Overwhelming Love
Opening Prayer
Holy Father, Your thoughts are higher than my thoughts, as heaven is higher than the earth. What a mighty God I serve!
Read ROMANS 5:1–11
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. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
New International Version (NIV)
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Reflect
Give thought on all it means to you to be freely justified (1–5), and rejoice in the amazing love of God for you (6–11).
Paul picks up the term “justification” from the previous chapter and begins to spell out what it means in daily life. This theme will continue to the end of chapter 8 and it is an important forward step in Paul’s argument. Justification is not just about a favorable legal verdict: it leads into a personal relationship with God. We are shown as the objects of God’s love, which breaks down our hostility and brings peace. Pax Romana (Roman peace) was the great achievement of the empire, but it wasn’t achieved by love, nor did it issue in a personal relationship with the emperor.
Our peace with God is not just an external experience: it is the coming of God’s Spirit to dwell in us. This sows hope into our hearts that God will complete all of his work and the revelation of our sharing in his glory. We can understand that our salvation is something to celebrate, but how can we rejoice in suffering? Some in the Roman world looked on a suffering person as cursed by the gods. Stoics saw it as something to be endured with fortitude. However, because of our relationship with God in Jesus, who suffered for us, suffering becomes a means of blessing as it develops our character and drives us forward to the hope that is set before us.
Our life is captured by the love of God as it is poured into our hearts to give us reciprocal love for him and love that overflows in blessing to others. That love always brings us back to the death of Jesus for our justification and his resurrection life. This is salvation for us, in continuing fellowship with him. We, undeserving sinners, are now held in the circle of the love of the triune God, who has even more blessings to shower upon us.
Apply
Reread 5:1–11. Pick out a phrase or sentence in this section that you particularly appreciate. Why are these words significant to you?
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, I thank You for Your amazing love. You died that that I might live. I am forever grateful.
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