Peace, Grace, and Hope: Living the Romans 5 Life

Peace, Grace, and Hope: Living the Romans 5 Life

What does it really mean to be saved? Romans 5:1-5 gives us one of the clearest, most beautiful answers in all of Scripture. In just five verses, Paul takes us through our past, present, and future in Christ, and grounds it all in the love of God poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith…”

Justified, declared righteous, not because we earned it, but because we trusted Christ. That moment of surrender, expressed in obedient faith at baptism, brought us into a brand-new standing with God. The war was over. Peace began.

Peace with God is not a feeling; it is a fact. The hostility caused by our sin has been removed. Colossians 2:14-15 says our sin-debt was nailed to the cross. The God we once stood against now calls us His children and welcomes us into His family.

“We have also obtained access… into this grace in which we stand.”

Peace describes our past, grace describes our present. We stand in it. We live in an environment where forgiveness flows freely to every penitent heart. When sin increases, grace abounds even more. Satan may accuse, but Christ intercedes. You came to God by grace,. and you remain with Him by grace.

“We boast in the hope of the glory of God.”

Peace is your past. Grace is your present. Hope is your future. God is leading you to glory, and nothing, not trials, not suffering, not failure, can change that plan. In fact, Paul says we can even rejoice in our afflictions, because God uses them to produce endurance, character, and a deeper, unshakable hope.

How do we know this hope won’t disappoint?

“Because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (v. 5). Not sprinkled; poured out. God didn’t save us from a distance; He moved in. His Spirit now dwells in us. His love is not theoretical; it is internal, personal, overflowing.

And this love does something to us. It teaches us to love. As Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:9, we are “taught by God to love one another.” Love is not optional or emotional; it is the natural result of the Spirit at work in a saved life. If there is no love, there is no life in Christ (1 John 3:14).

So how do we respond?

We pursue love (1 Corinthians 14:1). We put on love like a garment that binds everything else together (Colossians 3:14). Knowledge, obedience, and service all fall flat if love is not behind them.

Have you made peace with God?

Apart from Christ, you are still at war with Him, and that is a battle no one wins. But through obedient faith, you can be justified, stand in grace, and live in confident hope of glory.

Christian — are you living like someone who has peace, stands in grace, and walks in hope?

Let His poured-out love flow through you today.

• Matthew Allen