Romans 5:1
Romans 5:11Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Jehovah's Witnesses read — 'having been justified by faith, we have peace with God' — as describing only an initial, provisional standing. The JW claim in argument 158 explains: baptism and dedication to Jehovah's organisation give present standing, but final salvation depends on continued obedience, faithful preaching, and lifelong loyalty. Nobody can say they are saved until Jehovah renders his final judgment. The 'peace with God' in is thus treated as conditional and revocable rather than as a settled verdict. Argument 159 documents the broader JW framework: since final judgment is according to works (Matthew 25, , ), the peace of is merely a starting position that can be lost through insufficient obedience.
is the result of everything Paul has argued since . The strategy in argument 158 highlights the aorist passive 'having been justified' (dikaiothentes) — a completed action, not an ongoing process. Paul then draws out the consequence in : 'since we have NOW been justified by his blood, MUCH MORE shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.' The key insight from argument 158 is the a fortiori logic: if God has already done the harder thing — declaring sinners righteous — He will not fail at the easier thing of bringing them home. There is no gap in the chain for a second works-dependent stage. Argument 159 reinforces this by showing that when Paul speaks of believers giving an account (), he is writing to people who are already justified () and for whom there is 'no condemnation' (). The final accounting evaluates how believers have lived — for rewards and growth — not whether their justification holds. The peace of is not provisional; it is the settled verdict from which all future fruit flows.