<p>5:2&nbsp;<i>T</i><i>hrough whom also we have had our access</i> <i>by faith into this grace wherein we stand</i>- may be continuing the judgment image of chapters 3 and 4, in which we are left standing in the dock before the judgment of God, and by grace are declared right when in fact we are sinners. And we stand there before God&rsquo;s judgment, very much in grace. The language of &lsquo;access into&rsquo; suggests that &ldquo;this grace&rdquo; is a situation, a &lsquo;place&rsquo;, a status, in which we are now permanently located. &ldquo;Access into&hellip; wherein we stand&rdquo; is a phrase used in classical Greek about entering a royal presence (Moo,&nbsp;<i>op cit.&nbsp;</i>p. 300 gives examples). So the idea is very much of our standing in the august judgment presence of God acceptable by status. This point needs to be more than intellectually noted; it must be our real and felt experience that we are not one moment in an acceptable status with God, and then next we slip out of it- through inattention, insensitivity, or downright selfish rebellion on our part. We are in a relationship, married as it were to Him, bearing His Name, and thereby in a permanent status. Perhaps we can be so foolish as to leave that status, but we certainly don&rsquo;t drift in and out of it insofar as we sin or avoid sinning in the course of daily life. The very nature of the &ldquo;grace&rdquo; status which we are in means that we are declared right, OK with God, in spite or and even in the face of our sins.&nbsp;</p><p><i>By faith into this grace wherein we stand and in which we rejoice-</i> Standing before God justified means that in the judgment day to come at the Lord&rsquo;s return to earth, we will be accepted and given eternal life in God&rsquo;s Kingdom. We are to rejoice (Gk. &lsquo;boast&rsquo;) in that hope quite naturally- for Paul doesn&rsquo;t exhort us to rejoice in the hope, he simply states that given our position of grace, we, naturally, rejoice in hope. If we cannot say &ldquo;Yes&rdquo; to the question &ldquo;Will you be accepted before the judgment seat of Christ?&rdquo;, then I fail to see that we can rejoice in hope. To rejoice in hope means that we have accepted God&rsquo;s judgment of us now- and His judgment is that we are acceptable to Him, that even now, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s all OK&rdquo;. If we are to boast in this hope- and the Greek translated &ldquo;rejoice&rdquo; definitely means that- this would imply that we can&rsquo;t keep quiet about such good news. We simply have to share it with others.&nbsp;</p><p><i>In hope of the glory of God</i>- Our hope to participate in this glory, which is associated in Mt. 6:13 with the future Kingdom of God on earth, connects with what Paul has earlier reasoned in Rom. 3:23- that we have all sinned and fallen short of God&rsquo;s glory. We who have been declared right can now rejoice in the prospect of participating in that glory, that glorious eternal future, which we fell short of by our sins. We commented under 3:23 that Paul is referring to writings such as the Apocalypse of Moses, which claimed that Adam had fallen short of God&rsquo;s glory in Eden, but the hope of the Messianic age would be Adam&rsquo;s restoration to the glory intended in Eden (Apoc. Moses 39.2-3). Adam is everyman- a theme now to be developed specifically here in Romans 5.&nbsp;</p>