The effects of justification
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
With his introductory word therefore, Paul is again inviting us to see an important connection. This time it is the connection between the righteousness received from God (justification) and the effect this righteousness has in the believer’s life.
A number of times Paul has spoken of justification as being for all people. That teaching is often referred to as general justification. The universal aspect of justification, however, is just one side of the picture. The necessary counterpart to this teaching of general justification is a proper understanding also of subjective justification, that is, the need for faith in the heart of an individual to receive the blessings that objectively are there for him and for all people by virtue of God’s doing. The unbeliever who rejects Christ’s righteousness loses the benefit of what is truly there also for him.
It is the former group, namely, believers who are subjectively justified by faith, of whom Paul speaks here. There are great and grand things coming to them in their new life in Christ. The first blessing Paul mentions is peace. “Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This peace is not just a feel-good kind of emotion in the heart of the believer. This peace has an objective reality. It has an existence entirely separate from the believer because it is a peace that comes from God. He created and provided it, for it is a peace that comes “through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The sinner can do nothing to create that peace. Look a few verses ahead to see how Paul describes us in our natural state. We were “powerless” and “ungodly” (verse 6), “sinners” (verse 8), and “God’s enemies” (verse 10). Positive input from us was nil, and our situation was hopeless, but God reconciled us “through the death of his Son” (verse 10). Hence there is now peace because of God’s having brought about a reconciliation. Note again that this peace has an objective existence. It is there for the sinner to accept by faith.
In addition to the great gift of peace with God, there is another blessing springing from the sinner’s justification, and that is “access” to God. The believer is free to come to God’s throne of grace with any and every petition. Paul points out that all of this is possible by our connection with Christ, “through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.”
Instead of hostility or fear and anxiety, there is now a tranquil peace in the life of the believer, marked by continual, unhampered access to God. But that’s just the beginning. There’s more: a glorious hope for the future. Paul continues, “And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” What we have now is just a tiny foretaste of the unspeakably greater joy of sharing in the glories of heaven and of God himself.