Comments on Romans 5:1-5

Timotheos and All Our Readers,

I am sorry for my long absence from the blog. Final preparations on my paper, "The Ox and the Man: Law as Wisdom?", which I presented at the Evangelical Theological Society meeting in Valley Forge, PA, plus attendance at the ETS conference and two other conferences (Institute for Biblical Research & Society of Biblical Literature), all consecutive in one week in November, kept me quite occupied throughout that month. In case my paper title escapes some of our readers (which I rather doubt will likely happen), I addressed Paul's use of Deuteronomy 25:4 in 1 Corinthians 9:8-9. Relapse of a respiratory infection set in on Thanksgiving Day. That laid me low for several days, setting me behind in my daily routines and obligations. It is not as though I have returned to a normal schedule, however, because all those events put me well behind. Nonetheless, I do think it right to offer a response so that you may continue on with your postings in some reasonable order and timeliness.

I like your translation, including Romans 5:1, as you took dikaiōthentes ek pisteōs as "having been justified from faithfulness" as a reference to the ground upon which we are justified, namely "Christ's faithfulness," rather than as a reference to the means by which we are justified, namely "faith in Christ." Of course, you do not deny the truthfulness of the latter expression, that it is "through faith in Christ" that we are justified before God, as also our thoughtful readers will surely remember from our previous discussions. Instead, as you and I have made clear in previous postings, the exegetical argument and the textual evidence have persuaded us that the apostle Paul's deepest interest in his argument in his Letter to the Romans is that Christ's steadfast faithfulness that brought him to sacrifice himself upon the cross, the righteous one for unrightous ones, reveals that God is truly righteous to keep his promise to Abraham and to the Patriarchs but also that God is truly righteous in maintaining his justice by being at once the righteous one who declares righteous those who are not righteous (cf. Rom 3:23-26 & Rom 4:6-8).

I also concur with your text-critical decision that the verb that we should more likely accept as original to Paul's letter is echomen ("we have" [indicative]) rather than echōmen ("let us have" [subjunctive]). I will add one further exegetical comment on verse 1, particularly concerning echomen pros ton theon. The prepositional phrase beginning with pros is an idiom that depicts closeness of relationship. Ordinarily, pros followed by an accusative noun signals "motion toward." However, when the accusative noun is a person, the expression speaks of close relationship, such as we find in John 1:1--kai ho logos ēn pros ton theon (cf. 1:2 also)--"and the Word was with God." The point, then, is that "through our Lord, Jesus Christ," we have come into this peaceful relationship with God. God holds us no longer as in contempt of court and under his wrath (cf. Rom 1:18ff). Paul's mention of the former hostility between God and us is fairly remote, now, in his letter. He will mention "God's wrath" again, very shortly (5:9), yet when he does, his perspective then will be upon salvation from the future manifestation of God's wrath in the Last Day.

Mention of being saved through Christ from the wrath that is coming, of course, necessitates that we pause to linger for a moment concerning the already but not yet accent that Paul gives this passage. Already we are justified from Christ's faithfulness, so, by definition as Paul has laid it out in Romans 3:23-26, God's wrath has been propitiated toward us so that we no longer dwell under God's wrath. Not yet, however, is our salvation brought to its culmination or consummation. Thus, we await the day when we shall be saved from God's wrath.

Since I have written and published on this passage, I will quote my own words, if you don't mind.

Paul contends that as believers, because we already stand justified in God's grace, we rightly boast with two orientations. First, our exultant rejoicing casts a confident eye to our eschatological "hope of the glory of God" and the praise that God will give to all who are circumcised by the Spirit (Rom 2:29). This glory, of which all fall short (Rom 3:23), seems to be the same "glory and honor and immortality" that believers seek (Rom 2:7, 10) and sinners spurned (Rom 1:23).

Second, our exultant joy looks with confidence upon our present afflictions, for Paul says, "We know that affliction brings to completion perseverance; likewise perseverance brings to completion tested character, and tested character yields hope. And this hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who was given to us" (Rom 5:3-5). It is significant to note that Paul does not insert a condition into this unbroken chain. It certainly is true that one will only advance from affliction to hope if one perseveres in faith through present afflictions. However, why does Paul not include such a condition? Paul leaves a conditional clause out because his purpose is not to place before us a conditional promise, as in Romans 2:6-10, but an unconditional assurance that everyone of us who already stands justified in God's grace will also participate in the glory that is not yet ours but for which we seek and hope. For a reader to insert a condition here would invalidate the apostle's intention. . . . Paul reinforces the certainty of this hope by reiterating that it is entirely grounded on Christ's death for us who were ungodly and sinners (Rom 5:6-8). Then he draws his conclusion that moves from that which is certain to that which is even more certain (an a fortiori argument) when he argues, "Much more, then, since we have been declared righteous by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him. For while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son; much more, since we have been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life" (Rom 5:9-10). (See Thomas R. Schreiner & Ardel B. Caneday, The Race Set Before Us: A Biblical Theology of Perseverance & Assurance [Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 2001], 167-168).