5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Peace, man! When I was a little kid in the hippie era, that was a greeting. In WWI, there was peace of a sort on Christmas Day, 1914. For one day, French, English and German soldiers did NOT kill each other but celebrated the Savior’s birth together in the middle of the battlefield. The next day was December 26th and the truce was over. Neither of these is really peace. Read all of Romans 5 and you will notice four words we see on those Christmas cards we throw away on December 26th. They are “Rejoice”, “Hope”, “Love”, and “Peace”. It is groovy to have hippie peace, and it is convenient when we don’t kill each other for one day, but when we have peace with God, that is another story. A great story.
Adam and Eve’s sin in the garden was a declaration of war against God that we cannot win. In the Crusades, the losing army would “sue for peace”, knowing there would be carnage if they continued the fight. They would send their leaders to the middle of the battlefield to make peace. God sent Jesus to the middle of the battlefield to surrender on a cross so we could have real peace. All we need to do is surrender to the grace of God that frees us from the collateral damage of sin; lost relationships and death. When we have peace with God, all the other words march in lockstep. We have real Hope, Joy, Love, and Peace when we follow Jesus Christ. It’s the only peace that works in the middle of this battlefield.
Peace, man!