3rd Sunday in Lent

Third Lent Sunday (year A)

(Romans 5:1-2, 5-8)

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Paul sees believers in Jesus as being in a state of grace. He expresses this state of grace with the word 'justified'. Justification is accomplished. This is the truth that Paul proclaims. The passage from life to death, from sin to grace, takes place, has taken place, and will always take place through faith in Jesus Christ. By using the aorist passive participle (= having been justified), Paul emphasises that this work now belongs to us. He alludes to a specific moment in the life of Christians that belongs to the past: baptism. We are justified "ek pisteōs" - by faith. Jesus Christ, who died and rose again, is the sacramental place where this justification takes place, which is accessed through faith. We are justified the moment we believe and accept Jesus Christ as the one and only Word of eternal life.

What happens when our justification is accomplished? We are at peace with God. The author of salvation is also the author of peace: there is no true peace except in Christ. This peace was established when we, enemies of God, were reconciled to God by Jesus Christ. Peace is not a state of inner balance, nor is it our peaceful behaviour. Peace is the restoration of our relationship with God, because we are reconciled as a result of justification. When we are at peace with God, we also find peace with other people; we also find peace with creation, which we are to protect and cultivate, as it is a gift entrusted to our care by God so that we may make it a home where people can live with dignity, wisdom and joy. The mistake of man today is to think that there can be peace among men and with creation while man remains in his falsehood and sin. Peace comes only from justification and only as long as man lives as justified.

One is at peace if one is in Christ, one is at peace if one lives in the word of Christ, one is at peace only through Christ. This is the cry that Paul makes resound in his churches, so that they may be convinced that outside of Christ no peace will ever be possible. It is an illusion to think of peace without justification, to think of peace outside of Christ. Peace is Christ, it is in Christ, it is through Christ. He is the way through which a person can go in peace towards another person. Those who exclude Christ close off the path to true peace. Without Christ there can never be peace, because people are not in the truth.

Faith, therefore, is faith in God who has made Christ the only way to salvation. However, our faith in God becomes effective only if it is faith in the work of Christ. God the Father and Jesus Christ are one principle of faith, one faith that saves. It is through this faith that we obtain the gift of peace, because it is through this faith that we are justified, that is, God cancels our debt, makes us his children in Christ, and restores us to his friendship. This is peace.

'Through him': Christ is the instrument and the key to access the new condition of life that has been realised in him. The peace mentioned in verse 1 is considered from another perspective in verse 2: it is a grace. Paul says that he has had access to 'this grace in which we stand'. Grace is to be understood as the redemption wrought by Christ through his death and resurrection. Paul is very proud of this grace. And that "we boast" is not the result of human presumption, but is the joy that comes from the awareness of having been chosen and saved through Christ and in Christ, despite our miserable condition as sinners, and which in some way gives us a foretaste of the state of full and definitive glory. Paul boasts in order to magnify and praise the Lord, to bless and exalt him for his great love. All that Paul is, all that believers are and will become, is only by grace, and this is what we must boast about, not our own merits.

Paul's boasting rests on a truth: he is firmly established 'in the hope of the glory of God', that is, he rejoices in the hope of one day sharing in the glory of God, which for the justified will be the crown and the end of all things. Paul knows that immeasurable eternal glory awaits him. This is his strength: the hope that arises in him from faith. This hope should not be thought of as a simple human desire; rather, it is already a certainty, since it defines a reality that already exists and in which we already find ourselves, even if it has not yet been fully and definitively attained. However, we are called to live it now, conforming our lives to this new reality in which we live. Thus, our life is an eschatological life, deeply marked by an 'already' and a 'not yet'.

Those who do not have this hope become entangled in the things of this world and are suffocated as thorns suffocate the good wheat. Today, almost all of us are losing hope in the glory of God. Almost all of us are building a horizontal Christianity, without its fundamental truth. We must recover and strengthen ourselves in the specificity of our faith. We must find pride in our being Catholics, disciples, ministers, ambassadors, heralds of Jesus Christ, in the hope of future glory. If the believer loses sight of hope, his Christian being is purposeless. When true faith dwells in the believer, there is also strong hope; when hope is lacking, it is a clear sign that his faith is weak or non-existent. It is a faith that cannot open the door to eternity, and without the opening of this door, the little faith that resides there will sooner or later be lost, for the characteristic of faith is to walk towards the eternal glory of God in his kingdom of light and eternal peace.

Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the mystery of the Trinity

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

Catholics and Protestants in comparison – In defence of the faith

The Church and Israel according to St Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

769 Last modified on Monday, 02 March 2026 12:33

Rate this item

1
2
3
4
5

(1 Vote)

Argentino Quintavalle

Argentino Quintavalle è studioso biblico ed esperto in Protestantesimo e Giudaismo. Autore del libro “Apocalisse - commento esegetico” (disponibile su Amazon) e specializzato in catechesi per protestanti che desiderano tornare nella Chiesa Cattolica.

Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Latest from Argentino Quintavalle

Previous
« Second Sunday in Lent

Next
Fourth Sunday in Lent »

back to top

"How will we be able to live without him?". In these words of St Ignatius we hear echoing the affirmation of the martyrs of Abitene: "Sine dominico non possumus" [Pope Benedict]

"Come potremmo vivere senza di Lui?". Sentiamo echeggiare in queste parole di Sant’Ignazio l’affermazione dei martiri di Abitene: "Sine dominico non possumus" [Papa Benedetto]

The kingdom of Christ is manifested, as the Council teaches, in the 'kingship' of man [John Paul II]

Il regno di Cristo si manifesta, come insegna il Concilio, nella “regalità” dell’uomo [Giovanni Paolo II]

In the middle of the dense forest of rules and regulations — to the legalisms of past and present — Jesus makes an opening through which one can catch a glimpse of two faces: the face of the Father and the face of the brother. He does not give us two formulas or two precepts: there are no precepts nor formulas. He gives us two faces [Pope Francis]

In mezzo alla fitta selva di precetti e prescrizioni – ai legalismi di ieri e di oggi – Gesù opera uno squarcio che permette di scorgere due volti: il volto del Padre e quello del fratello. Non ci consegna due formule o due precetti: non sono precetti e formule; ci consegna due volti [Papa Francesco]

Whoever is inscribed in God's name participates in God's life, and lives. Therefore to believe is to be inscribed in the name of God. Thus we are alive. Whoever has a share in God's name is not dead but rather belongs to the living God. In this sense we should be able to understand the dynamism of faith, which entails enrolling our names in the name of God and in this way entering into life [Pope Benedict]

Chi è scritto nel nome di Dio partecipa alla vita di Dio, vive. E così credere è essere iscritti nel nome di Dio. E così siamo vivi. Chi appartiene al nome di Dio non è un morto, appartiene al Dio vivente. In questo senso dovremmo capire il dinamismo della fede, che è un iscrivere il nostro nome nel nome di Dio e così un entrare nella vita [Papa Benedetto]

As sometimes happens in the Gospel, faced with the trap set for him by his enemies, Jesus, with his response, rises above the contingent controversy and goes far beyond the particular and mutually divergent positions (John Paul II)

Come talora accade nel Vangelo, di fronte al tranello mossogli dai suoi nemici, Gesù, con la sua risposta, s’innalza al di sopra della polemica contingente e va ben oltre le posizioni particolari e tra loro divergenti (Giovanni Paolo II)

This Name clearly expresses that the God of the Bible is not some kind of monad closed in on itself and satisfied with his own self-sufficiency but he is life that wants to communicate itself, openness, relationship [Pope Benedict]

Questo nome esprime dunque chiaramente che il Dio della Bibbia non è una sorta di monade chiusa in se stessa e soddisfatta della propria autosufficienza, ma è vita che vuole comunicarsi, è apertura, relazione [Papa Benedetto]

There, however, in the place that should have been taken up by the encounter between God and man, he found livestock merchants and money-changers who occupied this place of prayer with their commerce […] In the temple's purification, however, it was a matter of more than fighting abuses. A new time in history was foretold (Pope Benedict)

Ma là dove doveva esservi lo spazio dell’incontro tra Dio e l’uomo, Egli trova commercianti di bestiame e cambiavalute che occupano con i loro affari il luogo di preghiera […] Nella purificazione del tempio, però, si tratta di più che della lotta agli abusi. È preconizzata una nuova ora della storia (Papa Benedetto)

duevie.art

don Giuseppe Nespeca

Tel. 333-1329741

Disclaimer

Questo blog non rappresenta una testata giornalistica in quanto viene aggiornato senza alcuna periodicità. Non può pertanto considerarsi un prodotto editoriale ai sensi della legge N°62 del 07/03/2001.
Le immagini sono tratte da internet, ma se il loro uso violasse diritti d'autore, lo si comunichi all'autore del blog che provvederà alla loro pronta rimozione.
L'autore dichiara di non essere responsabile dei commenti lasciati nei post. Eventuali commenti dei lettori, lesivi dell'immagine o dell'onorabilità di persone terze, il cui contenuto fosse ritenuto non idoneo alla pubblicazione verranno insindacabilmente rimossi.