in fact, is largely participation in the love that God has for the world. Love of neighbor participates in the move of love God has for the world. In love of God and love of neighbor, we do not have two wholly different realities but two aspects of human participation in the same love of God that the Holy Spirit has poured into the hearts of believers.