¹ Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ …

Pivotal use of “therefore” occurs throughout Paul’s treatise on justification to signal the advance of his reasoning based on logical deduction. If one thing is true, then another logically follows. In this case, if a person is justified by faith, then peace with God inexorably follows. Christian truth is not just an academic or philosophical exercise, though. It answers the most fundamental question of life, namely, how to find peace with our Creator.

Everything the apostle has said up to this point leads to an assurance and comfort in the implications of that truth. If justification has nothing to do with our efforts, then justification is not precarious or hanging in the balance based on our behavior. In fact, if our behavior were the foundation for our justification, then we could have certainty—not a certainty of justification but a certainty of failure. That certainty positions us to be open to a different kind of justification which, as Paul writes, is a justification not by works of the law but by faith. And if that is true, then it logically follows that we have peace with God and nothing to fear from Him, because that kind of justification rests in who God is and what He does, not in our behavior. What we do is simply believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

This faith that Paul writes about is not a blind assent or a mystical sort of experience, but it is a reasonable faith. That great prophet of the Old Testament wrote, “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool’” (Isaiah 1:18). The word “reason” means to decide, prove or give judgment. It involves considering the facts and drawing a reasonable conclusion. Faith in God to cleanse us of our sins and bring peace with Him is reasonable; it is logical. This thinking can stand up to the philosophies of the world as the only consistent worldview that makes sense. We as creatures have failed by any reasonable assessment to live as we ought, leaving us without any hope apart from divine intervention by our Creator.

The logic is so prevailing that the hardened heart must deny the original premise, namely, God as our Sovereign Creator. This is where Paul began the whole discussion: “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Rom 1:21). But, acknowledging God, we are encouraged to follow through logically and put our faith in Jesus Christ.

Lord, I do believe in Jesus because that is the only thing that makes sense.