1 Therefore, since we have been justified [at one point in the past (aorist), by God (passive)] by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The first benefit of justification is “peace with God” positionally and judicially forever.
we have [present tense—we already possess] peace with God
“Peace” is the lack of hostility with God. We have a new relation with God because of justification. We are no longer at war with God due to our sin. There is no other need to find a way to placate God’s wrath against us.
This is peace with God, not the peace of God. Peace with God occurred but once and it is something that God does. This is an objective and external state with God, not a subjective inner tranquility. Neither is it contentment. Peace of God is a peace that we sense when we are in tune with God. The latter is an inward peace.
Php 4:6-7, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
The word “peace” means to bind together what is separated. Jesus made peace through His blood shed on the cross (Co 1:20). We stand bound together with God because of Christ’s death for our sins.
The word “with” in “peace with God” carries the idea of facing. When we face God in His presence, we stand in the positional truth of being guiltless and not condemned.
The words “we have” indicate that peace with God is something we already possess (present tense). We are presently at peace with God. This is not a subjective peace that we personally experience but an objective peace, a situation whereby Christ settled the differences between us and God. There is a cause-effect relationship between justification and peace.
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The death of Christ made peace possible—it reconciled us to God. We are no longer under condemnation. If there is to be peace between God and man, God Himself must impose the terms of the agreement.
Jesus is “ours” in the sense that we placed our personal faith in Him.
PRINCIPLE:
Peace with God is not a feeling but a fact.
APPLICATION:
The Christian is at peace with God regardless of how we may feel about it. We are at peace with God for all eternity. The believer has the responsibility of enjoying the peace that God provides. We can rest assured that God credited to our faith His righteousness by the finished work of Christ on the cross.
Those without Christ do not have true peace. They claim “peace, peace, when there is no peace” (Je 6:14; 8:11). Every person has been at war with God, so every person must come to peace with God at some point in his life. Most people do not view themselves as at war with God, but from God’s viewpoint, they are at enmity with Him.
They may consider themselves as neutral. The fallacy with that thinking is that they do not understand how absolutely perfect God is in His character. Those who trust Christ here and now have peace in time and hope hereafter.
Ro 8:7-8, 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
We can know that we have this peace with God; certainty comes from God’s promise. Those who accept the promise of forgiveness that reconciles us to God have eternal peace with God. At the point of acceptance there is a cessation of hostility between God and the person. God and man stand reconciled forever.
