Rom 5:1-3 | KingComments | STEP | Since these two verses are filled with wonderful thoughts, they need a separate section. It is good to memorize them. From the previous sections you should better understand what it took to justify you. You have seen that everything originated with God. . You received God’s righteousness and He has provided everything. You can rejoice! You have been justified, not by your works, but because you believed God. The result is that you have “peace with God”. Once you were living in rebellion against God. You didn’t listen to Him and you did your own will. You didn’t find enjoyment in doing God’s will at all. God judged your deeds very differently from how you judged them yourself. When you saw God had the right perspective about you and that through the Lord Jesus Christ He has taken away all your sins, there is peace in your heart when you think of God. There is “peace with God” because all the righteous demands of God have been met. When you think of God you will feel rest, joy and gladness that He is with you. You can simply call on Him and talk with Him in your thoughts. . You are favored by Him. What a grace it is to have free access to God, the God Who would have had to judge you for all your terrible sins. You can come to Him now without having to make an appointment or stand in line, and without fear He will send you away. You can tell Him everything that’s on your mind or that you are experiencing. He appreciates this demonstration of confidence in Him. In the future you will be forever in God’s glory. You should rejoice in this hope. In the Bible hope is never something uncertain. Today, it indicates a degree of uncertainty. We say ‘I hope so’, when we mean we would like it to happen, although we are not certain it will happen. In the Bible, hope always represents a certainty, but of something still awaiting fulfillment. If you are hoping for something, it is not yet present. It is just the same with God’s glory. This is where you will be forever. But you’re still living here on earth. However, that you will arrive in God’s glory is a fact beyond a doubt. It is even something in which to exult. The guarantee is not in your faith and strength, but is anchored in what God has done in raising the Lord Jesus. This has made you righteous ( ). What a change has occurred in you! Remember Romans 3:23. You read there that you fell short of God’s glory ( ). Your sins had cut you off completely from Him. It is impossible for God to allow sin into His presence and into His glory. Now you have been justified and you look forward to it with all your heart. And so does He! What a wonder of God! What a reason to give thanks to Him! When you come to God with all you have in your heart, He wants you to thank Him for all He and the Lord Jesus have done. Just lay this book aside for a moment to tell God what you have understood so far from this letter He wrote to you. Tell Him you love Him. Then you will experience what the Bible calls fellowship. You can talk with Him about things that are very valuable to you and Him. Do it right now and then you can continue reading. Now read Romans 5:1-2 again. Reflection: Memorize these two verses.

‏ Romans 5:1-3

Peace, Access and Hope; Past, Present and Future

Since these two verses are filled with wonderful thoughts, they need a separate section. It is good to memorize them.

From the previous sections you should better understand what it took to justify you. You have seen that everything originated with God.

Rom 5:1. You received God’s righteousness and He has provided everything. You can rejoice! You have been justified, not by your works, but because you believed God. The result is that you have “peace with God”. Once you were living in rebellion against God. You didn’t listen to Him and you did your own will. You didn’t find enjoyment in doing God’s will at all. God judged your deeds very differently from how you judged them yourself.

When you saw God had the right perspective about you and that through the Lord Jesus Christ He has taken away all your sins, there is peace in your heart when you think of God. There is “peace with God” because all the righteous demands of God have been met. When you think of God you will feel rest, joy and gladness that He is with you. You can simply call on Him and talk with Him in your thoughts.

Rom 5:2. You are favored by Him. What a grace it is to have free access to God, the God Who would have had to judge you for all your terrible sins. You can come to Him now without having to make an appointment or stand in line, and without fear He will send you away. You can tell Him everything that’s on your mind or that you are experiencing. He appreciates this demonstration of confidence in Him.

In the future you will be forever in God’s glory. You should rejoice in this hope. In the Bible hope is never something uncertain. Today, it indicates a degree of uncertainty. We say ‘I hope so’, when we mean we would like it to happen, although we are not certain it will happen. In the Bible, hope always represents a certainty, but of something still awaiting fulfillment. If you are hoping for something, it is not yet present. It is just the same with God’s glory. This is where you will be forever. But you’re still living here on earth.

However, that you will arrive in God’s glory is a fact beyond a doubt. It is even something in which to exult. The guarantee is not in your faith and strength, but is anchored in what God has done in raising the Lord Jesus. This has made you righteous (Rom 4:24-25). What a change has occurred in you! Remember Romans 3:23. You read there that you fell short of God’s glory (Rom 3:23). Your sins had cut you off completely from Him. It is impossible for God to allow sin into His presence and into His glory. Now you have been justified and you look forward to it with all your heart. And so does He! What a wonder of God! What a reason to give thanks to Him!

When you come to God with all you have in your heart, He wants you to thank Him for all He and the Lord Jesus have done. Just lay this book aside for a moment to tell God what you have understood so far from this letter He wrote to you. Tell Him you love Him. Then you will experience what the Bible calls fellowship. You can talk with Him about things that are very valuable to you and Him. Do it right now and then you can continue reading.

Now read Romans 5:1-2 again.

Reflection: Memorize these two verses.

Exult in Tribulations and Exult in God

Rom 5:3. The word exult may make you think of being glad. Well, why shouldn’t you be glad when you see your future before you in Rom 5:2? The prospect of being allowed to enter God’s glory gives you joy, even though you’re not there yet. You’re still on the way to glory and living a life on earth with all its cares and troubles. Is this something in which to exult or to be glad? Rom 5:3 reads: “We also exult in our tribulations.” Well, that sounds like a beautiful text, but you may wonder how it is possible. To make this possible you must first be able to say “knowing” with full confidence that all these tribulations are not happening at random.

If God permits difficulties to enter your life, He has a purpose for them. God uses the difficulties that confront you to prove the reality of your faith. It is not so difficult to have faith when everything is running smoothly in your life. It is only when difficulties come that you can show of what your faith is made. If your faith is real you will endure and keep on trusting God. Then you will not, at the first sign of trouble, lose your assurance. You will find these difficulties will only strengthen you because you know it is all in God’s hands and will never get out of His hands.

The real problem comes when a tribulation lasts longer than you think it should. This is when you will need “perseverance” or endurance. You must count on the faithfulness and help of the Lord to endure these difficulties that seem to have no end in sight. He will sustain you and give you the strength to endure.

Rom 5:4. The result is that you will experience His support. This is the “proven character” that is spoken of in this verse. You can feel His help. What a marvelous experience this is when surrounded by all these troubling things! The result of this experience is “hope”. Once you have the experience of Who God is in your life, you will know He will never leave you, but He will bring you to where He wants you to be, in His glory. You can see how these things create a cause and effect.

Rom 5:5. Now “love” is added to these things. Love is God’s nature. God is love and He has poured out His love into your heart. Things may be ever so difficult, but in your heart you have the conviction that God in His love will never lose grip of what is happening. You don’t have to carry out special things to experience this love of God. You don’t have the power to make yourself feel His love, just as you didn’t have the power to justify yourself before God. But now there is a new power source within us, “the Holy Spirit” Who has been given to us. The Holy Spirit, being Himself God, has shed abroad God’s love in you.

Rom 5:6-8. The strongest proof of God’s love is the fact that Christ has died for helpless and ungodly ones. Occasionally among men someone dies for another because the other is worth such a sacrifice, but that is not the way God loves. God demonstrates His love toward you, in that while you were still a sinner, Christ died for you.

God couldn’t find any attractive thing within you, but God is love. He gave Christ out of His own desire without you asking for it, because He is love. If God proved His love in such a way when you didn’t want Him, would He not in His love take care of you as long as you are still on earth?

Rom 5:9. You have been justified by Christ’s blood. You belong to Him. God always sees Christ’s blood. He no longer sees you as a sinner, but in connection with the Lord Jesus. Christ is the guarantee that you will be saved from wrath. It is now impossible for God’s wrath to touch you. God’s wrath over you had its effect on Christ when He died for you. He bore your sins!

Rom 5:10. You once were an enemy of God. You had to be reconciled to God. Now you’re no longer an enemy of God. You have been reconciled to God, and the Son of God is no longer dead. He lives eternally! Do you know why He lives? He is alive to save you. The phrase “shall be saved” means to guide safely through all life’s dangers and to bring you into God’s glory. Do you think He is able to do that? You can be sure of it!

Rom 5:11. In this verse the third time the idea of exulting occurs: “We also exult in God.” This is the best way to exult. It is not exulting in the hope of the glory of God as in Rom 5:2. Neither is it exulting in tribulations as in Rom 5:3. In Rom 5:2 and Rom 5:3 the exulting is connected with the present and future. The future will one day reach its fulfillment and everyday life will one day come to its end. Therefore the exulting of Rom 5:2-3 will one day end.

But with the exulting of Rom 5:11 it’s different. It is rejoicing in God Himself as the Source and Origin of all blessings. Here you’re no longer talking about yourself and what you have received. God the Giver is before you in all His greatness. You may now rejoice in God through the Lord Jesus Christ through Whom you now have received the reconciliation. To “exult in God” is something you can start with right now, and it will not cease even when we have arrived in the glory of God. Throughout eternity He will be the Subject of your admiration and adoration.

Now read Romans 5:3-11 again.

Reflection: Tell God what you think of Him. Tell God how you appreciate experiencing His love toward you from day to day, and for the gift of His Son.