“…and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
According to Paul here, our hope is grounded in the love of God being poured out into our hearts. How the love of God is poured out into our hearts is through the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is why many Christians down through the church history recognized the Holy Spirit as the Love of God.
We saw this in our study in John 14–17. Jesus was magnified by the work of the Spirit and the Word of God. God the Father loves God the Son and the Son loves the Father and has done so from before creation. And this infinite love between the person of the Father and of the Son is eternal, it is personal. And this love, Jesus promises to make known in His people and continue to make known the name of the Father (John 17:25–26). The Holy Spirit is the love of God standing forth from eternity as the third person of the Trinity. And, wonder of wonders, He has been given to us!
And not only is the Holy Spirit love of God given to us, it’s poured out into our hearts. Don’t think this pouring out is like a dripping faucet. Oh no. Think Niagra Falls! God floods our hearts with His love so that we have those moments where we say like Peter does, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.”
And so Romans 5 makes sense that because we have this Spirit-wrought, Spirit-filled hope, “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”
Romans 5:5
Romans 5:5
“…and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
According to Paul here, our hope is grounded in the love of God being poured out into our hearts. How the love of God is poured out into our hearts is through the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is why many Christians down through the church history recognized the Holy Spirit as the Love of God.
We saw this in our study in John 14–17. Jesus was magnified by the work of the Spirit and the Word of God. God the Father loves God the Son and the Son loves the Father and has done so from before creation. And this infinite love between the person of the Father and of the Son is eternal, it is personal. And this love, Jesus promises to make known in His people and continue to make known the name of the Father (John 17:25–26). The Holy Spirit is the love of God standing forth from eternity as the third person of the Trinity. And, wonder of wonders, He has been given to us!
And not only is the Holy Spirit love of God given to us, it’s poured out into our hearts. Don’t think this pouring out is like a dripping faucet. Oh no. Think Niagra Falls! God floods our hearts with His love so that we have those moments where we say like Peter does, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.”
And so Romans 5 makes sense that because we have this Spirit-wrought, Spirit-filled hope, “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”