Lesson from the Epistles: Romans 3:38-30; 5:1-11 (The Inclusive Bible)
We maintain that one is justified by faith—apart from keeping the Law. Does God belong to the Jews alone? Isn’t God also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles too. And because there is only one God, it is the same God who will justify Jew and Gentile through the same faith. Now since we have been made right in God’s sight by our faith, we are at peace with God through our Savior Jesus Christ. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us to the grace in which we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to the day on which we will become all that God has intended. But not only that—we even rejoice in our afflictions! We know that affliction produces perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and character, hope. And such a hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
At the appointed time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for us godless people. It is not easy to die even for a good person—though of course for someone really worthy, there might be someone prepared to die—but the proof of God’s love is that Christ died for us even while we were sinners.
Now that we have been justified by Christ’s blood, it is all the more certain that we will be saved by Christ from God’s wrath. For if we were reconciled to God by Christ’s death while we were God’s enemies, how much more certain that we who have been reconciled will be saved by Christ’s life! Not only that, we go so far as to make God our boast through our Savior Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.