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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadSpurgeon Verse Expositions - Romans 5:1 - 5:11
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Rom_5:1. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
The gospel is full of “therefores”, it is above reason, but it is never against reason; it is the most reasonable thing under heaven “There-fore” — it is a matter of argument. You will have to read the previous chapters to see how this conclusion flows naturally from what he had before taught by the Holy Spirit. Let us linger over these sentences while we read them. “Being justified by faith.” Is it so? Art thou indeed made just by faith in Jesus Christ thy Righteousness? Then thou hast peace this day and hour; peace within thine own conscience, and with thy fellow men, but what is much better thou hast peace with God. As soon as we are justified by reliance on Jesus, we cease to have any quarrel with God, and he has no quarrel with us; we are allies, we are in happy union, we have peace with God. Not shall have it by and by, but we have it now as our present glad possession, because we are justified by faith, we are now in the enjoyment of perfect peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.” Since we are at peace with God we may enter his house, his door is open to us, we have divine welcome unto his grace, and we abide in it, abide in it with certainty, and full assurance.
Rom_5:2. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Oh, what a comfort this is, to be rejoicing, especially, to be rejoicing in hope. It is better on before, there may be clouds and darkness here, but we can see the sunlight breaking yonder; “until the day break and the shadows flee away,” we will make hope to be our bright candle of the Lord. We “rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, and not only so.” When we once get into God’s house, we rise higher in it, we go up another pair of stairs. “Not only so,” though that seems to be enough, to be rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God, and to have access into his grace, and to have peace with him because we are justified, but it is not only so, but “we glory in tribulations also.” We transform our troubles into gladness and glorying, we get spiritually enriched by tribulation.
Rom_5:3-4. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope:
Another hope, or rather the same hope rising up into another form. We begin with rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God by faith, now we get a further hope which is born of experience; the things we have tasted and handled of the love of God create in us a more radiant hope inferred from what we have enjoyed.
Rom_5:5-6. And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For where we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
What is the connection here? Is it not this: that the Holy Ghost makes us feel what a wonderful love the love of God is to us because when we were without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly? Wonderful love! When we were Godless and Christless, in due time Christ died for us.
Rom_5:7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
Nobody would feel impelled to die for a man who is only severely and strictly just, he may command our admiration, but not our affection. Aristides the Just is, indeed, at last banished; men cannot bear a man whose whole character is bare justice, for they are themselves usually so unjust. But “a good man,” he commands our love, a man of that character who is gratuitously kind, and gracious, and benevolent, peradventure — and it is a bare peradventure — somebody might be found to die for such as he. It is not, however, very probable.
Rom_5:8. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
He did the utmost for us when we were the least deserving of it. Oh, what a love is this. Let it be shed abroad in our poor stony hearts, and commended by us to others.
Rom_5:9. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
This is a resistless argument, and should be the deathblow to all misgiving.
If he died for us when we were unjust, will he let us perish now that he has made us just, and completely justified us? Impossible!
Rom_5:10. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
There are three points which strengthen the argument here, which you will readily see by reading it at your leisure. The Lord our God who justified us when we were enemies by the death of his Son, will save us now that we are friends through the life of his Son. “And not only so.” Here we ascend again, it is ever higher and higher, something yet more, so that we are never at the end of this blessed record of mercy and grace.
Rom_5:11. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
We are at one with God, we are perfectly reconciled to him, and we have at present, at this very moment, a great joy and delight in God. Now we shall read together the 71st Psalm, just in order that we may see how good men in all ages have been assisted by their experience and their hope: and how their hope has grown out of their tribulation, their patience and their experience. The old man’s psalm. You can recollect it, dear friends, who are aged, by its being 71, it is just past the threescore years and ten.
This exposition consisted of readings from Rom_5:1-11; and Psa_71:1-14.
Rom_5:1. Therefore being justified by faith, —
But why “therefore”? Because of the verge preceding it: “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” Christ died to atone for our sins, Christ rose again to secure our justification, “Therefore being justified by faith,” —
Rom_5:1. We have peace with God through our lord Jesus Christ;
We have peace, we know that we have, we enjoy it, it is not a thing of the future, we have peace, a deep calm like that which came to the disciples when Christ hushed the winds and waves to sleep. “We have peace with God,” his peace has entered into us, we possess it now; but it is all “through our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is all war apart from him, but all peace through him. We poor sinners, being justified by faith, have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Rom_5:2. By whom also we have access by faith —
That is to say, we come near to God; we have the entry of the King’s palace; “we have access by faith” —
Rom_5:2. Into this grace wherein we stand,
With firm foot and confident heart, we stand in God’s presence. Happy people!
Rom_5:2. And rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
What a window hope is! It looks toward heaven; we have only to look out that way, and then we can “rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
Rom_5:3. And not only so, but we glory —
We hope for glory, — “the glory of God,” and we already “glory.” But in what do we glory? “ We glory” —
Rom_5:3. In tribulations also: —
That is the blackest thing a Christian has, — his tribulations; so, if we can glory in them, surely we can glory in anything. “We glory in tribulations also:” —
Rom_5:3. Knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
A man cannot prove that he has patience if he has never been tried. Christian patience is not a weed, it is a cultivated plant; we only get patience through our trials.
Rom_5:4. And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
You cannot make an experienced Christian without trouble. You cannot make an old sailor on shore, nor make a good soldier without fighting. Here is that window of hope again, standing at the back of our experience, we look out of the window, and what God has done for us is a token of what God will do for us.
Rom_5:5. And hope maketh not ashamed;
Peace gives us courage, hope takes the blush out of the cheek when we confess Christ, for we remember the glory that is to be revealed in him and in us, so how can shame come in?
Rom_5:5. Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
God’s love is like sweet perfume in an alabaster box; the Holy Spirit breaks that box, pours out the love of God into our souls, and the perfume fills our entire nature.
Rom_5:6. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”
When we had no power to do anything that was good, when we were strengthless and hopeless, then Christ died for us. This is a wonderful gospel expression, which ought to bring comfort to those here who have no pretence of godliness, “Christ died for the ungodly.”
Rom_5:7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die:
However upright and just a man may be, nobody thinks of dying for him.
Rom_5:7. Yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
That is to say, for a generous, kind, noble-hearted man, some might dare to die.
Rom_5:8. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
We were neither righteous nor yet good, yet Christ died for us. “Oh!” said a little boy once to his mother, “I do not think so much of Christ dying for men, I think I would be willing to die if I could save a hundred men by dying.” But his mother said,” Suppose it was a hundred mosquitoes, — would you die for them?” “Oh, no!” he said, “I would let the whole lot of them die.” Well, we were much less, in comparison with Christ than mosquitoes are in relation to men, yet he died for us, good-for-nothing creatures that we are. Well does one say, “God shows part of his love to us in many different ways, but he shows the whole of his love in giving Christ to die for us.” Here you see his heart laid bare, the very heart of God laid open for the inspection of every believing soul. To die for saints would be great love; but to die for sinners, while they are yet sinners, and regarding them as sinners, — this is love with emphasis, the very highest commendation that even divine love can have.
Rom_5:9. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
See; it is a less thing for God to preserve us when we are justified than it is for him to justify us while we are yet sinners. The final perseverance of the saints may well be argued from their conversion, their entrance into glory is guaranteed by the ransom price that Christ has paid for their redemption. He died to save sinners, so how is it possible that he should let saints perish? Oh, no; that can never be! “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”
Rom_5:10. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Notice that while we were his enemies, he blessed us, so now that we are reconciled to him, will he not still bless us? If he reconciled us to him by the death of his son, will he not save us by his life now that we are reconciled to him? Does he make us his friends, intending afterwards to destroy us? Perish such a thought. This verge is like a trident, it is a three-pronged argument for our eternal safety. I will read it again: “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be raved by his life.”
Rom_5:11. And not only so, —
Surely we have got high enough when we have reached an absolute certainty of our eternal salvation. Yet we are to go still higher: “And not only so,” —
Rom_5:11. But we also joy in God —
Even now we joy in God, “although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olives shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls,” yet do “we joy in God” —
Rom_5:11. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, —
Every blessing comes to us through him. How Paul delights to harp upon that string! He says continually, “through our Lord Jesus Christ,” —
Rom_5:11. By whom we have now received the atonement.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, we are at one with God, we are reconciled to him by the death of his Son. All our sin is for ever put away we have received the atonement, and we rejoice in the God of our salvation Glory be to his holy name for ever and ever!