Having been justified by faith

[Romans 5:1-5]

In today's text, Romans 5:1, the apostle Paul gives the concluding words from Romans 1 to 4.  The conclusion is ‘we have been justified by faith.’  The Scripture says that “we”, that is, the saints (Jews and Gentiles) in Rome in the days of Abraham, the ancestors of faith, and Paul and me and you who believe in Jesus, all of us were justified by faith alone.  As Paul makes this conclusion, he says in Romans 5:1-5, ‘Then, since we have been justified by faith (in Jesus Christ), what is the grace (blessing) God has given us?’  In other words, Paul is telling us the result of justification.

What does today's text Romans 5:1-5 tell us about the result of justification?  I want to think about in two ways:

First, the result of justification is “peace.”

We have been justified only by faith in Jesus Christ's death on the cross and resurrection from the grave (4:24), and now we can enjoy peace in our relationship with God.  Look at Romans 5:1 – “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Here, the word to enjoy peace with God refers to reconciliation in a relationship with God (Park).  In other words, before we believed in Jesus, our relationship with God was an enemy (v. 10).  Due to the first Adam's sin, all mankind became enemies of God.  Therefore, when we were enemies of God, we did not know the way of peace (3:17) and did not walk on it.  Rather, when we were all under sin, ruin and misery mark their way (v. 16).  When we did not believe in Jesus, we were in an enemy relationship with God, and the reason we were in such a relationship was because we were all under sin (v. 9).  What were we like when we were under sin?  We did not seek God (v. 11), and we all turned away and had together become worthless and did not do good (v. 12).  We couldn't even do what was right in God's sight.  Therefore, when we became enemies of God, we did not have inner peace (2:10).  However, God made Jesus, His only begotten Son, the sacrifice of peace (3:25) and made all those who believe in Jesus righteous and reconciled with God.  Now, all those who believe in Jesus are no longer enmity with God.  Rather, we all became God's people and also became God's children.  The relationship with God before Adam sinned has been restored to us who believe in Jesus.  In other words, God is our God, and we have become His people and children.  And God saved us, who were under sin, from the path of eternal destruction and suffering, and made us walk the path of peace.  They were those who had been cut off from their relationship with God, who were spiritually dead, but God brought us back to life through Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection (4:25).  Therefore, God justified us and also reconciled our relationship with God.  Then, since we have been justified by God by faith in Jesus, how should we live a life of faith?  I looked for the answer in 2 Corinthians 5:18-19: “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”  As those who have been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, we have been given the minister of reconciliation from God (v. 18).  As new creatures in Jesus Christ (v. 17), we have the responsibility to preach the word of reconciliation (v. 18).  Therefore, we, who have been justified only by faith in Jesus Christ and have been reconciled to God, must preach the gospel of Jesus Christ of reconciliation.  The reason is because “the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom 1:16).  I hope and pray that we faithfully fulfill this position of reconciliation so that people who are under sin will have a work of reconciliation in their relationship with God.

Second, the result of justification is “hope.”

Because we have been justified by faith in Jesus, we can live with a sure and joyful hope in this hopeless world.  What is that sure and joyful hope?  It is the glory of God.  Look at Romans 5:2 – “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.”  What you and I who believe in Jesus must keep in mind is the fact that the position we are standing in now, that is, the reconciliation with God is entirely God's grace.  And we must not forget that being reconciled with God, enjoying the peace that God gives, and receiving the position of reconciliation is also God's exclusive grace.  Another blessing of justification that God has given to you and me who live in the midst of this grace of God is to hope for the glory of God.  Here, what does “the glory of God” that you and I hope for refer to?  The glory of God could not be attained by the works of the law because we “all have sinned.”  But because of the crucifixion of Jesus, who is now the righteousness of God apart from the law, those who believe in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus can be justified by God and attain to the glory of God (3:21-23).  Regarding the glory of God, Paul says: “And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (8:30).  In other words, the glory of God’ that we hope for is that on the day of Jesus’ return, we will be suddenly transformed (1 Cor.15:51), no longer dishonored (v. 43), no longer weak (v. 43), and incorruptible and immortal (v. 54) and to be clothed with a glorious body (Phil. 3:21).  Apostle Peter refers to this as “the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4).  Our very sure and joyful desire is to fully participate in the character of Jesus, who is God.  We who are justified by the indwelling God the Holy Spirit are sanctifying us so that we may participate in the character of Jesus.  Although we are not perfect now, on the day of Jesus' return, we will fully participate in the character of the Lord.  This sure and joyful hope God has given to us who are being justified by faith in Jesus Christ.  We, who rejoice in the hope of God's glory, rejoice even in tribulation (Rom 5:3).  In other words, we believers not only rejoice with the hope of the eternal glory of fully participating in God's character, but we also rejoice in tribulation (Park).  Why do we rejoice even in tribulation?  This is because “we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Rom. 5:3-4).  The original Greek word for “suffering” here comes from the verb “θλίψεσιν” in Greek, which means “pressure”.   In other words, the suffering in this world that you and I come in contact with refer to all those things that “put pressure” on us (Park).  This is beneficial to us because it cultivates endurance.  In other words, suffering in the lives of our believers is beneficial not only to enable us to persevere with the hope of reaching the glory of God in the world to come, but also to give us the spirit of struggle to break through all obstacles positively.  This is what Yoon-sun Park said: ‘Patience is a precious power that makes humans human, and suffering is the grateful mother that produces patience.  …  Suffering is a stone bridge that leads to victory in our lives’ (Park).  Paul is saying that patience produces refinement.  In other words, although we suffer tribulation in this world, the reason why we rejoice in tribulation is that we not only gain patience through tribulation, but also through endurance, our character is tested and we become more and more partakers of the divine nature.  In other words, as we pass through the passage of tribulation, we gain endurance, and furthermore, as our lacking personalities are refined, we become more and more personified in the Word.  Then, through the tribulation of this world, we can look forward to the sure and clear hope of the world to come.  That is why Paul says that believers who rejoice in looking forward to a more certain and clear hope through tribulation will never be disappointed (v. 5).  In other words, the sure hope that you and I have for the world to come is a hope that we can have confidently or not be ashamed of (Park).  The reason is because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (v. 5).  The reason why we can confidently or not be ashamed of this hope to see the glory of God in the world to come more and more during tribulation while living in this world is because God sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, and through the Holy Spirit the love of God has been poured into our hearts.  In a word, the reason why we are not ashamed of our hope for the afterlife is because that hope is based on God's great and abundant love (Park).  God who loves us even to the point of giving up His only begotten Son Jesus Christ on the cross, give us the grace of salvation abundantly like pouring water (Joel 2:28, Park) and saved us from destruction and forever ruin and raised us from death.  And since He loves us who are in this world to the end (Jn. 13:1), we rejoice even in the tribulations of this world and hope for the world to come.  So Paul says, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.  I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:17-18).  d

Last Friday, I received an email from a brother in Christ.  The content of the email was a request for prayer for another brother in Christ.  I had been praying for him since I learned that he was suffering from pancreatic cancer two years ago.  Last year, I went to his house in Korea with other brothers in Christ and worshiped God together.  And then we all put our hands on his body and prayed earnestly to God.  And when I went to Korea last year, I also remember seeing him back as we parted while meeting once or twice and sharing a meal, and my heart was a little bit moved.  But last Friday, when I saw the e-mail sent to me by his friend, the cancer had metastasized and spread to the lungs, stomach, and liver.  I heard the news that he couldn't eat because his stomach was full of ascites, and he couldn't even receive chemotherapy.  What should we do when we hear such news?  I hope and pray in the Lord that since he who was justified by faith in Jesus Christ, he who became reconciled to God and became His child, the Lord would fill his heart with the amazing peace that only the Lord gives.  Furthermore, may God make the Lord's servant see the glory of God.  I hope and pray for a strong and glorious spiritual body so that he no longer needs to suffer from disease due to weakness.  I hope and pray that he will become more and more like Jesus by enduring and persevering with God's grace in this suffering.  In the midst of this, I hope and pray that he will be filled with the living hope of the eternal kingdom.  Let us also look to the glory of God!  We will see the face of the Lord in that house on the other side of the Jordan River, in that house where we can see splendidly, in that house in the shining sky.  In the midst of this hope, I hope and pray that no matter what adversity and suffering may come into our life, you and I will faithfully fulfill the role of reconciliation by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.