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Read Romans 5:1-11
The first word of this chapter is key.
Remember that when you see a “therefore” you need to find out
what it’s “there for.” It’s there because everything in
chapter 5 is going to based on what we have learned in the latter
part of chapter 3 and all of chapter 4. The last part of chapter 3
was the basic outline of salvation. How it is that we became
justified before God. Chapter 4 describes what justification by faith
is and what it is not by using Abraham as an illustration of one who
walks by faith. Now we begin to look at the results of being
justified by faith.
Paul, in verse 1, says that the first
result of justification by faith is that we have peace with
God...through our Lord Jesus Christ. The Greek word for peace
(eirene) is akin to the Hebrew word for peace (shalom). Both mean
.”to join together as a whole”...“wholeness”..
“The general meaning behind “shalom”
is of completion and fulfillment - of entering into a state of
wholeness and unity, a restored relationship...Shalom is the result
of God’s activity in covenant and is the result of
righteousness...Peace, in this case, means much more than mere
absence of war...completeness, wholeness, harmony, fulfillment, are
closer to the meaning. Implicit in shalom is the idea of unimpaired
relationships with others and fulfillment in one’s undertaking…”
(Theological Wordbook of the OT)
(It’s important to note that though
Paul wrote in Greek, he thought in Hebrew. This definition works in
both languages).
So the result of our justification by
faith is that we now have peace with God...wholeness...unimpaired
relationship with God…
This definition of “unimpaired
relationship with God” leads us right into verse 2. Paul says that
in addition to this peace, we also have obtained our introduction by
faith into this grace in which we stand. Many versions use the word
“access” instead of introduction. Both are useful.
There was a barrier in the temple to a
Jew having complete access into the Holiest of Holies...the innermost
room in the temple where God dwelt…(in Hebrews we learn that it
symbolizes heaven itself)...What was it? The veil of the temple. We
know that at the crucifixion that veil was torn. This symbolized the
fact that God’s people now have complete access to all of God and
all that is in God. What about the Gentile? He was not allowed to get
anywhere near the veil. There was “a middle wall of partition”
that kept him out. It was a wall that separated the Gentiles from the
Jews. On that wall was a sign that stated that Gentiles were not
allowed to go any farther. Let’s look at what Paul says elsewhere
about this wall…
Read Ephesians 2:14-18
So now, as Gentiles we also have
complete access to all that there is in God...through our Lord Jesus
Christ. One definition of the word translated “introduction” or
“access” is “to have access (approach), with intimate
(face-to-face) interaction…”... All three occasions of (this word
in scripture) refer to "having audience (direct access) with
God". The fact that it also means “introduction” tells us
that this is just the starting point of our Christian life. And what
is it that we have “access” or “introduction” to? It is
Grace. Paul uses “Grace” here in a metaphorical sense. We have
access into a vast domain called grace. Picture a king’s palace
named “Undeserved Favor” or “Grace” which we now have access
to. He says we stand in it. E.g. it is not a place to which we come
and go as a visitor but a place in which we live. Grace is our new
home. We don’t live in the do’s and don’ts of law, but in the
unmerited favor of God. His grace is what we depend on every day. Not
our merit but His. What is the result of this “standing in grace?”
He says we exult in hope of the glory of God.
One
very important item in determining a man’s power of... standing
firm against whatever assaults may be hurled against him, is the sort
of footing that he has. If you stand on slippery mud, or on the ice
of a glacier, you will find it hard to stand firm; but if you plant
your foot on the grace of God, then you will be able to ‘withstand
in the evil day, and having done all to stand.’ And how does a man
plant his foot on the grace of God? simply by trusting in God, and
not in himself. So that the secret of all steadfastness of life, and
of all successful resistance to the whirling onrush of temptations
and of difficulties, is to set your foot upon that rock, and then
your ‘goings’ will be established. Alexander
MacLaren
What does “exult” mean? The English
word has an interesting meaning. It is from a Latin word which means
“to leap upward...to show or feel elation or jubilation especially
as the result of a success.” In this case, though, our jubilation
is not in our success but in the success of our Savior.
The Greek word behind this is even more
interesting It means living with "head up high,"
i.e. boasting from a particular vantage point by having the right
base of operation to deal successfully with a matter...figuratively,
it refers to living with God-given confidence.” This word
is translated “boast in many other places in the NT. So we don’t
boast in ourselves, but we boast in our God!
Paul says we boast in hope of the glory
of God. We learned last week that Biblical hope is not a wish. It is
earnestly expecting something to happen. We might say it means “we
can bank on it.” John Stott calls it “a joyful and confident
expectation which rests on the promises of God.” That’s what we
glory in, what we boast in...what we exult in…
In verse 3, Paul takes a curious turn.
Verses 3-5 remind me of when I was a small child and my father would
take me into the pool or lake. I could stay in the kiddie pool by
myself, but, not being able to swim, I couldn’t go into the deeper
waters without an adult. My dad would put me on his shoulders and we
would wade out into the deeper waters. That was fun...because I knew
that my dad was carrying me there...but it wasn’t long before I’d
be ready to go back into the kiddie pool...Later in Romans we will be
going into some deeper theological waters...we will go from milk to
meat...In these three verses we wade out into the deeper waters...on
Daddy’s shoulders…
What is curious when we get into verse
3, at least it would be curious to a baby Christian, is that Paul
makes the stunning statement that we also exult in our tribulations.
Remember, exult means a feeling of jubilation...a leaping upward. How
in the world are we to “exult in tribulations?” Aren’t
tribulations bad?
Actually, when we look at the word
translated “tribulations”, it is really bad...It actually means
“pressure” (what constricts or rubs together), used of a narrow
place that "hems someone in";...especially internal
pressure that causes someone to feel confined (restricted, "without
options"). [By contrast, (another Greek word most often
translated as “distresses or difficulties”) focuses on the
external pressure exerted by circumstances.] Now, none of that seems
like something we would want for ourselves. Yet, Paul says we are
elated...ecstatic and jubilant in our tribulations. How is that? It
is because of what follows.
Paul says that we can rejoice in our
tribulations because they bring about perseverance. Now, understand
that it is not inevitable that they bring about these things. This is
what is supposed to happen. It is what happens when we yield to God
and “stand in His grace.” Now this word translated “perseverance”
is also translated as “endurance”, “patient endurance”, and
“steadfastness.” It’s root means “to remain under”. It is
not a “gritting your teeth” endurance where you just gut it out
but are a mess inside, but it is “patiently enduring”
tribulations. How can we patiently endure tribulations? Through
faith in God. By knowing that “nothing can separate us from the
love of God in Christ Jesus” (to jump ahead to chapter 8). By
knowing that as a child of a king nothing will happen to us that God
cannot and will not in time turn to something good. By knowing that
we can trust His heart...that He has plans to prosper us and not to
harm us...to give us a hope and a future. (Jer. 29:11).
There is a natural progression to each
of these things in Romans 5:3, 4. We could not know anything about
perseverance or endurance unless we first have tribulations and
troubles. And it takes perseverance to come to the next thing. In
verse 4, it says tells us that perseverance leads to proven
character. What do you think he meant by that?
The word translated “proven
character” is “dokime” which means (the
process or result of) trial, proving, approval. I came across some
interesting background on this word…
"In the ancient world there was no
banking system as we know it today, and no paper money. All money was
made from metal, heated until liquid, poured into moulds and allowed
to cool. When the coins were cooled, it was necessary to smooth off
the uneven edges. The coins were comparatively soft, and of course
many people shaved them closely. In one century, more than eighty
laws were passed in Athens to stop the practice of whittling down the
coins then in circulation. But some money-changers were men of
integrity, who would accept no counterfeit money; they were men of
honour who put only genuine, full-weight money into circulation. Such
men were called dokimos, and this word is used here for the Christian
as he is to be seen by the world." (Donald Grey Barnhouse,
Romans: God's Glory, p. 18.)
So how do we get to be a “spiritual
dokimos”, a person of absolute integrity...a man or woman of proven
character? By persevering under tribulation. By remaining in a state
of absolute trust and peace before God even in the tremendous
pressures of life. And what is the result of the proven character
that we develop? It is hope! Remember, we started with hope. Now we
come around full circle to hope. So...have we gained anything?
Absolutely yes! We have gone from a baby hope to a mature hope. Now
we have a much greater, much more grounded hope. And what is our
hope? It is of course in Christ.
Verse 5 says that this hope does not
disappoint us? Have you ever had a hope in something that turned out
to be groundless? I dare say all of us have at one time or another.
Life is full of great disappointments...yet Paul assures us that this
hope in God will never disappoint us. What evidence do we have for
this? Paul gives us the evidence of the Holy Spirit. He tells us
that it is because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts
by the Holy Spirit which was given to us. Remember, one of the names
of the Holy Spirit is “Comforter.” He comforts us by
strengthening us...by pouring out the love of God in our hearts. Now
this “pouring out’ is not a trickle. It is literally a “gushing
out.” The evidence that our hope is real is that the love of God
gushes out from God into our hearts...and the Holy Spirit is the one
doing this. BTW...this is the first time the Holy Spirit is
mentioned in Romans.
John Stott:
‘Under the vivid metaphor of a
cloudburst on a parched countryside’,what the Holy Spirit does is
to make us deeply and refreshingly aware that God loves us.
This verse serves as a transition to
verses 6-11. Now, he is, in effect, taking us back out of the deeper
waters (we will be going back into them shortly!) of tribulations and
perseverance into the wonderful truths about the love of God. Yet,
whether we are new born Christians or mature Christians who have been
in the faith for decades, these truths never get old. If someone is
studying advanced trigonometry, do they not need the basics of
addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division? No, and we
still need to go back to the truths of the basics of our faith. In
verses 6-11, Paul tells us about the love of God. He wants us to get
the full impact of what the love of God is...we need to go back and
reflect on how much God really loves us.
Verse 6 says that Jesus Christ died at
the right time. God chose a time...the perfect time...to send his
son to die for our sins. This was true in history, but it is also
true in our experience. There is a perfect time that each of us comes
to know that Jesus died for our sins...That time, is when we were
helpless...when we came to the end of our strength. At that time,
Jesus died for the ungodly...that’s you and me.
Then in verse 7, Paul makes the point
that hardly anyone would die for a righteous man...that is, a man who
was righteous according to the law. Paul at one time said that as a
Pharisee he was righteous according to the law. Of course, he was
also self-righteous. He goes on to say that for a good man, someone
might be willing to die. That is...a man who was not only righteous
in the externals but in the internals. Someone who truly loved God…
But then verse 8 makes the point that
we were none of those. We weren’t righteous and we weren’t good.
We were the ungodly. Let’s re-read this verse...I’m going to read
this in the old King James just because I like it so well…
But
God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.
Not
when we were righteous. Not when we were good. When we were
helpless. When we were ungodly. When we were sinners. When we were
rebels against God. This is an astounding verse. It’s the essence
of Christianity. Christ died for sinners. Christ died for us.
There
is one curious thing about this verse that grabs my attention. When
he said ‘Christ died for us”, what tense is that in? Past tense.
It happened in the past...in a given point in history...almost 2000
years ago. But when he says, “God commendeth His love to us” or
“God demonstrates His love to us”, what tense is that in?
Present tense. You see, though Jesus died at a given point in
history, the application of the benefits of that death is an ongoing
thing. It reminds me of the fact that when an animal was slain in the
temple, it was at a given point in time. Yet the blood from the
animal (and other animals) was then taken into the Holy Place where
it was used continuously. This is a type of the continuing work of
the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers.
Now
let’s do another little word study. The word translated
“demonstrate” means “to stand near”...
referring to facts "lining up" with each other to support
(commend)
something. It is standing near to support a thing. KJV uses
“commendeth.” We don’t use the word “commend” much, but we
do use a similar word…”recommend.” When we recommend someone we
are supporting them. What Paul is saying I think is that we never
have to doubt the love of God, because He made the ultimate
expression of His love to us in sending His son to die for us when we
were completely helpless, without strength...even rebels against Him.
It is an ongoing recommendation of His love. We should never doubt
His love as long as we continually go back to the cross to see how
much He loves us.
This
leads directly into verse 9. Because we have now been justified, we
now can be assured that we will ultimately be saved from the wrath of
God through Jesus. Why is this? Verse 10 explains further. He died
for us when we were enemies to God, and we were reconciled when we
were rebels to Him through the death of His Son. Now that we have
been reconciled, Paul says that we shall be saved by His life...that
is, the life of Jesus. What does he mean by this? There is a verse in
Hebrews that I believe sheds light on what this passage is about.
Hebrews
7:25 (NKJV)
25
Therefore
He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God
through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
This
verse is talking about the ongoing priesthood of Christ. After Jesus
rose from the dead, He ascended to heaven and sat down at the right
hand of God. What is He doing today in heaven? He is making
intercession for those who come to God through Him. What is the
result of this intercession? They are saved to the uttermost. (NASB
says “forever”, but this word means more than only “for all
time.” It also means “completely.” “perfectly”, “utterly”.
This tells me that the work of salvation is ongoing. There is a sense
in which we can say not that we were saved or are saved but that we
are being saved. He is continually ministering in heaven on our
behalf. We are being saved by His life...that is, by His living
today. Our salvation will not be complete until He takes us home.
Remember this scripture…?
being
confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in
you will complete it
until
the day of Jesus Christ; (Phil. 1:6 NKJV)
That
good work in us is the work of salvation...of reconcilliation to God.
We won’t be fully reconciled to Him until “the day of Jesus
Christ.” When He comes back to get us. That day, all will be
completed. That will be the day of our full salvation.
Let’s
look at one more verse. Verse 11 flows out of verse 10. In verse 10,
it says we WERE reconciled by the death of Jesus and that we SHALL BE
saved by his life ultimately. In verse 11, it says we have NOW
received the reconciliation. Now received. This is for now. Paul
says that we exult in Christ (there is that word exult again!)
because we presently have the reconciliation. Salvation is not just
something in the past that we can look back on, nor something in the
future that we can look forward to, but something that we presently
possess. Why? Because He always lives to make intercession for us.
That’s something we can exult in!
George
Matheson suffered poor eyesight from birth, and at age 15 learned
that he was going blind. Not one to be easily discouraged, he
enrolled in the University of Glasgow and graduated at age 19. He
then began theological studies, and it was while pursuing those that
he became totally blind.
Matheson’s
three sisters rose to the occasion and tutored him through his
studies—even going so far as to learn Hebrew, Greek, and Latin to
be able to help their brother. With their help he was able to
complete his studies.
After
graduation, he answered a call to serve as pastor of a church in
Innellan, Argylshire, Scotland. He had a successful ministry there,
and was later called to serve as pastor of the much larger (2000
member) St. Bernard’s Church in Edinburgh.
On
the day that one of his sisters was married, Matheson wrote this
hymn. He recorded this account of that experience in his journal:
“My
hymn was composed on the evening of June 6, 1882. I was at that time
alone. It was the day of my sister’s marriage... Something had
happened to me which was known only to myself, and which caused me
the most severe mental suffering. The hymn was the fruit of that
suffering. It was the quickest bit of work I ever did in my life. I
had the impression of having it dictated to me by some inward voice
than of working it out myself. I am quite sure that the whole work
was completed in five minutes, and equally sure that it never
received at my hands any retouching or correction...
Matheson
obviously didn’t intend to tell us what caused his “most severe
mental suffering,” but people who know his background strongly
suspect that it had to do with a heartbreaking experience several
years earlier. His fiancee had broken her engagement to him, telling
him that she couldn’t see herself going through life married to a
blind man. Matheson never married, and it seems likely that his
sister’s wedding brought to memory the woman that he had loved and
the wedding that he had never enjoyed.
At
any rate, Matheson’s “severe mental suffering” inspired him to
write this hymn, “O Love that Wilt Not Let Me Go.” The hymn
celebrates the constancy of God’s love—”love that wilt not let
me go”—”light that follow’st all my way”—”joy that
seekest me through pain.” It concludes by celebrating “Life that
shall endless be.”...
When
I read the various accounts of Matheson’s writing this hymn, one
sentence struck me as especially important. It was this—Matheson
said, “The hymn was the fruit of that suffering.” There is an
important lesson in that. All of us suffer some sort of heartbreak
or disappointment or disability at some point in our lives. What
makes all the difference is our response —whether we let the
hardship stop us or inspire us to greater effort.
Matheson
suffered two severe blows that could have stopped him—the loss of
his eyesight and the loss of his beloved. In both cases, he made the
best of a bad situation—and we are all the richer for it. As this
hymn reveals, it was his faith in God that kept him going through the
adversities that he suffered. He believed that God’s love would
not let him go—and that God’s light would follow him all his
way—and that God’s joy would seek him through his pain—and that
faith made all the difference.
O
Love that will not let me go,I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
O Light that foll’west all my way,
I yield my flick’ring torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.
O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.
O
Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.
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