Suffering

Good Morning!

We have been running through Romans in our Sunday night Bible study. I say we are running because we are covering three and four chapters in a big gulp … and some of the verses need a little more time. But regardless of speed I find all the study to be exciting. Here is just one passage we studied Sunday night:

Romans 5 (New International Version, ©2011)
Peace and Hope
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a] 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[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we[c] 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.

One must remember that Paul was a Jew … and remained a Jew all of his life. He was also a Pharisee … and remained a Pharisee all of his life. We have a tendency to see Pharisees as being wicked … and Jesus did warn us against the mindset of the Pharisee. However, not all Pharisees were bad. Nicodemus was a Pharisee. So was Joseph of Arimethia who provided the tomb for Jesus. Pharisees were devout people … which may explain why they were so upset with the teachings of Jesus. You see, they had placed all their hope of being justified with God in their ability to keep the Law. But Paul came to realize keeping the Law wasn’t what justified mankind – it was faith in Jesus Christ.

Two “churchy” words are here: justification and reconciliation. Now here are definitions of these two words:

Bible Dictionary
Justification definition
a forensic term, opposed to condemnation. As regards its nature, it is the judicial act of God, by which he pardons all the sins of those who believe in Christ, and accounts, accepts, and treats them as righteous in the eye of the law, i.e., as conformed to all its demands. In addition to the pardon (q.v.) of sin, justification declares that all the claims of the law are satisfied in respect of the justified. It is the act of a judge and not of a sovereign. The law is not relaxed or set aside, but is declared to be fulfilled in the strictest sense; and so the person justified is declared to be entitled to all the advantages and rewards arising from perfect obedience to the law (Rom. 5:1-10). It proceeds on the imputing or crediting to the believer by God himself of the perfect righteousness, active and passive, of his Representative and Surety, Jesus Christ (Rom. 10:3-9). Justification is not the forgiveness of a man without righteousness, but a declaration that he possesses a righteousness which perfectly and for ever satisfies the law, namely, Christ's righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 4:6-8). The sole condition on which this righteousness is imputed or credited to the believer is faith in or on the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is called a "condition," not because it possesses any merit, but only because it is the instrument, the only instrument by which the soul appropriates or apprehends Christ and his righteousness (Rom. 1:17; 3:25, 26; 4:20, 22; Phil. 3:8-11; Gal. 2:16). The act of faith which thus secures our justification secures also at the same time our sanctification (q.v.); and thus the doctrine of justification by faith does not lead to licentiousness (Rom. 6:2-7). Good works, while not the ground, are the certain consequence of justification (6:14; 7:6). (See GALATIANS, EPISTLE TO.)
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
Cite This Source

World English Dictionary
reconcile (ˈrɛkənˌsaɪl)


— vb (usually foll by to )
1. to make (oneself or another) no longer opposed; cause to acquiesce in something unpleasant: she reconciled herself to poverty
2. to become friendly with (someone) after estrangement or to re-establish friendly relations between (two or more people)
3. to settle (a quarrel or difference)
4. to make (two apparently conflicting things) compatible or consistent with each other
5. to reconsecrate (a desecrated church, etc)

[C14: from Latin reconciliāre to bring together again, from re- + conciliāre to make friendly, conciliate ]

In a nutshell, because God has pardoned us through our belief in Christ, we are now at peace with Him. And this all came because Christ died for us … even as we were still in the throes of sin.

The key verses I want to focus on today, though, are verses 3 – 5:

3 Not only so, but we[c] 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.

Paul recognizes that the Christian life is not going to be one of ease … no – being a Christian probably is going to result in suffering. But the suffering we go through will build us up because it ultimately leads to hope. And sometimes hope is all we can cling to in times of suffering.

So, knowing this, that we are justified in Christ and reconciled with God, we can have hope in Him for our future.

Agape’


Mr. Jim