Justified by Faith

Article for March 8, 2026

Romans 5:1–8 1Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2Through 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.

We truly believe and know that our works and obedience to the law does not save us.  We put our faith in that Jesus Christ has justified us to the Father who opens the gateway to everlasting life.  Though we are sinners and fall short of the glory of God, Jesus Christ came to suffer the punishment that all sin demands. 

This we owe a debt of amazing gratitude to Jesus Christ as He paid the ransom to keep us out of the eternal pit.  In saying this we can never do enough to praise and thank our Lord other than to follow God’s laws and gospel of repentance and forgiveness.  Therefore, we are truly saved by faith in that we trust our Lord Jesus did not die in vain.

We are saved by the love, grace, and mercy of our creator not to live and die, but to die and be resurrected on that last day when Jesus Christ comes again.  The world and our sinful nature work against us in that it tries to snuff out faith and belief.  The world and our sinful nature also try to kill the glory due our God and Savior.

Romans 5:3–5 3More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and 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.

Weeds, thistles, and tribulations are in every one’s life.  We who are adults should know this by now.  Life on earth is not for the faint of heart but for those who put their faith in Jesus Christ.  So, we move forward in our faith already knowing that God has gotten us through all obstacles that we have suffered through our lives.  It is everything that our Lord has gotten us through that shapes our character.

However, we need to understand, our character molded without faith leaves a bitter taste in our attitude towards life.  Our character, molded through faith, makes us stronger and endure as we know we always have something better to look forward to.  This looking forward does not make our weeds, thistles, and tribulations go away but leaves a path through Jesus Christ towards a glorious destination.  Indeed, God gets us through this life of testing and makes us resilient for the tests we face in our earthly existence.

God gives us His love always but many fail to see it because they do not listen to what is in their heart.  It is not the flesh that is in our hearts, rather it is the Holy Spirit who talks to us all the time.  We need to listen to the Holy Spirit, for it is God’s will that all be led towards a better goal which is to be a child of God.  It is the Holy Spirit who is our conscience.  And it is our conscience that tells us when we are making a bad choice.  In saying this we need to be reminded that it is our flesh, our sinful desires that tries to muffle the Holy Spirit.  Not that we cannot hear the Holy Spirit but that we ignore our conscience to fall into the trap of the flesh and our sinful desire.

Romans 5:6–8 6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Let us understand through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ who was crucified for our sake.  Whatever we suffer in our short earthly life we will rejoice even more as our eternal life will be more glorious than we can imagine. 

Jesus did not die and forgive us in vain.  Rather, Jesus dies and forgives us so that God’s glory is made complete.  Jesus Christ saves the Father’s creation that evil tried and failed to take away from Him.  This, for our sake, means that we have a God who truly loves us. 

We have much to praise and thank our God even if eternal life with Him is all we obtain through the gift of our Lord Jesus Christ who died so that we can be justified through forgiveness and faith to be made alive again through His and our resurrection.  Amen.

Written by Pastor Curtis A. May