Romans 5 (Pt 1)

Romans 5:1-5 (ESV)

[1] Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. [2] 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. [3] Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, [4] and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, [5] 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.

 

Verse 3 says “we rejoice in our sufferings.” The New American Standard Bible says, “We exult in our tribulations.” King James and New King James use the word “tribulations” as well. Whether we read sufferings or tribulations we tend to think of this as external attacks. We are to rejoice when we are persecuted for our faith. We are to rejoice when we are attacked or ridiculed for what we believe. That is difficult enough, but that is not the real intent of this word. It is not a reference to external suffering as much as internal, emotional suffering. It is the Greek word thlipsesin, which is described as, “pressure (what constricts or rubs together), used of a narrow place that ‘hems someone in’; tribulation, especially internal pressure that causes someone to feel confined (restricted, ‘without options’).”[1]

 

“Internal pressure that causes someone to feel confined.” That sounds an awful lot like stress and anxiety. We are living in a world where our young people are perhaps more anxious than ever before. Anxiety levels in our culture are sky high across the board. Politically, economically, relationally the changes swirling around us are increasing anxiety exponentially. I hate stress and anxiety! It raises my blood pressure. It ties my stomach in knots. It skews my ability to think clearly. Yet here is God saying that we can rejoice in our stress and anxiety because it creates the opportunity for character, hope, and love.

 

The reason we can remain less anxious in times of high stress is because we have the assurance that God is using this to produce character and hope (expectation) in us. We are assured of this because God has poured out his love into our hearts through his Holy Spirit. And therein lies the issue. God has poured out his love into our hearts through his Holy Spirit, yet we often choose self-preservation over love. Self-preservation leads to increased anxiety.

 

The insistence on hanging on to what we have, what we had, or what we desire is the opposite of love. The love of God is at the root of this passage. It was his love for us that brought justification and peace to those who believe. It was the love of God that caused Jesus to die for our ungodly lives “while we were still weak” (infirm, sick, without strength; Rom 5:6). And it is that very self-sacrificing love of God that is shed abroad in the hearts of believers by the indwelling Holy Spirit. When we trust God to love others through us no matter how things turn out, God does an amazing thing in us. He grows character and hope in us. The thing is, it is stress and anxiety that give us that opportunity.

 

I wrote earlier that I hate stress and anxiety, but perhaps I need to re-evaluate. God, Help me see the value of those times when you drop me into situations of stress and anxiety. May I keep my eyes on you and off myself. May I learn to rejoice with Paul that you are, in those moments, giving me the opportunity to allow the love of God to flow through me building both character and expectation. May I then learn to rest in your peace in those times for “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”



[1] HELPS word studies from https://biblehub.com/greek/2347.htm accessed June 12, 2021. Bold print is mine.

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