Passage

Romans 5.1

"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," (Romans 5:1, NASB95)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;"

"2. 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. 3. And not only so, but we also rejoice in our tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh stedfastness;" (Romans 5:1-3, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;"

"2. 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. 3. Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance;" (Romans 5:1-3, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:"

"2. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;" (Romans 5:1-3, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. Having been declared righteous, then, by faith, we have peace toward God through our Lord Jesus Christ,"

"2. 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. 3. And not only [so], but we also boast in the tribulations, knowing that the tribulation doth work endurance;" (Romans 5:1-3, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle
Audience: Christian believers in Rome (Jew + Gentile)
Location: composed in Corinth; addressed to Rome
Time period: composed c. AD 57

Theological reading

Romans 5:1 is the pivot of the epistle. Paul has spent chapters 1-4 establishing that all are under sin (Jew and Gentile alike) and that justification comes by faith apart from works of the Law, anchored exemplary in Abraham (Romans 4). Verse 5:1 opens the next major movement by stating the first fruit of justification: peace with God. The therefore (οὖν, oun) is load-bearing, the whole argument up to 4:25 lands here.

The grammar is precise. The participle δικαιωθέντες (dikaiōthentes, "having been justified") is in the aorist passive, denoting a completed act done to us, not by us. The main verb ἔχομεν (echomen, "we have") is in the present indicative, peace is a present possession, not an aspirational state. (A textually contested variant ἔχωμεν, "let us have", in the subjunctive, has strong manuscript support but is generally rejected on contextual grounds; Paul is declaring fact, not exhorting.) The peace is εἰρήνη πρὸς τὸν θεόν (eirēnē pros ton theon), "peace toward God", the cessation of God-ward hostility that defined the human condition under wrath (Romans 1:18; 5:10, where humans are described as enemies prior to reconciliation).

The verse is load-bearing for several doctrines. For Sola Fide, it establishes that the means of justification is faith, not faith-plus-works. For Justification by Faith more broadly, it sets the forensic-declarative direction: God declares the sinner righteous on the basis of Christ's work, and the result is a real change in standing (peace replaces wrath). For the Romans Road evangelistic outline, it is the gospel's good-news climax following Romans 3:23 and 6:23. Patristic and Reformation exegesis converge on the verse as the entry point into the Christian life: not the goal one strives toward but the ground one stands on.

Key words

G1344 - dikaioo, dikaioō (Strong's G1344), to declare righteous / justify. The forensic verb at the center of Pauline soteriology.
G4102 - pistis, pistis (Strong's G4102), faith. The instrumental cause of justification (not the meritorious cause).
G2962 - kyrios, kyrios (Strong's G2962), Lord. The title applied to Jesus signaling divine status.
eirēnē (Strong's G1515), peace. Not merely the absence of conflict but the relational well-being of restored covenant standing. Lexicon entry not yet built.

Theological themes

Justification by faith. The forensic-declarative basis of the Christian's standing before God.
Peace with God. The first and primary fruit of justification; relational reconciliation, not subjective tranquility (though that follows).
Christ as mediator. "Through our Lord Jesus Christ", the peace is not direct-access but mediated through the work of the incarnate Son.
Already-not-yet structure. Peace possessed now (v. 1); glory hoped for (v. 2); perseverance through tribulation in between (v. 3-4).

Cross-references

Romans 3.21-26, the locus classicus of Paul's justification doctrine (the "righteousness of God" passage).
Romans 4, Abraham as the paradigm of justification by faith apart from works.
Romans 5.12-21, the Adam-Christ typology rich-hub that immediately follows.
Galatians 2.16, the parallel "not justified by works of the Law but through faith in Jesus Christ" formula.
Ephesians 2.8-9, the parallel "by grace through faith, not of works" statement.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.