Year C. The Holy Trinity Sunday June 10th, 2001
Romans 5: 1-5
Title: “Redemptive suffering.”
Paul has been making the case for his doctrine of “justification by faith.” Thus far it has been both a theological and a legal argument and rather technical. Now, he puts the same ideas into warmer, more relational language. He has laid out the scriptural basis for those saved by faith in Christ being “justified,” “acquitted” before the judgment seat of God. Now he tells us what it all means for the period before that final judgment, the here and now.
Love, joy, peace and hope, the true fruits of the Spirit dwelling now within Christians, are the qualities marking the lives of those justified by faith. The past-of sin, guilt, alienation, estrangement- is canceled; the future- of glory, union and communion with God- is assured; the present- with the indwelling Spirit, granting a state and status of grace- offers all that is needed to endure trial, resist evil, and live a life befitting an acquitted person and friend of God.
In verse one, we have peace with God, “Peace” is rich biblical term for all the blessings, advantages and fruits of salvation. Here it stresses reconciliation, renewed friendship with God as a result of Christ. It is the consequence, outcome, result of justification. It describes the change that has taken place in the relationship with God. Ultimately, peace, love, joy, salvation and Holy Spirit all express the same reality, namely, God, under different lights.
In verse two, through whom we have gained access, “Access” is a profound term. Formerly, there was a barrier, an insurmountable barrier between God and humans as a result of human sin and rebellion. Humans were on the outs with God -totally. Christ not only removed the barrier, but he led humans back to God, introduced them or re-introduced them to God as his long-lost prodigal children and as Christ’s brothers and sisters, and restored them to their place at the Father’s table and in the Father’s house. “Access” was a special term used to denote the privilege of approaching or being introduced into the presence of someone in high station, especially a royal or divine personage.
“The grace in which we stand,” this is another way of expressing “access.” It says that Christ did not merely introduce us to God again, but caused us to stay, to stand, to live in his presence once more. This is a “now” reality, even though he will quickly point out that it is not yet complete.
“And we boast,” Paul condemns the kind of boasting based on one’s own accomplishments or ego. And EGO means Edging God Our. He considers such a sham, more than mere exaggeration, empty of reality. But now he uses “boast” in the same sense as “rejoice.” One should boast in God’s accomplishments through Christ, because Christ did for us what we could never do for ourselves.
“In hope of the glory of God,” this peace with God, this standing in the state of grace is a now reality, but also a “not quite yet” one. So long as Christians exist in a mortal body, the “glory,” the revealed and manifest, experienced presence of God, remains incomplete, sort of limited by the restrictions of time, space, matter and, of course, the sinful environment. Yet, the hope is real and realizable.
In verse three, “boast of our afflictions,” Afflictions and suffering are normally considered evil, but not for Christians. While, objectively speaking, afflictions and suffering remain evil, subjectively, they are opportunities to become more aware of total reliance on God. They are really opportunities to grow spiritually. They humble the Christian and prevent him or her from having confidence in self, rather than in God. In the New Testament suffering is considered a normal experience of a Christian, a sign of God’s confidence that his grace will prevail, producing a salutary effect upon the sufferer, cultivating endurance, character and even stronger hope.
Affliction produces endurance. This does not happen by the power of the one afflicted, but by the nature of God’s grace. Endurance is not simply the ability to support and bear affliction and distress, but the attitude to look past it to see the end which it obscures, to find meaning in God and, thereby, to continue in the right despite the pain or the odds. Endurance is another way of saying “fortitude.” When one realizes that, he or she, is in eternity now and develops an eternal perspective, suffering is placed in proper perspective.
In verse four, “proven character,” the Greek word, dokime, is a rare one, formed from the verb which means “to test,” and if the test is passed, “to approve.” The basic image is of metal that is cast into the fire, suffering, not in order to be annihilated but to be purified. The fire “tests” the metal and removes the impurities to make it stronger. When it comes out of the fire, a judge will test it again, but this time not for the sake of purifying but to test whether the process worked and then to approve the metal, give it the stamp or seal of approval, verifying, testifying, witnessing, vouching for its authenticity. It is judged to be what it is supposed to be.
Hope, a strong weapon or tool causes one to expect more from it than from a weaker one. So, too, a stronger character, tested by trial, causes greater expectations.
In verse five, hope does not disappoint, if the strength relied on were a human strength, it would disappoint, at least, at some point down the road. But this hope, the result of divine assurance, will not disappoint. From the human standpoint it may not seem to be a realistic hope, but it is realizable because it is founded on God, his promise and his faithful delivery of past promises.
The love of God has been poured out: “Love of God” is a synonym here for the Holy Spirit. The metaphor of watering, pouring out, was a common one to indicate spiritual refreshment and encouragement. Our hearts are refreshed, to say the least, by God’s love for us, and this is the experience of the Holy Spirit. It is also related to the death of Christ of which Paul will soon speak to show how great God’s love truly is.
Which has been given to us, the Christian normally becomes the recipient of God’s love or gift of his Spirit in Baptism. This is seen as the pledge, the down payment, the guarantee of full enjoyment later.
Addressing God as Father, Son or Spirit is pretty much determined by the circumstances in which we pray or out of which we seek deliverance. At times one or another title of address for God is more or less appropriate. Different titles but the same reality behind them all. So it is with “theological words” like joy, peace, salvation, reconciliation, mutual indwelling, even Holy Spirit. These are different words, providing different slants on or aspects to, the same reality. As with the different words-relational words- we use when speaking to or of, expressing or describing, our relationship with God, so also with theological terms. They may seem to point to totally different realities, but they do not. They point to different aspects of the one reality, be it Christ or glory or salvation or eternal life or the Kingdom of God.
So, our meditation on God’s word is not so much for new information, new data, about God or Christ or Spirit, but for new insights into the already “possessed” reality, God’s life in us and ours in him. All these texts either deepen or broaden, or both, our apprehension, appreciation and enjoyment of the mystery in which we are enveloped. The present text is no exception.
Paul has walked us through the theological, legal and technical explanation of what happened to us, how and why in Christ’s sacrificial and innocent death, suffering it vicariously for us and our salvation. But, in this text, he turns a little warmer. He does not use the plethora of metaphors, especially the warm, pastoral metaphors, that Jesus is so good at. But, occasionally, he shows a warmer side to his relationship with the Lord. At least he speaks of realities we can more easily and personally relate to. The idea of standing before a judge and being tried and sentenced is not exactly a pleasant thought, although it is an excellent way to explain the predicament we got ourselves into. But peace, joy, hope, these can ignite in us the lively awareness of the Spirit. We can look into ourselves to see if we have let the Spirit “water” us with these nutrients so we may grow. Such realities, even though muted and not able to be fully experienced in this life, delight us still and inspire us to pay more attention to them within us.
Then there is the other side of Christian life- the suffering side. Just as much a part of life in Christ, for now, as peace, joy and happiness is suffering. Yet, even suffering can produce positive results. We know that suffering builds character and that is true for believers as well as non-believers. But our suffering need never be suffering alone. We are united to Christ in all things, including suffering. So our suffering can be redemptive- for ourselves as we rise above it by God’s grace and for others as they witness our endurance- grace under fire- and are moved to question whence comes our strength.
Looking at our lives from both perspectives- the already and the not yet- simultaneously keeps us from turning the message of Christ into some merely optimistic philosophy of life, one which ignores suffering and pain. It also avoids turning Christ’s message into gloom and doom. Finally, it really avoids turning his message into something we accomplish on our own, through our own efforts.
It is challenging keeping all these truths, which is really one truth, in our consciousness, but it is also rewarding. God is multi-faceted, no doubt infinitely so and his grace as we experience it is also multi-faceted and explained in a variety of ways. So long as we keep the notion that truth, like God, is ultimately one, we can bask in, rejoice in, glory in, revel in the variety of ways this one truth reveals himself to us and the variety of ways he inspires us to respond.
There is only one salvation in Christ and one way to salvation, Christ, but there are many ways to express and explain salvation.
Virtually every human being experiences life along a spectrum of positive and negative. Sometimes life can be extremely positive, sometimes extremely negative, most times somewhere in between.
We experience life-in-Christ as both “already “ here and now and “not yet” hereafter and forever.
Christ brings a unity to the variety of our experiences of life. We experience the one Christ in this variety, but express that unity in multiple ways as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
When we suffer in union with Christ our joy or peace or hope or love is not destroyed; it can even be enhanced.
Paul is saying that Christians are “real.” Even though the message of salvation may seem to the worldly to be “unreal,” Christians do live in their “real” world. However, Christians have a perspective on reality that goes beyond this world. They live simultaneously in two worlds. Really, it’s only one world, but with two dimensions that, falsely, appear incompatible. . When a child loves you for a long, long time, like the eternal love of God, not just to play with, not just because you are cute or pleasant, but REALLY loves you, warts and all, then you become REAL.” “…we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance…and hope does not disappoint…Romans 5: 3-4. When you are REAL you do not mind being hurt. Paul is attempting to help Christians understand their own experience of becoming REAL in Christ by telling the Christian story in as many ways as he can. Christians are in the process of becoming all that God intends them to be and in the very becoming they have arrived at a level of living that allows them to see into the present moment as well as past it into eternity.
God, of course, is the ultimate storyteller. He begins with telling the story of creation, telling his children how they got here in the first place and ends with the story of redemption. It is a long and complicated story, having many many scenes and chapters. Like human storytellers he knows the ending, so he tells beginning and middle parts in such a way that they lead up to the ending. He tells of obstacles and side trips, diversions, distractions, temporary and seeming defeats and he tells of ultimate victory. It is a really good story because it does not look like it is going to turn out well. But it does! And through it all, the storyteller appears in the story in several guises and roles. The storyteller’s real name is Trinity. Amen.
