Romans 5:1-11 (NRSV)

Results of Justification

¹Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. ³And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. ⁶ For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. ⁸But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. ⁹Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. ¹⁰For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. ¹¹But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

These sermon notes were written with the aid of the scholarship primarily of William Barclay, but also the works of J A T Robinson and Eugene Maly. I trust it helps others as they prepare for worship next Sunday.

My text is written in Romans 5:1-2:

¹Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 

Through Jesus our status changes from one who was at enmity with God, to one who has peace with God. Because of what Jesus has done for us, we are placed in a right relationship with God – because we have been declared right with God by our faith – a gift that God graciously gives us. But Paul goes on and states that more than mere status has changed, also our state is transformed and so the saved sinner cannot go on sinning, we need to become what we have been declared to be. Barclay puts it this way: Christ’s death changes our status; Christ’s risen life changes our state. Jesus is not a dead person from history, he is alive and is there to help us, guide and direct us, to fill us with his strength to enable us to overcome temptation, “... to clothe our lives with something of his radiance if we live forever in his presence. J A T Robinson explains: ‘... the prodigal has been allowed to enter a new status, when henceforth, everything is different. ... Now everything can be enjoyed as a son!’ He who changed our status with God can also change our state.” (Barclay) God does not love because we are good. Maly explains ‘... rather, we are good because God loves us ...’ and this is expressed most clearly in verse 8. This says something really important about God: He is not an offended deity, appeased by a self-sacrificing Christ; he is a Father who takes the initiative because he is filled with love for us.

This is really good news to reflect on during this season of Lent: Jesus enables us to quit sinning and become good people; our sanctification is where the saving process goes on and never ends, “... until we see him face to face and are like him.” (Barclay)

Our salvation is a process which includes the original coming of Christ. His death and resurrection are all proof of God’s love – it happened because God loves us and to show how much God loves us.

But it is important to stress that it is not a matter of a vengeful God and a loving Jesus. Jesus did not change God from being angry and vengeful to being gracious. The whole thing springs from the love of God. Jesus did not change God’s character; he revealed God’s character and show what God’s character has always been; as Barclay concludes: “He came to prove unanswerably to men that God is love.”

Barclay describes this passage as one of Paul’s most lyrical in which ‘... he almost sings the intimate joy of his confidence in God ...’ Trusting faith, the accepting of God at his word ‘... has done what the labour to produce the works of the law could not do; it has given a man peace with God.’ Before Jesus came and until a person accepts as true that which Jesus says about God ‘... no person could ever be intimate with God.’ In effect, Paul is saying that outside of Jesus, God is ‘unfindable’.

Others, including Jews at the time had an image of God that was fierce and frightening. Barclay continues: “It is only when we realise that God is the God who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that there comes into life that intimacy with God, that new relationship which Paul calls justification.”

Through Jesus we have an introduction to the grace in which we now stand. Barclay explains that he word translated as introduction is the same one used when introducing one into the presence of royalty – it is also used of a worshipper as they approach God. So, Jesus ushers us into the presence of the King of Kings and when we go in we find grace, not condemnation; not judgement, nor vengeance ‘... but sheer, underserved, unearned, unmerited and the incredible kindness of God ...’ In later Greek thought, the same word was used to refer to describe to describe a harbour or haven for ships. As long as we rely on our own efforts, we are tossed about by the winds and tempests of life; but now Jesus welcomes us into a haven of safety – the haven of God’s grace. We no longer rely on what we can do for ourselves, but on what God has done for us.

Writing this again now, reminds me of the joy I experienced when I first came to understand this ... and I rejoice once more in the beauty of God’s grace and His love for us.

But all this does not alter the fact that this life can be hard. Our lives are often filled with pressures: sorrow, persecution even, want, need, loneliness (to name a few). But united with Christ, and relying on his grace all this can lead to fortitude (what the NRSV translates as endurance) – hupomone – but Barclay says it is endurance – and more ‘... the spirit that can overcome the world.’

We do not passively endure, but actively overcome and conquer the trials and tribulations of love. Barclay explains using the example of Beethoven, who when he was told he was going deaf responded: “I will take life by the throat.” This is hupomone! He continues: ‘Sorrow colours life ... but you can choose the colour.’ This too is hupomone. This is fortitude, and this produces character.

In the experience of the Holy Spirit, people have a foretaste – a first instalment as it were – of the glory of God that shall be. This experience makes us long for the fulfilment of what adoption into the family of God really means. The final completion of this experience will come with the resurrection of our bodies. We are not disembodied spirits as the Greeks thought, we are both bodies and spirits, and this is how our salvation will be completed; only we will be given new bodies, ones that will not be subject to decay. Our new bodies will be spiritual, but they will still be bodies. I love the way Paul explains this in 1 Corinthians: just as a seed is planted and grows into a flower, so our earthly bodies will be ‘planted’ and a new body will emerge, one with the earthly body – just different and eternal.

So, our human situation is not hopeless: Paul was an optimist. He saw sin, the state of the world and the human condition realistically, but he also knew of God’s grace and it is this that filled him with hope – ‘... life was an eager anticipation of a liberation, a renovation and a re-creation wrought by the glory and power of God ...’

There is eager expectation – this life ought to be (in Barclay’s words) ‘... a throbbing, vivid expectation ...’ like a person leaning forward looking to the horizon in expectation.

But the reality is that life can also be a struggle. Thank you for sharing your thoughts of your struggle with worry; you know that, by nature I worry as well! Within we also battle sin and without we live in a world of death and decay.

But: we don’t only live in the world, we also live in Christ. We do not only see the world, we also look beyond the world to God. We do not only see the consequences of human sin, we also see the power of God’s mercy and grace and love. Because of this, the keynote of the Christian life is always hope and never despair – ‘... the Christian waits not for death, but for life ...’

Verses 9-11 provide the wonderful explanation of the consequences of our justification by faith. In verse 9 it is explained that we are justified by his blood – this is a reference to his passion and death. Justification is the starting point. But it is more than us being declared right with God; verse 10 speaks of how this makes it possible for us to be reconciled with God – this means that our relationship with God is restored.

Reconciliation is never the movement of a person back to God, ‘... it is rather God’s action of drawing the person back to himself ...’ this is why the verb is always passive and why we ‘receive’ reconciliation. All this because we have been offered the free, gracious gift of faith. Maly continues: ‘By faith we are what we are not.’

Jesus spoke of entry in through a narrow gate – it is both necessary and impossible. But what is impossible for us humans is possible with God and so He does all this for us in and through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And so we have peace, that which passes all understanding, keeping our hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ our Lord.

The key words of Paul in this letter are: peace, glory, endurance, hope, love, the Spirit, salvation, reconciliation and life. J A T Robinson claims that all these words ‘... are given their full orchestration and reach their crescendo in Chapter 8.

Philosophers challenge us by saying that there is a difference between what is and what can be. I think this is a wonderful challenge, especially in this time of Lent. But the Gospel makes this so much more possible. We all know the frustration of trying to change and failing over and over again. The good news is that God gives us His Spirit, to enable us to become what we want to be (and what God wants us to be because he loves us so much). J A T Robinson explains in the simple statement: ‘... The Christian life is based on the pattern – become what you are ...’ The apostle put it this way:

¹Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 

Amen.