Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ² Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.⁶ For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— ⁸ but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. ¹¹ More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Romans 5:1-11

Now we are getting to the good stuff. I remember hearing many times, “If you’re reading in the Bible and come across a ‘therefore’ go back and see what it is there for!” Here we are with a therefore in our reading.

Therefore means because of all that was just said — now this! In the last post, we talked about how God credited or reckoned our sin account as paid through the death of Jesus. Therefore or because of that, now since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God.

Take a deep breath and remember that time when you first believed in the Lord Jesus Christ (or maybe this is the moment you will believe) realized, remember, hold in your mind for just a few minutes that you have peace with God.

This is the first effect of grace = PEACE! We have peace with God. Our souls can rest in the knowledge that we have peace with our Creator. We’ve gained access to this grace called peace through Christ. And we can rejoice! We can rejoice in hope because where the effects of sin used to produce wrath and all that wrath’s repercussions had brought upon us. Now, grace has caused every suffering that we go through to produce something else.

God has not redeemed the earth yet. The effects of the wrath are still at work on the earth but what Jesus did was bring the Kingdom to the hearts of His people which shifted the outcomes. So instead of wrath producing pain and suffering leading to more pain, suffering, and futility. When we who believe suffer it produces endurance, character, and hope. It’s like God created grace packages that were dropped into every hard thing for those who believe.

Can you see it? Have you experienced that? His love is poured out for us.

Another thing that stuck out to me in this passage is the phrase, “much more.”

It means greater- greater! Paul wrote inspired by the Holy Spirit to write, “while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. If by his death we were reconciled, how much greater- greater will we be saved by his life. We have only scratched the surface of what Jesus’s life has in store for us. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been walking with Jesus for 1 hr or 65 years, there is so much more!!

Thanks for listening,

Starla