November 18, 2021 – Thursday
Romans 5:1-4 NIV
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Comment.
Many of us know the latter part of verse 3 and verse 4 together, we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. But I have never really looked at them in context and that is my goal today, so let’s get at it.
Looking first at verses 1 and 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 by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God, we have Therefore which refers us back to chapter 4. Chapter 4 is all about how Abraham was justified by his faith, and it is verse 13 that is key, It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. And then verse 16 describing how the promise comes to the Gentiles as well, Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. Finally in the last three verses of chapter 4 we get to the reason chapter 5 begins with, Therefore, The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
With those final three verses the opening verses of chapter 5 now make sense, Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Still, what is this And we boast in the hope of the glory of God? This is not boasting as we might normally think of boasting, but instead of having confidence in the glory of God in the incredible everlasting security we have because of what Christ for us on the cross.
This then makes sense of the opening of verse three, Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings as these are but a testing ground for our faith and hope. Note also here we glory in our sufferings, not because of our sufferings. The sufferings may be simply doing the right thing when the flesh is telling us how much better the other choice would be. The call of the wrong choice can be strong, but there is no glory or suffering in that choice. There is glory in making the right choice no matter the suffering for in doing so, in some small way we then share in Christ’s sufferings in the choices He made.
Then comes the amazing truth, when we suffer in this way because of our faith, we discover that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Christians learn what many athletes know, suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope! Of course their hope is for something short-lived here on this earth while our hope, as Christians, is for something wonderful and eternal.
Bottom Line: Do the right thing as a Christian even when it involves suffering, because the final result is hope. And it is this hope that our faith is built upon.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, Thank You Father for showing us how important it is to choose correctly, to do the right thing even when it involves suffering for out of that our hope is reborn again and again. – In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
RileyD, nwJ
Riley D. Driver – Pastor
Calvary Chapel of Daytonin Beavercreek