Romans 5

Justified by Grace Part 2

Last week I talked about the gift we have as we have been justified by our faith in the One who gave His life for us. As we look deeper into being justified by our faith, we will find even more benefits – more gifts from God. Our faith in Christ not only brings us salvation, but many other things as well. Jesus said in John 10:9-10, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.” We are not only promised salvation, but abundant life as well. Paul will lay out some of what that abundant life looks like because of our justification by faith.

Vs 1-3a Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have also obtained access through Him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions… 

Paul puts together a wonderful list of our abundant life through Christ. First, we will have peace with God. This is not peace in the sense of “we will have a peaceful existence”. The Greek word for peace is eiréné, which means oneness or to rest. It comes from the root eiro which means to join, to tie, or to make whole. So this peace we have with God is one that makes us whole with God. The battle has been won through Christ. He is our Prince of Peace. In Him we have completeness and rest. Remember, when Jesus said he was the door, he said we will come into Christ and go out to find pasture. We find our peace.

Second, we obtain access and stand in grace. What is the difference? We not only access grace that brings us salvation, we also stand in grace. To stand means we can stand in the presence of God once again. We not only begin our journey of faith in grace, we also continue to walk with God in grace. God just doesn’t bring us salvation, He also enables us to walk with Him. When Adam and Eve sinned, they closed the door on their ability to walk with God in the garden. Through Christ, we have an open door again to walk with God. We have been brought into favor with God once again through our faith in Jesus Christ.

Because of our peace and our stand in grace, we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. The Greek word for rejoice is kauchaomai, which actually means to boast. Paul is literally saying we boast in the hope we have in God. We boast in the work God has done and the grace He has given us. We cannot boast in any work we have done – no we boast in the work of Christ. Not only that, we can also kauchaomai in our afflictions. This may not seem like a part of the abundant life, but Paul shows us that life with Christ will not always be a thornless rose. A rose is beautiful to the eye and nose. But roses, as beautiful as they are, also contain thorns. I have several beautiful rose bushes in front of my house. When they are in full bloom it is glorious but when I go to prune them, I can attest to the fact that there are a lot of thorns. But to keep the blooms coming, I have to deal with the thorns. Life is full of affliction and tribulation, but, because we have peace with God and can stand in grace, those afflictions will produce something beautiful.

Vs. 3b-5 …because we know that affliction produces endurance,  endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

What is the beauty? Paul tells us that affliction will produce endurance. The Greek word for endurance is hupomoné, which means a remaining behind and a patient enduring. These thorns of life will produce a quality that enables us to remain behind and wait patiently for Christ. Next, this type of endurance produces proven character. The Greek word for proven character is dokimé, which means approval that comes as a result of a trial. Our character is honed through this trial. Next, character will produce hope. The Greek word for hope is elpis, which means an expectation and trust. So, the trials we encounter produce a patient enduring that result in a proven character that expects and trusts in God’s love, poured out in us through the gift of the Holy Spirit. These are the gifts of grace we receive from God. And who benefits from this grace?

Vs 6-11 For while we were still helpless, at the appointed moment, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life! And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have now received this reconciliation through Him.

Amazingly, we do. Paul says that we are helpless, ungodly and sinful. We do not deserve God’s grace at all. But this really shows how much God really does love us. He didn’t die for someone who deserved His sacrifice. He didn’t even die for someone who was kind of good. He died for the helpless, the ungodly and the sinful. He died for His enemies – us. It says, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We were still in our sinful stage. We hadn’t come to Him in faith at all, yet He still died for us. Not only that, we are also saved by His life! What does that mean? God didn’t just stop at dying for our sins, he continued by raising us up to life – and life abundant. We will not experience the deserved wrath of God, but will instead walk with him – standing in grace. But it goes further – we will also rejoice – boast – in God through Jesus. What do we boast about? The full reconciliation that has been accomplished in Christ.

Vs 12-14 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all men, because all sinned. In fact, sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not charged to a person’s account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression. He is a prototype of the Coming One.

Paul then gives us a bit of a history lesson, taking us back to Genesis 3. We find Adam and Eve making the choice to sin. With that choice, sin entered the world, and by it, death. So through the sin of Adam, all mankind is subject to sin and death. There are cemeteries filled with evidence of this. In fact, I can say with 100% certainty that everyone is going to face death at one point. We can’t get around it or avoid it. In fact, we are born into sin. This may not be a popular truth, but it is truth. David speaks of it in Psalm 51:5 when he says, “Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.” Paul goes on to remind us, the Law was not given to save us, but to highlight – to shed another light on- sin, which was already present in the world. From Adam to Moses, there was no “Law”, but sin still existed. But there is hope. Paul says, Adam is a prototype of Christ. Yes, he brought sin into the world, but grace was on the way, and in fact has always been there. 1 Corinthians 15:22 says, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.”

Vs 15-21 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift overflowed to the many by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ.  And the gift is not like the one man’s sin, because from one sin came the judgment, resulting in condemnation, but from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification. Since by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is life-giving justification for everyone. For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yes, Adam brought sin and death into the world, but grace is greater. Sin and death cannot stop the grace of God which overflows to us through Christ. Satan does not get the last word. He may have won a small battle, but he will – and has through Christ – lost the war. It’s a fact, darkness will never overcome the Light. The result of that sin was indeed judgment. Adam and Eve – and us – have been judged by God and condemned by our sin. That’s also a very unpopular thing – but it is true. Whether we like it or not, we have been condemned. But Jesus reminds us in John 3:17, “For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” Even though we were already condemned by our sin, God still loved us. And in His great love, God sent Christ into the world to give us the gift of grace and justification.

And finally, Paul gives us some contrast and comparisons. First, because of Adam’s sin, death overflowed onto all mankind and reigned, but, through Christ and His gift of righteousness, life now reigns. Second, Adam’s disobedience caused sin, but Christ’s obedience opened up a way for us to be made righteous. Third, the Law, given to shed light on the sin that was already in the world. That same law ended up multiplying our trespass and showed us there was no way we could ever make it right. But Christ came and multiplied grace even more. His grace is more than the sin – so it cancels it out.

There is no greater news than this: In Christ there is grace that overtakes death and brings us life. In Christ there is grace that will reign supreme over sin and death, and we can once again be at peace and stand in grace with God. The light has vanquished the darkness. We can now be justified by faith in Christ and receive the free gift of eternal life that can only be found in Him.