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I noticed some linked repetitions that usually cue me in on something important to look for. The very first one is “having been justified”. It's first occurrence is in verse one where it says “having been justified by faith, we have peace....” Then in verse nine it says “having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”
Another repetition is the word “exult” (in this version). It shows up three ways in this section:
verse two says, “we exult in hope of the glory of God.”
verse three says, “we also exult in our tribulations...”
verse eleven says, “we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ...”
These two patterns already deliver an enormous amount of research potential that piques my interest. But first of all I want to take a look at the very first question that came to my mind from verse one. I have reason to believe from previous study that the faith here referred to is not necessarily, or at least exclusively, our faith in Jesus. The strong emphasis that has typically been put on being justified by (our) faith has led us to believe that faith is the ingredient that we must bring to the gospel formula to make it work for us. This has produced untold amounts of discouragement in many who felt they just couldn't work up enough faith to make it happen for them. Much of our evangelism focuses on urging people to “have faith” or even attempts to provide faith for others in hopes that it will jump-start the formula in their life.
I believe quite strongly that the faith here referred to may be the faith that Jesus and the Father has in us to respond to the arrangement of redemption they have already put in place for us. This is the focal point of the previous verse that has such a powerful message implicit within it. Jesus was delivered over – given up, just like the people described in chapter one were given over by God to the consequences of their choices – because of our transgressions.
The real bombshell, at least for me, is when it says that Jesus was raised because of our justification. That means that the Godhead had some arrangement or agreement that if Christ's death could not bring about our justification then Jesus would not be raised from the dead. That is an expression of enormous faith on the part of God and Jesus to take that big of a risk of failure to create this arrangement of redemption for us while we were still enemies hostile toward Him.
If the faith referred to in 5:1 is our faith in Jesus and we are justified by our faith, then since our faith did not yet exist (for several reasons), then in actuality Jesus could not have been raised from the dead, because we were not yet justified due to our lack of faith. One reason we did not yet have faith is because we were not yet born. Another reason is that even after we were born we were born as enemies of God with innate hostility toward Him and needed to experience a conversion to come into alignment with Him. Verses 6,8 & 10 make it very clear that we were not in a condition of saving faith when Jesus died and was resurrected for our salvation. So I believe there is very strong evidence here for this justifying faith in verse one to be the faith of Jesus Himself.
In this verse the results of this faith and justification is peace with God. Again, the previous verse talks about transgressions as the reason for Jesus' death. The word “trans-gress” needs to be unpacked so as to be better understood here. “Trans” means crosswise to something, across or to go beyond the limits of something. “Gress” is part of many words that denotes movement: egress, progress etc. Basically to transgress means to move crosswise to the will of God. When the Bible says that sin is the transgression of the law, since the law is simply a simplistic revelation of God's character, then sin is moving crosswise to what God is like. We find ourselves at cross-purposes with God, resisting God's ways and desires, and definitely not at peace with God.
But according to 4:25 Jesus was resurrected because we were justified before God. That would certainly seem to me to include having peace with God. If a person is justified the very cause for them not to have peace would have been removed. 5:1 says that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Peace with God, at least as far as God's opinion seems to be concerned, is already a done deal, along with our justification. I believe that all of this is what Paul refers to in verse two as our “introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand.”
On God's side of our relationship with Him we see great faith in us and redemption which has already provided our justification and peace with God. Jesus has supplied all the faith necessary as an introduction into His grace, placing us, while still His enemies, in a place where we can exult or rejoice in hope of the glory of God. God wants us to share in His glory. His glory is to demonstrate selfless love and grace and to transform sinners into perfect reflections of His own character and be filled with joy and peace. Every person on earth has been placed into this position as an introduction to what God wants to expand dramatically in their lives if they give Him further permission.
So what is our part in all of this? We already know that many people will not be saved. What is the difference between the lost and the saved if everyone has been justified and has been given peace with God? What's the catch?
The transition point resides in the word “reconciled” which shows up in verses ten and eleven. And even there it starts out by making a strong declaration that, as far as God is concerned, as far as His opinion about us goes, we were reconciled to God “while we were enemies”.
I looked up the word reconcile on Dictionary.com and found some very relevant definitions that I think express what God is trying to do.
| 2. | to win over to friendliness; cause to become amicable: to reconcile hostile persons. |
| 3. | to compose or settle (a quarrel, dispute, etc.). |
| 4. | to bring into agreement or harmony; make compatible or consistent: |
From God's viewpoint, when Jesus took upon Himself all the the results of sin when it is exposed to the presence of God's perfect holiness and died as a result, God considers the issues that separated us from Him as settled in Christ. There is no more dispute, the human race, as far as He is concerned, has been brought into harmony – compatibility – with Him. So how do we account for all of the disharmony and incompatibility with God that we see so evident all around us still?
First of all we need to get it solidly settled as irrevocable fact that it is not because of God's thoughts about us that we are still living in such a mess. God's thoughts toward us are only thoughts of peace. “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord.” (Jeremiah 29:11-13 NRSV) If we try to move beyond this point without anchoring it securely in place we will become very confused by the rest of the plan of salvation. Reconciliation is a done deal as far as God is concerned. But that does not mean that everyone who has been offered it will accept it and take ownership of it.
The last half of verse ten and then verse eleven I believe indicate a choice made on the part of those who choose to participate in this “done deal” by believing it and accepting it for themselves. “...having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”
When we understand the true nature of the gift that is already in place on God's side and then choose to accept the gift for ourself personally by receiving the reconciliation, we are then “in Christ” and are fully identified with everything that happens to Him, past present and future. We are justified in His death, we are saved by His life and we are blessed “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” (Eph. 1:3) Ephesians 1 is a grand expose´ of the incredible blessings that we can now enjoy and employ in our position as being “in Christ”.
There is much more to be explored here but I want to save that for another day. Until then I want to ponder and absorb the reality of my privileges of being in covenant relationship with Jesus and take much more advantage of the power and privileges available to me as a justified, reconciled child of God exulting in hope, in tribulations and in God.
