A WELL-GROUNDED HOPE

CHAPTER 5:1-11
Let us then, justified by faith, have peace with God through our
Lord J esus Christ, through whom also we have been brought, by
our faith, into the grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope
of the glory of God. And not only so, but we also exult in our
afflictions; knowing that the affliction works out endurance; and
the endurance, proof; and the proof, hope. And the hope does not
put to shame: because the love of God has been poured out in our
hearts, through the Holy Spirit, which was given to us. For Christ,
while we were still powerless, in due season died on behalf of
ungodly ones. For hardly on behalf of a righteous man will one
die: for, on behalf of the good man, perhaps some one even dares
to die. But a proof of His own love to us God gives, that while
we were still sinners Christ died on our behalf. Much more then,
having now been justified in His blood, we shall be saved through
Him from the anger. For if, while enemies, we were reconciled to
God through the death of His Son, much more having been
reconciled we shall be saved by His life. And not only reconciled,
but also exulting in God through our Lord J esus Christ, through
whom we have already received the reconciliation.
In Romans 3:21-26, we learnt that God gives righteousness through faith
to all who believe; and that He gave Christ to die in order to make this gift
of righteousness consistent with His own righteousness. In Romans 3:27;
-Romans 4:25, we learnt that justification through faith, although it
overthrows all Jewish boasting, is in harmony with Gods treatment of
Abraham. In Romans 5:1, Paul will assume that justification is through
faith and through Christ, and will then go on to develop logically the
results of these doctrines. We shall find (in Romans 5:1, 2) that they give
us peace with God and a joyful hope of glory; a hope (Romans 5:3, 4) not
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overthrown but confirmed by our present troubles, and resting on
(Romans 5:5-11) the sure ground of the proved love of God.
Ver. 1. Justified by faith: a summary of Doctrine I, asserted in Romans
3:21, 22 and defended in Romans 4:1-24.
By faith: as in Romans 3:30.
Let us have peace: a practical and logical consequence of being justified by
faith.
Let-us-have peace was read probably by Tertullian at the close of the
2nd century; and is found in all, or very nearly all, the Latin copies used
throughout the Western Church. The same reading is repeatedly quoted
and expounded by Origen and Chrysostom, who do not seem to have
known the other reading; and is found in all existing Greek copies earlier
than the 9th century, and in some of the best cursives. The earliest trace of
the reading we have peace is in the Sinai MS., in a correction of the other
reading made perhaps in the 4th century. In the Vatican MS. a similar
correction was made, perhaps in the 6th century. Three of the later uncials
and a majority of the Greek cursives read we have peace. So do the
existing copies of the writings of three Greek Fathers of the 4th and 5th
centuries. But the point in question does not affect their arguments.
Therefore as their works exist only in a few copies made after this reading
had become common, we cannot be sure that it was actually adopted by
these Fathers. No early version has it except the later Syriac, which exists
here, I believe, only in one copy.
If we looked only at documentary evidence, we should at once decide that
Paul wrote let us have peace. But some able expositors, e.g. Meyer,
Godet, and Oltramare, have thought this reading much less suited to the
context than the weakly-supported reading we have peace. They say that
exhortation would be out of place at the beginning of a calm exposition like
that now before us; and that, since in Romans 5:9-11 Paul takes for granted
that his readers are already reconciled, he would not now urge them to be
at peace with God. They therefore suppose that, in very early times, the
single letter which compels us to translate let us have crept as an error
into some important copy, and thus led to what would in this case be an
almost universal corruption of the verse.
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This opinion is simple desperation. It requires us to believe, not only that
all existing Greek copies earlier than the 9th century were made, directly or
indirectly, from this one corrupted MS., but that copies of it were carried
into both East and West, and that from them only were made all the Latin
versions and MSS, and the four Eastern versions, and that copies of this
corrupted MS. were the only copies known to the commentators Origen
and Chrysostom. It is more easy to believe that the reading we have
peace is a correction arising from inability to understand the other.
Perhaps we have such a correction before our eyes in the Sinai MS. When
once made, it would commend itself by its greater simplicity, and might be
gradually adopted in the Greek Church as the ordinary reading. This would
account for its presence in a majority of the later Greek copies, and for its
absence from all the Latin copies and from the early Eastern versions.
The reading I have adopted was given by Lachmann in his margin, and is
given without note by all later Critical Editors. It is given by the Revisers,
with a remarkable marginal note saying that Some authorities read we
have. They render it, Being therefore justified by faith, let us have
peace with God. This rendering is in my view incorrect; and has been the
cause of the rejection, by so many able expositors, of the reading found in
all our best ancient copies.
It has generally been assumed that the words justified by faith imply that
the readers are already justified, and make this a reason why they should
have peace with God. But this interpretation is by no means the only
one which the words admit or indeed suggest. The aorist participle implies
only that peace with God must be preceded by justification by faith, and
leaves the context to determine whether justification is looked upon as
actual and as a reason for having peace with God, or as a means by which
it must be obtained. This last is the use of the aorist participle in all the
many passages in the N.T. in which it precedes a subjunctive or
imperative. Compare 1 Corinthians 6:15; Acts 15:36; Ephesians 4:25; also
Aristotle Nicom. Ethics bks. iii. 5. 23, vi. 3. 1. The same construction is
found even with a future indicative in Romans 15:28; Acts 24:25: contrast
Romans 5:9, 10.
This interpretation gives good sense here. The present subjunctive, let us
have peace, denotes, not an entrance into, but an abiding state of peace
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with God, which Paul sets before his readers as their present privilege.
The aorist participle preceding it implies that this abiding state must be
preceded by the event of justification. In other words, this verse asserts
that the doctrine of justification through faith, already stated and defended,
puts within our reach an abiding state of peace with God.
The above exposition is required by the meaning of the phrases justified
by faith and peace with God. For, as we have seen, to justify the guilty
is to pardon: and every king is at peace with those whom he pardons. The
justified are already, by the very meaning of the word, at peace with God;
and remain so as long as they continue in a state of justification. To exhort
such to have peace with God, as in the R.V., is mere tautology. This
tautology is avoided in my exposition. For, though justification involves
peace with God, the two phrases represent the same blessing in different
aspects. Justification is a judges declaration in a mans favor: the phrase
peace with God reminds us that formerly there was ruinous war between
us and God, and asserts that this war has ceased. It is our privilege to be
henceforth at peace with God. The same idea is kept before us in Romans
5:10, 11, in the phrases reconciled to God and received the
reconciliation.
The only objection to this exposition is that in Romans 5:2, 9-11 and in
Romans 8:1 Paul speaks of his readers as already justified. To this
objection, an answer is found in Pauls habit of writing from an ideal and
rapidly-changing standpoint. In Romans 3:7, he puts himself among liars,
and asks why am I also still judged as a sinner? In Romans 2:1; 3:9, he
leaves out of sight those saved by Christ, and writes as though all men
were still sinning, and therefore under condemnation. In Romans 3:21, 22,
we hear a proclamation of pardon; and in Romans 4 its condition is
discussed. As Paul describes Abrahams faith and justification, he declares
that it was recorded in order to confirm beforehand the good news to be
afterwards brought by Christ. As he stands by the writer of Genesis, he
looks forward (Romans 4:24) to the day when faith will be reckoned for
righteousness to all who believe the Gospel. A prospect of peace with
God opens before him. While he contemplates it, the Gospel day dawns
upon him. In this verse, he calls his readers to wake up to the brightness of
its rising. What he bids them do, he conceives to be actually taking place in
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himself and in them. In Romans 5:2, the sun has risen; and we stand in the
sunshine of Gods favor.