Finding a Pathway to Peace with God—Lectionary Reflection for Lent 3A (Romans 5:1-11)

Romans 5:1-11 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

5 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. ³ And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

⁶ For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. ⁸ But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. ⁹ Much more surely, therefore, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. ¹¹ But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

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                According to Paul, we have peace with God through Jesus. That is good news. However, we hear this news at a time when another war has broken out in the world. This time, the United States, joined by Israel, is the aggressor in a war against Iran that broke out the previous weekend. One might wonder if peace with God is achievable when we are at war with each other. That might be a literal war between nations or a divide within a nation that pits people against each other. The reasons for the latter might be political, but they could also be religious, cultural, social, economic, or ethnic. We have witnessed rising tensions within the United States and elsewhere over questions of heritage and who belongs. That might not seem to connect with what Paul has to say here, but if we’re going to talk about peace with God, surely, we must talk about living peacefully with one another.

                The reading from Romans 5 presupposes that there is brokenness within the human community that needs to be overcome. The question that Paul seeks to address here in Romans is the pathway to peace with God. What is required of us? According to our reading, it starts with faith, and faith is trust. As we read the previous week from Romans 4, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness” (Rom. 5:3). If we know the story of Abraham, that belief that led to him being declared righteous didn’t involve signing on to a statement of faith. Rather, it involved his packing up his family and heading out on a journey to a land not yet revealed.  It is that same trust that God is asking us to place in Jesus so that we might discern a path forward out of our brokenness toward the healing that Jesus provides us. The message here is that we have peace with God through Christ Jesus because we have been justified by faith, such that we have obtained access to God’s grace that enables us to share in the glory of God. It is worth noting that when Paul speaks of peace, he doesn’t have the Pax Romana in mind, a state-sponsored peace through military might. Rather, he has in mind the Jewish concept of shalom, which may include an absence of war but is much more than that. As Sarah Lancaster points out, it includes “well-being, justice, and safety.” Thus, “with this expansive meaning in mind, shalom describes a world that is not made up of conquerors and conquered but rather a world in which all have an equal opportunity to thrive” [Lancaster, Romans: Belief, pp. 88-89].

                What comes next is a reminder that the life of faith that leads to peace with God and creation is not easy. There are many obstacles to peace that can present challenges along the way, even leading to suffering. However, there is good news. Whatever suffering we experience, that produces endurance, which in turn produces character, which in turn leads to hope. To find good news in this message does not mean we should court suffering because it will lead to character and hope. But it does suggest that the path forward may involve risks, which, if we place our trust in God, can lead to righteousness. Looking back to the story of Abraham, he answered God’s call, but the path forward was not an easy one. However, he endured, developed character, and discovered a sense of hope that led to flourishing.   After all, in the end, hope does not disappoint because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the ministrations of the Holy Spirit.

                In the opening verses, we have been given a message of hope, such that we might have peace with God through the justifying actions of Jesus and due to the outpouring of love through the actions of the Holy Spirit. Having made these declarations, Paul moves on to speak of Christ’s death for the ungodly at an expedient moment, that is, while we were still weak. As is often the case in his letters, what follows is somewhat convoluted. Paul suggests that someone would rarely die for a righteous person, but God proves to love for us, though presumably we have been counted among the ungodly, by allowing Christ to die for us while we are sinners. According to Paul, we have been justified through the shedding of Christ’s blood, such that we might be saved from God’s wrath.

Talk of God’s wrath and how Jesus’ death on the cross saves us from that wrath has long been a problematic topic. In part, it raises questions about God’s nature and why God’s wrath needs to be satisfied by the shedding of Christ’s blood. Some have called this divine child abuse. The question is whether there is an alternative interpretation that is faithful to the text and yet does not involve some form of penal substitutionary atonement. In my view, it is not necessary to envision humanity sitting in the hands of Jonathan Edwards’ angry God. Sarah Lancaster suggests that what we have here is a question of a distortion of our relationship with God. In essence, we have participated in rebellion against God. However, unlike with Roman imperial protocol, the response is not a conquest of God’s enemies. Instead:

God proves love for those enemies through Christ’s death of surprising shame and weakness. The faithfulness of Jesus in sharing our weakness on the cross demonstrates the faithfulness of God to God’s covenant. Rather than appeasing anger, this act removes the barrier to the relationship, namely the ungodliness against which God’s wrath is revealed (1:18). This act allows for a changed relationship that makes possible a different judgment in the day of wrath [Lancaster, Romans, pp. 95-96].

For Paul, God has reached out through the suffering and death of Christ to reconcile us to Godself. It is a message developed further in 2 Corinthians 5. Paul suggests this might serve as a reason to boast, though I’m not sure why that might be. Of course, the whole point of Paul’s talk of justification through faith is that God is the initiator, not us.

                In a world where peace always seems in short supply, Paul offers us a pathway to peace that is revealed in Christ’s own willingness to die so that we might be reconciled with God and with one another. As Paul reminds us, it was while we were weak that Christ chose to enter the picture, offering himself up in death, thus revealing his own weakness through which healing might take place. That is, in his death, the brokenness that we have been unable to fix can be healed. This act of grace is not cheap. While God makes the first move, the response on our part requires trust, much like Abraham trusted God when called upon to take a journey to an unknown land (at least to Abraham). This is the hope that does not disappoint. If this is the path to peace with God, might we then embrace our calling to be the kind of peacemakers that Jesus called blessed?