Romans 5:1-2 – What Justification Brings

Peace. In the current state of our world today, peace seems to be in short supply. We are currently on the brink, maybe even at the beginning, of war in the Middle East. There is so much turmoil in other places as well. Not to mention the instability in our own country where the moral and political views of people in America cause them to be greatly divided. Much of that division is expressed in hostility toward one another. It seems peace is rare. However, deep down in each person there is an understanding of the importance of peace, and we all desire it. We all prefer peace over turmoil. That is peace corporately among nations and individually, in relationships between people. We prefer peace. Peace is, well – peaceful.

However, there is a peace that we need that far outweighs any other type of peace we may desire or seek. Though we all have an awareness of the turmoil, hostility, and even war that is taking place around the world, there is a much more significant war that mankind is engaged in. It is the hostility between God and sinners.

Mankind needs peace with the Creator. The only way to have peace with God is to be without sin, possessing righteousness. However, Scripture teaches that because of sin man is unrighteous and separated from God. Not only that, but the Bible teaches that man is an enemy of God. There is enmity and hostility between sinful man and the holy God. So, our greatest need is to be reconciled to God. In order to be reconciled, we must be justified before God. Justification is being declared righteous before God. In justification, God credits us with a righteousness that is not our own but is Christ’s, and He takes our sin and puts it on Christ, who bore the divine judgment against it on the cross.

Only through faith in Jesus can man be reconciled to God. Only Christ can justify the sinner. Only Christ can take away the punishment we deserve for our sins. On the cross, all of God’s His wrath for you fell onto Jesus and was atoned for. Jesus absorbed it and it disappeared forever. Therefore, those who trust in Jesus are justified and only those who are justified by faith can experience the benefits it brings. So then, as those who are justified before God, what benefits does justification by faith in Jesus bring the believer? I think we see three benefits or fruits Paul describes in these first verses of chapter 5. You can see them printed there on page six of the WG. Justification brings: peace with God, access to God, and hope of the glory of God.

Let’s look at these together.

Notice that verse one begins with, “Therefore.” The use of this conjunction means that what Paul is about to say is a result of what he has just been explaining. What had he just been explaining? In chapter 4, Paul had given a rich exposition explaining the basis of the believer’s justification, which is through faith in Christ alone by grace alone.

Now Paul anticipates the question that might arise after his teaching. Ok, Paul, what happens to those who are justified? What does this justification of which you speak bring to those who believe?

So in light of that reality, Paul moves on to the implications or benefits of justification, the fruit of what it brings. Look at the second part of verse 1. The first thing that our justification brings is peace with God. As I already mentioned, peace with God, being reconciled to God, is the greatest need we have.

This peace is not a temporary peace. It is not like a ceasefire agreement, a temporary break in the hostility with the possibility of the ceasefire ending at some point. The Sovereign has laid down his arms, not only promising to never again have hostility with those who were once His enemies, but he has even called them friend. Even more intimately, he calls them sons and daughters. It means we have fellowship and communion with God.

To be clear, this is not the same as the peace of God, which by the way, is another reality that justification by faith brings (Phil.4:7). The peace of God is a calm and satisfied heart in the midst of troubles and pressures. The peace of God is peace with regard to the cares of the world. It is subjective. It can change. It may ebb and flow as our focus on Christ’s person and work ebbs and flows.  But peace with God means that the state of hostilities between God and                         us is now over. Peace with God is peace with regard to God. It is objective and happens regardless of my feelings, regardless of whether I feel content and secure or discontent and insecure. It is peace with regard to our relationship with God.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

The time period during which Paul was writing the letter to the Romans was still part of what was called the pax romana, a 200 year period of relative peace in the kingdom. However, it was not always a time of peace for Christians. They suffered much persecution at the hands of the Romans. While “peace with Rome” was unstable and insecure for believers, peace with God was settled and sure. Regardless of the unsettled nature of life as a persecuted—or at best tolerated—religious minority in the Roman Empire, Christians in Rome were assured by Paul that their peace with God was a settled fact.

That is the same reality that all believers have with the Sovereign Lord, the Almighty King. A peace that is final and undisturbable. No matter what external factors may be disturbing your peace of mind, if you are in Christ, you have peace with God. Colossians 1:19-20 says, “19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” Or Isaiah 53:5 -  “5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” Believer be encouraged, you have peace with God through Christ.

Another benefit or fruit that justification brings is access to the grace in which we stand. Look at verse two. The sense here is that of “bringing near,” or “to introduce.” If we wanted to have a meeting with the president, to speak with him personally, we would need to be granted access. It is typically that way with any dignitary, because of the significance of their position, freedom to approach them without access can be costly. How much more the sovereign creator of the world? The king of kings. The alpha and Omega.

Access to grace means we are given a favorable position from which to develop a personal relationship with God. In Christ, we are ushered into the royal throne room, and we stand – remain - there. No matter where we go in this world, we are always in the heavenly throne room. This reality goes beyond “peace with God,” which was the ending of hostility. Justification is not merely the removal of a negative (hostility) – it has a positive impact: relationship. This is friendship with God. We can now go to God continually with our requests, problems, and failures; and he hears us and relates to us.

We can see this concept illustrated with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. Originally, they had full access to God. God would walk with them in the cool of the day. Then, because of sin, they were separated from the holy God. Instead of seeking God’s presence, they fled from Him. They were naked and ashamed, shame that came upon them because of their sin. But do you remember what God did? God condescended to his fallen creatures. He showed them grace and mercy by making clothes for them and covering their shame, so that they could come before Him again. This was a foreshadowing of God’s sending his only Son to fully and finally take away His people’s sin and once again giving them access to Him.

Having faith in Jesus is like a door that lets you into the great room full of God's blessing (grace). Sin was the barrier stopping us getting in, but now we have full access to it. On the grounds of our being justified through Jesus, we have access to the holy God. And that should fill us with great joy. Colossians 1:22 explains it this way – “ 21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.” We have access to God’s presence. There is no more veil. In the Old Testament the Tabernacle, one of the most intricately designed parts was the curtain, or the veil, which later became the veil of the temple that separated the holy place from the holy of holies. The veil separated that which was unclean (sinners) from the presence of the holy God. Nothing could breakthrough that barrier that separated the people from the immediate presence of God until Golgotha, until that day in Jerusalem when the sun was blotted out of the sky in the middle of the day and it became pitch black as night. On that day, when Christ was the curse on the cross, there was an earthquake, and in that earthquake the veil of the temple was ripped, signifying that the veil between God and his people was removed through the sacrifice of Christ. The wall of separation came crashing down through the work of the Mediator, the Savior. When he rose from the dead, Jesus entered into the heavenly sanctuary, into the heavenly holy of holies, where he gives us access. Those who trust in Him.

There is no greater human experience than to have an overwhelming sense of being in the presence of God. That is why Paul says, “we have access by faith into this grace.” Faith and grace are inseparably related. The most unmerited favor that any creature, any sinner, can experience is the grace of being allowed into the presence of God. How would we feel if we received a written invitation for a personal audience with the Creator, the holy God? What would we wear? What would we say? That engraved imitation comes to all who are justified. It is a fruit of our justification. That is the grace in which we stand in Christ Jesus.

That brings us to the third benefit or fruit of justification that Paul mentions in the beginning of chapter 5, which is the hope of the glory of God. We see this in the second part of verse 2. The word “hope” in English is rather weak. Generally, we use the word hope to mean wishing for something but without certainty of getting it.

I have been a lifelong fan of the Atlanta Braves. If I was asked, “Do you think the Braves are going to win the World Series?” I might reply, “I don't know, but I hope so.” Such a use of the word hope expresses the desire that certain things will come to pass, but we have no assurance that they will.

That is not so with the biblical concept of hope. The Greek word used here for hope means a conviction. Christian hope is not a hopeful wish - it is hope filled certainty. The Bible describes hope with a metaphor: hope is the anchor of our souls. Our souls are not tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. We have stability in our lives because, in the midst of the storm, there is an anchor, and that anchor is the hope that God the Holy Spirit has shed abroad in our hearts. It is the hope that cannot possibly be ashamed. It is our hope that carries with it God's assurance; It is a hope that cannot fail. In one sense our faith looks backward so that we put our trust in what Christ has done for us. In another sense our hope looks forward with the same assurance to what he will do when he completes his work of redemption in us, a work that cannot fail. This is a definite anticipation of sharing God's future glory.

In light of Colossians 1:27, which says, “27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory,” Paul likely means that we rejoice greatly when we reflect on the solid basis for the expectation of future bliss. The hope we have through Christ, who is our hope, helps to confirm our expectation of what will be, that we will share in the glory of God in Christ when we see him face to face. That is biblical joy.

What about you? Do you have that joy? Do you know the hope of the gospel of Christ? It is a certain hope; it is an anchoring hope. It is the type of hope that can hold you steady in the midst of life’s trials and struggles and storms. But it is a hope that does not depend on your strength but on the strength of the one who secured the hope for you. And isn't it comforting to know as well that for the believer, even when we waiver in our hope, the grace of God sustains us. It is like pastor Stacey often says it is the net beneath us that keeps us from falling completely. It is the net of our justification that comes through Christ.

Pastor Tim Keller writes this in his commentary on Romans – “Notice that these three benefits of justification are the three tenses of our salvation. In Christ, we have been freed from our past (our old record of rebellion and sin is put away and we have peace with God); we are free in the present to enjoy personal relationship with God; and we will one day most certainly experience the freedom of life lived in the full, awesome presence of God's glory.”

What comfort that is for the believer! If you have trusted in Christ, you have been justified. And if you are justified, you have peace with God, access to God, and hope in the glory of God. Let the comfort and the joy of that promise sink into your hearts this morning. However, if you have not trusted in Christ, you can be justified before God today by turning to the Lord Jesus in faith, repenting of your sins and receiving reconciliation with the one whom we need to be reconciled to the most. And it does not require your good works or good behavior. You only have to trust in the perfect record of Christ. Romans 10:9-10 says – “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Remember the benefits that justification brings and may you be encouraged by that promise this morning.

Let’s pray.