Not only that!

We read further in the Letter to the Romans, chapter 5. He writes:

“Not alone but that,
but we may also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, and perseverance brings about probation, and probation brings about expectation. But expectation does not let us be put to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us.”
Rom 5:3-5

Paul keeps expanding the meaning of God’s righteousness, as if there is a causal connection with each previous step. It first brings about peace for us, peace with God. But then it also has an effect on our lives. Not only do we glory in what we understand of God’s work, but we learn to view even the difficult things in life in this light.

It’s not about a superficial view. It’s about an experience that everyone can only have themselves. Even unpleasant or even threatening situations can contain good. That makes you sit up and take notice. This does not mean that one should accept everything without criticism, or that one should not call wrong things by their names. Paul speaks of a concept, an understanding of reality, wherein God’s working through us can (not: must) bear fruit:

The love of God as the drive

From tribulation to endurance, to probation and to expectation lie processes. One causes the other. That probably won’t happen overnight. However, the fact that something as “negative” as tribulation can produce a “positive” result is related to God’s love being poured out in our hearts. That changes everything.

This love of God, of which the apostle speaks once again in the next verses, does not allow us to be defeated in expectation. The love of God makes us see things in His light, makes us connect things properly. We are taken into God’s story and now understand ourselves in the same way.

Paul is not unworldly

Of course, this does not mean that we suddenly look at the whole world with rose-colored glasses. It is not a trivialization of reality that Paul propagates here, or a glorification of martyrdom, nor an unworldly denial of suffering. On the contrary – he starts from the suffering and from the tribulation. He does not explain the nature of the tribulation. But he speaks as if not only he himself had the experience, but also the Romans knew well what it was all about. So he can mention it in a few words.

Pressure and hardship

What can we imagine in the tribulation? A persecution of Christians already existed at that time, and Paul himself was among those who wanted to persecute and kill the new group of Christians (Acts 8:1-3, Acts 9:1-2, 1 Timothy 1:12-13). Elsewhere, the apostle speaks of the many hardships and challenges he himself experienced (2 Cor. 11:23-28).

From these and similar passages we can see that life was not easy. There was enough pressure and hardship that one could learn perseverance from it. Everyone experiences pressure and hardship in their own lives, some here, some there. Nothing has changed there. However, I suspect most readers today are considerably more comfortable than the people of Paul’s day.

It is about the fruit

Let us now try to understand the connections. Pressure and hardship make a difference. It is about the fruit. Some things only emerge under pressure. Diamonds, for example. Life experience is also part of it. When experiences are too heavy, you can break from them. But that is not what the apostle is talking about here. He is concerned with larger contexts, with the concepts. He wants to write something to the church in Rome (and that means the strong as well as the weak. Rom 14,1), according to which you can orientate your understanding and your everyday life.

When you read these lines, you should briefly block out your own experience. It is not always about me or about you when something is written. In order for us to learn, we must listen. What does the apostle want to say? It works like this:

Tribulation causes perseverance when we remain under pressure. Perseverance causes probation. It shows that we can integrate and endure tribulation in our lives. We are not thrown off course by everything. This is the effect of grace and encouragement in our lives. If this succeeds – we are allowed to practice – then we learn from probation what expectation means . We learn to look ahead, to align ourselves with God’s actions and purpose. Expectation does not leave us ashamed in everyday life, because we are familiar with God’s love in our lives (“God’s love indwells us through His Holy Spirit.”).

Insight and experience give foresight

Paul speaks about the experience. Maybe it’s not your experience or mine so far. Paul, however, looks ahead, from his own experience. He shares with the church in Rome what really helps further. This is what it’s all about. He describes how the righteousness of God is expressed and proven in everyday life.

Expectation is not alien to life. It does not simply replace this world with an afterlife image or with a pious projection. The apostle is not trying to create a parallel world to daily experience here. He wants us to live by the power of God in this current world in which we stand.

We have both an expectation that is proven in our lives and we have an understanding of God’s love, also through our own experience. Both are anchored in the here and now. If that is not clear, you can ask about it. This changes our view. Insight gives a view. This is true for today.

The apostle writes of these things again in detail in Romans 8, which I briefly anticipate here:

“For upon this expectation (Rom 8:18-23) we were saved. But expectation that is glimpsed is not expectation; for that which a man glimpses – does he expect it yet? But if we expect what we do not behold, we wait for it with perseverance.”
Rom 8:24-25