Romans 5

CHAPTER 5THEME: Benefits of salvation; sanctification of the saintAs we come to the fifth chapter of Romans, we find Paul answering one of the questions that would naturally arise in the minds of those who had read his epistle to this point. He has told us that we have been saved by the redemption that we have in Christ, the redemption that had been purchased at tremendous price upon the Cross. It delivers us from the guilt of sin so that the sin question has been settled. This means that we will not come before God for judgment which will determine our salvation. It means that an eternal home is waiting for those who have trusted Christ. Now the question Paul will answer is: What about the here and now? I have heard liberal preachers say, “I do not believe in a religion of the hereafter; I believe in a religion of the here and now.” In San Francisco in the early days of the “hippie” movement, I was talking to a young vagrant on a street corner, and he didn’t want to hear about Christianity. He said, “That’s ‘pie in the sky by and by’ religion, and I don’t care for that.” And so I said to this young fellow, “Then you believe in getting your pie here and now and not by and by?” He said, “That’s right.” I told him that it didn’t look to me like he was getting very much pie in the here and now, and he admitted that he wasn’t. So I said, “Well, it is tragic indeed to miss the pie here and now, and miss it hereafter also.” Paul now is going to show that there are certain benefits that accrue to the believer right here and now when he trusts Christ, when he’s been justified by faith in the redemption that we have in Christ. And actually these are benefits that the world is very much concerned about, and would like to have them. Many people are spending a great deal of money today trying to attain the things that are the present benefits of every believer. That doesn’t mean that all believers are enjoying them. However, God has them on the table for you, and all you have to do is reach over and take them (see Eph_1:3).

Romans 5:1

BENEFITS OF SALVATION1. Peace “Therefore being justified by faith” refers to the one act of faith the moment we trust Christ. “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Bible mentions several kinds of peace. First, there’s world peace. The United Nations has worked for it as the old League of Nations did. They didn’t get anywhere in the past, and they’re not getting anywhere today. As I write this, a great many people believe that if you protest loudly enough you can bring peace to the world by human manipulation or psychological gyrations. Well, my friend, as long as there is sin in the hearts of men, there never will be peace in the worldnot until the Prince of Peace comes. Christ will bring peace on this earth. But world peace is not the kind of peace that Paul is talking about here. Then there is that peace which is known as tranquility of soul. That is the peace to which the Lord Jesus referred when He said to His disciples, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you …” (Joh_14:27). This is a peace that comes to certain believers who have trusted Christ and who are resting in Him and who are doing His will. I wish I could say that I experience this peace all the time. I do not. I recognize that it is available for every believer today.

I suppose I am like most believers in that I have up and down experiences. There are times when this peace floods my soul, and it is wonderful. But there are times when I am under pressure or under tension or when I am weary and this peace somehow eludes me. However, Paul is not referring to the peace of personal tranquility. Then there is a third kind of peace which Paul mentions to the Philippian believers"the peace that passeth all understanding" (see Php_4:7). Well, since it passes all understanding, I certainly don’t know what it is, and I have a notion that you don’t know either. The peace Paul is talking about, which he lists as the first benefit of salvation, is “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is the peace that comes to the soul of one who has trusted Christ as Savior and knows that God no longer has any charge against him, that he is no longer guilty. He knows that God, who had to be against him in the past, is now for him. He knows that he has a salvation that is permanent and eternal. This is the peace that comes because of sins forgiven and because everything is right between you and God. You will notice that Paul mentions again and again that we have peace through the blood of Jesus Christ, which means that everything is all right between our soul and God. That is wonderful peace! This was explained to me by a wonderful pastor when I was a young boy in my teens. He said that when man sinned in the Garden of Eden, not only did man run away from Godand found himself alienated from the life of God, with no capacity for God and no inclination to turn to Himbut God also had to turn away from man. Then when Christ died on the Cross, God turned around, so that now a holy God can say to a lost sinner, “Come.” His arms are outstretched. He says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will rest you” (Mat_11:28, literal translation mine). This is peace, the rest of redemption. My friend, God is reconciled. You don’t have to do anything to reconcile Him, as we have seen. A great many people think that you have to shed tears to reconcile God. You don’t need tears to soften the heart of God! You don’t have to do anything. Because Christ died on the Cross, God is reconciled today. The message of the gospel is, “Be ye reconciled to God.” The next move is yours. When you accept His salvation, then you experience peace that your sins have been forgiven. There are a great many people who pillow their heads at night, not knowing what it is to have peace in their hearts. Oh, how many weary souls today are laboring with a guilt complex and would love to go somewhere to have that guilt removed from their souls! A Christian psychologist told me several years ago, “The only place you can have a guilt complex removed is at the Cross of Christ.” Peace is the first wonderful benefit that accrues to the child of God.

Romans 5:2

2. Access “Access” means that you and I have access to God in prayer. It’s wonderful to have someone to go and talk to about yourself and about your problems and about your friends and your loved ones. Today we as children of God have access to a heavenly Father who will listen to us here and who does answer our prayer. Now, that doesn’t mean He answers it the way you want it answered, but He always hears you, and sometimes He shows He is a good heavenly Father by saying no. He will answer according to His wisdom, not according to our will. You will notice that we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.
3. Hope “And rejoice in hope of the glory of God” is the third benefit. The hope that is mentioned here is the hope that the Scriptures hold out. Paul said to a young preacher by the name of Titus, “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Tit_2:13). (I don’t think looking for the Great Tribulation is very much of a hope. I’m certainly not looking for it because that would be a dread rather than a hope.) To look for the Lord to come and take His church out of this world, that’s a glorious hope, and it will take place at His appearing. Now, the child of God has this hope. That means he has a future. He has something to look forward to. You and I are living in a day when man has all the comforts of life in an affluent society, but the interesting thing is, he has no future. James Reston, one of the reporters and editors of the New York Times, several years ago made the statement that in Washington there is a feeling that the problems have so mounted and multiplied that man is totally incapable of solving the problems of this world. The Word of God, you know, goes along with thatI suppose that was one time that the New York Times and the Bible agreed.

What a dark outlook is being given to us today, and the band can play and you can wave the flag all you want, but you’d better face facts: there’s a cancer in the body politic. One of the last statements that Bernard Shaw made before his death was that he had pinned his hopes on atheism, but he had found that atheism did not solve the problems of the world. Then he made this remarkable comment, “You are looking at an atheist who has lost his faith.” When an atheist loses his faith, he has nothing in the world to hold on to. The world today is looking for a hope, looking for a future. This explains the restlessness that is throughout the world, and I think it explains a great many of the movements of the present moment. I believe it has driven a great many folk to alcohol and drug addiction and down other avenues that are dead-end streets. Why? Because they’ve lost hope of the future. Well, the child of God has a hope, a blessed hope. And he knows that all things are going to work together for good (see Rom_8:28). He knows that nothing is going to separate him from the love of God (see Rom_8:39). How wonderful that hope is, the blessed hope of the church.

Romans 5:3

4. Triumph in troubles In other words, we joy in troubles, knowing that trouble works patiencepatience doesn’t come automaticallyand patience, experience; and experience, hope. It is quite interesting to see the three words that are associated with trouble. One is joy, another is hope, and the third is patience. God has to work that into us although it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. In other words, it takes trouble to bring out the best in the believer’s life. The only way God can get fruit out of the life of the believer is by pruning the branches. The world does it differently. If you, as an unbeliever, are in a nice, comfortable situation and have no troubles, then you can have fun, you can also be patient, and you may have a little hope as you go along. But that is not the way it is with the child of God. Actually, trouble produces these fruits in our lives.

Romans 5:5

5. Love of God “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts” doesn’t mean our love for God; it means God’s love for us. And this love is made real by the Holy Spirit who is given to us.
6. The Holy Spirit This is the first time in the Epistle to the Romans that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is mentioned. This is only a reference to Him in this list of present benefits. We will not come to the ministry of the Holy Spirit until we get to chapter 8 of Romans where He is mentioned more than twenty times. Here we are simply told that the Holy Spirit is given to every believernot to only some believers, but to all believers. Even to the Corinthians Paul wrote, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (1Co_6:19). The Corinthian believers were certainly a carnal lotin fact, Paul called them babes in Christyet the Holy Spirit indwelt them.

That’s wonderful! I’m glad that, when I came to Christ, I got everything God offers in salvation. And it is the Holy Spirit who actualizes, or makes real, the love of God in the hearts of believersthat is, God’s love for us. Today we need to be conscious of the fact that God loves us. How people need to be assured of that in their lives! Only the Spirit of God can make real to us God’s love. Now notice how Paul explains the love of God.

Romans 5:6

Christ died for the ungodlynot for the good boys and girls, but for ungodly sinnersthose who actually were His enemies, who hated Him, to whom He said when they were crucifying Him, “…Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do …” (Luk_23:34). And, friend, you and I were numbered with the ungodly. A few years ago I talked to a young man who had love written on his cap, on his funny coat, on his trousers, and even on his shoes! I asked him why. He said, “Why, man, God is love.” I agreed with that. Then he said, “God saved me by His love.” I replied, “I disagree with that. God does not save you by His love.” Now that seems startling to a great many folk even today. But actually, friend, God does not save you by His love. You see, God is more than love; He is holy and He is righteous. God cannot open the back door of heaven and slip sinners in under the cover of darkness, and He can’t let down the bars of heaven and bring sinners in. If He does that, He’s no better than a crooked judge who lets a criminal off. God has to do something for the guilt of sinners.

There must be judgment, you see. However, God does love us. Regardless of who you are or what you have done, God loves you. It is wrong to say to children, “If you are mean, Willie, or if you do what is wrong, God won’t love you.” The interesting thing is that God will love little Willie, regardless of what he does. And He loves you. You can’t keep God from loving you.

Now you can get to the place that you do not experience the love of God. For instance, you can’t keep the sun from shining, but you can get out of the sunshine. You can put up an umbrella of sin, an umbrella of indifference, an umbrella of stepping out of the will of God, which will keep His love from shining on you. Although all these things will remove you from experiencing God’s love, He still loves you. As I was talking to this young fellow with love written on his clothing, I asked him to show me a verse in the Bible that said God saves us by love. Of course he didn’t know any. I said, “The Word of God says, ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God’ (Eph_2:8). God saves us by His grace, not by His love. ‘God so loved the world’ that He saved the world? Oh, noHe couldn’t. A holy God has to be true to His character. But He did this: ‘…God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ (Joh_3:16).” God has demonstrated His love for you, my friend, in that He gave His Son to die for you. He paid the penalty for your sin, and our holy God now can save you if you come His way. Of course, you’ll have to come His way. There is a mistaken idea today that you can come to Him your way. This isn’t your universe; it’s His universe. You and I don’t make the rules. He makes the rules. And He says that no man comes to Him except through Christ (see Joh_14:6). Now notice how he continues.

Romans 5:7

Do you know any folk who would die for you? Could you put upon the fingers of one hand those who would be willing to die for you? By the way, could you put upon one finger those who love you enough to die for you? Well, you certainly could put it upon one finger, because God loved you enough to send His Son to die for you. And if it were necessary, He would appear today to die for you again, if it would take that to save you. He loves you that much.

Romans 5:8

He died for you and me. That is where God revealed His love. And God doesn’t save us by love. He now saves us by grace because the guilt of sin has been removed by the death of Christ, and He can hold out His arms and save you today.

Romans 5:9

7. Deliverance from wrath The “wrath” mentioned here is what the prophets spoke of: “That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness” (Zep_1:15). What is the great day of wrath? It is what the Lord Jesus called the Great Tribulation. And Paul tells believers that we shall be “saved from wrath.” We have been saved from the penalty of sin; He is constantly saving us today from the power of sin; and He is going to save us in the future from the presence of sin. That means that every believer will leave this earth at the Rapture. We will escape that day of wrath, not because we are worthy, but because we have been saved by the grace of God.

We have been saved by grace; we live by the grace of God; and ten billion years from today we will still be in heaven by the grace of God. We are saved from wrath through Himthrough Christ.

Romans 5:10

You see, He died down here to save us; He lives up yonder to keep us saved.

Romans 5:11

8. Joy We joy in God! I think this is one of the most wonderful statements we have in Scripture. It means that right now, wherever you are, whatever your problems are, my friend, you can joy, rejoice, in God. Just think of it! You can rejoice that He lives and that He is who He is. You can rejoice because He has provided a salvation for us and is willing to save us sinners and bring us into His presence someday. He has worked out a plan to save us because of His love for us. Isn’t that enough to make you rejoice? Oh, the child of God should have joy in his heart. He doesn’t need to go around smiling like a Cheshire cat, but he certainly ought to have a joyful heart. I love the song, “Let’s Just Praise the Lord.” These are the eight wonderful benefits of salvation. Let’s just praise the Lord!

Romans 5:12

SANCTIFICATION OF THE SAINTWe have seen the salvation of the sinner; now we are coming to the sanctification of the saint. In salvation we are declared righteous, but God wants to do more than declare a person righteous. Justification does not make a person righteous. It means that before God’s holy court, before the bar of heaven, a lost sinner is now declared righteous, but his heart has not been changed. My friend, if you think God intends to leave a sinner in his sin, you are wrong. God wants to make us the kind of folk we should be. So God also has a plan in salvation whereby He not only declares a sinner righteous, but He is also going to make a sinner righteous. That is, God provides a way that a sinner may grow in grace and become sanctified (set apart) for God. The remainder of this chapter is labeled potential sanctification. Now let me warn you that you may find this difficult to understand and difficult to accept. In potential sanctification we have what is known as the federal headship of Adam and Christ. HEADSHIP OF ADAMLet me give you my own translation of this verse, which may bring out the meaning a little better: “On this account (the plan of salvation for all by one Redeemer) just as through one man sin entered (as a principle) into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread throughout upon all men on the ground of the fact that all sinned.” Now we need to understand that the sin we’re talking about is the sin of Adam, that first sin of Adamnot his second one or his third one or his fourth onehis first sin of disobedience in the Garden of Eden, which brought death upon all of his offspring. Now that brings me back to consider something that is very important: You and I are sinners, as we have said, in four different ways. (1) We are sinners because we commit acts of sin. Also, (2) we’re sinners by nature (sin doesn’t make us sinners, but we sin because we have that nature). (3) We are in the state of sin. God has declared the entire human family under sin. (4) Finally, you and I are also sinners by imputation. That is, Adam acted for the human race because he was the head of it. It is on the basis of the federal headship of Adam that now God is able through the federal headship of Christ to save those who will trust Christ. This is what theologians have labeled the federal headship. Adam and Christ are representatives of the human race. Adam is the natural head of the human race. By the way, I accept that. I saw a bumper sticker that interested me a great deal. It read, “My ancestors were humansorry about yours.” This lays in the dust the idea that you can be a Christian, believing the Word of God, and also accept the theory of evolution. Adam is the head of the human family. That is what Paul is saying herehe is the natural head. And his one act of disobedience plunged his entire offspring into sin. We are all made sinners by Adam’s sin. First, let’s see what this does not mean. It does not refer to the fact that we have a sinful nature inherited from Adam. It is true that I got a sinful nature from my father, and he from his father, and on back. Also, I passed on that nature to my child and to my grandchildren. The first grandchild was such a wonderful little fellow, I was beginning to doubt the total depravity of man. But as he began growing up, he began to manifest this depraved nature.

Now I have a second grandson, a redheaded boy, and does he have a temper! Now I am convinced again of the total depravity of man. I have seen a manifestation in these two little fellows of a nature they got from their grandmother (I think!). Although you and I do have sinful natures and do pass them on to our offspring, this particular verse does not refer to that fact. Also, the verse before us that says “all have sinned” does not mean that we are guilty of a sinful act. Of course, we are guilty, but that is not what the verse is talking about. Now let’s see what it does mean. It does refer to the fact that we are so vitally connected with the first father of the human race that before we even had a human nature, before we had committed a sin, even before we were born, we were sinners in Adam. Maybe you don’t like that. But God says that that is the way it is. We see it illustrated in Heb_7:9, “And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham.” That is, long before Levi was even born, he paid tithes to Melchisedec. How could he do it? “For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him” (Heb_7:10). In just such a way, Adam’s sin was imputed to us. What Adam did, we did. God could put all of us in a Garden of Eden and give us the same test He gave to Adam. Do you think you would do any better with your sinful nature than Adam did without a sinful nature? I don’t think so. We might as well accept the fact that Adam’s one act of disobedience made all of us sinners. Now let me give you a personal illustration. My grandfather lived in Northern Ireland although he was Scottish. Even in his day they were fighting, and he didn’t like it. So he emigrated to the United States. Now, what my grandfather did, I did. When he left Northern Ireland, I left Northern Ireland. And I thank God he left. I really appreciate what Grandpa did for me! What he did, I did because I was in him. The reason I was born in America is because of what he had done. In this same way Adam’s sin is imputed to us. We have already seen that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us by the death of Christ. Christ is the head of a new race, a new redeemed man, and the church is His body, a new creation. The hymn writer put it accurately: “The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord. She is His new creation by water and the word.” The church is a new creation, a new race. This is what Paul says, “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit…. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven” (1Co_15:45, 1Co_15:47).

Now, there will not be a third Adam, for Christ is the last Adam. There will be the third and fourth and myriads of men because Christ is the second man, but He’s not the second Adam. He is the last Adam. He is the head of a new race. That is something that is preliminary. As we go through this section, we will notice an expression that is very meaningful. It is “much more.” What Paul is going to say is that we have “much more” in Christ than we lost in Adam. That expression occurred in verse Rom_5:9, “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” And in verse Rom_5:10, “Much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” There is a great deal of “much more” in this section. In 1 Corinthians 15, verses 1Co_15:21-22, I read this, “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Now, death came by Adam. And if you want proof that the first sin of Adam was a representative act, consider why a little infant will die when that little child has not committed a sinful act.

Well, that little infant belongs to the race of Adam. In Adam all die. You see, God did not create man to die. God had something better in store for man and does today. Now, with that thought in mind, let’s move on to verse Rom_5:13.

Romans 5:13

From Adam to Moses sin was in the world, but at that time sin was not a transgression; it was merely rebellion against God. I think this is the reason God did not exact the death penalty from Cain when he murdered his brother. I cannot think of a deed more dastardly than what he did, but at that time God had not yet said, “Thou shalt not kill” (Exo_20:13). Actually, God put a mark on Cain to protect him. A little later on you find that one of the sons of Cain, Lamech, tells why he killed a man. He says, “I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.

If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold” (Gen_4:23-24). You see, Lamech had a reason. Also, that generation that was destroyed at the Flood was saturated with sin. They were incurable incorrigibles. “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen_6:5). But not one of them broke the Ten Commandmentsbecause there were no Ten Commandments then. But they were judged because they were sinners.

And, friend, that answers the question about the heathen being lost who haven’t heard the gospel. The answer is that all men belong to a lost race. It may be difficult for you and me to accept this fact, but you and I have been born into a lost race. We’re not a lovely people. We are not the product of evolutiononward and upward forever with everything getting better. You and I belong to a lost race, and we need to be redeemed.

Even the very thoughtlife of man is alienated from God. Somebody may say, “Then I think God is obligated to save all of us.” No, He is not. Suppose that you could go down to an old marshy lake covered with scum where there are hundreds of turtles, and you take a turtle out of there. And you teach this turtle to fly. Then this turtle goes back to the lake and says to the other turtles, “Wouldn’t you like to learn to fly?” I think they’d laugh at the turtle. They’d say, “No! we like it down here. We don’t want to learn to fly.” And that is the condition of lost mankind today. People don’t want to be saved. People are lost, alienated from God. Now, that’s a great truth that does not soak into our minds easily, because we have that lost nature. We just love to think that we’re wonderful people. But we are not, my friend.

Romans 5:14

Paul is personifying death. He speaks of the fact that death reigned like a king from Adam to Moses. Although he had not broken the Ten Commandmentsbecause they hadn’t yet been givenman was yet a sinner. The word death is used in a threefold way in Scripture. There is what is known as physical death. That refers only to the body, and it means a separation of the spirit from the body. This death comes to man because of Adam’s sin. Also, there is spiritual death, which is separation from and rebellion against God. And we inherit this nature from Adam, by the way. We are alienated from God, and we are dead in trespasses and sins (see Eph_2:1). That is the picture that Scripture presents. Then there is eternal death. That is the third death that Scripture speaks of, and it is eternal separation from God. And, unless man is redeemed, eternal death inevitably follows (see Rev_21:8). Adam is here definitely declared to be a type of Christ"who is the figure" or “he is the type of him who was to come.” That is, Adam is a type of Christ.

Romans 5:15

HEADSHIP OF CHRISTWe have “much more” in Christ. Today we are looking forward to something more wonderful than the Garden of Eden. As the writer of Hebrews tells us, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Heb_11:13).

Romans 5:16

Now I recognize that this is a difficult section, and this is one of the most difficult passages. To simplify it, all this section means is this: one transgression plunged the race into sin; and one act of obedience and the death of Christ upon the Cross makes it possible for lost man to be saved.

Romans 5:17

Paul has previously stated (v. Rom_5:14) that death reigns as king. Death came to the throne by one man who committed only one offensethat is, the original sin, the one act, involved the race. Here Paul presents another kingdom which is superior to the kingdom of death. It is the kingdom of life. It is offered to the subjects of the kingdom of death through the superabundance of grace. Man has only to receive it. The King of the kingdom of life is Jesus Christ. The gift comes through Him.

Romans 5:18

This is the underlying principle of the imputation of sin and the imputation of righteousness. This is the doctrine of the federal headship of the race in Adam and Christ.

Romans 5:19

Here Paul sums up his argument on federal headship: Adam’s one act of disobedience made all sinnersnot just possessors of a sin nature, but guilty of the act of sin. Christ’s obedienceHis death and resurrectionmakes it possible for God to declare righteous the sinner who believes in Him.

Romans 5:20

When God gave the Law, He gave with it a sacrificial system. Then later on Christ came to fulfill that part of it also. In other words, God has given to the human race, a lost race, an opportunity to be delivered from the guilt of sinsnot the nature of sin. You and I will have that old sin nature throughout our lives.

Romans 5:21

“As sin hath reigned unto death"you and I are living in a world where sin reigns. Do you want to know who is king of the earth today? Well, Scripture tells us that Satan is the prince. He is the one who goes up and down this earth seeking whom he may devour (see 1Pe_5:8). “Sin hath reigned unto death,” and the cemeteries are still being filled because of that. “Even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” He is calling out a peopleout of a lost raceand He is “teaching turtles to fly” if they want to. However, the turtle nature doesn’t want to fly. Man is alienated from God; he has a sin nature. Now God offers salvation to a lost race. The claims of God’s righteousness are fully met in the death of Christ. The Kingdom is fully and firmly established on the Cross of Christ. All other ground is sinking sand. The believing sinner now has eternal life by being united to the last Adam, the raised and glorified Savior. This makes possible the sanctification of the saved sinner, which is the theme of the next chapter.