At Peace with God—Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 3A/Proper 6 (Romans 5:1-8)

Romans 5:1-8 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.

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                On a personal note, it was on this particular weekend five years ago that I delivered my final sermon as pastor of Central Woodward Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). I have been honored with the title Pastor Emeritus by the Church, though I’ve been spending a sizable number of retirement Sundays preaching at Presbyterian Churches. My text that final Sunday was not from Romans. Instead, I chose a reading from 2 Corinthians 13, which is the text for Trinity Sunday! Five years later, I turn to the reading from Romans 5, which is the text for the Third Sunday after Pentecost or Proper 6. It is also the chosen text for the Third Sunday of Lent (A), though the Lenten text extends to verse 11.

                At a time when the world is once again suffering the effects of a variety of wars, including one that the United States is engaged in with Iran, people wonder how peace might be achieved in our time. While peace between nations has proven difficult to achieve through the millennia, Paul invites us to consider the possibility of experiencing peace with God. It is important to remember, contextually, that the kind of peace Paul has in mind, a peace rooted in his own Jewish heritage, that of shalom, is very different from the kind of peace offered by Rome.

The path to peace starts with justification. While justification would become a central message of the Reformation, Paul’s understanding of justification is again rooted in his Jewish heritage. So, when Paul writes that “since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God,” he wants his readers to know that everything starts with one’s relationship with God.  As Michael Gorman notes, “The Hebrew concept of shalom entails right relations with God, others, and the entire creation. The focus here is on believers and God because the broken God-human relationship is the source of other broken relationships”  [Gorman, Romans, p. 149]. The good news is that in Christ, acting in faith, we have access to God’s grace so that we might also share in the glory of God.

                Although we have access to God’s grace and thus God’s glory through Christ, that does not mean that there will be smooth sailing from now on. Peace with God is the starting point for peace with others. With this in mind, Paul addresses the issue of suffering and its implications for followers of Jesus. While Paul does not give details about the nature of the suffering that his readers might be experiencing, he may be addressing some form of persecution. Even if persecution was not widespread, it was not unknown. As for Paul, he knew suffering, having been imprisoned, beaten, and more. Why he would boast of his sufferings is unknown, except that he is communicating to this community that he knows what it means to suffer. Not only that, but suffering produces endurance. Athletes know that without a bit of pain, there is no gain. The endurance produced by suffering builds character, which in turn produces hope that does not disappoint. Although it is trite, there is some truth in the adage that when life gives you lemons, you get to make lemonade! But most importantly, Paul would have us remember that God is with us in the midst of our sufferings, which is why there is hope.  The key to all of this is the love of God poured out on us through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. As Jesus tells us in the Gospel of John concerning the coming Paraclete, when he departed from the disciples, he did not leave them (or us) alone (Jn. 14:18-31).   

                When did all of this take place? Was it when his readers were strong and powerful? No, it was while they (we) were weak. This message was countercultural then, and it is today. For Paul’s audience, living as they did in the Roman Empire, where might made right, such that peace came through strength (and oppression), how could weakness be a good thing?  After all, to be weak was to put yourself in a position to be degraded, bullied, or even killed. We are seeing a resurgence of what is known as muscular Christianity, a “manly faith,” that emphasizes gaining power over others so that Christians (mostly white Christians) can get their way and control society. This vision of muscular Christianity has been given an important platform by the Secretary of Defense (self-styled Secretary of War), who hosts worship services that glory in battle, killing, and the death of one’s enemies. It has an audience, but it doesn’t fit with the message Paul (or Jesus) offers us. Paul tells the Romans and us that while we were weak, Christ died for the ungodly. That is, the supposedly unworthy ones. To reconcile the ungodly with God, Jesus didn’t use political/social power. Instead, he allowed himself to be killed, thereby embracing weakness as the path to reconciliation.

                Paul seems to understand that this makes no sense to the broader culture. Who allows themselves to be killed to save those who are undeserving? You might die for a good person, but not a bad one. Yet, that’s what Christ did. He died for the ungodly. This is an act of divine love, that Jesus died for us while we are still sinners. He goes on to connect all of this to our salvation. All of this is an act of divine love, such that in Christ God reconciles us to Godself.  Sarah Heaner Lancaster points out that “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). So, because Jesus embraced our weakness, we have been made right with God, such that we can now experience peace with God, which leads to peace with others. It is not an act of power over, but power under and with God and one another. According to Paul, it’s okay to boast in our weaknesses, which leads to reconciliation with God and creation.