Romans 5

Romans 5:1-5

Romans 5:1-5 : Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; through whom also we have had our access by faith into this grace wherein we stand; and we rejoice in our tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh steadfastness; and steadfastness, approvedness; and approvedness, hope: and hope putteth not to shame; because the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given unto us. In this chapter Paul sets forth the blessings of gospel righteousness, or justification. Those who are justified by faith have peace with God. All rebellion having been put out of our hearts, we are fully sub-missive to God and as all sins have been forgiven, God holds nothing against us. We are at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is through Christ that we have had access by faith into his grace, or fa-vor, wherein we stand.

Not only are we now at peace with God and stand in his favor, but we rejoice in the glory yet to come. On account of our exalted state we even rejoice in the tribulations which we suffer as Christians; for we know that tribulations endured work steadfastness of character. God approves stead-fastness, and that gives us hope and hope toward God does not put to shame, or disappoint us. The love of God here mentioned is the love that God has for us. The Holy Spirit, by revelation, by miracles, and by spiritual gifts, filled their hearts with the knowledge of God’s love. These are some of the blessings that come to the children of God.

 

Some of the blessings of gospel justification were considered in the preceding paragraphs, among which was hope. “And hope putteth not to shame because the love of God bath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given unto us” (Romans 5:5). This fact is assigned as a reason as to why this hope will not put to shame, or be disappointing. God has promised great things for the faithful Christian, and has given him the Holy Spirit as a pledge that every promise will be fulfilled. “Now he that establisheth us with you in Christ, and anointed us, is God who also sealed us, and gave us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22). “Now he that wrought us for this very thing is God, who gave unto us the earnest of the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 5:5). Webster defines earnest: “Something of value given by a buyer to a seller to bind a bargain.”

Romans 5:6

Romans 5:6 : For while we were yet weak, in due sea-son Christ died for the ungodly. We were weak when Christ died for us, or rather we were weak up to the time Christ died for us. The language does not mean that we are now unable to believe God nor do what he commands. It refers to man’s helplessness without the death of Christ. Men were condemned sinners, with no means of escape from sin and condemnation. They were helpless. But the death of Christ opened up the way of escape, and removed the weakness spoken of in this verse. Christ died in due time–at the time which God in his wisdom had selected. “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son” (Galatians 4:4). At the proper time Christ died for the ungodly for those without God.

Romans 5:7

Romans 5:7 : “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: for peradventure for the good man someone would even dare to die.” In the strict sense of righteous, as Paul here uses the term, a righteous man is one who acts on the cold principle of justice. Such a man neither gives nor takes. He gives neither short measure nor over measure. He is the proverbial man that splits a grain of wheat that he and the man with whom he deals may each have his exact portion, regardless of the needs of the person with whom he deals. We may admire the strict honesty of such a man but we do not feel so devoted to him as to die for him. We cannot feel any deep affection for him.

But the good man is more than just; he is kind, amiable, and generous. He is devoted to the welfare and happiness of others. He stirs our emotions, and gets hold of the deep affections of our heart. For such a man some might dare to die, but that would be unusual.

Romans 5:8

Romans 5:8 : “But God commendeth his own love to-ward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Here Paul shows the greatness of God’s love by contrasting it with man’s love. To die for a good man is great love. But Jesus died for sinners for those who were his enemies. To die for those who hate and abuse us is love supreme. Jesus did that. He died even for those who mocked, scourged, and crucified him. He died that those who shed his blood might live. Never other love like that.

Romans 5:9

Romans 5:9 : “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, shall we be saved from the wrath of God through him.” As he died for us while we were enemies, thus bringing about our justification through his blood, much more shall we as his friends be saved from future wrath.

Romans 5:10

Romans 5:10 : “For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” This is really a restatement of what was said in Romans 5:8-9. We were enemies, but were reconciled to God by the death of Jesus. His death for us opened up a way through which we could be reconciled to God, and his suffering for us so touched our hearts that we wanted to be reconciled. If he accomplished so much for us when he seemed to be so weak that his enemies put him to death, much more, that he now lives to intercede for us and to rule our hearts and our lives, shall we be eternally saved. But it is left to us as to whether we avail ourselves of the benefits of either his death or his life.

Romans 5:11

Romans 5:11 : “And not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have received the reconciliation.” We rejoice in God–rejoice in the glory of his being and the perfection of his attributes, and we rejoice in what he is to us and what he has done for us. These great benefits and blessings come to us through our Lord Jesus Christ, “through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” That is, it was through the Lord Jesus Christ that we were reconciled to God.

 

The remaining portion of this chapter is considered very hard to understand. It is easy to see that Paul was still setting forth the blessings of gospel justification, but it is not so easy to understand some of his reasoning.

Romans 5:12

Romans 5:12 : “Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned. Though Eve first ate of the forbidden fruit, Adam’s eating it completed the transgression and made it unanimous. Paul follows the usual custom of speaking of the man instead of the woman. He indulges in no reasoning as to why they sinned he merely states the fact that they did sin. He speaks of it merely to draw a contrast between the effects of what Adam did and the effects of what Christ did; and he did this to show how the gospel of Christ more than overcomes the effects of Adam’s sin. Christianity is not concerned with the origin of sin so much as with the fact of sin.

The gospel did not bring sin into the world, but it was brought into the world as the panacea for sin and all its ills. Death resulted from sin. But what death is here meant? It is true that physical death came as a result of sin, but so also does spiritual death. The context and the nature of Paul’s argument must determine which death is here meant. In this Roman letter Paul frequently uses the word death, without saying which death he means, leaving the reader to determine from the context which death he means.

The context favors the idea that death in Romans 5:12 is spiritual death. The moral and spiritual condition of man and the gospel plan of justification had been the matter under discussion. Besides, the death here mentioned passed upon all men on account of their own sins. Physical death came upon all on account of Adam’s sin, but the death here mentioned came only upon those who sinned. Facts are against the idea that all men suffer physical death on account of their own sins; but spiritual death does come in that way, and in no other way. The condition of infants and idiots is not taken into consideration in the discussion of sin and spiritual death.

They die a physical death, even though they have not sinned.

 

It is generally agreed that verses 13-17 (Romans 5:13-17) are parenthetical, and that the thought started in Romans 5:12 is resumed in Romans 5:18. Such parentheses are frequent in Paul’s writing.

Romans 5:13

Romans 5:13 : “For until the law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law.” In the Greek text there is no the before law in this verse. When Paul referred to the law of Moses, he generally, if not always, put the before law. But what does “until law” mean? R. St. John Parry, in his explanatory notes to the Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges, says that the phrase in question “equals just so far as there was law, there was sin.

It has been shown (2:14, 15) that there was law, in a certain and true sense, before the law given to Moses. . . .So I take it achri nomou equals, up to the degree of law, just to the extent to which law was present.” There has never been a people who were not under the moral law. From Adam on down the ages people have been under that law, have violated that law, and were, therefore, sinners. The fact that sin was in the world proves that there was law, for people are not counted sinners when there is no law. Paul’s statement that sin is not imputed when there is no law is equal to his statement that where there is no law there is no transgression. People who were not circumcised before the law of circumcision was given were not counted sinners for their failure to be circumcised, and so with any other positive command, or law. Nothing is plainer than that there was law be-fore the law of Moses was given, and that people were sinners during that time, but they were sinners only to the extent of the law which they had.

Romans 5:14

Romans 5:14 : Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression, who is a figure of him that was to come.” This does not mean that the people from Adam to Moses did not sin at all, for that would contradict other things that Paul had said, but it means that they did not sin after the likeness of Adam’s sin. They were not guilty of a sin like Adam’s sin. To say that they did not sin after the likeness of Adam’s sin is equal to affirming that they were guilty of a different kind of sin. Adam violated a positive law; these people violated the moral law. And that was not like Adam’s sin. But if the statement in Romans 5:12, that all sinned, means that all sinned in Adam, then all did sin after the likeness of Adam’s sin.

Thus, in an unexpected place, we have positive proof that we are not all guilty of Adam’s sin. Death reigned over those who were guilty of sin, but were not guilty of a sin like Adam’s sin.

Romans 5:15

Romans 5:15 : “But not as the trespass so also is the free gift. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound unto the many.” The gift through Christ was not merely, as someone has said, “coextensive in application with the ruin wrought through Adam,” but abounded much more, or much beyond the evil effects of Adam’s tres-pass. To meet the needs of humanity it had to be more extensive in application than the ruin wrought through Adam. In addition to the evils resulting from Adam’s sin, there are the ruinous effects of our own sins that must be overcome, or else we are hopelessly lost. But Paul assures us that the blessings through Christ abound much more than the curse through the trespass of Adam; they include deliverance from our own sins.

Romans 5:16

Romans 5:16 : “And not as through one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment came of one unto condemnation, but the free gift came of many trespasses unto justification. Here the personal guilt of Adam is emphasized, but the free gift of God was not simply coextensive with the sin of Adam. The judgment came of one trespass, unto condemnation. The one trespass was the eating of the forbidden fruit, and the condemnation here mentioned is the condemnation pronounced upon Adam and Eve in the garden. (See Genesis 3). The condemnation came of one trespass, but the free gift came of many trespasses–that is, Jesus came to save us from our many trespasses as well as from the evil consequences of Adam’s sin. It is an-other proof that God’s grace through Christ covers a greater range of evils than the one trespass of Adam. The free gift came to save us from our many trespasses and to bring us into a state of justification.

Romans 5:17

Romans 5:17 : “For if, by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; much more shall they that receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, even Jesus Christ.” The act of one brought death into the world.

 

“Death reigned.”– Reigned is ingressive–that is, death began to reign. But what death? Were it not for the contrast Paul draws, we would readily conclude that he referred to physical death; but he contrasts death with the gift of righteousness, which is the spiritual life. The death that reigns through the one man Adam is overcome, or destroyed, by the gift of righteousness through Christ. It is a fact that spiritual death, as well as physical death, entered the world through the sin of Adam; and it is a fact that spiritual life entered the world through Jesus Christ. But are we all dead spiritually because Adam brought spiritual death into the world?

No more than that we are all alive spiritually because Christ brought spiritual life into the world. As we do not partake of the spiritual life un-conditionally, so neither do we partake of the spiritual death unconditionally. If Adam had introduced mea-sles into the world, that would not prove that all his descendants are born with the measles! But people live in a sin-infested country, and sin is more con-tagious than measles. To say that people are born subject to sin is far from saying that people are born sinners. Adam was created subject to sin, and he sinned; but that does not prove that he was created a sinner, nor even with a depraved nature.

 

Paul speaks of the gift of righteousness; but if a person is not free to accept or reject a thing, it can-not be properly called a gift. If we merited it by the perfection of our works, it would not be a gift. It is a righteousness to which we attain through the forgiveness of our sins. We are made righteous by the cleansing power of the gospel of Christ. To that plan of righteousness we must submit. Spiritual life and spiritual death are both the results of our own choice. It is surprising that anyone ever thought that the personal righteousness of Christ is given to the believer.

Romans 5:18

Romans 5:18 : “So then as through one trespass the judgment came unto all men to condemnation; even so through one act of righteousness the free gift came unto all men to justification of life.” This verse connects back with Romans 5:12. From the condemnation that came upon all men through one trespass we are released by the justification of life through the one act of righteousness of Jesus Christ. It seems certain that this one act of righteousness was the death of Christ. Hence, the justification to life frees us from the condemnation that came through the trespass of Adam. The matters of this verse are more fully stated in the next verse.

Romans 5:19

Romans 5:19 : “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one shall the many be made righteous.”– “The many” here includes all that arrive at the years of responsibility. Paul does not say how these were made sinners by the disobedience of Adam, nor how they are to be made righteous by the obedience of Christ. It is pure assumption to argue that the disobedience of Adam is imputed to his offspring, or that the obedience of Christ is imputed to anybody. Neither guilt nor personal righteousness can be transferred from one person to another, but the consequences of either may, to some extent, fall upon others. By his sin Adam brought about conditions that make every person subject to temptation. In this way he made sinners.

Tom Paine made infidels; but that, does not mean that his infidelity was imputed to others, or that they did not become infidels by their own free choice. Christ became obedient unto death (Philippians 2:8), and that act of obedience makes many people righteous. As Adam’s disobedience did not make the many sinners without their choice, so neither does the obedience of Christ make the many righteous without their choice.

Romans 5:20

Romans 5:20 : “And the law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly.” Here again there is no the before law in the Greek text. “Law came in.” This would include all divine law given before Christ–the law of Moses as well as whatever law was given before Moses. Some laws were revealed to man before the law of Moses was given. Law in this verse must refer to revealed law, instead of the moral law that is inherent in the very nature of the relations that exist among men. Law came in “that the trespass might abound.” One thing is certain, and that is that God did not give laws for the purpose of making people any worse sinners. Law was given to restrain people from wrong and guide them in the right way. There is this, however: the more things law prohibits and the more things it requires, the more points there are where we may violate law.

In that way law may in-crease the number of sins. A man might observe the moral law out of regard for himself and his fellow man, without any regard for God; but a positive law determines his attitude toward God. If a man has rebellion in his heart, positive law reveals it. Adam violated a positive law, not a moral law. Any time a person violates a positive law, he repeats the trespass of Adam; every positive command, therefore, tends to increase the trespass. The law also made people see the enormity of sin and their helplessness under its reign.

This would help them to realize more and more their need of some other means of deliverance. Sin abounded in that it triumphed over the sinner, made him feel his helplessness, and offered him no hope of deliverance. Where there was law, sin abounded. On the other hand, where sin abounded, much more did grace abound.

Romans 5:21

Romans 5:21 : “That, as sin reigned in death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Sin caused death, but that is not what Paul here has in mind. Sin reigned in death–in the sphere or realm of death. That Paul is here referring to spiritual life and spiritual death is made clear by the verses that immediately follow in the next chapter. In spiritual death sin’s reign is absolute; it is the reigning monarch in every man who is dead in sins. But grace reigns through righteousness–that is, through this gospel plan of righteousness. It is God’s grace that produced this plan of righteousness it is the power that banishes sin from the heart and leads a man in devoted service to God. The ultimate result of its reign is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.