“The first eleven verses of Romans 5 may well be the most powerful words that have ever been penned by mankind,” posted by peaching colleague and Facebook friend Russ Bowman.
Every day, Russ has been posting some short thoughts he titles “From my Daily Bible Writing, for you to chew on.”
The other day, Russ posted this introspective and personally reflective thought that I’m chewing on. So, I’m sharing this, trusting that our readers will profit from pondering on these thoughts as well.
Rom.5:1-2 – “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
The first eleven verses of Romans 5 may well be the most powerful words that have ever been penned by mankind. The concepts addressed here by Paul are both expansive in consideration and imminently practical; universal in scope and personal in impact. Volumes have been written about justification and peace and faith and grace and hope and love and sacrifice and reconciliation. Volumes more will be written. In fact, this section of scripture is so replete with important considerations that it can be overwhelming to think through.
How do you underscore one part without fully considering the rest of the passage? It is so divinely interwoven that to focus on just one aspect seems almost insulting to its Author.
Nonetheless, at the risk of oversimplifying what is eternal in scope, there are two phrases in the first two verses that are exceptionally appealing to me.
First, “we have peace with God.”
Who am I that God would accept me? With all of my failures, my weaknesses, my selfishness, folly, intemperance. The thought that I stand justified and that there is no enmity between the holy God and myself is truly hard to believe. Yet He has promised such and He is faithful in His promises. So I keep on trusting and trying and cherish the thought that there is peace between us.
Second, and perhaps more so, “we rejoice in hope of the glory of God”.
The glory of God. I don’t know all that that entails, but absolutely nothing is more attractive and mesmerizing to me.
“Glory” is the word that always describes God’s appearance. It is the expression of His very nature. He is glorious because He is God. In fact, it’s difficult to define “glory” without the concept of God, or to describe God without the concept of glory.
Without a doubt, for us it involves the resurrected body, the realm of heaven, our association with Him, all that “inheritance” implies. In my own mind, the glory that awaits us is beyond our ability to even imagine, much less comprehend (II Cor.4:17f). But it is the desire and expectation of such – “the hope of the glory of God” – that brings joy to this life. No matter what the day brings (or the week, month, year, decade, etc., etc…), I know what lies in store. I get to share in the glory of God. I cannot wrap my head around it. But it spurs me on.
Pray tell – how do people make it through this life without peace with God and the hope of glory? It shames me that I need this reminder today, but I am grateful for it.
ThePreachersWord 