The Invincible Logic of Grace Text: Romans 5:1-11
Introduction: The War Is Over
We live in a world that is desperate for peace, but it seeks it in all the wrong places. People seek peace in medication, in meditation, in political treaties, and in the bottom of a bottle. But all this amounts to is a temporary truce with reality, a fragile ceasefire with a guilty conscience. The world's peace is a subjective feeling, a fleeting emotion that can be shattered by the morning's headlines or a bad medical report. It is a peace built on sinking sand.
The Apostle Paul, in this monumental chapter, is not talking about that kind of peace. He is not offering a self-help technique for managing anxiety. He is announcing the end of a war. He is laying out the terms of an unconditional surrender, not ours, but the surrender of the cosmic rebellion, accomplished by our champion, the Lord Jesus Christ. The peace Paul speaks of is not a feeling we work up, but a fact we stand on. It is an objective, settled, legal reality between the thrice-holy God and the believing sinner.
What Paul gives us here is the invincible logic of our salvation. He begins with a foundational premise, "Therefore, having been justified," and from this one great fact, he builds an unbreakable chain of consequences that stretches from our blood-bought past into the glories of eternity. This is not wishful thinking. This is spiritual arithmetic. This is the gospel's glorious geometry. If the first statement is true, then all the subsequent blessings are not just possible, but inevitable. This is the bedrock on which a Christian stands, and it is the reason he can boast, not in himself, but in his God, even when the world is coming apart at the seams.
The Text
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we boast in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not put to shame, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were 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 this, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
(Romans 5:1-11 LSB)
The Great Verdict and Its First Fruit (vv. 1-2)
Paul begins with a triumphant "Therefore," connecting us back to the entire argument of the preceding chapters.
"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we boast in hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:1-2)
Because Abraham was justified by faith, and because David celebrated the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works, because of all that, this is now our reality. "Having been justified" is a past, completed action. This is not a process; it is a verdict. In the courtroom of heaven, God, the righteous judge, has slammed down the gavel and declared us "not guilty." More than that, He has declared us "righteous," clothing us in the perfect righteousness of His Son. This is not based on our performance, but on Christ's performance for us, received by faith alone.
And what is the immediate result of this verdict? "We have peace with God." Notice, it is not peace of God, though that is a wonderful byproduct. It is peace with God. The state of war that existed between us, as rebels, and God, as the righteous King, is over. The hostility has been quenched. A peace treaty has been signed, and it was signed in the blood of Jesus Christ. This is an objective reality. Whether you feel peaceful or not on a given Tuesday morning, if you are in Christ, you have peace with God.
Through this same Lord Jesus, we have "obtained our introduction." The picture is one of being granted access to the throne room of a great king. We do not barge in. We do not sneak in. We are personally escorted by the King's own Son. And where does He lead us? "Into this grace in which we stand." Grace is not just the doorway; it is the room we live in. It is the very ground beneath our feet. And notice, we "stand" in it. We are not slipping or sliding or scrambling to hold on. We are secure. Our position before God is one of rock-solid stability because it depends entirely on His grace, not our wavering efforts.
And because of this secure standing and this guaranteed future, we "boast in hope of the glory of God." This is not the arrogant boasting of the world. This is a joyful, confident exclamation about a future certainty. We are headed for glory, and it is as sure as the fact that Christ is risen. Our hope is not a flimsy "I hope so," but a robust "I know so."
The Surprising Logic of Suffering (vv. 3-5)
Now Paul turns a corner that is utterly baffling to the unregenerate mind. Not only do we boast in our glorious future, but we also boast in our painful present.
"And not only this, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not put to shame, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." (Romans 5:3-5 LSB)
This is where the rubber of our theology meets the road of our lives. To boast in tribulations is scandalous. The world sees suffering as a meaningless tragedy to be avoided at all costs. But for the Christian, suffering has been repurposed by a sovereign God. It is not pointless; it is a tool. It is God's gymnasium, where He trains His children and builds spiritual muscle.
Paul lays out the process. Affliction produces perseverance. When our faith is put under pressure, it learns to endure. It is like tempering steel. The fire and the hammer make it stronger. This perseverance, in turn, produces "proven character." The Greek word is dokime, which means something that has been tested and approved. God uses trials to test the genuineness of our faith, to burn away the dross and prove that it is real. And what does this tested, proven character produce? More hope. The more we see God's faithfulness to us in trials, the more confident our hope for the future becomes.
This hope, Paul says, "does not put to shame." It will not disappoint us. It is not a losing lottery ticket. And how can we be so sure? Because of an internal, experiential reality: "the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit." This is not just an intellectual assent to the fact that God loves us. This is the Holy Spirit giving us a direct, overwhelming, subjective experience of that love. It is the internal witness that confirms the external, objective truth. God doesn't just declare us righteous; He sends the Spirit to make us feel loved, to flood our hearts with the reality of His affection. This is the anchor that holds our hope firm in the storm.
The Ultimate Demonstration (vv. 6-8)
Lest we think this love is just a warm feeling, Paul immediately grounds it in cold, hard, historical fact. He shows us the ultimate receipt, the non-negotiable proof of God's love.
"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6-8 LSB)
Paul piles up the descriptions of our condition apart from God. We were "weak," utterly helpless to save ourselves. We were "ungodly," actively opposed to His righteous character. We were "sinners," in open rebellion against His law. We were not good people having a bad day. We were spiritual corpses, enemies of the state.
And it was precisely then, "at the right time," in the fullness of God's sovereign plan, that Christ died for us. Paul then contrasts this with the highest form of human love. A man might, in a rare case, lay down his life for a truly righteous or good person. It is conceivable. "But God demonstrates His own love." The word for demonstrates is a strong one; He puts it on display, He proves it. How? "In that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." God did not wait for us to clean up our act. He did not die for His friends. He died for His enemies. The cross is not a monument to our worth, but to His grace. If you ever doubt God's love for you, you must stop looking inside yourself and look to the hill of Calvary. That is the fixed, historical, undeniable proof.
The "Much More" Certainty (vv. 9-11)
Building on this bedrock, Paul now makes an argument from the greater to the lesser. This is his famous "much more" logic, and it is designed to give us absolute assurance.
"Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were 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 this, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation." (Romans 5:9-11 LSB)
The logic is airtight. If God did the hardest thing imaginable, justifying us through Christ's blood when we were His enemies, how much more will He now do the "easier" thing of saving us from future wrath now that we are His beloved children? If His love was that powerful toward His enemies, how can it fail His friends?
He states the argument in two parallel ways. First, in verse 9, justification by blood guarantees salvation from wrath. Second, in verse 10, reconciliation through His death guarantees salvation by His life. This is a critical point. Our salvation is not just secured by a past event, Christ's death. It is secured by a present reality: Christ's life. He is risen. He is at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. His resurrection life is the power that keeps us and will bring us safely home. We are saved from the penalty of sin by His death, and we are saved from the power of sin by His life.
And so, Paul concludes, it all comes back to boasting. We boast in hope, we boast in affliction, and now, the ultimate boast: "we also boast in God." Our final joy is not in the gifts, but in the Giver. We rejoice not just in peace and reconciliation, but in God Himself, made accessible to us through our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the beginning, the middle, and the end of our salvation. Through Him, and Him alone, we have received this great peace, this solid standing, and this invincible hope.