Romans 5:1Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

It is not the same thing to obtain peace that did not exist and to preserve peace already given. Acquisition is always more difficult than preservation. Yet the more difficult thing has already been made easy and brought to fulfillment. Therefore the easier thing will be entirely possible for us, if we hold fast to Him who accomplished the harder thing for us. Here, it seems to me, the Apostle hints not only at the ease of success, but also at its necessity. If Christ reconciled us when we were at enmity with Him, then it is wise on our part to remain in reconciliation. We should show Him this repayment, lest it appear that evil and ungrateful men were reconciled with the Father.

In this: despite all the opposition of natural reason, he believed that he would be the father of many nations, who would be blessed in his seed. That is, they would be blessed by Jesus Christ, who was to be born of his seed and who blessed the nations that believe in Him. Then he says that the words, “his faith will be accounted to him as righteousness,” refer not only to Abraham, but also to us, who were to believe in God, who promised the Incarnation of His Only-begotten Son (Rom 4:22-24). After this he describes the fulfillment of God's promise. “Who,” he says, that is, Jesus Christ, “was delivered up for our transgressions and rose for our justification” (Rom 4:25). He was delivered up to death in order to blot out our sins. He rose from the dead in order, after raising us with Himself who had fallen through sin, to present us innocent and pure to God and the Father. He presents us pure both from ancestral sin, which made all men sinners, and from all our other sins. Having said this, he immediately draws the conclusion: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Since we believe that the Son of God became incarnate. Suffered, died, and rose according to the divine Scripture, we believe also that by His suffering and death He conquered sin and delivered us from the curse of the law. By His resurrection He raised us with Himself and justified us. Therefore we are no longer enemies of God, but have been reconciled with Him, and are counted worthy of His love and grace.

Indeed, the greater the sorrows and sufferings of Christians, the greater and higher the fruits received. Thus every sorrow leads to patience, patience to tested character, and experience to confidence in receiving the great promises granted to us according to God's greatest love. The evident influence of that love is clearly shown in this whole state of our spirit, which is favorable to salvation and altogether joyful. There is no doubt that this joyful state of our spirit, penetrated by love, arose through the influence of divine love, always given through the Holy Spirit. It will not deceive us, but will truly lead us to that eternal blessedness concerning which our spirit now has confidence. “We are established upon hope,” says John Chrysostom, “but not upon hope in men, which often collapses and puts the one who hopes to shame. The man who promised protection either dies, or, though still alive, changes his disposition. Our hope is not like this. It is firm and unshaken. He who gave us the promises is always alive. And we who are to enjoy them, though we die, shall rise. Therefore we shall not in the least be put to shame, as though we had comforted ourselves vainly and foolishly with feeble hopes.” Live, then, Christian, with God's help, in the spirit of faith, and you will undoubtedly share in the glory of God in the age to come. As for sorrows, they not only cannot destroy our firm hope of eternal inheritance. They can even serve to strengthen it, for “through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).

But now we believe. Therefore faith has already been reckoned to us as righteousness, and we are justified. Glory to the boundless mercy of God. We are justified! For if we are justified, then we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus. The dread decree, “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,” can no longer fall upon us. The wrath of God, which worthily and justly threatened us, has passed by. We are in God’s mercy, reconciled with Him through the Lord.

This is the first good that faith brings into the heart. The sinner, having come to consciousness of his sinfulness before God, sees the sword of righteousness over his head, ready to strike him. Saint Paul began his discourse on the wondrous manner of salvation in the Lord by pointing to this. He said: behold, the wrath of God is ready to strike sinners. Neither those outside the law nor those under the law will escape it.

But behold, the merciful God has arranged the manner of salvation through the death of His Son, all-powerful and all-embracing. Whoever hides beneath His shelter is hidden from the wrath of God. His sins are forgiven, and he is received into God’s peace. We who believe in the Lord who died and rose have been counted worthy of this good. Glory to Thee, O Lord! We have peace with God.

The consideration of justification is finished, as though a victory has been won. Now the Apostle surveys what this victory has given. In doing this, on the one hand, he invites those who have not yet believed under the shelter of faith. He says, as it were: let us cast off stubbornness, and let all hasten to reconciliation with God through faith in the Lord and Savior. On the other hand, he persuades those who have believed to remain in the peace that has been given. He says, as it were: let us be zealous to remain in this peace, living in the spirit of faith.

Our interpreters all emphasize chiefly the latter point. But Chrysostom, and Oecumenius after him, lightly indicate the former as well. These are the words of blessed Theodoret: “Having shown the power of faith and disclosed the gifts of grace, the Apostle turns his discourse to exhortation, persuading them to care for active virtue. Although faith has granted us remission of sins and through the laver of regeneration has made us pure and righteous, still you must preserve the peace established with God. For the Only-begotten, by becoming man, reconciled you, who were in enmity, with God. Sin produced this hostility, and righteousness preserves the peace that has been established.”

These are the words of Chrysostom: “What does ‘we have peace’ mean? Some explain that we must not rise up against grace by stubbornly supporting the law. But it seems to me that the Apostle gives us instruction about how we must conduct ourselves. Since above, after many discussions about faith and about justification by works, he preferred faith, someone might take such teaching as an occasion for carelessness. Therefore he says, ‘let us have peace,’ that is, let us no longer sin or return to our former state, for this would mean warring against God.

You ask: how is it possible to reach the point of sinning no more? I ask: how was it possible to be set free and redeemed from sins? If we, being so guilty, have been freed from all sins by Christ, then with His help it is much easier for us to remain in the state into which He has brought us. It is one thing to receive peace that did not exist, and another to preserve what has already been given. Acquiring is always harder than preserving. Meanwhile the harder thing has already been made easy and brought to completion. Therefore we shall succeed without difficulty in the easier thing, if we cleave to Him who accomplished the harder for us.

I think also that the Apostle leads us here to this thought: not only is success in preserving this peace easy, but the very act of preserving it is necessary on our part, by moral necessity, as an obligation. For if Christ reconciled us when we were enemies, then it is necessary on our part to remain reconciled and thereby repay His benefactions. Otherwise it would turn out that He reconciled to the Father those who are hardhearted and ungrateful.”