ROMANS 5: “Rejoicing through our Lord Jesus Christ”

4:23-5:1 SALVATION ALWAYS BY FAITH

From Abraham to us, we have always been saved by trusting in the God who saves, not by trusting in
our own ability to obey Him. The death and resurrection of Christ are credited to us, just as they were
credited to Abraham. It is almost too good to be true: because we are justified by faith (not works), we
have peace with God. And there is nothing generic about our peace—it comes “through our Lord Jesus
Christ”. The faith in itself isn’t saving; it is the object of faith that matters. If you sincerely believe you
belong on American Idol, it doesn’t change your complete lack of talent and exclusion from the show.

5:2 ETERNAL REJOICING

Stand firm. We are already standing in this grace; we have already obtained access to this grace. We are
promised that faith is enough, for Christ is already enough.

Hope in the glory of God: we’re not just off the hook for our sin, but we’re also in line to receive
the full glory of God. We have eternal life in Christ (John 6:40, John 10:28, 1 John 2:25); we will
be with Him forever (Revelation 21:1-7); He will raise our mortal bodies to immortality (1 Cor.
15:50-57); we will be like Him (1 Cor. 15:49). There is plenty in our future, already purchased, to
rejoice in.

5:3-5 PRESENT REJOICING

Endurance, character, hope; we rejoice in the present struggles because they’re pushing us upward. We
wouldn’t rejoice if we were spinning our wheels until heaven, but Christ-likeness is not being held out
for the afterlife. We also imitate Christ’s earthly course in our suffering (Heb. 2:10, 12:2).

5:6-11 LIBERATED REJOICING

Chap. 4 dealt primarily with how righteousness is obtained by a human being (our end of the bargain;
faith). This chapter zooms in on how righteousness is given, finally, in the New Covenant (God’s end;
grace).

We can rejoice in our salvation, which came entirely by God’s initiative. The part we play in these verses
is passive, He is active. We’re receivers and takers—He’s the giver and shaker.

Our only claim to engage God is rebellion: We were weak (6) and sinful (8) enemies (10).
Chapters 1-3 detail our contributions in this relationship, which are absolutely negative.
 We are receivers, earners. He died for us (6, 8). We are justified by his blood (9), saved by him
(9), reconciled by the death of his Son (10), saved by his life (10), and receive reconciliation
through him (11). Even our rejoicing is done through our Lord Jesus Christ (11).

Not a soul can say they were strong for Christ when He died for them.

We clearly see Christ’s love on the cross, but He was also displaying the Father’s love (8; John 3:16).

SAVED FROM WHAT (9)?

Not a word about freedom from Satan or earthly enemies yet. That is coming, and important, but sin’s
condemnation is our most fundamental problem.

Justification, reconciliation = legal, relational peace. Sometimes a cop wishes he didn’t have to
write a ticket for a decent guy that broke the law. Or a judge may have no evidence to sentence
an obvious dirt bag. That’s not how it works with us and God. God has legal grounds and
personal grounds for His judgment against sinners.

Death=Cross. Life=Resurrection. We can’t forget how essential the resurrection is to our hope. Christ’s
death at the cross was the complete payment, and the resurrection was the receipt. Without the
resurrection, we have no proof of purchase and are still hopeless in our sin (1 Corinthians 15:17).

5:12-14 THE MESSY BALL OF SIN AND CONDEMNATION

God is just, but the guilty sinner takes no joy in His verdict apart from Christ.

How did all sin in Adam (12)? All were represented; as a result of the Fall, all are born spiritually dead
(original sin), sinful by nature and action; all were in Adam biologically at the Fall.

Death is not natural. Death reaches everyone as a result of sin (12; Rom. 6:23). Death is not a
“part of life”, it is the loudest alarm sounding in the universe that something is horribly wrong.

Due to Adam, sin is in the world, with or without explicit knowledge of God’s law (13-14). Remember
that we rebel in our conscience (Rom. 1:18-32), and are held accountable to God regardless of whether
the 10 Commandments ever reached our ears (Rom. 2:12). Sin and death reigned in the human race
under the headship of Adam.
5:15-19 ADAM VS. CHRIST

Type (14) = model; pattern. Adam is the photo-negative of Christ. The image of God is broken in Adam,
but radiated in Christ (Heb. 1:3). Christ is the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45), representing a redeemed
humanity. Death came through the man Adam; life comes through the man (15, 17, 19) Jesus Christ.

The trespass and resulting death were deserved. The free gift of grace is undeserved.

What does the trespass bring? Death (15, 17), judgment and condemnation (16, 18).

What does the free gift bring? Justification (16) and righteousness (17).

What has reigned? Death (14, 17, 21). What will reign? Life (17, 21).

Not a flat contrast. Things are not just back to normal—Jesus didn’t just plug up the holes in humanity’s
leaky boat. Rather, the redemption He brings is much more (15, 17)—it is abounding (20), triumphing
over the reign of death.

Who exactly is all (18)? All of the new man; all of the many (15, 19).

5:20-21 ALL THE COLORS OF GLORY

Law increases the condemnation tangle (5:12-14; 3:9-20), but it serves to heighten the reign of grace
through righteousness over the badly fallen creation. God glorifies His grace by showing the darkness
and the light, the condemnation and the redemption. Were either side of the story removed, His grace
would not shine so brightly.

This makes sense as an argument (we all know that movies without conflict don’t satisfy), but to trust in
His purposes as they work out in history (real life), we must seek His help. No one likes a boring movie,
but this conflict results in graveyards, abused children, war, etc. Christians have the unique task of
declaring that sin and death are horrible, unnatural things, while also declaring God’s grace triumphs
over and through the miseries of a fallen world.