Romans 5:5-6

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, Whom He has given us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

V5 – Hope does not disappoint. God has poured out His love in our hearts by giving us the Holy Spirit. Again, the hope is sure and settled. It does not disappoint. How do we know? We have the Spirit. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit confirms our hope of glory. God has poured out His saving love into our hearts by giving us His Spirit. The Holy Spirit tells us that God has undeniable, undeserved, and intense saving love for us. Since we have been justified through faith by the saving works of Christ, we know (our hope is certain) that God’s saving love for us will not disappoint. The Holy Spirit’s presence confirms it.

Watch the spiraling nature of hope in Romans 15:13: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” How does hope work in the Christian life? It starts with the God of hope. He fills believers with joy and peace. In other words, our joy and peace rise with our belief that the God of hope is for us in Christ. Joy and peace are sustained by hope. But then the verse says that God fills us with joy and peace “so that you may overflow with hope.” So here we have more hope coming from the fruit of hope. Hope brings about our joy and peace. And our joy and peace bring about more and more hope. The first hope is a means to the last hope.

Notice also the parallel to Romans 5:5 in Ephesians 3:16-19: “I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Pray with all your heart the prayers of Paul. Like the one in Ephesians 1:18-19, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe.” When the eyes of our hearts are opened to the greatness of God’s love, the love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, Who was given to us.

Notice finally the faith-hope-love trinity mentioned here. Paul loves to talk about faith, hope, and love, and he does it right here. V1-2: our faith; v2-5: our hope; v5-8: God’s love. Not our love for Him, but His love for us. Our justification means that God’s saving love is applied to us through faith.

V6 – At just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Paul confirms the unfailing love of God by declaring that Christ died for the ungodly in their powerlessness. He died for people who did not deserve it and who were unable to earn it or contribute anything to it. The Gospel declares God’s love, not for the godly, powerful, lovable folks, but for the unlovable, the weak, the powerless, the ungodly. Paul is bringing up an argument here. He says, “You want to see the love of God? Look at those for whom Christ died.” That’s the love of God. Then Paul illustrates his argument in v7-8, and we'll look at that after a Christmas blogging break…