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Romans 5
New Testament for Everyone
Romans 5
New Testament for Everyone
Peace and hope
5 The result is this: since we have been declared “in the right” on the basis of faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus the Messiah. 2 Through him we have been allowed to approach, by faith, into this grace in which we stand; and we celebrate the hope of the glory of God.
3 That’s not all. We also celebrate in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces patience, 4 patience produces a well-formed character, and a character like that produces hope. 5 Hope, in its turn, does not make us ashamed, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the holy spirit who has been given to us.
Jesus’ death reveals God’s love and guarantees final salvation
6 This is all based on what the Messiah did: while we were still weak, at that very moment he died on behalf of the ungodly. 7 It’s a rare thing to find someone who will die on behalf of an upright person—though I suppose someone might be brave enough to die for a good person. 8 But this is how God demonstrates his own love for us: the Messiah died for us while we were still sinners.
9 How much more, in that case—since we have been declared to be in the right by his blood—are we going to be saved by him from God’s coming anger! 10 When we were enemies, you see, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son; if that’s so, how much more, having already been reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 And that’s not all. We even celebrate in God, through our Lord Jesus the Messiah, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.
The big picture in shorthand: Adam and the Messiah
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one human being, and death through sin, and in that way death spread to all humans, in that all sinned . . . 13 Sin was in the world, you see, even in the absence of the law, though sin is not calculated where there is no law. 14 But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over the people who did not sin by breaking a command, as Adam had done—Adam, who was the imprint of the one who was to come.
15 But it isn’t “as the trespass, so also the gift.” For if many died by one person’s trespass, how much more has God’s grace, and the gift in grace through the one person Jesus the Messiah, abounded to the many? 16 And nor is it “as through the sin of the one, so also the gift.” For the judgment which followed the one trespass resulted in a negative verdict, but the free gift which followed many trespasses resulted in a positive verdict. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one, death reigned through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace, and of the gift of covenant membership, of “being in the right,” reign in life through the one man Jesus the Messiah?
The triumphant reign of grace
18 So, then, just as, through the trespass of one person, the result was condemnation for all people, even so, through the upright act of one person, the proper verdict is life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of one person many received the status of “sinner,” so through the obedience of one person many will receive the status of being “in the right.”
20 The law came in alongside, so that the trespass might be filled out to its full extent. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more; 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, even so, through God’s faithful covenant justice, grace might reign to the life of the age to come, through Jesus the Messiah, our Lord.
Romans 5
New International Version
Romans 5
New International Version
Peace and Hope
5 Therefore, since we have been justified(A) through faith,(B) we[a] have peace(C) with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,(D) 2 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. 3 Not only so, but we[c] also glory in our sufferings,(H) because we know that suffering produces perseverance;(I) 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 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.
6 You see, at just the right time,(M) when we were still powerless,(N) Christ died for the ungodly.(O) 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.(P)
9 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
- Romans 5:1 Many manuscripts let us
- Romans 5:2 Or let us
- Romans 5:3 Or let us
Romans 5
The Message
Romans 5
The Message
Developing Patience
5 1-2 By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.
3-5 There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!
6-8 Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.
9-11 Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we’re at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!
The Death-Dealing Sin, the Life-Giving Gift
12-14 You know the story of how Adam landed us in the dilemma we’re in—first sin, then death, and no one exempt from either sin or death. That sin disturbed relations with God in everything and everyone, but the extent of the disturbance was not clear until God spelled it out in detail to Moses. So death, this huge abyss separating us from God, dominated the landscape from Adam to Moses. Even those who didn’t sin precisely as Adam did by disobeying a specific command of God still had to experience this termination of life, this separation from God. But Adam, who got us into this, also points ahead to the One who will get us out of it.
15-17 Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man’s sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God’s gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do! There’s no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence. If death got the upper hand through one man’s wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, absolute life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?
18-19 Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right.
20-21 All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.
New Testament for Everyone (NTFE) 
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson