The Weight Behind the “Therefore”

Most Christians love that passage in Romans where Paul writes, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God” (Rom 5:1–2). It really is a wonderful text—full of good things. But some of that good stuff is often missed because we read it out of context.

Paul begins with “therefore” for a reason. He has just told his readers that he is all about the gospel (Rom 1:1, 14–17). He isn’t ashamed of it, and it is about the power of God and the revelation of His righteousness. He begins with the bad news—the righteous wrath of God against all who “do not honor” God (Rom 1:18–21). That’s the real issue. It’s not merely “doing bad things.” It’s not simply “failing to obey.” It is the failure—indeed, the refusal—to honor or thank God, and the resulting idolatry that naturally follows: the idolatry of self (Rom 1:25). All the way to chapter 3, Paul expounds on this bad news. He lays it on thick. “There is none who does good; no, not one” (Rom 3:12). And the root cause: “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom 3:18).

Then comes the good news. Yes, we have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23), but God is justifying us as a gift by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ’s blood (Rom 3:24–25). That wrath is appeased in Christ—the word is propitiation. God demonstrates His righteousness in this act of grace (Rom 3:26). Paul then gives the example of Abraham (Rom 4), who had righteousness credited to him on the basis of faith.

Now we enter chapter 5. “Therefore” is built on all of that. “For this reason,” Paul says, “having been justified, we have peace with God.” Standing on its own, that’s good news. Standing in juxtaposition with “the wrath of God is revealed” makes it so much bigger.

But there’s more.

The text says “having been justified by faith.” That’s past tense. Done. Finished. No need for further action or additional justification. Those who come in faith have been justified—end of story. And that peace isn’t a warm feeling; it’s a reality. Sometimes we can experience peace when we shouldn’t or lack peace when we should have it, but this peace is from God’s side. He has declared peace between us—an objective truth. God has extended peace to us.

But there’s more.

Remember how “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”? Paul says “we exult in hope of the glory of God.” That glory of God that we fell short of in sin is now being restored. Standing in His grace, we are fully re-established and will ourselves ultimately be glorified (Rom 8:29-30).

We often understand the gospel most clearly in chapter 3: “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law” (Rom 3:28). Good stuff. Even better considering our universal sin condition and God’s righteous wrath. Better still given our inability to work through it (Rom 3:19–20). But the gospel is so much bigger than that. Don’t miss it. Immerse yourself in it. It is really, really good news.