Romans 5:1-11 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Romans 5:1-11. Let’s go!
Romans 5:1 (NIV)
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
On verse 1: Paul has spent the past chapter and a half (Romans 3:21-4:25) declaring the good news that God has made it possible for all people to be justified (that is, declared righteous in God’s sight) by faith in Jesus Christ. Now in Romans 5 Paul begins to describe some of the benefits that we experience because we are justified by faith. The first benefit we experience “since we have been justified through faith” is that we have peace with God. In other words, our relationship with God is not filled with insecurity where we worry whether or not we have done enough to earn God’s approval. Instead, we have peace with God knowing that Jesus Christ has done it all for us. Also, we have peace with God in that our relationship with God is not one of animosity but peace. For we were once enemies of God, but now through Jesus’ blood we have become His family, His friends. The first benefit of justification by faith is peace with God.
Romans 5:2 (NIV)
2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
On verse 2: The second benefit we experience because we are justified by faith is that we have joy arising from the fact that we know that we will be with God in the end for eternity. There is an incomparable joy and hope that you experience when you know that you are a citizen of heaven and that you are going to a far better place with God after you die. As Paul writes, “we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God”.
Romans 5:3-4 (NIV)
3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
On verses 3-4: The third benefit we experience because we are justified by faith is that we have a perspective on our problems that leads to personal growth. For we know that any suffering we experience is a stepping stone for us to develop perseverance, which in turn leads to character, which in turn leads to hope. In the Bible, hope is not just a feeling beyond your control. Rather, hope happens when you persevere in your relationship with God and let God transform your character. Hope is like a spiritual muscle, where the more we learn to persevere in our sufferings and to grow more like Christ, the more hope we will have.
Romans 5:5 (NIV)
5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
On verse 5: What does Paul mean when he says “hope does not disappoint us”? In other words, the hope we know in Christ does not let us down or let us go, because it is not a hope that we ourselves manufacture. Rather, the hope we have as Christians is something that God gives to us as a gift of His love and as the work of the Holy Spirit living in us.
Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
On verses 6-8: When we had no way of reaching God on our own (“when we were still powerless”), God reached for us by sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins. Paul writes verse 7 to show how unfathomable it is that someone as perfect and holy as the Son of God would die for someone as wicked as me. It goes to show how out of this world and amazing is God’s love for us.
Romans 5:9-10 (NIV)
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
10 For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
On verses 9-10: Here Paul identifies a number of ways that our position with God changes when we trust in Jesus. First, through Jesus’ shed blood God has justified us (i.e. our legal status before God has been changed so that sinners like us are now God declared righteous in His sight) (v9). Second, through Jesus’ shed blood God has reconciled us to Himself (i.e. our relationship with God has been restored as we have gone from being enemies of God to friends of God). Third, through Jesus’ shed blood we are saved (i.e. instead of receiving the due punishment for our sin, which is total and eternal separation from God, we are saved from that punishment and spared from an eternity apart from God).
Romans 5:11 (NIV)
11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
On verse 11: Another benefit of being justified by faith is that we have joy in God Himself. That is, our joy is not just in the fact that we are going to heaven. Even more, we have joy in God personally. We can experience a delight and a happiness that only comes from a close relationship with God.
As you can see, being justified (declared righteous) by faith in Jesus opens the door to so many incredible blessings in our lives. May we not take them for granted.
Father, thank You that because I am justified (declared righteous) by faith in Jesus, I have peace with You. I have the joy of knowing that heaven has reserved a place for me. I have a perspective on my problems that leads to personal growth in my life. I have a hope that I don’t manufacture; it is the work of God in me. I have Your love and Your Holy Spirit which You poured into me. And I have joy not just in the things You do, but in who You are. I declare that because of Jesus’ shed bled I am so incredibly blessed. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
