<p>5:3&nbsp;<i>More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance</i>- &ldquo;Sufferings&rdquo; is s.w. Rom. 2:9, where we read that &ldquo;tribulation&rdquo; will come upon the rejected, faithless sinner at the day of judgment. Paul no doubt had in mind &ldquo;the tribulation&rdquo; which the Olivet prophecy and other NT Scriptures predicted would come upon the faithful in the first century. But the connection with Rom. 2:9 suggests that he saw that in a sense, we are condemned for our sins now, and as he explains in Romans 6, we die to sin, in baptism we take fully the condemnation for sin, and we rise again as new people, like the Lord Jesus, who are not under condemnation. Indeed the same word for &ldquo;tribulation&rdquo; occurs in Rom. 8:35, where Paul exalts that tribulation, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, peril and the sword cannot separate us from Christ&rsquo;s loving acceptance; and most if not all of those terms are applied elsewhere in Scripture to the rejected at the day of judgment. The condemnation for sin- our sins- will not separate&nbsp;us from Christ&rsquo;s love, and we shall be saved all the same. If this idea of &ldquo;tribulation&rdquo; as part of the condemnation process for sinners is indeed somewhere in Paul&rsquo;s mind (for this is how the word is used in 2 Thess. 1:6; Rev. 2:22), he would be saying that as a result of experiencing in our lives the condemnation for sin, we come through enduring the process &ldquo;patience&rdquo;,&nbsp;<i>hupomone</i> to &lsquo;pass the test&rsquo; (Rom. 5:4, AV &ldquo;experience&rdquo; is a terribly poor translation), and through that we come to a sure hope in acceptance at the last day and a feeling unashamed (Rom. 5:5), despite knowing we are on one hand condemned sinners.</p><p>&ldquo;Being therefore justified by faith, let us have peace... let us rejoice... let us also rejoice in our tribulations&quot; (Rom. 5:1-3 RV). If we really feel justified due to righteousness being imputed to us, then this will give us a joyful perspective on all suffering. For the reality that we are counted righteous will mean that all tribulation &quot;under the sun&quot; is not so ultimately meaningful; and thus we will find all joy and peace through believing.</p>