We are going to examine a portion of Romans Chapter 5 about the glory of God and what believers can expect in their own lives. But what exactly is the glory of God? Glory is a word that is not used in our culture today, which is why I want to examine it closer. So let’s begin.

Romans 5:1 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ

“Therefore, having been justified by faith,” 

If we are born again, we are now justified by God. I now stand before Him as if I had never, ever, ever, sinned. I have been declared righteous forever, or, for all time, until the end of time, eternally, undyingly, perpetually, in perpetuity. I have been made new. I am a totally new creation because I have a new heart (or spirit) that no longer desires to sin. I have the new heart that God promised in Ezekiel 36:26-27. I want to please the God of love Who deeply and profoundly loves not just me, but all of His creation, and Who proves it consistently.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” You see, God always wanted to dwell with His people.

(In the context, that promise was written to the Jewish people, but in the new covenant, the same benefit was also extended to the Gentile nations.)

Now we are ‘tied together” with God

“we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 

We have peace (in Hebrew, shalom) with God now, on account of, or because of, Jesus Christ. Peace is defined as quietness, rest, probably from a  primary verb meaning “to join” to tie together into a whole. The Greek word is “eirene” from eiro. I really like the idea of being “tied together.”

So because I have been justified by Him, I now have peace, or am tied together, with God. If we don’t have peace, we must ask God, what is the problem? The Bible says I have peace. Why don’t I have peace? It’s usually because some sin has come between us and God, perhaps an offense at another person, or we are doing something He does not want us to do. Lack of peace is His way of letting us know that something is off.

Romans 5:2 “…through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, 

Not only do we have peace (or been joined together with God), but we have full access to His unmerited kindness and favor that we have not earned and cannot earn because of Jesus Christ. Other words for grace are favor, approval, approbation, acceptance, commendation, esteem, regard, respect, preferment, liking, support, and goodwill. It’s all about what He did for us. All we do is believe. 

The kindness and love of the God of the Bible Who sent HIs Son Jesus to earth to live as a man, in order to demonstrate what God’s will was for mankind, and then to die to set you and me free from the lies and evil deeds of the devil, is utterly astonishing. He did this so that we might be rescued, and could live in truth and freedom and become all that God had planned when He made man. We now stand, or exist, or live in His kindness in a sinful world.

Defining Glory

“and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

I don’t know about you, but this passage makes my eyes cross because as written, I think it is unclear. In the structure of the English language, some words appear to me to be missing in the translation. I am finding more and more in many cases that English is not able to use a single word to convey a true meaning of the original languages the Bible was written in, and some words are indeed outdated. I would like to exegete the word “glory” a bit in the context of this passage. 

As a noun, the dictionary defines glory to mean: renown, fame, prestige, honor, distinction, kudos, eminence, preeminence, acclaim, acclamation, celebrity, praise, accolades, laurels, recognition, note, notability, credit, repute, reputation, name, illustriousness, luster. The Greek word “doksa” for glory literally means “what evokes good opinion, i.e. that something has inherent intrinsic worth” (J.Thayer). God has worth and we have worth to Him. It’s why He did what He did. We are valuable to Him.

In the context of the scriptures that follow, and since, in my opinion, there is lack of clarification in this passage, I am going to read this as “we rejoice in the hope of experiencing, or having, the glory of God. In other words, His characteristics now become mine. I can confirm that interpretation by Romans 3:34 where Paul says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” The obvious meaning is that because of sin, we humans fall far short of having God’s character, even thought the Bible says we were made in His image. Before salvation we were not like Him. We were unable to reflect His character because of our sinful nature. But after we are born again and given HIs nature, we can look in the “mirror” (the Bible) to see what He always intended us to be and then begin to live that way. (1 Corinthians 13:12)

In the Amplified bible, Romans 8:30 declares “And those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified [declared free of the guilt of sin]; and those whom He justified, He also glorified [raising them to a heavenly dignity].”

Experiencing His glory is now possible. Becoming like Him and thinking like Him and doing the things He did are now possible because I live in His light. (1 Corinthians 2:16 says we have the mind of Christ!) The ensuing verses clarify this thought moving forward. 

Being happy in tribulations and trials…not my favorite thing

Romans 5:3-4 “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 

Here, as a verb, glory is defined as: take great pleasure in, exult in, rejoice in, delight in, revel in; relish, savor, greatly enjoy; take great pride in, preen oneself on, congratulate oneself on, be proud of; boast about, crow about, gloat about; informal get a kick out of, (well, that’s going too far..), get a thrill out of. 

In other words, if our goal is to be like Him, we delight in whatever comes that gets us to that place. We are focused on that one thing. I always found this a difficult passage to get excited about, but I was too concentrated on myself. I have learned to not be dismayed at the trials I experience because I trust Him. We don’t like trials, but when I submit myself to Jesus, these trials create perseverance, causing me to never give in to despair and to pursue all that He has for me. We could say it this way: “because I look forward to experiencing His glory, or His character, I can put value on and even rejoice in the trials that come.”

Perseverance involves patience, faith, trusting Him. This brings us into a place where no matter what happens around us, we have faith in His goodness and hope for what is around the corner in our walk with God. We are on an adventure! The character that is produced in us because we submit to Jesus when we have problems, i.e., not getting our way, apparent lack of material goods, adverse circumstances, etc. produces in us the trusting character of Jesus. Consider the adverse circumstances of Joseph, Jeremiah, Daniel, Paul, and other saints as examples. The record of their lives are written to help us. They help me greatly. I always feel grateful when I consider Jeremiah’s life.

Habakkuk gets it

The Book of Habakkuk, an OT prophet, personifies total faith in God’s goodness in circumstances of great despair and hopelessness.  Nevertheless, the prophet says this:

“Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls— Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills.”—Habakkuk 3:17-19

In other words, no matter what circumstances we face, God is bigger than all of them and He has the answer to those problems. He is on my side and is always working for my good. My faith is in Him no matter what. Habakkuk had hope in the midst of the direst of circumstances…crop failure and famine. This statement from him has always amazed me.

Our confident expectation is always and forever in His promises

Romans 5:5 “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Again, this sentence seems a bit unclear, so I’m going to dig into it a bit. How does hope relate to the love of God being poured out in our hearts? Is that speaking of our love of and towards God? Or is it speaking of the love from God? The hope spoken of is a confident expectation based on God’s promises. Hebrews 6:19 talks about this hope as an “anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast…”

I like the Contemporary English bible’s rendering about the hope…“that will never disappoint us. All of this happens because God has given us the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with His love.” The Aramaic Bible in Plain English says…”But hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has come in, overflowing our hearts by The Spirit of Holiness who has been given to us.”

If the Holy Spirit is in you, you have the love of God poured out into you too, because He is love. The love of God referenced here is the love He has for YOU!!! And yes, it is for others also, but first we must understand His love towards us individually. He’s IN LOVE with us with a passion we can find hard to comprehend. We can have this hope, this confident expectation, because we know His love for us.

Conclusion

I’ll end this with another version of these passages:

Romans 5:1-5 from The Passion Translation (TPT)

“Our faith in Jesus transfers God’s righteousness to us and he now declares us flawless in his eyes. This means we can now enjoy true and lasting peace with God, all because of what our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, has done for us. Our faith guarantees us permanent access into this marvelous kindness that has given us a perfect relationship with God. What incredible joy bursts forth within us as we keep on celebrating our hope of experiencing God’s glory!

“But that’s not all! Even in times of trouble we have a joyful confidence, knowing that our pressures will develop in us patient endurance. And patient endurance will refine our character, and proven character leads us back to hope. And this hope is not a disappointing fantasy, because we can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us!”

This study has helped me a lot. I hope it helps you too.