Romans Essay Research Paper Romans 515Justification Peace

Romans Essay, Research Paper

Romans 5:1-5

Justification, Peace, Grace and Access

In Romans, Paul talks about many different topics and problems that the Jews face

during 57 to 58 AD. He speaks of the need for righteousness, condemnation and sin in Ch

1:18-3:20. Righteousness is imputed, and justification and sin is explained in Ch

3:21-5:21. But there is one major area that this paper is going to talk about and try to

explain in as good of detail as possible. Justification, Faith, Peace, Access, and Grace in

God in Romans 5:1-5. How does justification show our right standing with God? How

does faith play a part in our justification? Do we have peace with God or receive it? Does

the faith we have give us access to God and His kingdom? And last but not lease, grace

should be the controlling factor of all these strong connecting assets.

Romans 5:1-2

1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus

Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and

rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

The first point Paul makes in this chapter has become the cornerstone of the

present Christian experience. We are justified by faith. ?Not that faith is at the first of

justification;… nor is it the chief, or has it the chief place in justification; it is not the

efficient cause of it, it is God that justifies, and not faith;… we are not justified by faith,

either as God?s work in us, for, as such, it is a part of sanctification;… but we are justified

by faith objectively and relatively, as that related to the object Christ, and his

righteousness; or as it is a means of our knowledge, and perception of our justification by

Christ?s righteousness, and of our enjoying the comfort of it; and so we come to have

peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.?1 Please note that our faith and

Abraham?s faith is different. Abraham believed God could and would perform what He

promised, and our faith is to believe that God has performed His promise. What is faith,

peace, grace, justification, and access? What does it have to do with our lives? How can

we understand these words and apply the knowledge to our lives? In this paper one will

find some understanding to them. ?Remark here that justification is distinct from peace.

?having been justified, we have peace.? Justification is my true state before God, by viture

of the work of Christ, of His death, and of resurrection.?2 How do we get or receive

faith? Lets start to explain this with one word, that is, regeneration. When the Holy Spirit

draws one to come to the Lord and he accepts the invitation of the Him and receives the

blessing of God. At this moment in time God is sealing , like a king would seal something

with his ring, to show ownership. God is showing ownership to the one who receives Him

with the spirit, the Holy Spirit is the seal. This is regeneration. When this event takes

place in one?s heart, they receive the truth. The truth is recognizing the good and evil of

the world and also in their personal lives. Justification starts at faith and faith starts at

regeneration. One cannot be justified without faith and one cannot have faith without

being regenerated. Christ?s resurrection was for our justification, as a proof of God?s

acceptance of His Son?s sacrifice. For Paul, justification is not sterile doctrine, but a

source of present blessing in one?s life. ?C.E.B. Cranfield represents a very traditional

approach to the problem by concluding that 5:1-8:39 embodies the second division of the

letter by drawing out ?what having been justified by faith means?3… I would suggest that

his approach to the structure of the letter represents an undue dependence upon the

Lutheran hermeneutic of ?justification by faith.? Or, we might say that Cranfield?s

understanding of the structure of the argument in Romans is more reformational than

Pauline.?4

In being justified before God, we have peace with God through Christ Jesus. Paul

having talked about the doctrine of justification clearly, and proven that is not by works of

men but by the righteousness of God. Proceeds to consider its effects. Among which,

peace with God stands in the first place; and is so called, to distinguish it from peace with

men. ?and whose justice they have affronted; reconciliation for sin being made, and a

justifying righteousness brought in, and this imputed and applied to them, they have that

“peace of God”, that tranquillity and serenity of mind, the same with “peace with God”

here, “which passes all understanding”, (Phil.4:7) ; and is better experienced than

expressed: and this is all through our Lord Jesus Christ.?5 In Romans Paul likes to use

triads, many theologians have picked up on his consitent use of them. The ?peace with

God? is a possible piece of a triad of love, joy, and peace. ?The importance of this triad in

Paul is also underscored by a simple word count of Pauline vocabulary; these three fruit of

the Spirit emerge as a dominant factor…Love, joy, and peace can not be reduced to

inward, individualistic ?traits.?…Love joy, and peace enter into the structure of Paul?s

thought as a corporate reality, corresponding to the all-embarcing Lordship of Jesus

Christ. Consequently, Christians are called to the love of enemies, to living at peace with

all persons, and to enter into the joy of creation. The ?art? of forming Christian character

marked by love, joy, and peace, is to bring persons to that place where there is a symbiosis

of inward and outward reality. Only then can we recognized them as Fruit of the Spirit.?6

If love, joy, and peace are truly related, than one needs to consider all three when dealing

with process of justification through faith. A interesting thought that God has many things

to connect with the understandings of how He wants us to live. Some translations of the

?peace with God? very. ?Although many interpreters and the committees controlling the

standard Greek texts of our day believe the context of 5:1 favors the indicative translation,

?we have peace with God,? the more strongly attested subjunctive form should be

accepted. It should be translated as hortatory subjunctive, ?lets us have peace with

God.?…The implication of the current consensus favoring the indicative is that only those

who have the right doctrine of justification by faith enjoy peace with God. Although this

implication is strongly favored by some branches of the Lutheran exegetical tradition.?7

On the basis of Stanley E. Porter?s recent demonstration of the superiority of the

subjunctive reading, this verse needs to be translated as follows:

?Therefore, having been set right by faith let

us have peace with God through our Lord

Jesus Christ…?8

To have peace with God is a gift that is received at regeneration, but only used to

its entirety when there is a true understanding of the justification whichs involves faith.

?Remark here that justification is distinct from peace. “Having been justified, we have

peace.” Justification is my true state before God, by virtue of the work of Christ, of His

death, and of resurrection. Faith, thus knowing God, is at peace with God; but this is a

result, like the present enjoyment of the grace wherein we stand.?9 Here is a poem that

gives a different angle to peace with God.

?Jehovah-Shalom The Lord send peace (Judges 6:24)

Jesus! whose blood so freely stream?d

To satisfy the law?s demand;

By Thee from guilt and wrath redeem?d,

Before the Father?s face I stand.

To reconcile offending man,

Make Justice drop her angry rod;

What creature could have form?d the plan,

Or who fulfill it but a God?

No drop remains of all the curse,

For wretches who deserved the whole;

No arrows dipt in wrath to pierce

The guilty, but returning soul.

Peace by such means so dearly bought,

What rebel could have hoped to see?

Peace, by his injured Sovereign wrought,