The gospel doesn’t change, but the message gets more and more clear as new creation breaks into the world over time. In the last post, I tried to explain how Deuteronomy 1–4 proclaims the gospel of “God with us.” This is the same gospel Paul unpacks in Romans 5:1–11. The difference in Romans is that Paul speaks about the gospel with a trinitarian clarity that wasn’t available to Moses. God’s work of redemption and new creation has progressed over time, and Paul lived in the era when the flood gates of new creation had just burst open.

In this post, I want to highlight how Paul talks about the gospel of God with us in four parts:

1. The result of justification by faith is union with God, “God with us.”
2. Union with God means living in and with God’s Spirit, participating in new creation.
3. The gift of the Spirit transforms our experience of hardship by giving us hope that is more real than what we see and touch.
4. Jesus died for sinners — “while we were enemies” — so we shouldn’t think that our remaining brokenness will stop God from finish the job of saving us from sin and death.
   

Union with God

Notice the first and last sections of this passage. The first thing Paul wants to say about the result of justification by faith is that we are united with God, and the idea is repeated using a variety of language:

• peace with God (v. 1)
• access to God (v. 2)
• reconciliation with God (vv. 9–11)
  

5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have also received access into this gift in which we stand and we boast in hope of the glory of God …

… 9 So how much more, now that we have ben justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath. 10 You see, if while were were enemies we were reconcile to God through the death of his Son, how much more now that we are reconciled will we be saved by his life. 11 And not only this, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Union with God is the heart of the Gospel because all goodness and flourishing is directly related to God’s presence.

But there is more to say. Our present experience is marked by hardship so how does our experience of hardship fit with the idea of “union with God”? How can union with God mean anything real if our bodies and hearts still hurt?

Hope in the Gift of the Spirit

The bold-text below highlights the language Paul uses to say that we now have the one thing we truly need. We have access to God’s presence and love.

5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have also received access into this gift in which we stand and we boast in hope of the glory of God.

3 And not only this, but we also boast in hardships, knowing that hardship produces endurance, 4 endurance produces character, character produces hope, 5 and hope does not lead to shame because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Christ’s work in the first century did something that changed the nature of the world. That sounds outrageous but it’s exactly what the New Testament authors believe and mean. Those who trust Jesus are given a gift in which they stand and live. It’s not clear in verse 2 what “this gift in which we stand” is. Verse 5 makes it clear: the gift the Father has given through Christ is this: the Holy Spirit.

We often think that the most real things in the world are those things we can touch and see. That’s not true. The most real thing in the universe is God’s presence, and that’s what Paul says Christians live in (v. 2). We stand in the gift of the Spirit, and have we have the Spirit within us (v.5).

Transformed Experience

Living in and with the Spirit transforms a Christian’s experience in three ways.

5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have also received access into this gift in which we stand and we confidently rejoice over the hope of the glory of God.

3 And not only this, but we also confidently rejoice in hardships, knowing that hardship produces endurance, 4 endurance produces character, character produces hope, 5 and hope does not lead to shame because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

First, the gift of the Spirit leads to a deep confidence and joy. Some translations render this idea “boasting” (καυχάομαι). The idea is confidence and excitement. Through our union with God’s Spirit, we can be confident, even excited, about the future. The future for Christians will not be marked by endless disappointment and failure. Humanity was made to bear God’s image and lead the world into a greater reflection of God’s glory and image (Gen 1–2). That hope is exactly what we can boast and be excited about now because of God’s Spirit with us. We are becoming what we were intended to be.

Second, we boast in the midst of hardship because we know that hardship is not the most real part of our day. This is difficult to express, but I find it helpful to talk about this idea in terms of “what is real.” Hardships are real in that our bodies hurt and our hearts break, but those experiences are not the most real part of our days because they are passing away. Union with God through the Spirit means hardship is used by God for our good. Hardship isn’t the end, it’s merely a path, and we don’t walk alone.

Third, the last part of verse 5 makes clear that walking in and with God’s Spirit means a real experience of God’s love. This isn’t always evident on the outside. On the outside, we see hardship, but “in our hearts” we have access to a comfort, the comfort of the Spirit. People who think that the most real thing is what they can touch and see would likely scoff at this idea.

“Jesus’s life, death, and supposed resurrection didn’t change anything. You suffer and die just like everyone else in this world. All you have is another positive spin, some goofy philosophy wrapped in Bible words.”

Those who would say such things can’t see what has been poured into our hearts. They don’t see how the metaphysical universe has shifted and new creation has truly broken in. They don’t see it because it’s a work of God’s Spirit poured out, as Paul says, in our hearts. We experience this foretaste of new creation as love. God’s love through the Spirit changes our experience of hardship. Hardship isn’t the most real part of our days. God presence is.

Hope in the Timing of Jesus’s Death

The last point rests on an observation about Jesus and time. Paul’s point is that our imperfect character didn’t stop the Son from sacrificing his life for us so why would we think that it he will give up on us now — now that we have been united to him in the Spirit. Paul just keeps repeating little time words because they’re important to the good news he wants to highlight.

6 You see, Christ, while we were still sinners — even then Christ died for ungodly people. 7 Rarely will someone die for a righteous person; maybe for a noble person someone who dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

When Jesus came into the world to live and die “for us and our salvation,” the world was not as it should be. Yet he came. If the Father was willing to send his Son to die when humanity was in rebellion, unwilling to participate with him, how much more will he helps us now that we have been united to him through faith and the gift of the Spirit.

9 So how much more, now that we have ben justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath. 10 You see, if while were were enemies we were reconcile to God through the death of his Son, how much more now that we are reconciled will we be saved by his life. 11 And not only this, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Through Christ’s death, we were united to God, and through his life the best is yet to come. We will be saved from it all. Hardship isn’t the most real thing. Death isn’t the most real thing. Jesus is, and he presently lives for us (v. 10).

Conclusion

In Romans 5:1–11, Paul speaks about the heart of the gospel in terms of God with us. Because of Jesus, we have unprecedented access to God. Through the gift of the Spirit, the world has changed. We have access to something and someone more real than hardship and death. We confidently rejoice, even through hardship, because we have hope. We look forward knowing that the best is yet to come. We will be made whole. We will live in a world made whole. Our sin didn’t stop Jesus from coming, and he won’t let us stop him from finishing the job either. “The LORD will fight for you, and you only have to be silent” (Exodus 14:14).

Help us to rest in the unchanging gospel of your presence with us. May we live a life quieted by your Spirit as you empower us to work with our hands and do what you have set before us (1 Thessalonians 4:11–12; 2 Thessalonians 3:12; 1 Peter 3:4).