Romans: The Glory of the Gospelಮಾದರಿ

A Brand-New Reality

Let’s face it—we all struggle with insecurity in one way or another, and that’s because our lives on this earth aren’t secure. Health and wealth come and go, relationships slip away, and no matter how hard we fight for tranquility, we just can’t hold on to it. But when we’re united to Christ, we can let go of our frantic attempts to make life work the way we imagine it should. He has secured for us every blessing that really matters. Beginning here in Romans 5, the apostle Paul unfolds these great blessings. In Christ, we have peace, unlimited access to God, an abundance of his grace, and hope that won’t let us down.

Hope factors immensely into the blessings we receive in Christ. When Paul writes of hope that won’t shame us in the long run, he means that what God intends to accomplish through our suffering will surely happen. Believers can take comfort in knowing that whatever they suffer is increasing their capacity to know and enjoy God.

Adam and Eve had enjoyed perfect harmony with God in the Garden of Eden, but when they sinned, their relationship with him was broken—not only for Adam and Eve but for every human being afterward. (You can read the tragic story in Genesis 3:1–19.) But through the cross, Jesus did what no mere human could—reconcile the irreconcilable. A reconciled relationship is one that has been restored to its former harmony following a relational fracture. This is how Paul describes the Christian’s relationship with God—reconciled.

Twice in this passage, in verses 9 and 10, Paul speaks of salvation in a future sort of way: “. . . much more shall we be saved.” Let’s be sure we understand. He’s not saying that our justification is somehow incomplete. Rather, he has in mind the full and final result of our being justified—participating with the resurrected Lord Jesus in heavenly joys for all eternity.

So why did God give the law if it put sinners in even more danger of God’s wrath? We find our answer in the gospel. God set a purposefully impossible standard so that people would realize they can’t be righteous. The law was given to expose our total inability to obey God. No one can truly obey the law, and this means that everyone deserves the penalty for law-breakers, which is death. So what are we to do? We must turn to the righteousness of the only one who could—and did: Jesus Christ. The law was given to expose our lawlessness so that we’d turn to God for mercy.

Reflection: We can rejoice even when we suffer, because through our difficulties, God is maturing our character, and as we mature, our capacity for hope is enlarged. Consider how this has happened in your own life, even in the smallest of ways. Think also about hope in general. What gives you a sense of hope? A way to know where your hope lies is by considering the opposite—what brings you disappointment.