Romans 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. In this chapter St. Paul describes the riches of Divine grace — how free, full, and comprehensive is the gift of God. Now the grace of God is not merely nominal, it is operative and communicative. Sometimes God may show His almighty power, as when He creates a system of worlds; sometimes His wisdom, as when He furnishes and adorns a planet; sometimes His goodness in the abundant favours which he confers upon His creatures. But He displays His grace to the ruined family of mankind. Here the kindness of God has full play. "This grace wherein we stand" denotes a state in which we remain to dwell amidst its privileges. It is not a casual or evanescent feeling, but a settled condition wrought for us and in us by the abounding mercy of the Lord. This is a state of — I. PEACE AND FAVOUR WITH GOD (ver. 1). When God justifies the ungodly, and withdraws the sentence of condemnation, the fear of wrath is removed, and heartfelt peace necessarily succeeds to gloomy apprehension. Peace is the first blessing promised by Christ to the returning sinner, and it is a great one. A soul at peace with the universe, above, around, and before it, is in an enviable state of existence! II. DIVINE INFLUENCE. "Grace" is often used to express the work of the Holy Spirit. When you first believed and entered the kingdom of grace, the Holy Ghost, with royal finger, touched your soul, and raised it from the death of sin to a life of righteousness. He continues His work of grace in the believer. He loves to form the soul anew, to beautify and adorn it with the image of the heavenly. III. COMMUNION WITH GOD (Ephesians 2:18). It is no mean privilege for a needy creature to have free and ready access to the Giver of all good; to have the liberty of ransacking the storehouse of grace. There is a temple of prayer in the land of grace. We know not if there be another such in the universe. There is none in the regions of sin. "God heareth not [wilful] sinners." True, there is a porch of mercy to which the penitent may flee, and where the sighing of a broken heart will be heard by God; and this porch communicates with the temple of salvation through the door which is Christ Jesus. But until you reach the gate of repentance, you may stretch out your hands to heaven in vain. In the new Jerusalem, John "saw no temple." Heaven is a place of praise, not of prayer. So we are permitted to pray upon earth. This is an amazing privilege which is too little appreciated, and can never be fully estimated. IV. JOYOUS ANTICIPATION. "We rejoice in hope of the glory of God." This full assurance of hope is the privilege of the experienced Christian in whom grace has produced its ripe fruits. Hope is the daughter of faith. Faith is the victory over the world, hope over death. It is the Christian warrior's privilege. When his spiritual hope is matured, it is a faculty of no little potency. The believer now feels the powers of the world to come — a Divine life which is ever aspiring towards its native heaven. (R. M. Macbriar, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. |
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