Restoration of Communion with God in us

"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access [by faith] to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us." (Romans 5:1–5)

This passage from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans distills the entire Christian life into a movement from justification to glory, from faith to hope, and from suffering to sanctification. The declaration that “we have peace with God” is not a subjective feeling but an objective reality: the enmity caused by sin has been healed by the redemptive work of Christ. Justification, a gift received through faith, establishes the believer in a new relationship with God, marked not by fear, but by reconciliation. This peace is not the absence of struggle but the presence of divine harmony, the restoration of communion between the Creator and the creature.

Paul articulates the grace-filled process of sanctification. Through Christ, the faithful are not only justified but introduced into a permanent state of grace—“this grace in which we stand.” The verb “stand” suggests stability, firmness, and rootedness in a new existential condition. On this basis, the Christian can “boast in hope of the glory of God”—not as presumption, but as confident expectation rooted in divine fidelity. The hope referenced here is eschatological: a longing for the fullness of divine glory to be revealed in us, a hope that rests on the promise of resurrection and eternal life in communion with the Trinity.

Paul’s paradoxical assertion that the believer can also “boast of our afflictions” marks a radical reorientation of the human response to suffering. Affliction (thlipsis) becomes not a sign of abandonment, but a path to transformation. The chain of spiritual causality is clear: affliction yields endurance (hypomonē), which in turn forges character (dokimē), and character sustains hope. This progression is not automatic, but a fruit of grace working in the soul that yields to God amid trials. Christian hope is tested, refined, and ultimately strengthened through suffering, not despite it. It is through affliction that believers are configured more fully to Christ, whose own suffering led to glory.

The climactic affirmation—“hope does not disappoint”—grounds this entire process in divine love. Christian hope is not wishful thinking but a theological virtue anchored in the faithfulness of God. It cannot be frustrated because “the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” This love is not merely known or observed; it is infused into the very depths of the soul. The Holy Spirit is both the agent and the gift—He who communicates divine love inwardly, strengthening faith, nourishing hope, and sustaining charity. Thus, Christian endurance is not stoicism, but the effect of divine indwelling.

Romans 5:1–5 offers the Church a theology of grace that touches every facet of the spiritual life. From justification to sanctification, from suffering to glory, from despair to hope, this passage invites the believer into the mystery of salvation as a lived experience. The Christian does not walk alone but stands firm in grace, boasts in hope, and is sustained by the love of God poured into the heart. In a world weary of suffering and suspicious of promises, the Church must continue to proclaim with Paul that hope in Christ does not disappoint—for it is anchored not in human strength, but in the Spirit of the living God who never fails.

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