By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at verses 14-25 of chapter 4.
1.1.1. In that study, Paul again used Abraham as an example of one whose faith
was reckoned to him as righteousness, and in so doing several points were made,
including:
1.1.1.1. If salvation could come because of law-keeping then faith and obtaining
Gods promises through faith is made void or nullified.
1.1.1.2. Salvation is received by faith so that it can be by grace.
1.1.1.3. Jesus was delivered up because of our transgressions and raised up from
the dead because of our justification.
1.1.2. We looked at the faith in God and His promises that Abraham had which
was a hope against hope, or in other words, Abrahams faith was opposed to all
of the odds of Gods promise being fulfilled.
We saw that our God whose great promises we trust is not a god of
the odds, for He has a huge tendency to defy all odds.
1.2.
In this study, we are going
to look at verses 1-2 of chapter 5.
1.2.1. Paul will begin to talk now about how that being justified before God based
upon our faith in Jesus Christ and His death upon
1.2.2. Paul will declare for us the fact that it is through our faith in Jesus
Christ that the Christian can now come before God and have access to God.
2. VS 5:1 - 5:1
Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, - Paul tells us that our faith justifies us and
gives us peace with God
2.1.
The word therefore in this verse looks back
to all that has preceded it. Paul had
just explained to the readers how that all the world is under sin and therefore
all are unable to be justified in Gods sight through their works. He has explained the doctrine of
justification by faith alone, and he had shown that this was the method that
God had required for all men and women since Adam to become His people. So, in beginning this section with the word therefore,
Paul begins to explain what the results of justification are to the
Christian. Paul undertakes a new theme
in this chapter: the results of
justification. He will off and on refer back to this theme through chapter
8.
2.2.
Justification a forensic term, opposed to condemnation. As regards
its nature, it is the judicial act of God, by which he pardons all the sins of
those who believe in Christ, and accounts, accepts, and treats them as
righteous in the eye of the law, i.e., as conformed to all its demands. In
addition to the pardon (q.v.) of sin, justification declares that all the
claims of the law are satisfied in respect of the justified. It is the act of a
judge and not of a sovereign. The law is not relaxed or set aside, but is
declared to be fulfilled in the strictest sense; and so the person justified is
declared to be entitled to all the advantages and rewards arising from perfect
obedience to the law (
It proceeds on the imputing or crediting to the believer
by God himself of the perfect righteousness, active and passive, of his
Representative and Surety, Jesus Christ (
The sole condition on which this righteousness is
imputed or credited to the believer is faith in or on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Faith is called a condition, not because it possesses any merit, but only
because it is the instrument, the only instrument by which the soul
appropriates or apprehends Christ and his righteousness (Rom. 1:17; 3:25, 26;
4:20, 22; Phil. 3:811; Gal. 2:16).
The act of faith which thus secures our justification
secures also at the same time our sanctification (q.v.); and thus the doctrine
of justification by faith does not lead to licentiousness (
2.3.
Martin Luther, the man who
is called the father of the protestant revolution, was a Roman
Catholic monk and priest in the early 1500s when he realized that instead of
having joy and peace in his heart and life that he was constantly filled with a
sense of guilt, failure, and condemnation.
Then, one day when in his study of the book of Romans (and this verse in
particular) he realized that a person can enter into a state of justification
before God by trusting by faith in Jesus Christ, he suddenly knew the joy and
blessing of being genuinely converted.
He then began to try to reform the Roman Catholic theology which taught
that a person had to have works in addition to faith, plus perform endless rites
until the end, and, even then he would never have any assurance of
salvation. Realizing the corruption and
hypocrisy in the Roman Catholic church as well as their error in theology
regarding justification by faith in
2.4.
One of the most important things in the Christian life
is to apply this word found in this verse, therefore, when we find it
in the scriptures. In other words to
apply in our own life what Gods Word has shown us. It is here that Christians often fail in
their walk. Though we can have head
knowledge about God and His Word, it is only as we apply what the Word
teaches to our life that we grow spiritually and are blessed and used by God in
this world. To understand what this word
means according to Gods Word here in Romans 5:1, that you are justified
before God through Christ, should propel the Christian to want to live for God
and serve Him to the ninth degree out of sheer love and gratitude.
2.5.
Dr. Martin Lloyed Jones
writes, If you know that you stand justified before God through the death
and resurrection of Christ, your whole salvation is guaranteed. If God has done that, the greatest thing of
all, while we were enemies, He cannot fail to do the lesser things necessary to
the securing of our ultimate and complete deliverance from sin in every shape
and form, and our final glorification.
God has given us through Paul a promise that this quote reminds me of in
Rom. 8:31-32, 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us,
who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up
for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
2.6.
There was a Japanese commander found on a South Sea
island in 1972 who had remained on that island isolated from the rest of the
world since World War II had begun, and he was still daily preparing for
invasion by the United States. He didnt
realize that for decades his country had a signed treaty with the
2.7.
This word justification means to be made
righteous, and when God says that He has justified a Christian it means that He
has made it as if that person had never sinned.
The record of the sin is forgotten and the effect of separation produced
by that sin is abolished. Therefore,
when a person accepts Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, his salvation is
forever assured, as it is in the words of Dr. Martin Lloyed
Jones, final, absolute, and complete.
2.8.
The tense of these words having been shows
that the action of the phrase was completed in time past. Everyone who has received Jesus Christ as his
Lord and Savior was at that very moment in time justified before
God. In fact, he can never be any more justified
before God than he was at that moment.
This is because when a person receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior
he enters into the state of
justification before God.
2.9.
Justification is not like sanctification,
which is a process, rather justification is a state in which all who
receive Christ enter into once and for all in their life.
2.10. A woman
cannot be kind of pregnant,
or a little bit
pregnant. A woman is either pregnant or
she is not. In the same way a person is
either in a state of justification before God or he is not. He is either saved or he is not.
2.11. It is not
that the Christian is hoping to be justified, but rather that he was justified
at the moment of salvation and will continue to be so for eternity.
2.12. Paul again
emphasizes in this verse that justification before God is entered into
by faith in Jesus Christ as ones Lord and Savior.
2.13. By stating
that a person comes into a relationship of justification before God
based upon His faith in Jesus Christ, not of works, should never infer that repentance of sin is not necessary. The book of Acts makes this very clear as we
see how from the first sermon preached in chapter 2 in which Peter said to the
multitudes interested in salvation, Repent, and let each of you be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and your
children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call
to Himself, All the way through the book of Acts we see that repentance
of sin is continually preached as a necessary step in salvation.
2.14. The person
who understands he is justified before God because of what Jesus has
done for him will not feel that he now has license to sin, but will according
to scripture and in the words of Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones be, grave, sober,
and he approaches God with reverence and Godly fear. He will also be careful about his life and
will hold to having a pure conscience.
2.15. We Christians need to realize that it doesnt matter
how obedient or spiritual we have or have not been today or the last 6 months,
we are still just as justified today as we were the moment we received Christ
as our Lord and Savior.
2.16. On the other
hand, many non-Christians try to come to God in order to obtain some blessing,
yet do not realize that God is at enmity with them and they must first come to
have peace with God before they will ever be able to obtain the
blessings He would have to offer them.
They must first gain access to Him, then they can pray or seek His
favor. The writer of the Proverbs said
in Prov. 28:9, 9 He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, Even
his prayer is an abomination.
2.17. In John
chapter 9 there is told the story of the healing of a man born blind. The Jewish authorities were trying to
discredit the testimony of this man saying that they did not know who Jesus
was, He was not sanctioned by them.
However, the blind made the most interesting and insightful reply to
them, He said, God heareth not sinners. That a tremendous miracle had occurred they
could not deny, yet the Pharisees said that Jesus was a man not under their
sanction, and, the mans reply shows that Jesus must have favor with God, for
otherwise how could do this miracle or any great work of God.
2.18. There shall be no peace with God except by the
completed work of Christ, and a person shall find no way of being justified
before God except by trusting Christ as his Lord and Savior.
2.19. The
non-Christian should first come and receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior
and then go and seek Gods favor or blessings, for then he will have guaranteed
unlimited access to the Throne of Grace.
2.20. We
Christians do sin, and we have to be able to deal with the objections our
conscience will make to us as to whether or not we could be saved even though
we have lived as if we were not a Christian at all. We must come back to taking God at His Word
and trusting what He has said to be true rather than what we are feeling at any
moment in time.
2.21. Paul says in
verse 1 that the first benefit of being justified before God because
of ones faith is peace with God.
Paul had previously written in chapter 1 verses 18-20 that all men were
under the wrath of God.
Non-Christians are at enmity against God, and His wrath is abiding over
them waiting to fall according to Gods perfect timing. Paul wrote about all non-Christians being
under Gods wrath in Eph. 2:1-3, 2:1 And you were dead in your
trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of
this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that
is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly
lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the
mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest,
2.22. Likewise in
Eph. 2:13-16, Paul wrote about how that through the cross Jesus Christ
abolished the enmity which existed between God and man (as well as man
and man), 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have
been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who
made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15
by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments
contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new
man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to
God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.
2.23. Do you live
in a constant fear of God, or do you understand that before Him you are
accepted just as if you had never sinned?
Do you have the confidence that you have been justified before
God? Can you take Gods Word on this and
trust Him that it is so? If you are
living in a relationship of fear of God and do not have this confidence, then
you may not be saved at all. You need to
go back to the beginning and get your relationship established before God on
the right basis. You need to drive the
final blow to the stake and make sure that you indeed are saved. You need to once again repent and trust that
Jesus has forgiven you of your sins and is now your Lord and Savior, and you
need to trust Gods Word that the work of Christ upon the cross has made you
holy and righteous in Gods sight, for you are justified now by your
faith in Him.
2.24. All
non-Christians are under the wrath of God until they come to faith in
Christ as their Lord and Savior, and only through the cross of
2.25. The peace
with God mentioned in this verse is not to be confused with the peace
of God, which is a subjective feeling of contentment and rest which
Christians have as they walk in faith and obedience in the Lord. The peace with God mentioned in this
verse is a state which a Christian is placed into at the moment of salvation,
and which will never be taken away from them.
Whether we Christians realize or appreciate what it means to have this peace
with God does not at all change the reality of it. God feels differently towards us and deals
differently with those who have come to faith in Christ as Lord and Savior,
regardless of the state of their spiritual walk and holiness.
2.26. The peace
with God mentioned in verse 1 is through our Lord Jesus Christ. As a result of the work which Jesus Christ
did on the cross on mans behalf, Gods righteousness and justice is
now fully and completely satisfied, and therefore He can deal kindly and gently
with His people as sons and daughters who are the apple of His eye.
2.27. It is
interesting to note that all of the cults emphasize that it is their teaching that
sets man free, not the One who died on
2.28. However, it
is only Jesus who can bring a person to God so that he have peace with God. John wrote in John 14:6, 6 Jesus *said to
him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father,
but through Me.
3. VS 5:2 - 2 through whom also we have
obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we
exult in hope of the glory of God. - Paul tells
us that it is through Jesus Christ that we have obtained our introduction into
the grace of God in which we stand
3.1.
In this verse, this word introduction means access,
and the word is translated access every other place that it is found
in the New Testament. For instance:
3.1.1. In Eph. 2:18
, Paul used this word, 18 for through Him we both have our access in one
Spirit to the Father.
3.1.2. Likewise, in
Eph. 3:11-12, Paul wrote using this word, 11 This was in accordance with
the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom
we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.
3.2.
The second result of mans justification is access to God. If we were to desire to speak with the queen
of
3.3.
In the Old Testament book of
Esther there is the story of a young Jewish woman named Esther who was in
captivity in
3.4.
In the Old Testament we see that God is holy and
removed from people, and that no one can go into His presence without suffering
death. Then, later when the tabernacle
and the temple had been built, we see that God dwelt in the Holy of Holies, and
that man was not allowed into His presence except for the high priest who could
come just once a year to offer a sacrifice for the nation. However, when Jesus Christ died on the cross,
the veil of the temple was torn in-two, signifying that Jesus had gone into
heaven to appear in the presence of the Father for men. Now, through Jesus Christ the only mediator
between God and man, every person is able to freely come into Gods presence
and petition Him.
3.5.
Paul wrote in Heb. 4:16 how that Christians are
guaranteed that they can come any time and as often as they wish before Gods
throne and He will give them the mercy and grace which they need, 16 Let us
therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive
mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.
3.6.
The Christian has been granted immediate and unlimited
access to God and thus he can come to God whenever he wants or needs
to come. Since we have access to God
assured to us, and since we know that God will give us His full attention and
care whenever we come to Him, we ought to come often and come boldly before
the throne of grace to obtain mercy to help in time of need. If we will just come to Him we will get what
we really need, for He truly knows what we need and He will bless us.
3.7.
We Christians need to realize that we did not sneak on
our bellies into grace, but rather it was Gods plan in the first place, and He
call us to stand in His grace.
3.8.
In verse 2 Paul speaks of the state of
justification which Christians enter into at the moment of salvation as this
grace in which we stand. This state
of justification is entered into only through the grace of God,
since it is gained not as a result of any good things that a man may do. It is only through the grace and mercy of God
that a man or woman enters into the state of justification.
3.9.
The Greek word translated stand here means to
stand fast or stand whole, and implies stability and
security. Paul is saying not only that
we stand in grace but that we are secure in it.
3.10. God looks at
the non-Christian with hostility and enmity, but He smiles at the Christian who
is forever under His grace as a son or a daughter. God only desires to bless His children whom
He has called to justification, He is no longer angry or at enmity
with them. Gods children come to Him
with the same favor as Jesus Himself, since He sees the righteousness of Jesus
as imputed to them!
3.11. The third
result of justification is to be standing in the grace of
God.
3.12. Someone may
object to this concept of standing in a state of justification,
thinking that to think that way will only lead people into a life of sin since
they believe that God accepts them no matter what they may do. However, this goes against what scripture
says.
3.12.1.
James writes in chapter 1 of his book that faith
produces works.
3.12.2.
This kind of thinking also errors because Paul wrote
that a true Christian who has entered into a state of justification
before God has died to the old self and the sin nature. Paul wrote about this in
3.12.3.
A person who has truly come into that position of
being justified by God will abhor sin and seek to stop committing
sin. If a person still tries to live in sin
after claiming to be justified this shows that he was never justified
in the first place. John wrote about
this in 1 John 3:9, 1 John 3:9 9 No one who is born of God practices sin,
because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
3.13. In verse 2,
Paul says that as a result of justification, Christians exult in hope of
the glory of God. This word exult
means to boast or to glory in the glory of God. A Christian is not to boast in his own flesh
and works, however he is to boast in the glory of God.
3.13.1.
It is very important for us as Christians to learn to
boast in the glory of God. We must learn
to be bold in the grace of God and boast not in what we have done for the Lord,
but in what He has done for us. It seems
so often that we Christians fail out of fear to give God the credit for the
things He has done for us. When people
make a positive comment concerning us, we must not take Gods glory away from
Him, but boldly tell them that it is God who is doing a work in our life, it is
not because of our goodness.
3.14. The natural
result of being justified by God is to have confidence in ones
position of favor before God. This is
actually a fruit of justification, although some people are justified
before God and do not realize that they are justified and therefore
they do not have that confidence in their standing before Him.
3.15. There is a
false confidence which a person can have toward God. We find this in our EE visitations when
asking people if they believe that if they died that they would go to
heaven. People can think that they have
a justified standing before God based upon the wrong basis, and they
have convinced themselves that they are Gods person and blessed by Him. Some can base that confidence upon their
works, however when they pass away they will realize that He never knew them
and they will spend eternity in hell.
Others can have a false confidence in being justified before
God, and base that upon their faith, however their faith is not directed at the
right thing. It is either faith in faith
itself, or faith in the correctness of their doctrines. However, the faith that justifies a man or
woman is faith in the completed work of Christ on ones behalf. It is faith in what Jesus has accomplished
for me, and nothing more. Just because a
person says they have peace with God and they appear to have great inward
tranquility, it does not mean that God is at peace with them. A persons faith must have the correct object
in order for that faith to be reckoned to them as righteousness.
3.16. Those who
have been brought into the state of justification have the promise of
being glorified. When Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden,
they were clothed in the glory of God, however after they had sinned, they lost
that glory which caused them to realize that they were naked, and thus they
clothed themselves with fig leaves. The
Christian is promised not only that He shall see the glory of God and of the
resurrected Jesus, he is also promised that he shall share in that glory for
eternity. The apostle John wrote about
this in 1 John 3:2-3, 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not
appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be
like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this
hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
3.17. Paul also
wrote about the glorified bodies which Christians shall receive when Jesus returns
in 1 Cor. 15:41-44 , 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of
the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is
raised an imperishable body; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory;
it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it
is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a
spiritual body.
3.18. Having entered
into the state of justification, the Christian is guaranteed that he
will be glorified also, as part of the process that once began will be
fulfilled. Paul writes about this in
Rom. 8:30, 30 and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He
called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
3.19. We
Christians also need to meditate upon the glory to be given to us on the day
when Christ returns for us. There will
be no more crying and tears and we shall be raised up in power and glory, this
is our hope. But also, we can today
begin to experience that glory. We have
received eternal life today so that we can begin to live in that glory which
shall one day surround us. Paul wrote in
2 Cor. 3:18, 18 But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the
glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to
glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
If we will die to the old nature and walk each day in the Spirit of God,
then we will taste and experience some of that glory that is promised to us one
day.
4. CONCLUSIONS:
4.1.
As we consider this study and how we ought to apply it
to our lives, I would ask you some questions to consider which might help you
to understand if you have truly experienced justification before God through
faith in Jesus Christ:
4.1.1. Are you
experiencing joy and peace because of knowing Christ as your Lord and Savior or
are you constantly feeling guilty and condemned?
4.1.2. Do you have
assurance that if you were to die today that you would go to be with God in
heaven? Or, are you unsure of your
salvation because you feel unworthy to be in Gods presence?
4.1.3. Do you feel
like any day God is going to come down hard on you in judgment, or do you know
that through Jesus Christ that you always have His favor?
4.1.4. Do you
regularly come boldly before Gods throne of grace to receive mercy and grace
in your times of need?
.