Justified by God
“Therefore” [οὖν], flowing from the last two verses of the previous chapter, this conjunction signals what is to be concluded from all that Paul has been saying about being “justified by faith” (1:16–4:25). The aorist tense of “justified” [δικαιωθέντες] “is not a once-for-all act of God. It is rather the initial acceptance by God into restored relationship. But thereafter the relationship could not be sustained without God continuing to exercise his justifying righteousness with a view to the final act of judgment and acquittal.”1
Peace with God
As justified believers we now enjoy incredible blessings. The first two listed here (“peace” and “grace”) comprise the opening greeting of every Pauline letter and recur near the end of almost all of them. The idea of “peace [εἰρήνη]2 with God” means his wrath has been appeased (cf. 1:18; 3:25) to enable reconciliation. This is “an objective state of peace, not simply a feeling of peacefulness…. enmity is exchanged for peaceful relations.”3 As such, peace with God is not the absence of external turmoil (v. 3) but is synonymous with justification, salvation, and reconciliation (vv. 9-10). It is “our duty to enjoy to the full the new state of peace with Him which we owe to our Lord Jesus Messiah.”4
Grace of God
There is also “grace” [χάρις].5 Of the 154 occurrences of χάρις in the NT, almost two-thirds are in Paul’s writings, with the heaviest concentration in Romans. The expression essentially conveys God’s “undeserved favor,” a primary motivator in the apostle’s own life and ministry.6 “The theology of Paul was neither born nor sustained by or as a purely cerebral exercise. It was his own experience of grace which lay at its heart.”7
Hope in God
Next is “hope” [ἐλπίς] (cf. vv. 4-5),8 introduced at 4:18-21 and inextricably linked to faith. This is not a frail expression of uncertainty but an unshakable confidence in God, an earnest expectation of something sure. There seems to be somewhat of a tension in Paul (and other NT writers) between now and not yet. Our justification grants us immediate procurement of “peace” and “grace,” while “hope” looks to the future (cf. 8:24-25). “Clearly no scope is even envisaged for a wholly ‘realized’ understanding of the process of salvation …. its wholeness belonging to the not yet.”9
At the same time, because of this confident hope, Paul not only speaks of salvation in terms of the future10 but also of the past,11 present,12 and both simultaneously,13 albeit contingent upon ongoing faithfulness.14 This is something in which we “rejoice” [καυχάομαι] (cf. vv. 3, 11; contrast 2:17, 23). Although on our own merits we fall short of God’s “glory” [δόξα] (3:23), “we rejoice in hope” of the glorious future with him in view of his grace and peace (cf. 1:23; 3:7; 4:20; 6:4; 11:36; 15:7; 16:27).
Our Faith Response
All this is possible “through our Lord Jesus Christ” (cf. v. 11). Over half of this chapter’s first eleven verses highlight the Lord’s propitiatory/expiatory work, with particular emphasis on his sacrificial death (1, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11; cf. 3:25; 4:25). The occasion of having “obtained access by faith into this grace” is clarified further in the next chapter in regard to the faith-response of baptism “into his death” (6:3-4). A penitent believer’s relation to God drastically changes when sins are forgiven by Christ’s blood at baptism,15 which Paul himself had experienced,16 appropriating the “grace in which we stand.”
The verbal ἵστημι (to “stand”), a complementary metaphor of “walk,”17 is applied to the firm steadfastness of “this grace,” as well as faith (11:20; 2 Cor. 1:24), gospel obedience (1 Cor. 15:1), and confidence in God’s will (Col. 4:12; cf. 2 Tim. 2:19).
Conclusion
All that God has accomplished through our Lord Jesus Christ is accessible by faith, trusting in him to do what he promised when we believe and do what he says. As a result we have peace with God, access to grace, rejoicing in hope of our future glory.
--Kevin L. Moore
Endnotes:
1 J. D. G. Dunn, Theology of Paul the Apostle 386. Cf. also D. J. Moo, Romans 298-99.
2 Cf. Rom. 1:7; 2:10; 3:17; 8:6; 14:17, 19; 15:13, 33; 16:20.
3 S. E. Porter, “Peace, Reconciliation,” in DPL 695.
4 W. Sanday and A. C. Headlam, Romans 118.
5 Cf. Rom. 1:5, 7; 3:24; 4:4, 16; 5:15, 17, 20, 21; 6:1, 14, 15, 17; 7:25; 11:5, 6; 12:3, 6; 15:15; 16:20, 24. Every letter in the Pauline corpus concludes with a “grace” benediction in which the divine source of grace is the Lord Jesus, while the peace benedictions attribute the divine source of peace to God.
6 1 Cor. 15:10; cf. 1 Cor. 9:16-23; Gal. 1:15-16; Eph. 2:7; 3:8; 1 Tim. 1:14; Tit. 2:11-14.
7 J. D. G. Dunn, Theology of Paul the Apostle 179. “Every line of this passage breathes St. Paul's personal experience, and his intense hold upon the objective facts which are the grounds of a Christian's confidence” (W. Sanday and A. C. Headlam, Romans 119).
8 Cf. Rom. 4:18; 8:20, 24; 12:12; 15:4, 13.
9 J. D. G. Dunn, Theology of Paul the Apostle 471.
10 Rom. 5:9-10; 9:27; 10:9, 13; 11:26; 1 Cor. 3:15; 5:5.
11 Rom. 8:24; Tit. 3:5.
12 Rom. 10:10; 1 Cor. 1:18; 15:2; 2 Cor. 2:15; 2 Thess. 2:13.
13 Eph. 2:5, 8; 2 Tim. 1:9.
14 1 Cor. 5:1-5, 11; 8:11; 9:27; 15:1-2; 2 Cor. 2:15; 6:1; Gal. 1:6-9; 5:4; 1 Thess. 3:5; 1 Tim. 1:19; 4:1; cf. Matt. 18:12; 26:31; 24:13, 42, 44-51; John 6:66, 70-71; Heb. 2:1-3; 3:12-14; 4:1, 11; 6:4-8, 11; 10:23, 26-38; 12:1-7, 15, 25; Jas. 5:19-20; 1 Pet. 2:25; 2 Pet. 2:1-3, 18-21; Rev. 2–3.
16 Acts 9:18b; 22:16; cf. 1 Cor. 12:13.
17 Rom. 4:12; 6:4; 8:1, 4; 13:13.
Related Posts: Rejoice in Sufferings (Rom 5:3-5), Broad Reach of Justification (Rom 5:12-21): Part 1, Baptism: Death, Burial, Resurrection (Rom 6:1-4)
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