Christ Died for Us
Romans 5:1-8
The Book of Romans has been held in the highest regard by Christian theologians over the centuries. Countless people have become Christians by reading its verses. Among these were Augustine, Luther and John Wesley. So the influence of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans is unquestioned. If there is any controversy, it is what passages in the book are the most influential. Some of the candidates are Romans 1:16-17, Romans 5 and Romans 8. These are indeed high points in the book. But the high points of the book are set up by Paul’s detailed arguments in the other chapters. This morning we will look at Romans 5:1-8.
Romans 5 is set up by the example of Abraham in the 4th chapter of Romans as the example of one who was justified by faith and not works. Paul had in the first three chapters showed the impossibility of being made right before God on the basis of one’s own works. One was not justified by placing one’s good works on one side of the scale and one’s bad works on the other. If the good outweighed the bad, all would be well. This was Egyptian thinking. And it is the thinking of many who feel that they are basically good, so as long as we acknowledge our imperfection and do good works, we shall be saved. Paul absolutely shatters that idea and quotes scripture after scripture against that thought. But in chapter 4, Paul shows us that there is help. This is demonstrated by the life of Abraham who is considered to be a spiritual giant and forefather.
The Jews revered Abraham and felt that the covenant promises given to Abraham irrevocably applied to them as well. They were the elect. They were his physical descendants, after all. But Paul refutes this argument totally. Abraham was saved by faith. He believed God and it was counted for him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). Abraham was a man of many sins, just like us. The book of Joshua tells us that he had worshiped other gods before God called him. Even in his walk with Yahweh, he lied on several occasions and even let his wife be taken into a harem twice. But since Abraham’s position with God was based on faith, his salvation was built upon sure footing. Physical descent means nothing. Was not Ishmael and six others, physical descendants as well? What about Esau? In fact, it we trace our ancestry back to 1900 BC, virtually all of us are descendants of Abraham, and that many times over. But this does not make one a child of the promise given to Abraham. We, like him are saved by faith without reference to the works we have done, good or evil. Works are important, or course, but they spring from faith. They are not the cause of it.
Chapter 5 now applies the implications of what justification by faith entails. The first fruit is that we have peace with God. This is made possible through our Lord Jesus Christ. This peace is based upon what God has done for us, and not what we have done for God. Notice that it does not say “we should have peace.” This is not a hortatory subjunctive which tells us to appropriate something we don’t already have. It is the realization that you actually are at peace. The call is then to live the reality. The newborn is equipped with everything it needs to develop. The child is already born with the means of walking and talking. It isn’t visibly demonstrated at birth, but it is actually there. It will happen. Likewise, since peace is the gift of God’s grace, it will become increasingly demonstrated as we grow in Christ. We have access to this peace by our faith in Christ in which we stand. The Greek word for “stand” is a perfect indicative. The perfect tense in Greek emphasizes a current ongoing reality based upon a past act. Christ’s death is the act, and the implication is that we now have standing with God because of our faith and will continue to have this standing without end. It is not a Greek imperfect which would tell us that we once had or currently have standing, for now, as though it could be cancelled. The indicative is the mood of factual reality. It is not a hypothetical ideal.
Because we have standing, we can boast in this standing. Our hopeful boasting glorifies God and not ourselves. Boasting in ourselves always results in disaster. It also causes disharmony in the body of Christ. But if our common boast is in God, then we are unified in our faith. We should also realize in this sentence that hope is not wishful thinking. Our understanding of hope is wishy-washy. We might make a statement: “I hope to win the lottery.” This reality is very unlikely to happen and would usually resuly in a false hope. We might foolishly buy tickets in the hope of being an exception. But this hope is highly likely to be disappointed and has led to the ruin of men and women, not to say their children as well. The Christian hope is a real hope based upon the promise of a God who cannot lie. We yearn for the ultimate fulfillment of the reality, but our faith is not a leap into the dark as some theologians of the existential school postulate. It would better be seen as a leap into the light.
In verse three, Paul goes on to add something really shocking. “Not only this, but we boast in our troubles.” The “but” here in Greek is the “but” of replacing. The idea of boasting in the glory of God is replaced by our boasting in our troubles. How can this be? Why should we want to replace our boasting in God’s glory with boasting in our trials? Who would even want to replace Calvin’s theology of glory with Luther’s theology of the cross? Unfortunately in many Christian circles, the possibility of suffering is unthinkable. If one suffers, it is because that person lacks faith. But Paul and others completely dismiss this type of theology and now goes on to qualify this statement.
Instead of trials destroying our faith, it builds our faith. The first thing our trials do is to produce steadfastness of character. It is said that trials make the man. The Greek word here has the idea of patient endurance. Faith tells us that the same God who began a good work will continue it onto perfection in the day of Jesus Christ. It helps us to appreciate our faith even more. Then this patient endurance leads us to approval. The Greek word is used to describe the refining process of metal in which impurities are separated from the pure metal by the use of fire. The purified metal receives the stamp of approval. The same is true of us. An approved faith is always tested. The ingenuine aspects of or faith are burned away, and the result is a purified faith. We need a certain hope and a true faith. It is the trials we go through that actually serve to our eternal benefit. It is our form of the wilderness experience of Israel. Its not that God tempts us directly, but it is the trials and temptations of life which hound us, which God uses for our eternal good.
This purified hope means that our hope is no longer uncertain and unstable, but sure. Many have been shamed by false hopes. We think of Linus waiting for the great pumpkin in Charlie Brown. Many have been shamed by their gambling addictions. Others have been shamed by false hopes. Even though the world thinks that our hope in the return of Jesus is false and that we should be shamed for it, we know that our hope will be realized. This is the benefit of our trials that even their mocking us only reinforces this hope. This was really the idea behind Charles Schultz of Peanuts in Linus’ waiting for the Great Pumpkin which is an allegory of our Christian hope.
Paul now moves on to love. We know of God’s love because He has poured forth His Holy Spirit into us. God has been with us all the time, even in our trials. And He confirms His love for us by His presence in us. We do not go through our troubles alone. We are not alone in the wilderness. The Holy Spirit tabernacles in us just like He did in the middle of the Israelite camp in the wilderness.
Not only is the love of God demonstrated by the giving of the Holy Spirit, it is demonstrated in the death of Christ. Indeed Romans 5:8 is Paul’s John 3:16. We, that is the human race, were without any strength to rescue ourselves. We are in ourselves beyond hope. But the God who loves us sent His Son to die for us. Christ’s love for us submitted Him to the humiliation and pain of the cross. This was the due season of God’s gift. The cross is at the center of Christian time. In the Old Testament time, the saints looked forward to that time. We look back to that time. We were ungodly, but Christ died for us. Paul tells us that some people have died for good causes and others for a good man. These are indeed noble acts of sacrifice. But God’s love goes far beyond this. There is nothing ultimately good about us. In fact, we counted God among our enemies, our chief enemy. Why should a holy God die for us ungrateful and rebellious sinners? The world praises those who die for their country. Even the movie Patton indirectly agrees although it says rather we should have the other person die for his country. But it is outlandish that one die for his enemies. But this is exactly what God did in Jesus Christ. He reconciled us to himself. We should have suffered and died as the enemies of Christ. Christ had the ultimate power to put his foot on our necks. He could have then stepped on our neck and crushed us. Some wonder why He just didn’t forgive us. That has been the cause of many a theological argument. But what is outlandish is that Christ died for us. It is this that we boast in. Praise be to God.
There are a couple of applications that could be made of this text. One of these would be to preach this text through Advent. The four themes of Advent, hope, peace, joy and love are all there if we take boasting to be joyful boasting. One could speak of each of the four themes during Advent, in which we prepare ourselves for the Lord’s return.
Another application for this is a funeral. All to often, funerals have become memorial services and celebrations of life in which we remember the deceased. We tell the stories of the life of one who had meant so much for us. We might even throw in a wink and a nod to salvation such as talking about the deceased’s profession of faith. It is alright to eulogize the dead to some point, but would it not be better to have the congregation remember the work of God that makes the difference. We have something more than memories and a wishy-washy hope we will meet again in Valhalla. Death is our final trial in life. Should we not remember the One who is the Resurrection and the Life? It is not whether the deceased was a good person. What matters is the goodness of God. What is ultimate is not how much the deceased loved, but how much God loves us. It isn’t that this person died, but that Christ died for us. This is what makes the difference in death. This should be our boast. Let is so be!
