Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
being.
Romans 5:9,18 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him…
Romans 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
Romans 3:22,26-28,30 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: …
we have.
Romans 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Romans 1:7 To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
through.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
John 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
Ephesians 2:7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
since we have been justified through faith,
Justification is a legal term signifying acquittal. In the context of Paul's letter, it means being declared righteous before God. This justification is not through works or the law but through faith, echoing Genesis 15:6, where Abraham's belief in God was credited to him as righteousness. This concept is central to the doctrine of salvation and is a cornerstone of Christian theology.
we have peace with God
Peace with God implies a cessation of hostility and the establishment of a harmonious relationship. This peace is not merely a feeling but a state of reconciliation with God, who was once estranged from humanity due to sin. This echoes the prophetic vision of peace in Isaiah 53:5, where the suffering servant brings peace through his sacrifice.
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Jesus Christ is the mediator of this peace. His sacrificial death and resurrection are the means by which justification and reconciliation are possible. This phrase underscores the exclusivity of Christ as the way to God, aligning with John 14:6, where Jesus declares Himself the way, the truth, and the life. The title "Lord" emphasizes His divine authority and role as the sovereign ruler, fulfilling Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah.
- The word looks back to everything Paul has just laid out, especially in Romans 3–4. God has proven that “a person is justified by faith apart from works of the Law” (Romans 3:28).
- It signals a logical conclusion: because the gospel facts are true, real benefits follow.
- Similar “therefore” moments appear in Hebrews 10:19 and Ephesians 2:19, where doctrinal truth immediately turns into practical blessing.
- Justification is a completed act—“have been justified”—not a process we finish later (Romans 4:23-25).
- It is “through faith,” never through human effort (Galatians 2:16; Ephesians 2:8-9).
- Faith itself rests on God’s promise, just as Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:3).
- Because the verdict is settled in God’s courtroom, the believer no longer fears condemnation (Romans 8:1).
- This is objective peace, the end of hostility between sinner and holy God (Colossians 1:20-22).
- It flows directly from justification; no additional works or rituals are needed (Isaiah 53:5; Ephesians 2:14-16).
- Such peace produces inward assurance (John 14:27), but it exists even when feelings fluctuate.
- The present tense “have” underscores its continual reality.
- Jesus is the sole mediator who makes justification and peace possible (1 Timothy 2:5; Acts 4:12).
- His atoning death satisfied divine justice (Romans 3:25-26) and His resurrection guarantees ongoing access to God (Hebrews 7:25).
- Calling Him “our Lord” emphasizes personal surrender to His authority (John 14:6) and shared fellowship within His body.
Romans 5:1 teaches that, because Jesus has already secured our justification by faith, every believer now lives in an unbreakable state of peace with God. The verse moves from doctrinal foundation (“therefore”) to settled status (“justified”) to present blessing (“peace”) to the unchanging source (“our Lord Jesus Christ”). Confidence, assurance, and worship naturally follow from this finished work.
V.(1-11) A description of the serene and blissful state which the sense of justification brings. Faith brings justification; justification brings (let us see that it does bring) peace--peace with God, through the mediation of Jesus. To that mediation it is that the Christian owes his state of grace or acceptance in the present, and his triumphant hope of glory in the future. Nay, the triumph begins now. It begins even with tribulation, for tribulation leads by gradual stages to that tried and approved constancy which is a virtue most nearly allied to hope. Such hope does not deceive. It is grounded upon the consciousness of justifying love assured to us by the wonderful sacrifice of the death of Christ. The one great and difficult step was that which reconciled sinful man to God; the completion of the process of his salvation follows by easy sequence. Knowing this our consciousness just spoken of takes a glow of triumph.
(1) Being justified.--The present chapter is thus linked on to the last. Christ was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification. "Being justified then," &c. This opening has a wonderful beauty which centres in the Christian idea of peace. After all the gloomy retrospect which fills the preceding chapters, the clouds break, and light steals gently over the scene. Nor is it merely the subsidence of storm, but an ardent and eager hope that now awakens, and looks forward to a glorious future.
We have.--A decided preponderance of MSS. authority compels us to read here, "Let us have," though the older reading would seem to make the best sense. A hortatory element is introduced into the passage, which does not seem quite properly or naturally to belong to it. It is just possible that there may have been a very early error of the copyist, afterwards rightly corrected (in the two oldest MSS., Vat. and Sin., the reading of the Authorised version appears as a correction) by conjecture. On the other hand, it is too much always to assume that a writer really used the expression which it seems to us most natural that he should have used. "Let us have" would mean "Let us enter into and possess."
Peace.--The state of reconciliation with God, with all that blissful sense of composure and harmony which flows from such a condition. "Peace" is the special legacy bequeathed by Jesus to His disciples (John 14:27; John 16:33); it is also the word used, with deep significance, after miracles of healing, attended with forgiveness (Mark 5:34; Luke 7:50). Boswell notes a remark of Johnson's upon this word. "He repeated to Mr. Langton, with great energy in the Greek, our Saviour's gracious expression concerning the forgiveness of Mary Magdalene: 'Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace' (Luke 7:50). He said, 'The manner of this dismission is exceedingly affecting'" (Life of Johnson, ch. 4, under the date 1780). For other illustrations of this supreme and unique phase of the Christian life, we may turn to the hymns of Cowper, especially those stanzas commencing "Sometimes a light surprises," "So shall my walk be close with God," "Fierce passions discompose the mind," "There if Thy Spirit touch the soul"; or to some of the descriptions in the Pilgrim's Progress. . . .
Verses 1-21. - (6) The results of the revelation of the righteousness of God, as affecting(a) the consciousness and hopes of believers;
(b) the position of mankind before God. Verses 1-11. - (a) As to the consciousness of individual believers. Verse 1. - Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Instead of the ἔχομεν of the Textus Receptus, an overwhelming preponderance of authority, including uncials, versions, and Fathers, supports ἔχωμεν ("let us have"). If this be the true reading, the expression must be intended as hortatory, meaning, apparently, "Let us appreciate and realize our peace with God which we have in being justified by faith." But hortation here does not appear in keeping with what follows, in which the results of our being justified by faith are described in terms clearly, corresponding with the idea of our having peace with God. The passage as a whole is not hortatory, but descriptive, and "we have peace" comes in naturally as an initiatory statement of what is afterwards carried out. This being the case, it is a question whether an exception may not be allowed in this case to the usually sound rule of bowing to decided preponderance of authority with respect to readings. That ἔχωμεν was an early and widely accepted reading there can be no doubt; but still it may not have been the original one, the other appearing more probable. Scrivener is of opinion that "the itacism of ω for ο, so familiar to all collators of Greek manuscripts, crept into some very early copy, from which it was propagated among our most venerable codices, even those from which the earliest versions were made."
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