[Romans Study 10-1]
Our Justification and ‘Therefore’ [Romans 5:1-2]
5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
His Love Covers Our Sins
Apostle Paul finished his great statement of the doctrine of Justification by Faith alone in the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. He begins a new section in the fifth chapter.
As we begin a new section in this great Epistle, we are reminded of words of Apostle Peter: “ … love covers over a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8) Surely, this is a key message that is repeated not only in Romans but throughout the Old and the New Testaments. The Apostle Paul taught us in the beginning four chapters that only by this unmerited, mysterious love of God is our multitude of sins covered! As our sins are wiped away by His love on the Cross, we can stand justified before Him.
Martin Luther said, “The law says, ‘do this,’ and it is never done. Grace says, ‘believe in this,’ and everything is already done.” Our lives will be complete and full, not from any of our own deeds or actions, but only when we receive the amazing grace of God shown through the Lord Jesus Christ into our hearts.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
Jesus invites us to the true world of rest and joy. We will experience this completely new world when we come to the Lord and receive Him. We should never forget the unimaginable and incomprehensible grace He gives to us when we receive Him into our hearts.
Christ’s work is clearly summarized in the last verse of chapter 4: “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” (Romans 4:25) This unbelievable, heart-trembling substitution is the ultimate act of love from God, providing us justification through His begotten Son, Jesus Christ, when we were still sinners.
The Apostle Paul also testifies the atoning death of Jesus Christ in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
What an exchange! In this substitution, we can consider the whole gospel of God reduced to one word. It is the incredible “transfer” that God has allowed for us. The fullness of our salvation lies in this one word. Our sin is transferred to Christ; He is charged with it; and His righteousness, which is the righteousness of God, is transferred to us, and we are to wear it and appear before God in the judgment seat. What a sweet love is extended by God through His Son!
Therefore!
To the blessed ones who have received the great love of God, what new message does God give Them?
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” (Romans 5:1)
The fifth chapter begins with this mighty word, ‘Therefore.’ The Apostle starts the new section in characteristic fashion by using the word ‘Therefore.’ Perhaps one of the great secrets of the Christian life comes from the successful utilization of this word ‘Therefore.’ The Christian life is in many ways a matter of logic and deduction. The Christians who have shined most brightly throughout the centuries have always been those who can wield this word ‘Therefore’.
Christians are those with the faith of ‘Therefore’. What is the basis of this ‘Therefore’? It is accepting what God has done through the Lord Jesus Christ. God substituted our sins with His Son’s righteousness – that is the amazing substitution found in Romans 4:25. After accepting what God has done through His Son into our hearts – Christ has carried and covered multitude of our sins and clothed us with His righteousness – ‘Therefore’ on the basis of this perfect work of Christ, where do we stand?
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)
The Apostle repeats this again in the first verse of the eighth chapter – ‘Therefore’. What a comforting word for our Christian walk! Therefore, we are in Christ Jesus and now stand justified before God. When we are in Christ Jesus no one will condemn us and we are perfectly secure in His righteousness.
Christ has perfectly nullified all our sins on the Cross. The power of sin is no longer effective against us who are in Christ Jesus. But if our spirit is still heavy-laden, it is only the delusion and deception of Satan who tricks us into believing that we are still in bondage.
Reality of Our Justification
“The way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a young woman.” (Proverbs 30:19)
Are there any traces ever remaining after an eagle has flown through the sky and a snakehas crawled upon the rock? Do we see traces in the high seas after a ship has sailed away? In same way, the ledger accounting for our sins has been wiped clean. Therefore, we must not be in torment and guilt from our nightmarish memories of the past. Our spirits must not groan over debt of sins that Christ has already fully paid for. Our guilt stemming from our sinful past exist when we allow them to exist. When we awake from our slumber, we understand that our sins have been removed without traces remaining. These memories of sin, though once real, should not haunt us anymore as if they are still real. The truth is that we have been washed by His blood and have become the new creation.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” (Romans 5:1)
Notice that the Apostle uses two different tenses for our justification (past perfect tense) and our relationship with God (present tense). It is past perfect tense in which we have been justified. Our justification has already been completed and perfected. As a result, we have attained peace with God. ‘Peace with God’ is what believers of Jesus enjoy in their daily lives. We have been justified through faith. Therefore, the Apostle cannot help but dance and praise with joy. This is exactly what Moses and the Israelites did in Exodus 15. They sang a song of praise to the Lord when Pharaoh’s warriors were consumed by the Red Sea, yet the LORD led the Israelites to walk through the sea as though on dry ground.
“They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” (1 Corinthians 10:2)
In a foreshadowing of the Christian baptism, the Apostle Paul associates the crossing of the Red Sea with the future baptismal tradition. The early Christian theologian Origen says, “That which the Jews consider to be the crossing of the Sea, St. Paul calls Baptism. That which they believed to be a cloud proves to be the Holy Spirit.”
Once the Israelites had crossed the Red sea, those horses, chariots, and horsemen of Pharaoh were utterly consumed. Without a trace remaining, they were swallowed into the sea.
In the same way, the believers who have been baptized into Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit will find their accusers swallowed by irrelevance, as justification from Christ will reign Supreme.
“For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3:27)
“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:3)
Even if you look back, your accusers and pursuers are nowhere to be found. Yet if you still feel their presence, know that this is a delusional nightmare, a snare set by the evil one. You should not be held down as if you are in sleep paralysis. Awake from your slumber and the accusations will be no more.
Therefore, says the Apostle Paul, the believers of Jesus should dance and praise in this joy of salvation and peace with God.
A Big Picture of Our Salvation
It may be helpful for us to visualize the big picture of our salvation. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12)
God removed and forgave the sins of those in Christ Jesus by His righteousness. This is called justification. Justification has already been given to us in full. We must trust this and have a clear conviction in our precious salvation. When we are saved, Satan can no longer claim dominion over us and condemn our sin (Romans 8:1). Through Jesus, our status with God changed instantly from being an enemy and sinner into that of a righteous son. This is the amazing justification that belongs to us.
Salvation has a wide spectrum starting with justification and ending with glorification.
Justification declares that a sinful man is positioned as righteous before God. Though we do not deserve to be His sons, God changed our position (status). This is the beginning of the salvation process. This beginning was perfectly and completely done by God’s grace. But now, from the point of justification, we must go onto the next step and change our state to truly deserve our new position. This is called sanctification.
Sanctification does not come instantly like justification does, but it requires continuous effort until we return back to our eternal home (Heaven). God does not give us sanctification in a completed state. It is the process by which we strive to resemble the image of Christ; it is a struggling path leading to holiness through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus cleansed our original sin with His justification. But this does not mean that we became perfect and flawless. Now that we are believers, we must fight against our habitual sin, as we walk the path of sanctification.
The process of sanctification is life-long and we may grow weary because we discover so many of our own sins in the path of faith. But we must never forget our root, that we are already saved and born again by God’s love and grace.
A child of Satan became a child of God. It is a legal change of status. Therefore, Satan cannot condemn us anymore. However, we still have this sinful nature pestering us. To address our ongoing sins, we must wash our feet. “Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.”” (John 13:10)
When we were justified, reborn, and baptized by the Holy Spirit, then Jesus has washed our entire body. His justification and baptism of the Holy Spirit comes to us wholly. Our rebirth is as a new creation. Yet our feet remain quick to rush into evil in acts of self-dirtying (Proverbs 1:16). We still have the sinful nature in us. But never forget that our whole body is already clean through the blood of the Lamb. Only our feet must be washed again.
As saved believers, we should never fear that we will lose our salvation when we commit a sin. If that were the case, we would lose our salvation daily, as often as we still commit sin. Even if our actions seem pure, our thoughts are often not. The Bible teaches that fallen humans are totally depraved and their hearts are deceitful above all things and beyond cure (Jeremiah 17:9). They were sinful at birth (Psalm 51:5), dead in their transgressions and sins (Ephesians 2:1), and remain slaves to sin (John 8:34). They love the darkness (John 3:19). Left alone, they will never seek God (Romans 3:11). Their mind is governed by the flesh and hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law for it is unable to do so (Romans 8:7). Therefore, we must be born again as new creations in Christ Jesus.
Republished with permission from Dr. Christy Tran, the author of “The Epistle to the Romans: Paul’s Love Letter from God.”