Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

1) What does the concept of “obtaining access” refer to? (verse 2)
Because of our sin, we are hopelessly separated from God, but because God wanted a relationship with us, He created a way for us to literally “enter into” His presence through His own righteousness. When Jesus died, He was blameless, but He took all the punishment for our sins just as if He had committed them. He took our sin, and in exchange, gave us His righteousness, thus granting us direct access to God. This is boundless grace!

2) What is meant by “while we were still sinners Christ died for us”? (verse 8)
These 9 words are incredibly precious! Christ chose to give Himself up as our ransom before we even batted an eye towards Him. Our hearts had no inclination to love Him because, if left alone, we would be quite satisfied to die in our sin, only to discover that we had missed out on true life. But God showed His love by giving Himself up without the guarantee of us saying yes to Him. We were still sinners, but Christ died for us.

3) What does it mean to be an “enemy of God”?
To be an enemy of God is to be a sinner that loves sin and self more than God. Strong words! Every person who has ever lived or ever will live is an enemy of God because of sin. Sin breaks the relationship we could have with God, leaving us alone, bound in chains of slavery to the ultimate enemy, Satan. What hope do we have of not being an enemy of God? Jesus Christ! He paid the punishment for our sins and declared us righteous in the sight of God instead of sinful! Paul’s point with his if/then statement is that because we can be reconciled back to a full relationship with God through Jesus’ death to be saved, then Christ’s life will continue the good work He began in us. In other words, Jesus’ righteousness saves us from sin, making us God’s friends instead of His enemies, and His life, His Spirit, continues “sanctifying” us in our everyday lives, making us more like Jesus.

4) What implications come with being “reconciled to God”? (verses 10-11)
What hope do we have of not being an enemy of God? Jesus Christ! He paid the punishment for our sins and declared us righteous in the sight of God instead of sinful! This is “reconciled to God”. Paul’s point with his if/then statement (verse 10) is that because we can be reconciled back to a full relationship with God through Jesus’ death to be saved, then Christ’s life will continue the good work He began in us. In other words, Jesus’ righteousness saves us from sin, making us God’s friends instead of His enemies, and His life, His Spirit, continues “sanctifying” us in our everyday lives, making us more like Jesus.

1) What does the concept of “obtaining access” refer to? (verse 2)
Paul says that we “stand” in this grace. No longer weighed down by incompetency created by sin. Grace isn’t a puddle we stand in, or even like standing in a downpour with rain everywhere, this standing in grace is like being firmly rooted as a tree, but planted in the ocean. We are firmly grounded in it, and completely surrounded by it. As Christ-followers, we cannot escape “this grace in which we now stand.” When disappointment wraps around you, when the chaos of life threatens to undo you, when relationships pull sharply on your heart, remember you stand in grace. You are free from making everything right on your own; your dependence is rooted in the all-covering grace of Jesus Christ!

2) What is meant by “while we were still sinners Christ died for us”? (verse 8)
Do you ever feel like you need to be better for God? More loving or patient perhaps before you can really please Him? Maybe you feel like you follow Him pretty closely and then get distracted and focus on other things? For me, I will have several days in a row of quiet time with Jesus, but then miss my time. God wants us to live out our everyday lives knowing that we are free from condemnation and the expectation of perfection. Christ died knowing we would never be perfect, or even “good” on our own. He knows our failings and He died to cover them, not just once, but every time.

3) What does it mean to be an “enemy of God”?
While every human being is indeed an enemy of God, the path has been made to be His friends instead; to be in deep relationship with Him. When someone chooses Jesus to be their righteousness, they cross the line of faith and are no longer His enemies. This is a one and done deal. Once you’ve crossed that line, you are forever declared His friend, His daughter, His beloved, and you’ll never need to be afraid of returning to “enemy status”. Have you chosen Him for your inheritance? Are you ready to extend that same offer to others? Lean in to this moment right now, what is the Holy Spirit convicting you of? Don’t wait around, act on what He’s speaking to your heart about! We’d love to pray for you in this next step in your faith journey, email us!

4) What implications come with being “reconciled to God”? (verses 10-11)
It’s one thing to confess Jesus Christ for our salvation, and realize that His righteousness has paid a debt we could never pay, but sometimes we stop relying on the Holy Spirit’s power to make us more like Him after that point. We start leaning on ourselves to sort out the craziness of life, we rely on our own strength or wisdom to help us make life choices, help us parent, and make relationship decisions. We have forgotten our power source, we’ve forgotten that our true inheritance doesn’t lie in our own ability, but the Lord’s! Where are you lost, burdened, overwhelmed, or just plain tired? Turn these over to Jesus, let His Spirit free you and lead you!

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We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources.  Just type in the verse you’re looking at and Boom! It’s right in front of you in English and Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament), which are the original languages the Bible was written in.

Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Find super awesome stuff like “origin”, “definition”, and even all the different ways that single word has been translated into English! If you want to be geeky, you can even click the word and hear its original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!

Want to get more background on a word or phrasing or passage? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))

Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.

In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!

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Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus.
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