While the world looks for a warm feeling or thinks that Christmas is all about peace on earth, the true peace that each one of us can know this season is peace with God. Perhaps some might be surprised by this statement because they didn't even realize they were not at peace with God. However, the truth of the matter is that every one of us has been hopelessly estranged from God because of our sinfulness and acts of disobedient rebellion against God.However, God has revealed a way to be right with him: justification by faith alone without works (Rom 4). It is only on this basis that we can have peace with God. Through the Person and work of Christ, we are at peace with God (Rom 5:1–11).
The first four verses of this passage delineate the blessings of being reconciled to God: first, we are now at peace with God (v. 1). No longer do we stand condemned as guilty sinners before God. Instead, we have access into this grace in which we stand (v. 2), our justification, when God declared us "not guilty" because of the active and passive obedience of Jesus Christ. Not only do we stand uncondemned because of our position, we rejoice in the hope of glorification (v. 2), our future ultimate salvation. We, along with all of the created order (Rom 8:19-24), long for that future redemption from the very presence of sin and all of its effects. Not only do we rejoice in the past and future, we can also in our present sufferings, because God is using them to make us more like himself (vv. 3–5). Difficulties build endurance which produces tested and proven character. That building of character gives us hope, because we see that God is working all things for our sanctification (Rom 8:28-29). He is making us more like Jesus Christ.
The benefits of reconciliation ultimately demonstrate that we are the recipients of God’s love (vv. 5–11). God's love for us is demonstrated by the indwelling Holy Spirit (v. 5), by sending Christ to die for us when we were ungodly (vv. 6–8), by redeeming us from eternal wrath (v. 9), and by reconciling us to himself through the Person and Work of Christ (vv. 10–11).
God has created us. We have rebelled against him and sinned, disobeying his commands and falling short of his righteousness. We are sinners by choice and by nature, completely deserving of his righteous wrath. However, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took on flesh, became a man, and lived a sinless life, completely fulfilling all of God's righteous requirements and taking the punishment that we deserved. God has revealed a way to be right with him: faith in his Son, Jesus Christ. Through faith, the righteousness of Christ is credited to our accounts and his death is applied as payment for our sin. It is only through faith in Jesus Christ that we can know true peace. When we have been justified by faith in Jesus Christ, we have peace with God.
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