Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (2) through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God…….(5) Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (6) For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (7) For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet for a good man someone would even dare to die. (8) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
The letter to the Romans was written by the apostle Paul. In our verses today Paul is discussing the blessings of justification. In Adam we were spiritually dead; our hopeless spiritual condition outside of Christ. We were unable to save ourselves; we were unable to see the light of the gospel; were unable to understand or feel spiritual truth. We were not seeking God and were not able to submit to God’s law. We were totally unable and/or unwilling to do anything about reconciling with God. But God’s love took the initiative to save us when there was nothing about us that was lovable. God love sent Christ to us at a time when it fitted God’s eternal purpose – Christ’s substitutionary death resulted in so many blessings because believers were at peace with God. This peace is not a state of mind but a real relation and access to God. Because of Christ true believers have hope that is certain and will never disappoint.
The love of God is not an external revelation of divine love but it is in our hearts and minds. There is an inward persuasion that we are the objects of God’s love produced by the inward dwelling of the Holy Spirit. Christ, the Son of God, died for us and is represented in Scripture as the highest proof of God’s love for us. Far too often it is taken in a subjective sense and apart from justification that has been done for us through Christ Jesus there is no peace between God and man. Mankind is always quite ready to forget that and bypass Jesus Christ, seeing no need for Him. They seem to believe they can go directly to God without mentioning Christ and all His work.
When man/woman have a true grasp of doctrine of justification in faith in Christ alone, he/she no longer has a fear of death – no longer a fear if judgment, having been justified by faith. This means the “supreme thing” has been done once and for all because God has imputed Christ’s righteousness to believers. He has already punished our sins in Christ. God pronounces believers to be just once and forever.