Peace with God

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. -Romans 5:1-2

One of the two most richly laid out passages in Scripture (in my opinion) is Romans chapter 5 (The other is Romans chapter 8). There are moments where the verses being laid out by Paul are thick with meaning and passion (esp. verses 1-11) and there are moments that still captivate and confound us to this day (esp. verses 12-17). It is a tragedy that most Christians (even pastors) that I know do not wrestle or dig into these truth rich passages. A trip through these two chapters alone would last for months and months without coming up for air!

Anyway, on to the passage itself. In the post below we discovered that Paul has laid us bare before God in chapters 1-3. He has also discussed our justification through faith in chapter 4. In chapter 5 Paul begins by showing us what these two truths combined look like. Amazingly, the view is much different than we are often presented.

First of all, if you come face to face with God you will die! Why? Because God is just (if not you have a new set of problems) and you have fallen short of his standard. God must then meet that action with wrath. The wrath of God is prevalent in the Old Testament (the flood of Noah, Sodom and Gomorra, Jerusalem in the reign of David) and it is not pretty! So the question remains, just how are we justified through faith? Is it because I have faith that I am justified? No! It is who you have faith in that ensures your justification (this has huge ramifications for other "religions"). Jesus stands before God in your place (more on this later) and you are justified by your identification with him.

Secondly, but connected, the name Christ is not Jesus' last name. As if he were born to Joseph and Mary Christ (thank you, Mallick). The name Christ is the Greek representation of the Jewish "Messiah". God sent his "Messiah" into the world to make the world right. The religious of the day were waiting on a warrior or a "Caesar" like figure to bring justice to the earth. We can understand the logic since God is just! But instead God brought justification to the earth. In chapter 8 we will look at what that means for the earth.

Rest assured, we will not be flying away to play harps and sit on clouds!