Romans 5:1-11

Contemporary English Version

What It Means To Be Acceptable to God

5 By faith we have been made acceptable to God. And now, because of our Lord Jesus Christ, we live at peace^[a] with God. ² Christ has also introduced us^[b] to God’s undeserved kindness on which we take our stand. So we are happy, as we look forward to sharing in the glory of God. ³ But that’s not all! We gladly suffer,^[c] because we know that suffering helps us to endure. ⁴ And endurance builds character, which gives us a hope ⁵ that will never disappoint us. All of this happens because God has given us the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with his love.

⁶ Christ died for us at a time when we were helpless and sinful. ⁷ No one is really willing to die for an honest person, though someone might be willing to die for a truly good person. ⁸ But God showed how much he loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful.

⁹ But there is more! Now that God has accepted us because Christ sacrificed his life’s blood, we will also be kept safe from God’s anger. ¹⁰ Even when we were God’s enemies, he made peace with us, because his Son died for us. Yet something even greater than friendship is ours. Now that we are at peace with God, we will be saved by his Son’s life. ¹¹ And in addition to everything else, we are happy because God sent our Lord Jesus Christ to make peace with us.