Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:1

What does it mean to be “justified by faith”? This is the gospel in a nutshell. But what does it mean, exactly? And, perhaps more importantly, what difference does it make in our day-to-day lives? 

This question is at the heart of our second reading, from a pivotal section of Paul’s Letter to the Romans. In five short verses, we get a powerful description of what life looks like when we are justified by faith. So I want to look at that with you today. First, to briefly remind us of what it means to be justified by faith. And then look at what difference it makes in our lives, especially when we face challenges in life, as we all do. 

Justified by Faith

First, though, what do we mean when we say that we are justified by faith? We think of being justified as being made right with God. And this happens not by our works, or by our strength, or by our merit. But by grace through faith. 

The theologian Paul Tillich talks of this as being “struck by grace.” And he says that it often happens to us right when we are ready to give up. We are tired of trying to fix this world, or fix ourselves. We are finding it hard to find any hope, any consolation in life. All the usual ways we have found meaning, purpose, and fulfillment, feel like wells that have gone dry. That is usually when we are struck by grace. 

And that is what it means to be justified by faith, or to be struck by grace. It is to realize not only that there is a God who loves this world, but that there is a God who loves us. Unconditionally. This is the good news at the heart of the gospel, as we Lutherans understand it. It is where everything that matters finds its foundation and its starting place. 

It starts there, but it doesn’t end there. Of course. So the question that I really want to focus on this morning is, what difference does it make that we are justified by faith? 

Therefore Since We Are Justified by Faith … 

The apostle Paul devotes the first four chapters of his Letter to the Romans to our need for grace and on what it means to be justified by faith. But then, here in Chapter Five, Paul begins to look at the difference that it makes. And he gives us a beautiful summary of this in the first five verses – today’s second reading. He will really unpack this in the next several chapters, building his argument to an incredible peak at the end of Chapter Eight. Today, we get the summary.

“Therefore,” Paul begins, “since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus.” 

Peace with God. That is the first fruit of being justified by faith. And what a critical fruit this is! Nothing else matters if we do not have peace with God. And if we do have peace with God, then nothing else matters quite as much. 

I feel like I spend a lot of time preaching about this, but it is because I see such a need and a hunger for this in our world. So many people live without this peace. And that saddens me greatly. Not just for them, but for the world. Because when we do not have peace with God, we are unlikely to have peace anywhere else. 

Hostile, Indifferent, or Gracious?

A theologian by the name of Marcus Borg says that there are basically three overall ways to see the world: as hostile, as indifferent, or as gracious. 

When we see the world as hostile, we are hostile. Life is a battlefield, to be won or lost. Seeing the world in this way, we can’t help but be angry, defensive, or aggressive. There is nothing wrong with anger in itself. But we can’t live with anger all the time, or we will burn out. 

So, we might instead choose to see the world as indifferent. The world doesn’t seem to care, so neither do we. We try our best to ignore the hostility around us. We pursue pleasure, distraction, and ways to tune out. There are times when we need to do that, to be sure. But we can’t live that way all the time, either, or we will live what Thoreau famously called “lives of quiet desperation.”

So what’s the alternative? To see the world as gracious, literally filled with grace. And to be gracious. And how do we do that? I believe that there is only one way, and that is to be struck by grace. To receive the peace of God through the love of Jesus. When we do, we begin to look at the world as gracious. And we are gracious. 

How do you see the world? As hostile, indifferent, or gracious? As I thought about that, what came to mind is the old teaching about what happens when we face danger. Remember “Fight or Flight?” Well, maybe we can add another option to that: Faith. Fight, Flight, or Faith. Believing that God is present can help us face challenges in a new gracious way. Through faith. 

Suffering

But challenges still come. Storms are inevitable and suffering is unavoidable. The apostle Paul knows more than his fair share of this. And perhaps that is why he turns to suffering in this passage. When we have peace with God, Paul says, we boast in our sufferings. What does he mean by that? 

Well, first, that storms are inevitable. Suffering is unavoidable. There is no question about that, and it is true for all of us. If not now, then sometimes sooner than we would like. 

But Paul says that even our suffering does not bring us down when we are rooted in our faith, when we have peace with God. In fact, Paul says we can even boast in our sufferings. What in the world does he mean by that? 

To me, what he means is that when we are in a relationship with our Sovereign God, we can trust that good can come out of anything that happens in our life, even suffering. 

The last time I preached on this passage, three years ago, I was going through a difficult time. I had Long Covid and was finding it difficult to exercise. I am one of those strange people you have heard about who actually enjoys running, but I was not able to do that, or even go for long walks. And not only that, but three years ago was also when my father unexpectedly passed away, followed by my mother-in-law just two weeks later. So lots of grief in the midst of other challenges. 

Nothing to boast about, in my opinion. But now, three years later, I can look back and see God’s support for me and my loved ones throughout these challenges. There is no question that God was present in the midst of my suffering, and I am grateful for all the ways this proved true. 

Endurance

Suffering, according to Paul, can have another positive effect, besides reminding us of God’s help and support. Suffering also produces endurance, according to Paul, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. 

So what is Paul telling us here? Suffering, borne in faith and trust in God, produces endurance. It literally increases our ability to endure. We have learned to trust God in the midst of our suffering, and to look for God at work. When we trust that God is at work in our lives, even when we are facing sufferings, we build a capacity to endure and to thrive. 

Character

Suffering produces endurance, Paul says. And endurance produces character. Character in this case means the quality of being approved as a result of tests and trials. It is the same Greek word used in First Peter 1, when Peter says that when our faith is tested by fire, it reveals how genuine it is.

Our true character, the genuineness of our faith, is revealed through our endurance in the midst of suffering. Suffering that is endured with trust in God has a way of leading us to a much deeper faith in God, a faith that others can clearly see, because it is so genuine. It is real. That is what this word is getting at. 

When we endure our sufferings with trust in God, we grow in our faith. Our faith gets stronger. And this brings us to hope.

Hope

So, when we are justified by God, we have peace with God. And with that peace, and because of that peace, our suffering does not lead to despair or anger. It does not lead to hostility or indifference. It ultimately leads to endurance, character, and finally, hope. 

And this hope, Paul concludes, does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Everyone I know who is gracious, who is loving, who is kind, who trusts in God, also has this great quality of hope. And hope is such a powerful and needed quality in our world, isn’t it? 

But we do not come by hope without faith. Hope starts with believing and trusting in God. With knowing that God loves us and is with us on our journey. And as a result, no matter what we are facing in their life, we have a hope that does not disappoint us. Because our hearts are full of God’s love. 

A person who is hopeful is never hostile or indifferent. They are gracious. Because they believe and trust that God will make everything right in the end. Isn’t that what it means to have hope? 

It reminds me of something that the great saint, Julian of Norwich, would often say. She lived in England in the Middle Ages and suffered much. But she is an example of a person whose suffering produced endurance, character, and ultimately hope. And her hope did not disappoint her. And out of that hope, she famously said: 

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

It is true. All shall be well. I believe that, with all my heart. In Christ, all shall be well. And when we believe that, how can we help but have faith, and hope, and love? And how can we help but have peace with God? And how can we help but be gracious, rather than hostile or indifferent? 

Our faith in God has given us a peace that carries us safely through the storms of life, to the place of hope and love. 

And I pray that this peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, would guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.