VII.
Do you think we can agree that Paul believes we “are justified,” or at the very least can be “justified”?

What do you think about that? How do you feel about that? Do you really think and feel “justified” and at “peace with God.”

VIII.
Romans 5:1-11 (NRSVue)

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely, therefore, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

IX.
I know different Christian folk can have different definitions of justification and have different understanding of the “process,” but for the moment think about how justification, peace, hope, and reconciliation relate to one another.

Do these words point to vastly different aspects of our relationship to God and to one another or do they rather all point to a central matter of the heart, mind, soul and relationship?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}