Rom 5:1-11 theme verse Rom5:11
The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.
In this third Sunday of Advent, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and also the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life. Last week, on the second Sunday of Advent, through Isaiah 9, we decided to proclaim His shalom in this side of the world, while hoping the shalom of His kingdom which He will consummate in His second coming, after meditating on what the shalom means. This week, on the third Sunday of Advent, we would like to meditate on joy in God through Jesus Christ together.
1) The Epistle to Romans was written by Paul around AD57 in his third missionary journey from Corinth, after hearing that there arose conflicts between Gentile Christians who had been keeping the church and Jewish Christians such as Priscilla and Aquila, who were expelled by Emperor Claudius from Rome due to the riots between Jews and Jewish Christians, yet returned again after Claudius died, to help Roman Christians to understand the relation between the justification by faith and the law and also to resolve the relationship between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians.
2) In this Epistle, Paul said the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes and that even though God showed His existence manifesting His eternal power and divine nature through all His creations, human beings did not thank God and worship God, committing ungodliness and unrighteousness, so that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. God will judge that there will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good. So, for Gentiles who do not have the law, their conscience in which the law was written, will show their work of the law, yet for Jews who took chare of the law, they will be judged by the law. But, for by works of the law no human being will be justified, I mean, none is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless so that whole world may be held accountable to God’s judgment. Therefore, God manifested the righteousness of God apart from the law, through faith in Jesus Christ. That is the Gospel, he explained. And then in chapter 4, he gave example of Abraham who was justified by his faith.
3) And then in chapter 5, today’s text, Paul said that therefore we were justified by faith and enjoy the reconciliation with God through our Lord Christ and could enjoy three joy. Firstly, we rejoice in hope of the glory of God as verse 2 says. Secondly, as verse 3 says, we rejoice even in sufferings since suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope which does not put us to shame. And finally, as verse 11 says, we rejoice in God, I mean, rejoice because of God.
4) To look into details on these three joy, here the Greek καυχάομαι (kauchaomai) which is translated as ‘to rejoice’ in ESV has a literal meaning ‘to boast’ which typically has a negative meaning as we can see in 1 Cor 3:21; 2 Cor 10:15; Gal 6:13; James 4:16 etc., yet in today’s text, it is used as positive meaning that it refers to an image of a rejoicing child who received grace. So firstly, Paul said that the saved rejoice in hope of the glory of God, not to hope the worldly prosperity or pleasure. In other words, Christians who was justified by faith and finally glorified when they enter to heaven rejoice in that hope to be glorified.
5) And secondly, so Christians rejoice even in suffering, because suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character and character produces hope. (v3rr, v.4) Here θλῖψις (thlipsis) which is translated suffering, has the literal meaning of “pressure” in the physical sense, so it referes to ‘distress’, ‘suffering’ or even ‘persecution.’ And the Greek ὑπομονή, (hypomone) which is translated as endurance refers to perseverance and endurance, while the Greek δοκιμή (dokime) which is translated as character refers to the quality or character of being proven to be dependable or reliable.” And the Greek ἐλπίς (elpis) refers to hope or expectation and in Christianity it means to hope for God and rely on Him. Therefore, Christians can rejoice in suffering, since Christians develop endurance in suffering and cultivate character through which they can have hope, in order words, the hope of the glory of God is produced through the endurance and character in suffering.
6) And then finally, it is said that Christians have to rejoice in God, through Jesus Christ. In other words, it says that we have not only to live in reconciliation, but also to live the life of joy in God. Here, Augustine said in his book “The city of God” that to rejoice in God means to delight being filled with God in heart and mind fully, after being completely immersed in God. And also Thomas Boston said in his book “Commentary on the shorter catechism” that the union with God is the foundation of the enjoyment of God and in communion with God through the duties of religion, prayer and meditation, God fills His people with joy and peace in believing, in which the Lord privileges His people with manifestations of His grace, favor, and love, bestows on them the influences of His Spirit, and gives them many tokens of His kindness. Therefore, as such, to rejoice in God is the characteristics of the saved (Rom 14:17). We not only rejoice because of the salvation by the blood of Jesus and rejoice in hope of the glory of God(vv.2–3), but also rejoice in God, being immersed in God’s grace (vv.9–10).
7) But, since the human beings cannot rejoice in God in our nature, I mean, our old self cannot rejoice in God, we need new heart in order to rejoice in God. Therefore, the Holy Spirit regenerated us to be new self and makes us bear the fruit of joy of the Holy Spirit. That’s why our Lord died in the cross to make us enjoy true joy in God. Therefore I pray that God may give us this grace though which we could receive the gift of joy which God only can give and also in which we could enjoy true joy, abiding in God who Himself is true joy itself.
Key Questions as Small Group Activity
Q1 According to today’s text, Christians who were justified by faith not only rejoice in hope of the glory of God and even rejoice in suffering, but also rejoice in God. After reviewing whether we enjoy these joys, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.
Q2 Augustine says that enjoyment of God refers to joy being filled in heart and mind with God fully, after being immersed in God. After reviewing whether we are filled with God to rejoice in Him, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.
Love you. Thank you. God bless you.
Prayer Note
Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!
Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or even during the week )
Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!
Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),
please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized ).
I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon )
Please help me to live in that ( learned way of life )
I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.
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