Romans 5-6

Modern English Version

Results of Justification

5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and so we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also boast in tribulation, knowing that tribulation produces patience, ⁴ patience produces character, and character produces hope. ⁵ And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

⁶ While we were yet weak, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Rarely for a righteous man will one die. Yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹ How much more then, being now justified by His blood, shall we be saved from wrath through Him. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, how much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. ¹¹ Furthermore, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Adam and Christ

¹² Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, so death has spread to all men, because all have sinned.

¹³ For until the law, sin was in the world. But sin is not counted when there is no law. ¹⁴ Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of Adam’s sin, who was a type of Him who was to come.

¹⁵ But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if through the trespass of one man many died, then how much more has the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. ¹⁶ The gift is not like the result that came through the one who sinned. For the judgment from one sin led to condemnation, but the free gift, which came after many trespasses, leads to justification. ¹⁷ For if by one man’s trespass death reigned through him, then how much more will those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

¹⁸ Therefore just as through the trespass of one man came condemnation for all men, so through the righteous act of One came justification of life for all men. ¹⁹ For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One the many will be made righteous.

²⁰ But the law entered, so that sin might increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded much more, ²¹ so that just as sin reigned in death, grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Dead to Sin but Alive in Christ

6 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may increase? ² God forbid! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? ³ Do you not know that we who were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? ⁴ Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

⁵ For if we have been united with Him in the likeness of His death, so shall we also be united with Him in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him, so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we should no longer be slaves to sin. ⁷ For the one who has died is freed from sin.

⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ⁹ knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death has no further dominion over Him. ¹⁰ For the death He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life He lives, He lives to God.

¹¹ Likewise, you also consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. ¹³ Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but yield yourselves to God, as those who are alive from the dead, and your bodies to God as instruments of righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace.

Slaves of Righteousness

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid! ¹⁶ Do you not know that to whom you yield yourselves as slaves to obey, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God, for you were slaves of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of teaching to which you were entrusted, ¹⁸ and having been freed from sin, you became the slaves of righteousness.

¹⁹ I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for just as you have yielded your members as slaves to impurity and iniquity leading to more iniquity, even so now yield your members as slaves to righteousness unto holiness. ²⁰ For when you were the slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness. ²¹ What fruit did you have then from the things of which you are now ashamed? The result of those things is death. ²² But now, having been freed from sin and having become slaves of God, you have fruit unto holiness, and the end is eternal life. ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.