Peace with God
When we are made righteous by faith,
we are to have the full assurance
of our salvation, now and eternally.
Here's Gene:
When Paul wrote the book of Romans,
this letter to the Roman Christians,
he had a very important purpose in mind.
And one of those purposes,
certainly a foundational purpose,
was that everyone who
puts their faith in Jesus Christ
can have the full assurance
of their salvation.
And here in Romans chapter 5
he's talking about this concept,
which he calls: Peace with God.
Peace with God.
Made righteous.
When we are, we have the full assurance.
He wants us to have the full assurance
of our salvation.
Now and eternally.
I must admit that this was a problem for me
early on in my Christian experience.
I understood salvation by grace.
At least enough to really respond,
I believe, with a heart of openness
and experience salvation.
But out of my religious background,
I had the idea that I had to do
certain things to keep myself saved.
And that's not a good way to live.
I mean, that creates a lot of confusion.
A lot of insecurity.
And the fact is that it was this opening paragraph,
right here in Romans chapter 5,
that really helped me to have
the assurance of my salvation.
So let's take a look at what
the apostle Paul wrote, beginning in
verse 1 of chapter 5:
Therefore, since we have been
declared righteous by faith,
we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. ...
As you look at this passage, here's a question:
Who declares us righteous?
God himself.
So when you think of the fact that God speaks.
God says something.
God cannot lie.
He speaks the truth.
And basically, God says
we're declared righteous by faith.
And we have peace with him
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul goes on to say:
...We have also obtained
access through him by faith
[that is through Christ]
into this grace in which we stand,
and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
It's really interesting that out of
my own religious background, I grew up
where people would answer the question:
Are you going to heaven?
And they'd say: I hope so.
Now that's a good use of the
English language when you're
hoping to do something,
and you're not sure that you're going to do it.
For example, Paul said: I hope to visit Rome.
He wasn't certain.
But in the most part, the word" hope,"
is used as having "hope"--that is eternal salvation.
No question. Hope in Jesus Christ.
And so here, when Paul says that we
rejoice in the hope of the glory of God,
that's assurance.
The assurance that we have
indeed peace with God.
And this is described really
as reconciliation with God.
Paul goes on to explain this
in verses 10 and 11:
For if, while we were enemies...
What Paul is saying in terms of enemies
is that our sin separated us from God.
It doesn't mean that God doesn't love us.
But the sin separates us from God.
And then Paul talked about that.
And so he says here:
...For if, while we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God
through the death of his Son,
then how much more,
having been reconciled,
will we be saved by his life. ...
So he's talking about both the
death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ.
Through the death of Christ
and the shed blood of Christ,
Jesus paid the penalty.
But through His resurrection,
we have the assurance of His presence
with us and our salvation.
In the sense that we died with Christ.
And we're resurrected to a new life.
And then Paul goes on to say:
...And not only that, but we also rejoice in God
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now
received this reconciliation.
And again, I go back to my
religious background, attending some funerals.
And you can imagine a religious system
where they didn't know whether or not
they have eternal life when they die.
Primarily because it was a works-based system.
Some of those funerals that I attended
were pretty sad.
And really, attending the funeral
of a Christian, there should be hope.
And there should be joy and gladness
about this eternal promise.
Now that doesn't mean there isn't sadness.
In fact Paul recognized that when he
wrote to the Thessalonians.
Dealing with death, he says we grieve.
We grieve when someone dies.
A loved one.
Particularly if it's premature. But Paul said:
Not like those who have what? No hope.
See, the hope is that hope of eternal life.
So Paul talks about peace with God.
Which actually means being
reconciled through Christ.
We have assurance.
Paul underscored this in other
passages of Scripture.
For example, in Ephesians chapter 1,
dealing with assurance. He said,
we're sealed by the Spirit
when we put our faith in Christ:
In him [that is in Christ] you also
were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit
when you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation,
and when you believed.
[Now notice:] The Holy Spirit is the
down payment of our inheritance...
It's done. The down payment:
...until the redemption of the possession,
to the praise of his glory.
And again, you have the rejoicing
and the praise because of this
wonderful assurance that
we have in Jesus Christ.
When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost
and then throughout history
as a result of the coming of Christ.
Or the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ.
We have this wonderful promise
through the coming of the Spirit
collectively, historically, and personally
within our lives.
Now Reflection and Response question
is a natural one:
What is the difference between
peace with God and the peace of God?
And let me simply say that
one deals with our position.
The other with our experience.
And let me just make these two statements
to show the difference:
Peace with God describes our
secure relationship with God through Christ.
This is what Paul has been describing
here in these verses.
The peace of God describes our
inner experience as believers,
regardless of our earthly circumstances.
And Paul refers to the peace of God
when he wrote to the Philippians
who were going through
some challenges in their lives.
And so he said:
Don't worry about anything,
but in everything,
through prayer and petition with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God. ...
Now let me simply clarify
that Paul is not saying that
we will be free from anxiety.
What he is saying is:
When we experience anxiety, what do we do?
We go to the Lord.
We will all experience anxiety
to one degree or another.
That's natural.
And Paul certainly acknowledges that.
Jesus acknowledges that.
But when it happens, we should go to the Lord.
With that petition, that prayer,
that we might have His peace within us.
That's experiential. We have peace with God,
but we can have the peace of God
in these circumstances.
And so Paul goes on to say:
...And the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds
in Christ Jesus.
And that's a wonderful experience.
It doesn't happen automatically.
It doesn't happen suddenly.
But it's a wonderful promise
that we can claim in our experience.
Now again, from my personal experience:
You know, we all have
backgrounds where we have been
taught things that aren't true.
And so consequently, I experienced
a lot of inner turmoil because of my
theological confusion.
See, not understanding peace of God
can create the lack of peace with God.
That can be one of the causes.
So one of the things that can really help us
to have the peace of God when we're
going through difficult circumstances,
is to be reminded that we
have peace with God.
He will never leave us. He'll never forsake us.
We have that wonderful assurance.
And so that was one of the things
that I began to experience
when I began to understand peace with God
and the assurance of my salvation.
I moved from that emotional
roller coaster, as it were.
Based on experience, to be able to
handle difficult challenges
without wondering whether or not
I was in Christ or I lost my salvation.
Because one of the things I was taught:
I'm saved by grace through faith--
I learned that particularly from my dad
who understood that through
listening to Christian radio.
And hearing the gospel of the grace of God.
And that overflowed into my life
when I became a believer.
But part of the confusion was:
Though I believed I was
saved by grace through faith,
I kept myself saved by doing good works.
And we all know that that will not work.
We cannot keep ourselves saved
by doing good works.
We are saved apart from works.
And because of our salvation
we can do good works.
But once I understood that,
I began to have a sense of confidence
and assurance in my Christian life
that I did not have before.
And Paul is concerned about that.
So here's the Principle to Live By:
When we are made righteous by faith,
we are to have the full assurance
of our salvation, now and eternally.