Peace with God is the Result of Justification (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Wednesday August 16, 2023

Justification Series: Peace with God is the Result of Justification

Lesson # 11

In Romans 5:1, the apostle Paul teaches that the Christian has peace with God as a result of being justified through faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 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. (NIV84)

“Peace” is the accusative feminine singular form of the noun eirēnē (εἰρήνη), which refers to peace with God in an objective sense.

This noun signifies the eternal condition of the sinner who is no longer the object of God’s righteous indignation since they have been declared justified by God through faith in Jesus Christ whose spiritual and physical death on the cross propitiated God’s holiness that required that sinners be judged.

This word implies that the believer now possesses a relationship with God.

Harry Ironside writes, “Peace, as used in Romans 5:1, is not a state of mind or heart. It is a prevailing condition between two who were once alienated. Sin had disturbed the relations of Creator and creature. A breach had occurred that man could not mend. But peace has been made by the blood of Christ's cross. There is no longer a barrier. Peace with God is now the abiding state into which every believer enters. The sin question is settled.”

In Romans 5:1, the noun eirēnē (εἰρήνη), “peace” refers to the permanent and eternal peace treaty between God and the sinner who has been declared justified by God through faith in Jesus Christ.

It refers to the permanent reconciliation between God and the sinner who is no longer the object of God’s righteous indignation since he has been declared justified by God through faith in Jesus Christ whose spiritual and physical death on the cross propitiated God’s holiness that required that human sin and the sinner be judged.

“With God” is composed of the preposition pros (πρός), “with” and the articular accusative masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός), “God.”

The preposition pros (πρός) means, “face to face” and functions as a marker of association with the implication of an interrelationship or reciprocal relation, which indicates that because the sinner has been declared justified by God through faith in Jesus Christ, they always have peace “in the presence of” God.

The word denotes that the sinner can be in the presence of a holy God and have peace in His presence in contrast to being the object of His righteous indignation because he has been declared justified by a holy God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Through” is the preposition dia (διά), which is used with the genitive expression tou kyriou hēmōn Iēsou Christou (τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ), “our Lord Jesus Christ” to denote that the Lord Jesus Christ is the personal intermediate agent who is the mediator between sinful mankind and a holy God.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the one and only mediator between sinful mankind and a holy God since His spiritual and physical death on the cross propitiated the demands of God’s holiness that required that sin and sinners be judged (1 Tim.2:1-7).

Consequently, His spiritual and physical death on the cross fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Law, redeemed sinful mankind out of the slave market of sin and the cosmic system of Satan, destroying his works, and reconciled or established peace with a holy God.

So in Romans 5:1, Paul teaches that since the believer has been justified by faith in Jesus Christ, they have peace in the presence of God through the Lord Jesus Christ whose spiritual and physical death reconciled them to God, thus implying the believer has an eternal relationship with God.

God as to His divine nature and essence is peace (Rm. 15:33; 16:20; 1 Th. 5:23).

The entire human race was under wrath because of the sinful nature of humanity and the sinful acts they committed in disobedience to His laws which opposed His holy nature.

However, God took the initiative and established a peace treaty between Himself and all of sinful humanity.

He brought about this peace through His Son Jesus Christ’s spiritual and physical deaths on the cross.

The sinner appropriates this peace treaty through faith alone in Christ alone (Acts 10:36; Rm. 5:1; Eph. 2:14, 15, 17).

This reconciliation is presented in the gospel message that God has made a peace treaty with the entire human race.

The terms of that peace treaty are accepting the Gospel message through faith alone in Christ alone.

The Scriptures teach the peace of God from several different perspectives.

First, there is the peace which a sinner has with God.

This is accomplished in three stages for the sinner declared justified by the Father through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.

Positionally, God views Himself as at peace with the justified sinner based upon this faith in His Son whose work on the cross established peace between sinners and a holy God.

By “positionally” I mean that God views the believer as being at peace with Him as a result of faith in Christ and his eternal union with His Son, which sets up the “potential” to experience this peace in time.

It also sets up the “guarantee” of experiencing permanently this peace when the believer receives his resurrection body.

The believer is eternally united with the Lord Jesus Christ at the moment of justification through the baptism of the Spirit (Romans 5:1-2; Galatians 3:26-28) and has peace positionally.

Experientially, the believer experiences this peace with God initially at the moment of justification.

However, this experience is lost due to sin but restored through the confession of sin and maintained by obedience to the Word of God.

In a perfective sense, the believer will experience this peace with God without interruption throughout all of eternity when they receive their resurrection body at the rapture of the church.

Connected to this is the peace which the cross of Jesus Christ has established between the Jewish and Gentile races (Eph. 2:11-22).

This peace is accomplished by the Holy Spirit when He identifies both Jewish and Gentile believers with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.

They are now a part of Christ’s body who is the head.

Both groups are united under Christ’s headship.

Also, the Scriptures teach that the believer can experience this peace in their souls as a result of being declared justified by the Father through faith in His Son Jesus Christ and as a result being united and identified with Christ by appropriating by faith this union and identification.

Lastly, the Word of God teaches that believers can experience peace with each other by obeying the Lord Jesus Christ’s command in John 13:34 to love one another as He loves them.

When believers obey the various one another commands of Scripture, they will obey this command to love one another.

Consequently, peace among believers will be established in an experiential sense.

The peace of God is synonymous with the Sabbath Rest in Hebrews 4:1-16, which the believer is urged to be diligent in applying the promises of God so that they might have peace in their souls.

The believer who is diligent to enter God’s rest expresses faith in God by being obedient to God’s Word whereas the disobedient believer will not experience this rest since they are operating in unbelief.

Therefore, it is possible to not experience the peace of God in time like the Exodus generation through disobedience, which constitutes unbelief in God’s promises.

As we noted every believer has peace with God positionally because of their eternal union and identification with Jesus Christ but in order for the believer to experience that peace he must obey God’s Word, which constitutes loving God (Deut. 6:5; Mk. 12:28-30; Rm. 8:28).

Therefore, believers are commanded in the Scriptures to pursue this peace or soul prosperity that originates from God (1 Pet. 3:11).

2 Timothy 2:22 Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (NIV84)

2 Peter 3:14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. (NIV84)

The peace of God is also experienced by the believer in time by being content with what he has in life.

It is also experienced by living life in view of eternity and equating time with eternity, which constitutes true contentment and happiness in life (Phil. 1:21; 4:10-13).

In Colossians 3:15, Paul teaches peace will be produced in the hearts of the Colossians by the teaching of the one and only Christ.