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Faith, the Riches of Life[a]

Chapter 5

At Peace with God

Hope Does Not Disappoint. Therefore, now that we have been justified by faith, we are at peace[b] with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom by faith we have been given access to this grace in which we now live, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we realize that suffering develops perseverance, and perseverance produces character, and character produces hope. Such hope will not be doomed to disappointment,[c] because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Reconciliation Already Obtained. At the appointed time, while we were still helpless, Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, it is seldom that anyone will die for a just person, although perhaps for a good person someone might be willing to die. Thus, God proved his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

And so, now that we have been justified by Christ’s blood, how much more certainly will we be saved through him from divine retribution.[d] 10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more certain it is that, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 11 And not only that, but we now even trust exultantly in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have already been granted reconciliation.

Adam and Christ—Sin and Grace[e]

12 Humanity’s Sin through Adam. Therefore, sin entered the world as the result of one man, and death[f] as a result of sin, and thus death has afflicted the entire human race inasmuch as everyone has sinned. 13 Sin was already in the world before there was any Law, even though sin is not reckoned when there is no Law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned over all from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned by disobeying a command, as did Adam who prefigured the one who was to come.

15 Grace and Life through Christ. However, the gift is not like the transgression. For if the transgression of one man led to the death of the many,[g] how much greater was the overflowing effect of the grace of God and the gift of the one man Jesus Christ that has abounded for the many. 16 The gift of God cannot be compared with the sin of the one man. For the one sin resulted in the judgment that brought condemnation, but the gift freely given after many transgressions resulted in justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s transgression, death reigned through that man, how much more shall those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness come to reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

18 Therefore, just as one man’s transgression brought condemnation for all, so one man’s righteous act resulted in justification and life for all. 19 For just as through the disobedience of one man the many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one man the many will be made righteous.[h]

20 Purpose of the Law. When the Law was added, offenses multiplied; but the increase in sins was far exceeded by the increase in grace. 21 Hence, as sin’s reign resulted in death, so the grace of God also might reign through righteousness resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Footnotes

  1. Romans 5:1 Without faith human beings remain in the night of sin. When they have been justified through Christ and believe in the redemption he gives, they enter into a new life, that of salvation. Paul confronts the believer with a living reality.
    First, he speaks of peace and reconciliation (Rom 5:1-11); he must then show how Christ opens for us the way of deliverance from sin (Rom 5:12-21), from death (Rom 6:1-23), and from the Law (Rom 7:1-25); the song of Christian life is a song of the Spirit and of hope. But Paul cannot forget the lot of the Israel that rejects the Gospel; he enters upon a lengthy discussion and asserts again that the love of God is stronger than any human rejection (chs. 9–11).
  2. Romans 5:1 We are at peace: some manuscripts and Fathers of the Church give: “Let us have peace.”
  3. Romans 5:5 Such hope will not be doomed to disappointment: the hope of believers is more than just an earthly optimism. It is the assurance of our future destiny based on the love of God for us—revealed to us by the Holy Spirit and demonstrated for us by Christ’s Death.
  4. Romans 5:9 Saved . . . from divine retribution: the image expresses the tragic situation of humanity without God, that is, without hope and without an authentic future (see Rom 1:18; 1 Thes 1:10).
  5. Romans 5:12 The religious history of humanity is here summarized in an incisive synthesis. We should keep our gaze fixed on the luminous heights to which Paul wants to lead us: his vision points to life, grace, and the salvation given in Christ Jesus. The vision is all the more fascinating in that it stands out against the dark background of sin and death.
  6. Romans 5:12 Death: physical death is the penalty for sin as well as the symbol of spiritual death, the ultimate separation of a human being from God. Inasmuch as everyone has sinned: we start life with a sinful nature (see Gen 8:21; Pss 51:7; 58:4; Eph 2:3).
  7. Romans 5:15 The many: this has the same meaning as “everyone” in verse 12 (see Isa 53:11; Mk 10:45).
  8. Romans 5:19 Disobedience is the refusal to acknowledge the primacy of God when it comes to giving life meaning. Obedience is the commitment of one’s life to the plan and call of God.

The Expectation of Justification

[a] Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have[b] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have also obtained access[c] into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice[d] in the hope of God’s glory. Not[e] only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God[f] has been poured out[g] in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.)[h] But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous[i] by his blood,[j] we will be saved through him from God’s wrath.[k] 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? 11 Not[l] only this, but we also rejoice[m] in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

The Amplification of Justification

12 So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people[n] because[o] all sinned— 13 for before the law was given,[p] sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin[q] when there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam (who is a type[r] of the coming one) transgressed.[s] 15 But the gracious gift is not like the transgression.[t] For if the many died through the transgression of the one man,[u] how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many! 16 And the gift is not like the one who sinned.[v] For judgment, resulting from the one transgression,[w] led to condemnation, but[x] the gracious gift from the many failures[y] led to justification. 17 For if, by the transgression of the one man,[z] death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!

18 Consequently,[aa] just as condemnation[ab] for all people[ac] came[ad] through one transgression,[ae] so too through the one righteous act[af] came righteousness leading to life[ag] for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man[ah] many[ai] were constituted sinners, so also through the obedience of one man[aj] many[ak] will be constituted righteous. 20 Now the law came in[al] so that the transgression[am] may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more, 21 so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Footnotes

  1. Romans 5:1 sn Many interpreters see Rom 5:1 as beginning the second major division of the letter.
  2. Romans 5:1 tc A number of significant witnesses have the subjunctive ἔχωμεν (echōmen, “let us have”) instead of ἔχομεν (echomen, “we have”) in v. 1. Included in the subjunctive’s support are א* A B* C D K L 33 81 630 1175 1739* pm lat bo. But the indicative is not without its supporters: א1 B2 F G P Ψ 0220vid 104 365 1241 1505 1506 1739c 1881 2464 pm. If the problem were to be solved on an external basis only, the subjunctive would be preferred. Because of this, the “A” rating on behalf of the indicative in the UBS5 appears overly confident. Nevertheless, the indicative is probably correct. First, the earliest witness to Rom 5:1 has the indicative (0220vid, third century). Second, the first set of correctors is sometimes, if not often, of equal importance with the original hand. Hence, א1 might be given equal value with א*. Third, there is a good cross-section of witnesses for the indicative: Alexandrian (in 0220vid, probably א1 1241 1506 1881 al), Western (in F G), and Byzantine (noted in NA28 as pm). Thus, although the external evidence is strongly in favor of the subjunctive, the indicative is represented well enough that its ancestry could easily go back to the autograph. Turning to the internal evidence, the indicative gains much ground. (1) The variant may have been produced via an error of hearing (since omicron and omega were pronounced alike in ancient Greek). This, of course, does not indicate which reading was the initial text—just that an error of hearing may have produced one of them. In light of the indecisiveness of the transcriptional evidence, intrinsic evidence could play a much larger role. This is indeed the case here. (2) The indicative fits well with the overall argument of the book to this point. Up until now, Paul has been establishing the “indicatives of the faith.” There is only one imperative (used rhetorically) and only one hortatory subjunctive (and this in a quotation within a diatribe) up till this point, while from ch. 6 on there are sixty-one imperatives and seven hortatory subjunctives. Clearly, an exhortation would be out of place in ch. 5. (3) Paul presupposes that the audience has peace with God (via reconciliation) in 5:10. This seems to assume the indicative in v. 1. (4) As C. E. B. Cranfield notes, “it would surely be strange for Paul, in such a carefully argued writing as this, to exhort his readers to enjoy or to guard a peace which he has not yet explicitly shown to be possessed by them” (Romans [ICC], 1:257). (5) The notion that εἰρήνην ἔχωμεν (eirēnēn echōmen) can even naturally mean “enjoy peace” is problematic (ExSyn 464), yet those who embrace the subjunctive have to give the verb some such force. Thus, although the external evidence is stronger in support of the subjunctive, the internal evidence points to the indicative. Although a decision is difficult, ἔχομεν appears to be the authentic reading.
  3. Romans 5:2 tc ‡ There is some dispute over whether τῇ πίστει is here or not. Several decent witnesses lack the words (B D F G 0220 sa Ambst) while they are found (with ἐν preceding the article in some) in other witnesses, some of which are very good (א [+ ἐν in א1; lacking in א*, omitted in אc] A [also with ἐν] C Ψ 33 1739 1881 lat). On balance, the shorter reading has stronger external witnesses. As well, (ἐν) τῇ πίστει strikes the reader as mildly redundant and certainly as a clarification. As such, it seems to be a motivated reading. It is thus best to delete the words from the text.
  4. Romans 5:2 tn Or “exult, boast.”
  5. Romans 5:3 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
  6. Romans 5:5 tn The phrase ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ (hē agapē tou theou, “the love of God”) could be interpreted as either an objective genitive (“our love for God”), subjective genitive (“God’s love for us”), or both (M. Zerwick’s “general” genitive [Biblical Greek, §§36-39]; D. B. Wallace’s “plenary” genitive [ExSyn 119-21]). The immediate context, which discusses what God has done for believers, favors a subjective genitive, but the fact that this love is poured out within the hearts of believers implies that it may be the source for believers’ love for God; consequently an objective genitive cannot be ruled out. It is possible that both these ideas are meant in the text and that this is a plenary genitive: “The love that comes from God and that produces our love for God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (ExSyn 121).
  7. Romans 5:5 sn On the OT background of the Spirit being poured out, see Isa 32:15; Joel 2:28-29.
  8. Romans 5:7 sn Verse 7 forms something of a parenthetical comment in Paul’s argument.
  9. Romans 5:9 tn Grk “having now been declared righteous.” The participle δικαιωθέντες (dikaiōthentes) has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.
  10. Romans 5:9 tn Or, according to BDF §219.3, “at the price of his blood.”
  11. Romans 5:9 tn Grk “the wrath,” referring to God’s wrath as v. 10 shows.
  12. Romans 5:11 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
  13. Romans 5:11 tn Or “exult, boast.”
  14. Romans 5:12 tn Here ἀνθρώπους (anthrōpous) has been translated as a generic (“people”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.
  15. Romans 5:12 tn The translation of the phrase ἐφ᾿ ᾧ (eph hō) has been heavily debated. For a discussion of all the possibilities, see C. E. B. Cranfield, “On Some of the Problems in the Interpretation of Romans 5.12,” SJT 22 (1969): 324-41. Only a few of the major options can be mentioned here: (1) the phrase can be taken as a relative clause in which the pronoun refers to Adam, “death spread to all people in whom [Adam] all sinned.” (2) The phrase can be taken with consecutive (resultative) force, meaning “death spread to all people with the result that all sinned.” (3) Others take the phrase as causal in force: “death spread to all people because all sinned.”
  16. Romans 5:13 tn Grk “for before the law.”
  17. Romans 5:13 tn Or “sin is not reckoned.”
  18. Romans 5:14 tn Or “pattern.”
  19. Romans 5:14 tn Or “disobeyed”; Grk “in the likeness of Adam’s transgression.”
  20. Romans 5:15 tn Grk “but not as the transgression, so also [is] the gracious gift.”
  21. Romans 5:15 sn Here the one man refers to Adam (cf. 5:14).
  22. Romans 5:16 tn Grk “and not as through the one who sinned [is] the gift.”
  23. Romans 5:16 tn The word “transgression” is not in the Greek text at this point, but has been supplied for clarity.
  24. Romans 5:16 tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.
  25. Romans 5:16 tn Or “falls, trespasses,” the same word used in vv. 15, 17, 18, 20.
  26. Romans 5:17 sn Here the one man refers to Adam (cf. 5:14).
  27. Romans 5:18 tn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.
  28. Romans 5:18 tn Grk “[it is] unto condemnation for all people.”
  29. Romans 5:18 tn Here ἀνθρώπους (anthrōpous) has been translated as a generic (“people”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.
  30. Romans 5:18 tn There are no verbs in the Greek text of v. 18, forcing translators to supply phrases like “came through one transgression,” “resulted from one transgression,” etc.
  31. Romans 5:18 sn One transgression refers to the sin of Adam in Gen 3:1-24.
  32. Romans 5:18 sn The one righteous act refers to Jesus’ death on the cross.
  33. Romans 5:18 tn Grk “righteousness of life.”
  34. Romans 5:19 sn Here the one man refers to Adam (cf. 5:14).
  35. Romans 5:19 tn Grk “the many.”
  36. Romans 5:19 sn One man refers here to Jesus Christ.
  37. Romans 5:19 tn Grk “the many.”
  38. Romans 5:20 tn Grk “slipped in.”
  39. Romans 5:20 tn Or “trespass.”

Peace and Hope

Therefore, since we have been justified(A) through faith,(B) we[a] have peace(C) with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,(D) through whom we have gained access(E) by faith into this grace in which we now stand.(F) And we[b] boast in the hope(G) of the glory of God. Not only so, but we[c] also glory in our sufferings,(H) because we know that suffering produces perseverance;(I) perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope(J) does not put us to shame, because God’s love(K) has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit,(L) who has been given to us.

You see, at just the right time,(M) when we were still powerless,(N) Christ died for the ungodly.(O) Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.(P)

Since we have now been justified(Q) by his blood,(R) how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath(S) through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies,(T) we were reconciled(U) to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!(V) 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.(W)

Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ

12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man,(X) and death through sin,(Y) and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned(Z)

13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law.(AA) 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam,(AB) who is a pattern of the one to come.(AC)

15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man,(AD) how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ,(AE) overflow to the many! 16 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death(AF) reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life(AG) through the one man, Jesus Christ!

18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people,(AH) so also one righteous act resulted in justification(AI) and life(AJ) for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man(AK) the many were made sinners,(AL) so also through the obedience(AM) of the one man the many will be made righteous.

20 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase.(AN) But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,(AO) 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death,(AP) so also grace(AQ) might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life(AR) through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Footnotes

  1. Romans 5:1 Many manuscripts let us
  2. Romans 5:2 Or let us
  3. Romans 5:3 Or let us