So what’s so good about faith? And what does a man dying on a cross 2,000 years ago have to do with it? How does that relate to me and my life? ◊

Christians have been told that there is good news and even joy that comes with this faith. The implication is that if one becomes a Christian, then he or she should be overcome with joy and have a big smile of happiness on their face.

Why is that not the case with most Christians?

It might be just a matter of perspective. The Good News actually is that Jesus died in our place for mankind’s sins past, present, and future and that we are reconciled with God Almighty when we are aligned with Christ. Otherwise, we’re dead men walking (eternally) without the Jesus connection.

That’s enough to put a bounce in your step and smile on your lips.

But it certainly is an intangible joy, perhaps deep in one’s heart, but it’s not like finding you had a million dollars deposited into your bank account by an anonymous benefactor.

To help us appreciate just what we have been given, the Apostle Paul lays out a healthy perspective for all of us in ROMANS Chapter 5.

The Results of Justification by Faith
As the previous chapter ends with the reminder that we are saved or justified through faith, Chapter 5 presents the results of such faith. Read this and ask yourself now if you feel this way:

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)

Do you have peace (tranquility) with God? Do you see grace (undeserved favor)? Are you confident in the hope (expectation) of God? Moreso, do you celebrate your sufferings (setbacks)? Is that because you know that through your perseverance you’ll produce character and through that, hope? And that all of this is wrapped in God’s love and poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit?

Yes, it takes a bit to wrap you mind around these big concepts. Try this passage:

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)

You see, we had nothing to offer – we were powerless, still sinners. Yet in our condition Christ died for us, demonstrating amazing grace and love.

As Paul continues, he excitedly notes that we are saved from God’s wrath; that is, through the life-giving blood of Christ, we are now reconciled and saved from our eternal death to life from His death through His life:

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:9-11)

Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ
How did this happen? How does this work that Christ “died for our sins?” Here’s the explanation:

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. (Romans 5:12-14)

Here Paul brings up the law again. The law lets us know what is right and wrong.¹ But there was no law until Moses (Old Testament Hebrew law), nevertheless, in God’s holiness, sin reigned from the original sinful disobedience of Adam, which was imputed on all of mankind:

But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many [mankind] died by the trespass of the one man [Adam], how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! (Romans 5:14-17)

So therefore, the curse (via Adam’s trespass of disobedience) and the gift (via Jesus’ righteous act of obedience) are broad concepts demonstrated in the lives of Adam and Jesus with huge implications:

Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:18-21)

So What About Me?
If I’m guilty in God’s eyes regardless of my religious background or good conscience behavior (Romans 1 and 2), and my only hope is in the identification of my life with the pure life of Jesus Christ who lived and died a sacrificial death instead of me (Romans 3 and 4), then I’d be a fool to not acknowledge and accept, through faith, the gracious gift of redemption and reconciliation with God, my Creator.

Why not? What have I to lose, but everything of deeper substance in a life that I know needs forgiveness?

And just that thought brings a sense of internal peace and even joy to my heart (Romans 5). That I am loved and saved and redeemed simply through God’s loving grace is enough to reset my perspective on a larger view of life and purpose.

More upcoming on that life in ROMANS Chapter 6.

Are you have the right perspective on life?
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But God showed His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:8

¹ Note: At a high level, God’s plan for redemption for all of mankind was to carve out a separated people, the Hebrew people starting with Abraham, to implement rules and laws and the concept of blood (animal) sacrifice to atone for breaking those rules and laws, which the Hebrews did, all the time. The rituals of priests and altars and sacrifices were an early harbinger of the ultimate blood sacrifice of the perfect Lamb, Christ, as atonement for all of mankind. Without the Jews/Hebrews and the Mosaic Law, passed on down as Holy Scriptures, the Bible, the concepts of sin and broken law and the atoning sacrifice of grace would be unknown to a pagan world internationally.

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Tags: Abraham, faith, peace, Romans, Romans 5