English · KJV

Romans 5:2

“Peace with God Through Faith”Romans 5:1–5
King James Version
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

KJV (with Strong's)
By G1223 whom G3739 also G2532 we have G2192 access G4318 by faith G4102 into G1519 this G5026 grace G5485 wherein G1722 G3739 we stand G2476, and G2532 rejoice G2744 in G1909 hope G1680 of the glory G1391 of God G2316.

Bible text: King James Version with Strong's numbers · Public domain

Berean Standard Bible
through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible · Public domain

American Standard Version
through whom also we have had our access by faith into this grace wherein we stand; and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

World English Bible Messianic
through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Bible text: World English Bible, Messianic edition · Public domain

Geneva Bible (1599)
By who also through faith, we haue had this accesse into this grace, wherein we stand, and reioyce vnder ye hope of the glory of God.

Bible text: Geneva Bible (1599) · Public domain

Young's Literal Translation
through whom also we have the access by the faith into this grace in which we have stood, and we boast on the hope of the glory of God.

Bible text: Young's Literal Translation · Public domain

King James Version — Interlinear
23 Greek words
  1. δι᾽di᾽throughG1223PREPPreposition
  2. οὗhouwhomG3739R-GSMRelative pronoun Genitive Singular Masculine
  3. καὶkaialsoG2532CONJConjunction
  4. τὴνtēn[the]G3588T-ASFDefinite article Accusative Singular Feminine
  5. προσαγωγὴνprosagōgēnaccessG4318N-ASFNoun Accusative Singular Feminine
  6. ἐσχήκαμενeschēkamenwe have hadG2192V-RAI-1PVerb Perfect Active Indicative 1st Plural
  7. τῇtēa[the]G3588T-DSFDefinite article Dative Singular Feminine
  8. πίστειpisteiby faithG4102N-DSFNoun Dative Singular Feminine
  9. εἰςeisintoG1519PREPPreposition
  10. τὴνtēn[the]G3588T-ASFDefinite article Accusative Singular Feminine
  11. χάρινcharingraceG5485N-ASFNoun Accusative Singular Feminine
  12. ταύτηνtautēnthisG3778D-ASFDemonstrative pronoun Accusative Singular Feminine
  13. ἐνeninG1722PREPPreposition
  14. ᾗhēwhichG3739R-DSFRelative pronoun Dative Singular Feminine
  15. ἑστήκαμενhestēkamenwe have stoodG2476V-RAI-1PVerb Perfect Active Indicative 1st Plural
  16. καὶkaiandG2532CONJConjunction
  17. καυχώμεθαkauchōmethawe boastG2744V-PNI-1PVerb Present Middle Or Passive Deponent Indicative 1st Plural
  18. ἐπ᾽ep᾽inG1909PREPPreposition
  19. ἐλπίδιelpidihopeG1680N-DSFNoun Dative Singular Feminine
  20. τῆςtēsof theG3588T-GSFDefinite article Genitive Singular Feminine
  21. δόξηςdoxēsgloryG1391N-GSFNoun Genitive Singular Feminine
  22. τοῦtou[the]G3588T-GSMDefinite article Genitive Singular Masculine
  23. θεοῦtheouof GodG2316N-GSM-TNoun Genitive Singular Masculine Title
English is a literal word-by-word gloss of the Greek, not the KJV's wording. Why?

This is the original text the KJV's translators worked from — each Greek word with its own literal English meaning in this verse, prepared by scholars at Tyndale House, Cambridge. The KJV translates whole sentences, not word by word, so its wording differs: one Greek word can become several English words, and the KJV may choose “charity” where the gloss reads “love”. Both are faithful — they answer different questions. For the KJV's own rendering, switch to the KJV text.

Words in [ ] are added by the English.

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This verse

Through Christ we have been brought by faith into God’s grace, where we now stand, and we rejoice in the sure hope of sharing the glory of God.

“By whom also”

Christ again. The “also” adds access to the peace of verse 1.

“we have access by faith”

prosagōgḗ, being brought in before a king, a word used only here and twice in Ephesians.

“into this grace wherein we stand,”

God’s free favour, cháris. The perfect tense of “stand” means we were placed there and remain.

“and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

A confident boasting, kaucháomai, in a sure hope, elpís, of sharing God’s glory. The joy is present and its ground is future.

Peace with God Through Faith

Romans 5:1–5

Summary

Paul has spent four chapters showing that all have sinned and that God justifies sinners through faith in Jesus Christ. Here he begins to set out what that gift brings with it. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Christ we have also been brought into the grace in which we now stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. That joy reaches even into our troubles, because God uses tribulation to work patience in us, patience to prove our character, and that proven character to strengthen our hope. And this hope will hold to the end, because God has poured his love into our hearts by the Holy Ghost whom he has given us. Father, Son and Spirit are all at work in these five verses, and every blessing in them comes to us through Christ.

Justified by faith, at peace with God

Verse 1 opens with “Therefore” (oûn), and the word gathers up everything Paul has said so far. He has shown that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), Jew and Gentile alike, and that we are all under God’s wrath and unable to justify ourselves. He has shown God’s answer: “a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (Romans 3:28). He has given Abraham as the great example, who “believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Romans 4:3) long before the law of Moses was given, and he closed chapter 4 with Christ, who was “raised again for our justification” (Romans 4:25). Now Paul turns from how we are made right with God to what follows from it, and the blessings he names, peace, access, hope and the love of God, run on through Romans 5:11.

What “justified” means

The verb dikaióō, from díkaios (“just”), means to render, show or regard someone as just or innocent. It was a legal word, at home in both Jewish and Roman courts, where it meant a declaration that a person was in the right. Paul uses it for God’s gracious act of declaring a believing sinner righteous. It is a verdict about our standing before God, resting entirely on Christ’s perfect righteousness counted to us, and it sets us free from the condemnation of sin. “Being justified” looks back on a settled act that God has already done.

We receive it “by faith”, in Greek ek písteōs, “out of” or “from” faith. The word pístis comes from peíthō, to persuade, and means a firm conviction of the truth, and especially reliance on Christ for salvation. Here it is the trust that leans on God’s promise and on the finished work of Jesus. Faith receives God’s justifying grace, and all the merit belongs to Christ.

The peace we have

The word for peace, eirḗnē, probably comes from a verb meaning to join, and it covers peace, quietness and rest, and being “set at one again”. Like the Hebrew shalom, it speaks of wholeness, well-being and security. Here it means the end of hostility between God and us. Before we were justified we stood against him, for “the carnal mind is enmity against God” (Romans 8:7). Justification ends that enmity and brings us into a right and flourishing relationship with him.

The church in Rome lived under the Pax Romana, the Roman peace held in place by military power. The peace Paul speaks of is reconciliation with God himself, the sovereign over all, and it comes by grace. The verb “have” (échō) is present, so this is a peace we already possess. We receive it as a settled fact and rest in it.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ

The preposition diá, “through”, names the one by whom both the verdict and the peace come to us, our Lord Jesus Christ (kýrios Iēsoûs Christós). His sacrificial death and his resurrection made the reconciliation, and he alone is its channel. He is “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Paul calls him “our peace”, who has broken down “the middle wall of partition” and reconciled Jew and Gentile “unto God in one body by the cross” (Ephesians 2:14–16). God has made “peace through the blood of his cross”, so that he may present us “holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight” (Colossians 1:20–22). Christ is made unto us “wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Every blessing in this passage, from our justified standing to our peace, flows from our union with him.

Peace with God and the peace of God

Paul also speaks of “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding”, which “shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). Peace with God is the reconciled relationship, a change in our standing before him that holds whatever we feel on a given day. The peace of God is the calm he gives within, guarding heart and mind, and it flows out of peace with him. The first is the ground of the second.

Does justification by faith make good works unimportant?

Good works matter a great deal, and Paul gives them their place. They are the fruit and evidence of real faith, and they follow from salvation. “For by grace are ye saved through faith... Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8–10). True faith goes on to produce a life of obedience and good deeds, and that life shows that the heart has been changed.

Access into the grace in which we stand

“By whom” in verse 2 is Christ again. The word for access, prosagōgḗ, comes from a verb meaning to lead or bring someone to another, and it means an introduction or admission into the presence of someone great. People in the Roman world knew how hard it was to gain an audience with an emperor or a high official, and how often a go-between was needed to bring a person in. Christ is the one who brings us into the presence of God, a privilege sinful people could never win for themselves.

The word appears only three times in the New Testament, here and in two verses of Ephesians, and each time it means access to God through Christ: “For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (Ephesians 2:18), and “In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him” (Ephesians 3:12). So we may “come boldly unto the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16). Christ has opened “a new and living way” (Hebrews 10:20). He is the door (John 10:9), and he is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). In breaking down the dividing wall (Ephesians 2:14) he opened that way to Jew and Gentile together. We receive this access “by faith” as well, by trusting him and his finished work.

What we are brought into is “this grace”. The word cháris means God’s favour and kindness given to those who have not earned it, and it also takes in his work on the heart and its reflection in the life. “This grace” is the whole sphere of God’s saving work and favour, where he accepts us and blesses us freely.

Standing in grace

“Wherein we stand” uses hístēmi in the perfect tense, which speaks of something done in the past whose result goes on. We have been placed in God’s grace, and we remain standing there. Peter uses the same words when he calls his letter a testimony to “the true grace of God wherein ye stand” (1 Peter 5:12). This is a settled dwelling, and it rests on Christ’s finished work. Our standing before God stays firm through the ups and downs of our feelings and our performance from day to day, and that is the ground of our assurance.

Rejoicing in hope of the glory of God

The word “rejoice” is kaucháomai, to boast or exult, a deep and confident joy. Paul uses the same verb in the next verse, where the KJV has “glory” (Romans 5:3), and again in Romans 5:11, where it has “joy”.

Hope, elpís, is a confident expectation, an anticipation, usually with pleasure, of good that is certain because God has promised it and his character stands behind it. Its object here is “the glory of God”, the day when we share in his splendour and perfection, the crown of our salvation, which Paul describes at length later in the letter (Romans 8:18–30). Christ himself is that hope, for Paul speaks of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27), and his presence in us now is the pledge and foretaste of what is to come. So our salvation looks back to the verdict God has already given, holds us now in his grace, and looks forward to his glory, and the joy of that future reaches into the present.

Why we glory in tribulations also

Verse 3 carries that same joy into hard places. The words “And not only so, but... also” (dé, allá, kaí) extend it, and the verb is again kaucháomai. We boast in the hope of glory, and we boast in tribulations too.

The word for tribulations, thlîpsis, means pressure, the squeezing or crushing of something under weight. It covers affliction, anguish, being burdened, persecution and trouble of every kind, from opposition outside to distress within. For the believers in Rome it could mean being shunned, losing income, and facing local hostility for refusing to take part in pagan worship. Most Greeks and Romans sought to avoid pain and pursue comfort, so boasting in suffering would have sounded strange to them. The hardship is real and often intense, which makes Paul’s words all the more striking.

The reason comes in the next words: “knowing that tribulation worketh patience”. “Knowing” (eídō) is a settled understanding, a confident assurance based on what God has shown us. “Worketh” (katergázomai) means to work out, accomplish or produce. In God’s hands tribulation becomes a tool with a purpose, and what it produces is patience.

Patience as steadfast endurance

The word hypomonḗ comes from hypomenō, to remain under, and it means cheerful or hopeful endurance, constancy, patient continuance. It is an active quality, the strength to stay firm in faith and hope under pressure and to keep moving forward, trusting God’s plan. Simply putting up with something falls short of it. “For ye have need of patience,” says Hebrews, “that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise” (Hebrews 10:36).

James teaches the same thing as this verse, that “the trying of your faith worketh patience” (James 1:2–4). Peter says the trial of our faith is “much more precious than of gold that perisheth” (1 Peter 1:6–7). Paul writes that “our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17), and he counted all things loss that he might know Christ “and the fellowship of his sufferings” (Philippians 3:7–11). God uses the hardships of his people to conform them to the image of his Son.

Should we look for suffering?

Paul is teaching us how to meet the troubles that come, and he gives no encouragement to seek them out or to take pleasure in pain. Our joy is in what God is doing through the trial and where it leads, while the trial itself stays hard. We glory because we know he uses it to make us mature. The Christian life rests on trusting his hand and his purposes in every circumstance, painful ones included.

Patience, experience, hope

Verse 4 continues the chain: “And patience, experience; and experience, hope”. Each link begins with the word that ended the one before, a figure called anadiplosis, so tribulation leads to patience, patience to experience, and experience to hope, each growing out of the last as God has ordered it.

“Experience” translates dokimḗ, from dokimos, “approved” or “tested”. It means proof and approval, a character that has been put to the test and found genuine and trustworthy. In the New Testament the word is found only in Paul’s letters, and he uses it of Timothy: “ye know the proof of him” (Philippians 2:22). That makes the difference between the two words clear. Patience is the bearing up under trial, and experience is what that endurance leaves behind, a faith and character that have been proved true. It means more than having been through something. It means having been proved by it.

That proven character produces hope, the same hope of the glory of God that verse 2 spoke of. The trials we have come through, and the character God has formed in us by them, are evidence of his work in our lives, and they make us surer of his promises. Paul writes, “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16–18), and Hebrews calls us to “run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:1–2).

Christ who endured

Jesus walked this road before us. He “for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2), and “though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). His suffering worked our salvation, for we were “reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10), and it ended in his triumph over sin and death. We are united with him in his death and resurrection, so his victory is the pattern and the power for our own endurance. Our glorying in tribulation is the work of his Spirit in us, and we can say with Paul, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13). Our hope rests finally on his finished work, which has secured our justification and our future glory.

Why our hope will never put us to shame

Verse 5 brings the chain to its end. “Hope maketh not ashamed” uses kataischýnō, to put to shame, disgrace or confound, with the negative ou. Hope in God ends in vindication, and those who trust in it will be spared disappointment and disgrace. In Rome honour and shame weighed heavily, and to be shamed meant public humiliation or a promise that had failed. The believers there could be shamed in public for their faith, and Paul assures them that their trust in God will be shown to be right, before God and before the world. He uses the same verb when he quotes the prophet: “Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed” (Romans 10:11).

The love of God poured out

Hope holds “because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts”. The verb ekchéō means to pour out, to gush forth, to spread abroad abundantly. It is in the perfect tense, so the love was poured out and remains. God’s love fills our hearts in abundance, and the heart here is the whole inner person, mind, feeling and will. The same verb is used of the Holy Ghost himself, “which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour” (Titus 3:6).

This is God’s love for us, shown most fully at the cross, as Paul says a few verses on: “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Our hope stands on that love, which is already ours.

The Holy Ghost given to us

The love is poured out “by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us”. The Spirit is a gift, given freely to all who are in Christ, and through him we know God’s love as a present reality in the heart as well as a truth in the mind. God promised through Joel, “I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh” (Joel 2:28–29), and that outpouring marks the arrival of the new covenant age. Jesus told his disciples that he would go away and send the Comforter (John 16:7), so the Spirit’s coming is itself a fruit of Christ’s work.

The Spirit bears witness that we belong to God. “Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Romans 8:15–16). “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:6). God has “sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Corinthians 1:22), and the Spirit is “the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession” (Ephesians 1:13–14), God’s down payment on all he has promised. His work runs through the whole Christian life, from “the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5) to putting to death the deeds of the body (Romans 8:13). So in this one verse the Father’s love is poured out by the Spirit whom the Son has sent, and the hope it secures is the hope of the glory of God with which verse 2 began.

Peace that holds through hard days

Since you have been justified by faith, the great question of your standing before God has been answered. The answer rests on what Christ has done, and it stays firm on the days when your feelings run low. You can come to God as a Father who has welcomed you into his family, through the access Christ has opened, and you can stand in his grace with confidence and rest in his finished work.

When troubles come, you can meet them knowing that God is at work in them. The pain is real, and God uses it to build steadfastness, a tested faith and a stronger hope. The hope at the end of that road is sure, because the love of God has already been poured into your heart by the Spirit he has given you. That love was shown at the cross, and it will carry you through to the glory of God.

Last revised

Public-domain commentary

Matthew Henry

From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry wrote on whole passages, and this entry covers Romans 5:1–5. He set out his notes in a three-level outline, kept here as he numbered it.

1662–1714 · 5 verses
Passage under commentRomans 5:1–5
I. II. Main points1. 2. Sub-points(1.) (2.) Details

The precious benefits and privileges which flow from justification are such as should quicken us all to give diligence to make it sure to ourselves that we are justified, and then to take the comfort it renders to us, and to do the duty it calls for from us. The fruits of this tree of life are exceedingly precious.

I.We have peace with God, Romans 5:1.

It is sin that breeds the quarrel between us and God, creates not only a strangeness, but an enmity; the holy righteous God cannot in honour be at peace with a sinner while he continues under the guilt of sin. Justification takes away the guilt, and so makes way for peace. And such are the benignity and good-will of God to man that, immediately upon the removing of that obstacle, the peace is made. By faith we lay hold of God's arm and of his strength, and so are at peace, Isaiah 27:4, Isaiah 27:5. There is more in this peace than barely a cessation of enmity, there is friendship and loving-kindness, for God is either the worst enemy or the best friend. Abraham, being justified by faith, was called the friend of God (James 2:23), which was his honour, but not his peculiar honour: Christ has called his disciples friends, John 15:13-15. And surely a man needs no more to make him happy than to have God his friend! But this is through our Lord Jesus Christ - through him as the great peace-maker, the Mediator between God and man, that blessed Day's-man that has laid his hand upon us both. Adam, in innocency, had peace with God immediately; there needed no such mediator. But to guilty sinful man it is a very dreadful thing to think of God out of Christ; for he is our peace, Ephesians 2:14, not only the maker, but the matter and maintainer, of our peace, Colossians 1:20.

II.We have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, Romans 5:2.

This is a further privilege, not only peace, but grace, that is, this favour. Observe,

1.The saints' happy state. It is a state of grace, God's loving-kindness to us and our conformity to God; he that hath God's love and God's likeness is in a state of grace. Now into this grace we have access prosagōgēn - an introduction, which implies that we were not born in this state; we are by nature children of wrath, and the carnal mind is enmity against God; but we are brought into it. We could not have got into it of ourselves, nor have conquered the difficulties in the way, but we have a manuduction, a leading by the hand, - are led into it as blind, or lame, or weak people are led, - are introduced as pardoned offenders, - are introduced by some favourite at court to kiss the king's hand, as strangers, that are to have audience, are conducted. Prosagōgēn eschēkamen - We have had access. He speaks of those that have been already brought out of a state of nature into a state of grace. Paul, in his conversion, had this access; then he was made nigh. Barnabas introduced him to the apostles (Acts 9:27), and there were others that led him by the hand to Damascus (Romans 5:8), but it was Christ that introduced and led him by the hand into this grace. By whom we have access by faith. By Christ as the author and principal agent, by faith as the means of this access. Not by Christ in consideration of any merit or desert of ours, but in consideration of our believing dependence upon him and resignation of ourselves to him.

2.Their happy standing in this state: wherein we stand. Not only wherein we are, but wherein we stand, a posture that denotes our discharge from guilt; we stand in the judgment (Psalm 1:5), not cast, as convicted criminals, but our dignity and honour secured, not thrown to the ground, as abjects. The phrase denotes also our progress; while we stand, we are going. We must not lie down, as if we had already attained, but stand as those that are pressing forward, stand as servants attending on Christ our master. The phrase denotes, further, our perseverance: we stand firmly and safely, upheld by the power of God; stand as soldiers stand, that keep their ground, not borne down by the power of the enemy. It denotes not only our admission to, but our confirmation in, the favour of God. It is not in the court of heaven as in earthly courts, where high places are slippery places: but we stand in a humble confidence of this very thing that he who has begun the good work will perform it, Philippians 1:6.

III.We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Besides the happiness in hand, there is a happiness in hope, the glory of God, the glory which God will put upon the saints in heaven, glory which will consist in the vision and fruition of God.

1.Those, and those only, that have access by faith into the grace of God now may hope for the glory of God hereafter. There is no good hope of glory but what is founded in grace; grace is glory begun, the earnest and assurance of glory. He will give grace and glory, Psalm 84:11.

2.Those who hope for the glory of God hereafter have enough to rejoice in now. It is the duty of those that hope for heaven to rejoice in that hope.

IV.We glory in tribulations also; not only notwithstanding our tribulations (these do not hinder our rejoicing in hope of the glory of God), but even in our tribulations, as they are working for us the weight of glory, 2 Corinthians 4:17. Observe, What a growing increasing happiness the happiness of the saints is: Not only so. One would think such peace, such grace, such glory, and such a joy in hope of it, were more than such poor undeserving creatures as we are could pretend to; and yet it is not only so: there are more instances of our happiness - we glory in tribulations also, especially tribulations for righteousness' sake, which seemed the greatest objection against the saints' happiness, whereas really their happiness did not only consist with, but take rise fRom. those tribulations. They rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer, Acts 5:41. This being the hardest point, he sets himself to show the grounds and reasons of it. How come we to glory in tribulations? Why, because tribulations, by a chain of causes, greatly befriend hope, which he shows in the method of its influence.

1.Tribulation worketh patience, not in and of itself, but the powerful grace of God working in and with the tribulation. It proves, and by proving improves, patience, as parts and gifts increase by exercise. It is not the efficient cause, but yields the occasion, as steel is hardened by the fire. See how God brings meat out of the eater, and sweetness out of the strong. That which worketh patience is matter of joy; for patience does us more good than tribulations can do us hurt. Tribulation in itself worketh impatience; but, as it is sanctified to the saints, it worketh patience.

2.Patience experience, Romans 5:4. It works an experience of God, and the songs he gives in the night; the patient sufferers have the greatest experience of the divine consolations, which abound as afflictions abound. It works an experience of ourselves. It is by tribulation that we make an experiment of our own sincerity, and therefore such tribulations are called trials. It works, dokimēn - an approbation, as he is approved that has passed the test. Thus Job's tribulation wrought patience, and that patience produced an approbation, that still he holds fast his integrity, Job 2:3.

3.Experience hope. He who, being thus tried, comes forth as gold, will thereby be encouraged to hope. This experiment, or approbation, is not so much the ground, as the evidence, of our hope, and a special friend to it. Experience of God is a prop to our hope; he that hath delivered doth and will. Experience of ourselves helps to evidence our sincerity.

4.This hope maketh not ashamed; that is, it is a hope that will not deceive us. Nothing confounds more than disappointment. Everlasting shame and confusion will be caused by the perishing of the expectation of the wicked, but the hope of the righteous shall be gladness, Proverbs 10:28. See Psalm 22:5; Psalm 71:1. Or, It maketh not ashamed of our sufferings. Though we are counted as the offscouring of all things, and trodden under foot as the mire in the streets, yet, having hopes of glory, we are not ashamed of these sufferings. It is in a good cause, for a good Master, and in good hope; and therefore we are not ashamed. We will never think ourselves disparaged by sufferings that are likely to end so well. Because the love of God is shed abroad. This hope will not disappoint us, because it is sealed with the Holy Spirit as a Spirit of love. It is the gracious work of the blessed Spirit to shed abroad the love of God in the hearts of all the saints. The love of God, that is, the sense of God's love to us, drawing out love in us to him again. Or, The great effects of his love:

(1.)Special grace; and,

(2.)The pleasant gust or sense of it. It is shed abroad, as sweet ointment, perfuming the soul, as rain watering it and making it fruitful. The ground of all our comfort and holiness, and perseverance in both, is laid in the shedding abroad of the love of God in our hearts; it is this which constrains us, 2 Corinthians 5:14. Thus are we drawn and held by the bonds of love. Sense of God's love to us will make us not ashamed, either of our hope in him or our sufferings for him.

Historical interpretation

Two Centuries of Reception

6 surviving comments on this verse. Each one is dated, so this reads as a timeline rather than a list.

6 quotes · AD 253–418
Ante-NicenePost-Nicene
300400

Select a marker to jump to its quote. Markers stagger vertically where authors wrote within a few decades of each other.

d. AD 253Origen of AlexandriaAnte-NiceneSourceCOMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
How we have access to grace through our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior himself tells us “I am the door,” and “No one comes to the Father except by me.” … This door is the truth, and liars cannot enter in by the door of truth. Again, this door is righteousness, and the unrighteous cannot enter in by it. The Door himself says: “Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.” So neither the irascible nor the proud can enter in by the door of humility and gentleness. Therefore, if anyone wants to have access to the grace of God which according to the word of the apostle comes through our Lord Jesus Christ and in which Paul and those like him claim to stand, it is essential that he be cleansed of all the things which we have listed above. Otherwise those who do what is contrary to Christ will not be allowed to go in by that door, which will remain closed and keep out those who are incompatible with him.Why does Paul talk about the hope of glory and not just about the glory itself? After all, Moses saw the glory of God, and so did the people of Israel when God’s house was built. But this glory, which was visible, the apostle Paul dared to claim would pass away … whereas the hope here is of a glory which will never pass away. It is the glory mentioned in Hebrews in connection with Christ: “He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature.”
d. AD 258CyprianAnte-NiceneSourceTreatise XI Exhortation to Martyrdom Addressed to Fortunatus
That afflictions and persecutions arise for the sake of our being proved. In Deuteronomy, "The Lord your God proveth you, that He may know if ye love the Lord. your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength." And again, Solomon: "The furnace proveth the potter's vessel, and righteous men the trial of tribulation." Paul also testifies similar things, and speaks, saying: "We glory in the hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope; and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us." And Peter, in his epistle, lays it down, and says: "Beloved, be not surprised at the fiery heat which falleth upon you, which happens for your trial; and fail not, as if some new thing were happening unto you. But as often as ye communicate with the sufferings of Christ, rejoice in all things, that also in the revelation made of His glory you may rejoice with gladness. If ye be reproached in the name of Christ, happy are ye; because the name of the majesty and power of the Lord resteth upon you; which indeed according to them is blasphemed, but according to us is honoured."
d. AD 258CyprianAnte-NiceneSourceTreatise XII. Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews.
That all good and righteous men suffer more, but ought to endure because they are proved. In Solomon: "The furnace proveth the vessels of the potter, and the trial of tribulation righteous men." Also in the fiftieth Psalm: "The sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit; a contrite and humbled heart God will not despise." Also in the thirty-third Psalm: "God is nearest to them that are contrite in heart, and He will save the lowly in spirit." Also in the same place: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but out of them all the Lord will deliver them." Of this same matter in Job: "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, naked also shall I go under the earth: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: as it hath pleased the Lord, so it is done; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all these things which happened to him Job sinned in nothing with his lips in the sight of the Lord." Concerning this same thing in the Gospel according to Matthew: "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." Also according to John: "These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace. But in the world ye shall have affliction; but have confidence, for I have overcome the world." Concerning this same thing in the second Epistle to the Corinthians: "There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted. For which thing I thrice besought the Lord, that it should depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for strength is perfected in weakness." Concerning this same thing to the Romans: "We glory in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we also glory in afflictions: knowing that affliction worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope does not confound; because the love of God is infused in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given unto us." On this same subject, according to Matthew: "How broad and spacious is the way which leadeth unto death, and many there are who go in thereby: how straight and narrow is the way that leadeth to life, and few there are that find it!" Of this same thing in Tobias: "Where are thy righteousnesses? behold what thou sufferest." Also in the Wisdom of Solomon: "In the places of the wicked the righteous groan; but at their ruin the righteous will abound."
d. AD 384AmbrosiasterPost-NiceneSourceCOMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES
It is clear that in Christ we have access to the grace of God. For he is the mediator between God and men, who builds us up by his teaching and gives us the hope of receiving the gift of his grace if we stand in his faith. Therefore, if we stand (because we used to be flat on the floor) we stand as believers, glorying in the hope of the glory which he has promised to us.
d. AD 407John ChrysostomPost-NiceneSourceHomily on Romans IX
If then He hath brought us near to Himself, when we were far off, much more will He keep us now that we are near. And let me beg you to consider how he everywhere sets down these two points; His part, and our part. On His part, however, there be things varied and numerous and diverse. For He died for us, and farther reconciled us, and brought us to Himself, and gave us grace unspeakable. But we brought faith only as our contribution. And so he says, "by faith, unto this grace." What grace is this? tell me. It is the being counted worthy of the knowledge of God, the being forced from error, the coming to a knowledge of the Truth, the obtaining of all the blessings that come through Baptism. For the end of His bringing us near was that we might receive these gifts. For it was not only that we might have simple remission of sins, that we were reconciled; but that we might receive also countless benefits. Nor did He even pause at these, but promised others, namely, those unutterable blessings that pass understanding alike and language. And this is why he has set them both down also. For by mentioning grace he clearly points at what we have at present received, but by saying, "And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God," he unveils the whole of things to come. And he had well said, "wherein also we stand." For this is the nature of God's grace. It hath no end, it knows no bound, but evermore is on the advance to greater things, which in human things is not the case.
d. AD 418PelagiusPost-NiceneSourcePELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS
We have drawn near to God, because previously we were far away from him, and we stand, because previously we were flat on our faces. We rejoice in the hope that we shall possess the glory of God’s children. What we hope for is so great that no one would try it on his own, in case it should be regarded as blasphemy, not as hope, and as something which many people think is unbelievable because of its greatness.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.

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