Romans 5:1-11
When I was a child, I was present in a store during a minor robbery attempt. My mom witnessed the occurrence, and relayed the story to me when the excitement died down. I remember wondering about the “what if’s.”
What if they would have tried to harm my mother? What if I was there? What if there was gunfire? What if I witnessed something like this again?
I decided that I would surely act. I would protect people. I would try to disarm the assailant. I would be willing to risk my own life for the lives of those that I loved. I would jump in front of a bullet. Who knows if I actually would have been a hero if such a moment had actually occurred? Perhaps I had seen one too many movies or read one too many comics. But, there is a pervasive theming in our culture for that which is worth dying. Soldiers are celebrated for going to war. 9/11 is remembered as much for who bravely went into the chaos as it is remembered for the act of violence, itself. In pop culture, stories such as Harry Potter staring down Lord Voldemort, an imaginary boyfriend loves Riley so much in Inside Out that he constantly mutters that “[He] would die for Riley,” and Prince and Bon Jovi recording songs called “I Would Die For/4 You/U” jolt our imagination to life.
We know how to die for worthy causes. We have been shaped to discern righteousness, and put our life on the line for it. But this text in Romans springs a surprise on us! While we know how to risk our life for the righteous, God has flipped the script and died for the unrighteous. The unworthy. The sinner. This, we are told, is the very essence of the love of God. “God demonstrates his love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This is the essence of the gospel: God sends his son into the world to save sinners by being willing to die.
It seems an added bonus, to us Wesleyan readers, to find hints of the Doctrine of Prevenient Grace in this book which Calvinists have planted their flag and claimed hermeneutical sovereignty. But, there is a deeper calling to Wesleyan preachers in this text as well, one which we may too often miss in the strong articulation of the gospel, that is couched in prevenient terminology. There is a call to match this love that demonstrates in Christ on the cross. This matched love – which the Spirit pours into our hearts – is nearly as clear an articulation of sanctification because love is not a simple commodity which we solely receive, but is an action to which we are called. This text, therefore, is not simply a description of how we are justified or made right with God, but also a call to action. We are to match the the love of God, which we received undeservedly. This love is given away, according to the text, in the forms of peace, grace, and hope.
Greathouse and Lyons call these three gifts “consequences of justification.” If we are indeed saved, we must receive these marks of the Christ who saved us, and then give them away as signs of our discipleship to this Christ.
Peace, especially peace with God, is no small gift. According to Romans chapter 1, we declared war on God by neither glorifying nor thanking God and instead exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man, birds, and animals (Romans 1: 21-23). If God is anything like the scriptures testify that God is like, choosing to worship creation over such glory is a slap in the face.
Much like when I was a child and tested my parents, my mother would offer to see out the logical conclusion of my threats (i.e. “You want to run away? Fine! I will pack your bags for you!”), God gives humans over to their depravity. But, predictably perhaps, humanity flounders. Humanity needs a savior. So, in Christ – the one whom we learn in this text died for us before we were righteous enough to deserve such sacrifice – offers us peace. The war we begun, is over.
This peace, shalom, is not simply an absence of conflict, but a restoration of relationship. We are no longer God’s enemies, but now God’s friends. We are invited back to a relationship, through the grace found in Christ, to live as if The Garden of Eden was still a reality. We can stroll with God and share our life. We do not actually live in a garden, but we get a foretaste of the relationship that we will experience in full in worship, prayer, and unsuspected common moments where the divine breaks in. But peace is not the only gift we receive, for we stand in grace. Grace is unmerited favor.
We stand in grace because God has given us peace. We are no longer at odds with God because of this gift of unmerited favor, it ignores our rebellious past. This gift is linked, for Paul, with faith. The faith demonstrated by Christ is offered to us as a gift. We do not will ourselves to faith, but we see faith in Christ’s life, witness, and action. We are “wooed” to this faith, and find that we can receive this faith as free gift. God stamps the character of Christ on our heart and in our life we are willing to receive this gift of grace. Should we open ourselves to this Christlikeness, we stand in a grace we never deserved, from a gift we could not live up to.
Finally, we are a people of hope. Hope is an eschatological word. One that struggles in the tension of already/not yet. This hope is forged in suffering, as a recollection that the justified life is not a cakewalk. Persecution is a real threat to these readers. But, hope is never a disappoint because, while the hope of final glory – full restoration of the Garden – is not realized, we do live in full realization of the love of God. It’s effects are tangible and overwhelming. This hope should color the way we see the world. It should remind us to not be afraid, because the suffering of this world is no longer the final punctuation of our story. God’s full, coming redemption is the final word.
The struggle of the passage is that if we receive these gifts of peace, grace, and hope , given in sacrificial love, we are not to hold on to them for deal life. We are to receive, but receive to give away. We rely on God’s faithfulness to gift us again! Reading with this lens is particularly vital for Wesleyan preachers and interpreters. Our Doctrine of Entire Sanctification reminds us that we are sanctified, set apart for the sake of the world. Language of “perfect love” as synonymous with Entire Sanctification may be a helpful reminder. When we receive the gift of salvation, given to us in love that we did not deserve, we realize that we also receive an invitation to receive the character of the Christ who calls, seeks, and saves us. We do not stare into space thankful for the gift of love that graces the other (in this case us) with peace, hope, and love. We receive with it a call to mirror that posture and gift giving. We cannot be a sanctified, set apart people if we are hoarding the gifts of God for our self and our salvation. Because Christ’s gift of love is given to sinners, we must be compelled to love in the same way. We must receive the grace of the moment with the aim of giving it away, sometimes to wholly undeserved people.
For if we are to read the text through the lens of Wesleyan Theology, we know that we are to be shaped to mirror God’s character. If God is offering peace, grace and hope to the underserved, we receive this gift in joy, allowing it to form us so that we match God’s character.
Greathouse, William and George Lyons. Romans 1-8: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition. (Beacon Hill Press: Kansas City, MO), 2008. Wright, N.T. The New Interpreter’s Bible. Vol. X: The Letter to the Romans. (Abingdon Press, Nashville, TN), 2002.