Romans 5.1-The Believer Has Peace With God Because He Has Been Justified By Faith in Jesus Christ
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday March 12, 2008
Romans: Romans 5:1-The Believer Has Peace With God Because He Has Been Justified By Faith in Jesus Christ
Lesson # 142
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 5:1.
Yesterday we began a study of Romans chapter five by noting an introduction and overview to the chapter.
This evening we will note Romans 5:1, which teaches that since the believer has been justified by faith in Jesus Christ, he has peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1-2, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 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.”
“Therefore” is the “inferential” use of the conjunction oun (ou@n) (oon), which denotes that what is introduced at this point is the result of an inference from Paul’s teaching that is contained in Romans 1:18-4:25.
In Romans 1:18-4:24, Paul has presented his case in exhaustive detail that the sinner, whether Jew or Gentile can only be justified by means of faith in Jesus Christ and not by observing the Law or circumcision.
This is indicated since in fact, the statement dikaiothentes ek pisteos eirenen, “having been justified by faith” summarizes Paul’s teaching in Romans 1:18-4:25.
Thus, the conjunction gathers up the thought of Romans 1:18-4:25 and connects this thought with what follows.
It signals that the teaching that is about to follow rests upon the teaching in Romans 1:18-4:25.
The word indicates that Paul has ended his argument in Romans 1:18-4:25 that the sinner, whether Jew or Gentile is justified by faith in Jesus Christ and never by observing the Law or circumcision.
It signifies that Paul is now going to present the benefits that the sinner appropriated through faith in Jesus Christ.
In Romans 5:1-11, Paul presents a two-fold explanation of the believer’s justification: (1) The spiritual benefits of the believer’s justification (5:1-11). (2) The basis for the believer’s justification (5:12-21).
Romans 5:1, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“Having been justified” is the verb dikaioo (dikaiovw) (dik-ah-yo-o), which means, “to declare or pronounce righteous.”
The word refers to the doctrine of justification, which by way of definition is a judicial act of God whereby He declares a person to be righteous as a result of crediting or imputing to that person His righteousness the moment they exercised faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
Consequently, God accepts that person and enters that person into a relationship with Himself since they now possess His righteousness.
The mechanics of justification are as follows: (1) God condemns the sinner, which qualifies them to receive His grace. (2) The sinner believes in Jesus Christ as His Savior. (3) God imputes or credits Christ’s righteousness to the believer. (4) God declares that person as righteous as a result of acknowledging His Son’s righteousness in that person.
Justification is God declaring a person to be righteous as a result of acknowledging or recognizing His righteousness in that person, and which righteousness He imputed to that person as a result of their faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.
It is a once and for all declaration, which never changes or can be rescinded since God is a perfect Judge who because He is immutable, always makes perfect decisions.
It means that a believer can never lose his salvation because of any sin since God, who is a perfect judge, rendered a perfect decision when he declared righteous the person, who exercised faith in His Son Jesus Christ!
Thus, Paul declares the following in Romans 8:1:
Romans 8:1, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
The participle form of the verb dikaioo in Romans 5:1 is a “causal” participle indicating that the believer has peace with God “because” he has been declared justified by God through faith in Jesus Christ.
The aorist tense of the verb dikaioo is a “culminative” or “consummative” aorist tense, which views God the Father declaring the sinner justified through faith in His Son Jesus Christ in its entirety.
But regards it from the standpoint of its existing results, which is that the believer has peace with God as indicated by the statement eirenen echomen pros ton theon, “we have peace with God.”
The aorist tense is extremely important to understand since it signifies that this judicial act of God in declaring the sinner justified through faith in Jesus Christ is a once and for all declaration, which never changes or can be rescinded since God is a perfect Judge who because He is immutable, always makes perfect decisions.
This indicates that to believe in Jesus Christ as one’s Savior is a one shot decision since justification is a once and for all declaration!
Therefore, the believer has eternal security.
Romans 5:1, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“By faith” is composed of the preposition ek (e)k), “by” and the genitive feminine singular form of the noun pistis (pivsti$), “faith.”
The noun pistis refers to the non-meritorious system of perception of placing one’s “trust” or “confidence in” the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ and His spiritual death on the Cross.
In Romans 5:1, the preposition ek is used with the genitive form of pistis as a marker of means constituting a source indicating that faith in Jesus Christ is “the means constituting the source by which” God the Father justifies the sinner.
“Peace” is the noun eirene (ei)rhvnh) (i-ray-nay), which refers to peace with God in an objective sense.
Eirene is used of God as the author of peace (Rm. 15:33; 16:20; 1 Th. 5:23) since God as to His divine nature and essence is peace.
Romans 16:20, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.”
In Romans 5:1, the noun eirene signifies the eternal condition of 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 death on the Cross propitiated God’s holiness that required that human sin be judged.
In Romans 5:1, the noun eirene, “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.
The word refers to the reconciliation between the sinner and God through faith alone in Christ alone (Acts 10:36; Rm. 5:1; Eph. 2:14, 15, 17), which is presented in the gospel message that God has made a peace treaty with the entire human race and the terms of that peace treaty is accepting the Gospel message through faith alone in Christ alone.
In relation to the unbeliever, the gospel is God’s victorious proclamation of God’s love in delivering the entire human race from sin, Satan, his cosmic system and eternal condemnation and has reconciled them to Himself through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4, “Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
The peace treaty is the direct result of the spiritual death of Christ on the Cross since it propitiated the holiness of God that expresses itself in righteous indignation against sin and sinners.
The Author and thus Initiator of the peace treaty is God the Father (2 Cor. 5:18a; Eph. 1:3-7; 2:14-16).
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Mediator of the Peace Treaty.
1 Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
The Lord is the peacemaker (Eph. 2:14) since this peace treaty took place inside His unique Person as the God-Man (2 Cor. 5:19a; Eph. 2:14-16; Col. 1:22; 1 Pet. 2:24).
God offers the entire world a full pardon of their sin through faith in Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:19b; Acts 13:38; Eph. 1:7; 4:32b; Col. 1:14; 2:13; 1 John 2:12).
Therefore, the terms of the Peace Treaty is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31; John 3:16, 36).
Acts 16:30-31, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? They said, ‘believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’” NASU
At the moment of his salvation, the church age believer was given a royal ambassadorship in which he is to represent the absent Christ who sits as the right hand of the Father and presents the gospel message of peace with God to the unsaved through faith alone in Christ alone (2 Cor. 5:20a).
2 Corinthians 5:17-21, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Therefore, in Romans 5:1, the noun eirene 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 death on the Cross propitiated God’s holiness that required that human sin and the sinner be judged.
Romans 5:1, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“With God” denotes that the sinner can be in the presence of a holy God and have peace with Him because he has been declared justified by a holy God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The noun theos refers of course to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit who composed the Trinity.
“Through” is the preposition dia (diaV) (dee-ah), which is used with the genitive expression tou kuriou hemon Iesou Christou, “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 death on the Cross propitiated the demands of God’s holiness that required that sin and sinners be judged.
Consequently, His spiritual death fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Law, redeemed sinful mankind out of the slave market of sin and the cosmic system of Satan, and reconciled or established peace with a holy God.
“Our” is the personal pronoun hemeis (h(mei$), which denotes that the Lord Jesus Christ “belongs to” Paul and his fellow Christians since He is their Savior.
“Lord” is noun kurios (kuvrio$), which indicates the following: (1) Jesus of Nazareth’s equality with the Father and the Spirit. (2) His joint-rulership with the Father over the entire cosmos. (3) His highest ranking position as Chief Administrator in the divine government. (4) His absolute sovereign authority as Ruler over all creation and every creature. (5) His strategic victory over Satan and the kingdom of darkness in the angelic conflict.
“Jesus” is the proper name Iesous ()Ihsou$), which refers to the human nature of the incarnate Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth.
“Christ” is the proper name Christos (xristov$), which is a technical word designating the humanity of our Lord as the promised Savior for all mankind who is unique as the incarnate Son of God and totally and completely guided and empowered by the Spirit as the Servant of the Father.
So in Romans 5:1, Paul teaches that since the believer has been justified by faith in Jesus Christ, he has peace in the presence of God through the Lord Jesus Christ whose spiritual death reconciled them to God, thus implying the believer has an eternal relationship with God.