Romans5
New King James Version
1Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;
4and perseverance, character; and character, hope.
5Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
6For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
8But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
10For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
11And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
12Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—
13(For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
15But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.
16And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.
17For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)
18Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.
19For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.
20Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,
21so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Romans 5.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The happy effects of justification through faith in the righteousness of Christ. (1–5). That we are reconciled by his blood. (6–11). The fall of Adam brought all mankind into sin and death. (12–14). The grace of God, through the righteousness of Christ, has more power to bring salvation, than Adam's sin had to bring misery, (15–19). as grace did superabound. (20, 21).
vv1-5
A blessed change takes place in the sinner's state, when he becomes a true believer, whatever he has been. Being justified by faith he has peace with God. The holy, righteous God, cannot be at peace with a sinner, while under the guilt of sin. Justification takes away the guilt, and so makes way for peace. This is through our Lord Jesus Christ; through him as the great Peace-maker, the Mediator between God and man. The saints' happy state is a state of grace. Into this grace we are brought, which teaches that we were not born in this state. We could not have got into it of ourselves, but we are led into it, as pardoned offenders. Therein we stand, a posture that denotes perseverance; we stand firm and safe, upheld by the power of the enemy. And those who have hope for the glory of God hereafter, have enough to rejoice in now. Tribulation worketh patience, not in and of itself, but the powerful grace of God working in and with the tribulation. Patient sufferers have most of the Divine consolations, which abound as afflictions abound. It works needful experience of ourselves. This hope will not disappoint, because it is sealed with the Holy Spirit as a Spirit of love. It is the gracious work of the blessed Spirit to shed abroad the love of God in the hearts of all the saints. A right sense of God's love to us, will make us not ashamed, either of our hope, or of our sufferings for him.
vv6-11
Christ died for sinners; not only such as were useless, but such as were guilty and hateful; such that their everlasting destruction would be to the glory of God's justice. Christ died to save us, not in our sins, but from our sins; and we were yet sinners when he died for us. Nay, the carnal mind is not only an enemy to God, but enmity itself, chap. 8:7; Col 1:21. But God designed to deliver from sin, and to work a great change. While the sinful state continues, God loathes the sinner, and the sinner loathes God, Zec 11:8. And that for such as these Christ should die, is a mystery; no other such an instance of love is known, so that it may well be the employment of eternity to adore and wonder at it. Again; what idea had the apostle when he supposed the case of some one dying for a righteous man? And yet he only put it as a thing that might be. Was it not the undergoing this suffering, that the person intended to be benefitted might be released therefrom? But from what are believers in Christ released by his death? Not from bodily death; for that they all do and must endure. The evil, from which the deliverance could be effected only in this astonishing manner, must be more dreadful than natural death. There is no evil, to which the argument can be applied, except that which the apostle actually affirms, sin, and wrath, the punishment of sin, determined by the unerring justice of God. And if, by Divine grace, they were thus brought to repent, and to believe in Christ, and thus were justified by the price of his bloodshedding, and by faith in that atonement, much more through Him who died for them and rose again, would they be kept from falling under the power of sin and Satan, or departing finally from him. The living Lord of all, will complete the purpose of his dying love, by saving all true believers to the uttermost. Having such a pledge of salvation in the love of God through Christ, the apostle declared that believers not only rejoiced in the hope of heaven, and even in their tribulations for Christ's sake, but they gloried in God also, as their unchangeable Friend and all-sufficient Portion, through Christ only.
vv12-14
The design of what follows is plain. It is to exalt our views respecting the blessings Christ has procured for us, by comparing them with the evil which followed upon the fall of our first father; and by showing that these blessings not only extend to the removal of these evils, but far beyond. Adam sinning, his nature became guilty and corrupted, and so came to his children. Thus in him all have sinned. And death is by sin; for death is the wages of sin. Then entered all that misery which is the due desert of sin; temporal, spiritual, eternal death. If Adam had not sinned, he had not died; but a sentence of death was passed, as upon a criminal; it passed through all men, as an infectious disease that none escape. In proof of our union with Adam, and our part in his first transgression, observe, that sin prevailed in the world, for many ages before the giving of the law by Moses. And death reigned in that long time, not only over adults who wilfully sinned, but also over multitudes of infants, which shows that they had fallen in Adam under condemnation, and that the sin of Adam extended to all his posterity. He was a figure or type of Him that was to come as Surety of a new covenant, for all who are related to Him.
Key Words
οὖν (oûn): (adverbially) certainly, or (conjunctionally) accordingly
δικαιόω (dikaióō): to render (i.e. show or regard as) just or innocent
ἐκ (ek): literal or figurative; direct or remote)
πίστις (pístis): persuasion, i.e. credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly, constancy in such profession; by extension, the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself
ἔχω (échō): to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remote; such as possession; ability, contiuity, relation, or condition)
εἰρήνη (eirḗnē): peace (literally or figuratively); by implication, prosperity
πρός (prós): a preposition of direction; forward to, i.e. toward (with the genitive case, the side of, i.e. pertaining to; with the dative case, by the side of, i.e. near to; usually with the accusative case, the place, time, occasion, or respect, which is the destination of the relation, i.e. whither or for which it is predicated)
θεός (theós): figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very
διά (diá): through (in very wide applications, local, causal, or occasional)
ἡμῶν (hēmōn): of (or from) us
Cross References
Romans 5Deals with the objective reality of reconciliation with God through Christ, mirroring Romans 5:1.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Confirms the state of alienation and active enmity toward God prior to Christ's reconciling death.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Expounds on Christ Himself being our peace, breaking down barriers and preaching peace.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Parallel description of believers having access through Christ by one Spirit to the Father.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The Old Testament basis for the promise that those who trust in God will not be ashamed.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Explains 'in due time' as the divinely appointed fullness of time for Christ's redemption.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Elaborates on what it means to be 'enemies' of God by defining the carnal mind as enmity.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Classic federal headship parallel: by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Contrasts Adam, the first living soul, with Christ, the Last Adam, a quickening spirit.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
The ultimate consequence of being justified: there is now no condemnation for those in Christ.
Supported by JFB
Illustrates how believers can glory in tribulation, knowing nothing separates them from Christ's love.
Supported by John Calvin
Highlights the uniqueness of Christ's love in laying down His life for His friends/enemies.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The original penalty of death decreed for disobedience, demonstrating how death entered the world.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The historical account of the first man's transgression by which sin entered the world.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Reinforces that where no law is, there is no transgression or imputation of sin.
Supported by John Calvin