Justification Brings Peace and Joy

5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace^[a] with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ² Through him we also have obtained access by faith^[b] into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice confidently on the basis of our hope for the glory^[c] of God.

³ Not only this, but we also rejoice confidently in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces patient endurance, ⁴ and patient endurance produces tested character, and tested character produces hope. ⁵ And hope will not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who was given to us.

God’s Love Is Evident in Christ’s Death for the Ungodly

⁶ For at the appointed time, while we were still helpless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ It is rare indeed that someone will die for a righteous person. Perhaps someone might actually go so far as to die for a person who has been good to him. ⁸ But God shows his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹ Therefore, since we have now been justified by his blood, it is even more certain that we will be saved from God’s wrath through him. ¹⁰ For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, it is even more certain that, since we have been reconciled, we will be saved by his life. ¹¹ And not only is this so, but we also go on rejoicing confidently in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received this reconciliation.

Both Adam and Christ Had an Effect on All People

¹² So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, so also death spread to all people because all sinned. ¹³ For even before the law was given, sin was in the world. Now, sin is not charged to one’s account if there is no law, ¹⁴ and yet death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those whose sin was not like the transgression of Adam, who is a pattern^[d] of the one who was to come.

¹⁵ But the gracious gift is not like Adam’s trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of this one man, it is even more certain that God’s grace, and the gift given by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ, overflowed to the many!

¹⁶ And the gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin, for the judgment that followed the one trespass resulted in a verdict of condemnation, but the gracious gift that followed many trespasses resulted in a verdict of justification.

¹⁷ Indeed, if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through the one man, it is even more certain that those who receive the overflowing grace of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ!

¹⁸ So then, just as one trespass led to a verdict of condemnation for all people, so also one righteous verdict led to life-giving justification^[e] for all people. ¹⁹ For just as through the disobedience of one man the many became sinners, so also through the obedience of one man the many will become righteous.

²⁰ The law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace overflowed much more, ²¹ so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace would reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.