Romans 5:1-2: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access to the grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
(Δικαιωθέντες οὖν ἐκ πίστεως εἰρήνην ἔχομεν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν διὰ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δι᾽ οὗ καὶ τὴν προσαγωγὴν ἐσχήκαμεν τῇ πίστει εἰς τὴν χάριν ταύτην ἐν ᾗ ἑστήκαμεν καὶ καυχώμεθα ἐπ᾽ ἐλπίδι τῆς δόξης τοῦ θεοῦ.)
The first two verses of Romans 5 are highly significant. Having put in place the truth of justification by faith beginning in Romans 3:21 and continuing through chapter four in which he affirms that Abraham believed God and his faith was credited to him as righteousness (vs. 3), the Apostle Paul begins the fifth chapter by listing the past, present, and future results of justification.
He begins with the word dikaiothentes which is translated "having been justified." This is the aorist, passive participle of the verb dikaioo which means "to justify."
(Δικαιωθέντες οὖν ἐκ πίστεως εἰρήνην ἔχομεν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν διὰ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δι᾽ οὗ καὶ τὴν προσαγωγὴν ἐσχήκαμεν τῇ πίστει εἰς τὴν χάριν ταύτην ἐν ᾗ ἑστήκαμεν καὶ καυχώμεθα ἐπ᾽ ἐλπίδι τῆς δόξης τοῦ θεοῦ.)
The first two verses of Romans 5 are highly significant. Having put in place the truth of justification by faith beginning in Romans 3:21 and continuing through chapter four in which he affirms that Abraham believed God and his faith was credited to him as righteousness (vs. 3), the Apostle Paul begins the fifth chapter by listing the past, present, and future results of justification.
He begins with the word dikaiothentes which is translated "having been justified." This is the aorist, passive participle of the verb dikaioo which means "to justify."
Verbs have both tense and voice. The tense indicates whether the action is in the present, the past or the future. I can say, "I teach" (present), "I taught" (past) and "I will teach." (future). The voice indicates whether I am the doer of the action (active) or the recipient of the action (passive). A verb can also be used as a participle, either as an adjective or an adverb. If I say, "The professor, teaching his students, hoped they got good grades." Teaching is a present participle. If I say, "The professor, having taught his students," it would be a past participle. If I reverse the procedure and view it through the eyes of the students, I would say, "The students, having been taught by the professor, got good grades." In that case, having been taught is a past, passive participle. Passive because the students were the recipients of the action. It would be like saying, "The grass, having been cut by the lawnmower..." The grass just stood there, and the mower performed all the action.
The Apostle Paul's use of the past (aorist), passive participle is very significant. It indicates clearly that the act whereby God declared the world of sinners righteous because of the righteousness and faithfulness of His Son Jesus Christ is a finished reality to be grasped by faith. This stands in contradistinction to the position of Rome in which justification is a process to be completed in the fires of purgatory. Only after spending an indeterminate amount of time being purged of sin can the individual claim to be righteous before God.
The fact of dikaiothentes, "having been justified" is to be grasped and apprehended in faith before any progress in the Christian faith and life can be attained. As long as uncertainty remains regarding our righteous standing before God and our eternal destiny, the New Testament remains a closed book, and the teachings of the Apostle Paul will fall on deaf ears. Realizing that you have already been justified and made right with God as a past act of God is not a doctrine reserved for the theological elite but is actually the starting point of the Christian faith. It is "Christianity 101." It is basic Christian truth.
Because the benefits of this truth are grasped in faith, the first result is peace with God. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:19 that God was active in Christ reconciling the world to himself. The conflict between man and God prompted by human sin are brought to a stunning conclusion through the Cross of Jesus Christ. Having been made right with God, guilt and shame are removed and replaced with peace. All this has taken place the past.
The present reality is that we have "access" by faith to this grace or undeserved past kindness of God. The primary meaning of the Greek word prosagoge translated "access" is actually the act of "bringing to or moving to". I like the term "delivering." God in the present has established a "delivery system" whereby His undeserved grace manifested in the Good News of justification and peace with God are delivered to us today, two thousand years after the fact. The primary "delivery system" is the proclaimed Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul declares that God has chosen to save the world through the foolishness of preaching (1 Corinthians 1:21). For this reason, Paul is not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power God for salvation (Romans 1:16).. The task of the preacher today is not the teaching of present-day principles for living a successful life but the past acts of God whereby we are forgiven and justified. God delivers the goods through preaching. Failing to preach these past acts of God disqualifies a person from being considered a pastor or preacher in the Christian Church.
In addition, God established the "delivery system" of the Sacraments. Baptism is the only means we know of whereby the past benefits of God's undeserved favor are delivered to an infant to be nurtured and built upon by parents, sponsors and the entire Christian congregation. In the midst of this present pandemic which has closed churches, I sincerely hunger and thirst for the Lord's Supper. I look forward to the day when I will again hear the words "Take and eat, this is my body. Take and drink, this is my blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins."
The purpose of this "delivery system" is to cause Christians to "stand" upon the grace of God. "Standing" is the posture of the Christian. In the section from Ephesians 6 in which the Apostle describes the armor of God, three times he encourages the Christian "to stand." Faith takes a position on the past acts of God and stands upon that position. It is at this point that the devil is the most active attempting to push the believer off of that position. While we have put on the full armor, we have only one offense weapon, the sword of the Spirit which is the truth of the Word of God.
In the past, God justified us, made us right with Him so that we might have peace with God. In the present, we take advantage of the delivery system, the Word and Sacraments, whereby the undeserved kindness of God is delivered to our front door, similar to a Fedex or UPS truck, so that we might stand upon that grace. In addition to this, as a result of having been justified, we have a future hope in which we can boast - our face-to-face experience of the glory and majesty of God! And the older you get the greater and more wonderful is that future hope.
In these two simple verses, the Apostle Paul masterfully sets forth the past acts of God, the present position of the Christian, and the future glory that awaits us. .
The Apostle Paul's use of the past (aorist), passive participle is very significant. It indicates clearly that the act whereby God declared the world of sinners righteous because of the righteousness and faithfulness of His Son Jesus Christ is a finished reality to be grasped by faith. This stands in contradistinction to the position of Rome in which justification is a process to be completed in the fires of purgatory. Only after spending an indeterminate amount of time being purged of sin can the individual claim to be righteous before God.
The fact of dikaiothentes, "having been justified" is to be grasped and apprehended in faith before any progress in the Christian faith and life can be attained. As long as uncertainty remains regarding our righteous standing before God and our eternal destiny, the New Testament remains a closed book, and the teachings of the Apostle Paul will fall on deaf ears. Realizing that you have already been justified and made right with God as a past act of God is not a doctrine reserved for the theological elite but is actually the starting point of the Christian faith. It is "Christianity 101." It is basic Christian truth.
Because the benefits of this truth are grasped in faith, the first result is peace with God. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:19 that God was active in Christ reconciling the world to himself. The conflict between man and God prompted by human sin are brought to a stunning conclusion through the Cross of Jesus Christ. Having been made right with God, guilt and shame are removed and replaced with peace. All this has taken place the past.
The present reality is that we have "access" by faith to this grace or undeserved past kindness of God. The primary meaning of the Greek word prosagoge translated "access" is actually the act of "bringing to or moving to". I like the term "delivering." God in the present has established a "delivery system" whereby His undeserved grace manifested in the Good News of justification and peace with God are delivered to us today, two thousand years after the fact. The primary "delivery system" is the proclaimed Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul declares that God has chosen to save the world through the foolishness of preaching (1 Corinthians 1:21). For this reason, Paul is not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power God for salvation (Romans 1:16).. The task of the preacher today is not the teaching of present-day principles for living a successful life but the past acts of God whereby we are forgiven and justified. God delivers the goods through preaching. Failing to preach these past acts of God disqualifies a person from being considered a pastor or preacher in the Christian Church.
In addition, God established the "delivery system" of the Sacraments. Baptism is the only means we know of whereby the past benefits of God's undeserved favor are delivered to an infant to be nurtured and built upon by parents, sponsors and the entire Christian congregation. In the midst of this present pandemic which has closed churches, I sincerely hunger and thirst for the Lord's Supper. I look forward to the day when I will again hear the words "Take and eat, this is my body. Take and drink, this is my blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins."
The purpose of this "delivery system" is to cause Christians to "stand" upon the grace of God. "Standing" is the posture of the Christian. In the section from Ephesians 6 in which the Apostle describes the armor of God, three times he encourages the Christian "to stand." Faith takes a position on the past acts of God and stands upon that position. It is at this point that the devil is the most active attempting to push the believer off of that position. While we have put on the full armor, we have only one offense weapon, the sword of the Spirit which is the truth of the Word of God.
In the past, God justified us, made us right with Him so that we might have peace with God. In the present, we take advantage of the delivery system, the Word and Sacraments, whereby the undeserved kindness of God is delivered to our front door, similar to a Fedex or UPS truck, so that we might stand upon that grace. In addition to this, as a result of having been justified, we have a future hope in which we can boast - our face-to-face experience of the glory and majesty of God! And the older you get the greater and more wonderful is that future hope.
In these two simple verses, the Apostle Paul masterfully sets forth the past acts of God, the present position of the Christian, and the future glory that awaits us. .
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