Studies in Romans (5:1)
Studies in Romans
Romans 5:1 Peace with God
Romans 5:1 (NASB 2020) “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”
When we become a new creation, (see 2 Corinthians 5:17) we get to participate in the divine nature. (see 2 Peter 1:4) We become the righteousness of God in Christ. (see 2 Corinthians 5:21)
Peace and righteousness are linked together. In Isaiah 32:17–18 (NASB 2020) we find, “And the work of righteousness will be peace, And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever. Then my people will live in a peaceful settlement, In secure dwellings, and in undisturbed resting places”
So that’s a great picture of the peace we have with God. It's a great picture of how we enter into his rest. The peaceful settlement and secure dwellings in that statement in Isaiah evoke Eden. They point us toward the dwelling we are promised at the culmination of history. And that's what it's talking about here in the first verse of Romans chapter five. We have peace with God through Christ. We have peace with God because having been justified by faith, we have become the righteousness of God.
In Colossians 1:19–22 (NASB 2020) it says this, “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him (Jesus), and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And although you were previously alienated and hostile in attitude, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His body of flesh through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach”
It pleased the Father that all fullness would reside in Jesus. In other words, Jesus of Nazareth was fully God. God made peace with us and reconciled all things to Himself by Jesus. That reconciliation includes us, though we were at one time alienated from Him and hostile toward Him. He did all this in the God-man Jesus in order to present us before God holy and blameless and beyond reproach.
We read about this reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5:18 and following. There God says that He reconciled us to Himself through Christ and then appointed us His ambassadors to beg the world to be reconciled to Him.
Do you see that? That is what peace with God looks like.
It’s the Kingdom of God.
It’s righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. (see Romans 14:17)
It’s being so close to Him that you are one spirit with Him, fused into Him in a way we cannot explain. (see 1 Corinthians 6:17)
He is in you, and you are in Him. (see John 17:21)
Romans 5:1 told us that, “having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” He reconciled us to God, Father, son and Holy Spirit, through his death on the cross. The work of righteousness is peace and the effect of righteousness is quietness and assurance forever.
This is a lot different than the message we sometimes hear that if you're righteous, you'll be out there just doing, doing, doing to prove it. But when righteousness is at work in you, there is this quietness, this assurance. You dwell in a peaceful settlement, in secure dwellings, and in undisturbed resting places.
We also read about this rest in Hebrews where we see that there is a rest that remains, a Sabbath rest for God's people. (see Hebrews 4:9) Hebrews 4:11 then tells us to make every effort to enter that rest. It's not about trying to do more and be better, it's about allowing Him to live through you.
Just be the branch and bear the fruit and let Him be the one who's doing all the work. Let Him be the one whose life is displayed whose life is manifested in you, through you, out to the world. That is peace with God. It is rest for your soul, and we sure need rest for our souls right now.
