Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
We have seen Paul introduce this great doctrine of justification through the law of faith in the first chapter of Romans. He then In Romans 1:18 – 3:20 shows us that all mankind is guilty before God. Paul writes that both Jew and Gentile, and even the very elect of God for that matter, are guilty and stand condemned before God. Then in Romans 3:21 we see the transition, but now. What has come now? It was the righteousness of God. That righteousness was manifest by the obedience unto death of Jesus Christ. It came by His propitiation for which He was set forth Romans 3:25. Righteousness was not manifest before His cross but at His cross. Paul then moves to the Old Testament and gives Abraham as an example of God imputing righteousness and David as the example of the non-imputation of sins. The end verse of Romans 4 tells us that Jesus rose because of our justification. Because He succeeded in what He had come to do, and God the Father was satisfied, the Spirit of God raised Him from the dead. This was the law of faith. It was our salvation, our justification that came by this process of propitiation and satisfaction of God. It is that law that opposes the law of works that says man is made right with God by his works or any other condition. Paul shows us the only condition was Christ. This body of truth about Christ is what Paul would call the faith of Christ and is often noted by the word faith.
The transition into chapter 5 starts with the word therefore. This points back to what was previously said. Paul had just said Christ was raised because of our bieng justified. Justification has occurred and now Paul moves into the fruits of this right standing before God where we now find ourselves. The first verse here in Romans 5 has been used to promote justification by the faith of man. Did Paul all of a sudden come to a new understanding of our standing before God? The answer is obviously no. The original language did not contain a lot of the punctuation that we see in our bibles. What Paul is wanting us to see is the fruit of what Christ has done. The first of this fruit being our faith. Look at this verse as translated in the Young’s Literal translation.
Romans 5:1 Having been declared righteous, then, by faith, we have peace toward God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
What this shows us is the declaration of righteousness has occurred and we are justified. When Christ died, we were justified. This did not occur in connection with our personal faith. Our faith allows us to have peace with God. In the Greek it is actually peace toward God. Peace knowing that Christ has taken our sin, and His righteousness has been imputed to our spiritual accounts. There is peace because we read it was finished when He proclaimed so in John 19:30. How can we have peace if God was not satisfied? If God required anything from man, how could we have true peace knowing that we have to satisfy a holy God? If peace did not come by the cross of Christ, then we will never have peace. Peace has come to God toward us. That peace came by the cross of Christ. The peace in Romans 5:1 is from us toward God. We have peace knowing that we stand justified by the faith of Christ. The revelation of our righteousness by His work is our peace. Look at John 20:
John 20:19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord
Christ said to the disciples “peace be unto you.” How could He say this? He showed His hands and His side. Peace had come through Jesus Christ as it is written in Romans 5:1 above. Peace had come by His faith and now we have peace because of that faith. That righteousness has been revealed to us in faith and now we have peace toward God.