Romans 5

Results of Justification

Whenever we get good news (e.g. job promotion, engagement, our wife gets pregnant, etc.), we immediately think of how this will affect the rest of our lives. In this chapter, Paul unpacks what justification means for the believer, and how it will change our lives.

(5:1) “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“Having been justified by faith.” This is a summary of Paul’s argument in Romans 1-4. Our justification with God is a completed, past event (“having been justified by faith”). Grammatically, Paul uses the “nominative plural of the aorist passive participle.” This means that he is referring to our justification as “an event in the past, an event that extended righteousness to all believers.”[] Moreover, Paul writes this in the passive voice. This means that justification was something that was done to us—not something we did.

“We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is not the subjective peace of God (Phil. 4:7). Rather, this is peace with God—an objective standing with him, regardless of our feelings.[]

(5:2) “Through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.”

Verse 1 refers to the truce in our war with God. We are no longer God’s enemy. Here, we have something more: access to God. The term “introduction” is better translated as “access” according to Moo[] and the NIV. The context favors this view, because this shows how we can partake of God’s blessings. Moreover, this term is translates as “access” in its two other usages in the NT. Elsewhere, Paul writes, “Through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father… In [Jesus] we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him” (Eph. 2:18; 3:12). The translation of “introduction” simply doesn’t fit these texts.

“In which we stand.” The Enemy will try to move us from this firm ground on which we “stand.” Our role is not to flee, but to take our stand. If we give up the firm ground of our justification, we give up everything! Paul writes, “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil… Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm” (Eph. 6:10-11, 13). We don’t stand on feelings, but on divine facts.

“We exult in hope of the glory of God.” We “exult” (or “boast”) in God’s work on our behalf. There is nothing inherently wrong with boasting. In fact, we were designed to boast—as long as we boast in God, rather than in ourselves.

(5:3-4) “And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; ⁴ and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope.”

Why does Paul bring up suffering and endurance immediately after justification? It seems that the truth of our justification becomes a personal reality during times of suffering and endurance. When temporal blessings are taken away, we appreciate the truth of our justification like never before. Like a man clinging to a life preserver after his boat sinks, we grasp to these spiritual and eternal truths even firmer. Paul further explains that suffering brings about:

• “Perseverance.” Suffering produces an ability to endure over the long haul, and it is characteristic of those who “bear fruit” (Lk. 8:15). Therefore, this quality has a purpose, transforming us into a person of “character.”

• “Character” (dokimen) refers to “(1) a testing process, test, ordeal; (2) the experience of going through a test with special reference to the result, standing a test, character” (BDAG). This leads to “hope.”

• “Hope” (elpis) doesn’t refer to wishful thinking or wishing upon a star. It means that we are “looking forward to something with some reason for confidence respecting fulfillment” or as “matters spoken of in God’s promises” (BDAG). Of course, this definition fits with the context that states, “Hope does not disappoint.” If we had “hope” in the sense of gambling, we could very well be disappointed! But that is not Christian hope.

Paul returns to this theme of how trials and tribulations create glory at the end of this section (see Rom. 8:18-30).

(5:5) “Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Interestingly, this is “the first time Paul has mentioned God’s love in Romans.”[] We deserve God’s wrath poured out on us, but instead, we get his love. This doesn’t refer to the objective historical events of God’s love. Rather, it refers to the “inner, subjective certainty that God does love us.”[] In other words, the Holy Spirit makes these historical and life-changing realities come alive in the heart of the believer (cf. Rom. 8:15-16).

Does this verse teach that we love God, or that God loves us? The “love of God” could be translated either as a subjective genitive (“God’s love for us”) or an objective genitive (“Our love for God”). Most translations favor the subjective genitive, and that is our view, because this favors the context. However, even if the objective genitive is in view (“Our love for God”), it would only show how our love for God comes as a consequence of the Holy Spirit being “poured out within our hearts.” Thus, even the subjective genitive would imply God’s initiative—not self-effort.

“Because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” This is the reason that “hope does not disappoint.” The Holy Spirit in our hearts is the assurance that we belong to God, and very soon, we will be with Him directly.

(5:6, 8, 10) “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly… ⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us… ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

In this repeated refrain, Paul gives three attributes of our spiritual state before meeting Christ: “helpless” (v.6), “sinners” (v.8), and “enemies” (v.10). There is intensification in this list. It moves from depicting us as weak to willfully sinning.

• “Helpless” (asthenes) means “weak” (1 Cor. 4:10; 1 Pet. 3:7) or “unimpressive” (2 Cor. 10:10). But it is normally rendered as “sick.” BDAG’s first definition is “pertaining to suffering from a debilitating illness, sick, ill.” This word is used to refer to the paralyzed man that Peter and John healed (Acts 4:9), the sick brought to the apostles’ feet for healing (Acts 5:15), and those dying of sickness in Corinth (1 Cor. 11:30). The point is that both renderings are probably in view. We were weak, helpless, and spiritually sick. Christ looked on us with love and charity, knowing that we couldn’t heal ourselves.

• “Sinners” (hamartolon) means “not measuring up to a moral standard” (BDAG).

• “Enemies” (echthroi) means “being subjected to hostility or hatred” (BDAG).

Why does it say that Jesus died for us “at the right time”? Does this refer to the right time in our lives, or does it refer to the right time in human history? The latter is definitely in view, because Paul is referring to the historical event of the Cross—not our subjective experience of meeting Christ. Even though this was all true, Christ died for us in this spiritual state (cf. Gal. 4:4).

(5:7) “For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.”

Human love only goes so far. We might sacrifice our lives for our kids or our loved ones. But we wouldn’t give our lives for a mass murderer or a child molester!

(5:9) “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”

We were justified in the past tense by Jesus’ blood, but we’ll be saved in the future tense from his wrath. If God performed the unthinkable to die for every man, woman, boy, and girl on Planet Earth, then it follows that he would want us to avoid judgment at the end of our lives. Therefore, our current justification has future ramifications. We can know that God won’t ever judge us. There is nothing here mentioning the fact that we can be unjustified. Once justification occurs, our future salvation is divinely secured.

(5:10) “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

Paul has been writing with legal language (e.g. justification), but now he turns to relational language (e.g. reconciliation). This is a great passage for eternal security. Paul uses an a fortiori argument: If God forgave us when we were his enemies, how much more can we know that we’ll be sent to heaven now that we’re his allies? Keller writes, “If he was able to save us when we were hostile to him, would he fail us now that we are friends? If he didn’t give up on you when you were at war with him, what could you do to make him give up on you now that you are at peace with him?”[]

(5:11) “And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”

Our reconciliation with God has started, and this is our basis for “boasting” about God in the future. Paul concludes this section in the same way that he opened it: Our justification is a past and completed event (v.1), and therefore, so is our reconciliation (“we have now received the reconciliation”).

Paul writes that suffering leads to character change (vv.3-5). We shouldn’t cause this process of suffering. However, what are ways we can cooperate with God to bring about character change during times of suffering?

See our earlier article, “Means of Growth: Suffering.”

How could you make a case for eternal security based off of verses 1-11?

• We have been justified in the past tense (v.1) and reconciled in the past tense (v.10).

• We have the Holy Spirit (v.5).

• Christ died for us when we were enemies (v.6, 8, 10). How much more will he hold us secure in his love as his sons?

• Because we are secure, we can persevere and grow. This is the subject to which Paul will turn in the rest of Romans 5-8.

Romans 5:12-21 (Federal Headship)

Federal headship refers to gaining an identity in Adam or in Christ. This concept has also been called “corporate personality.”[] Paul offers a parallel discussion of this in 1 Corinthians 15:22, 45-49, but his most robust explanation of federal headship is found here in Romans 5.

While the Jewish and Gentile Christians were arguing over genetic ancestry (e.g. Abraham), Paul levels the playing field by going back to our earliest common ancestor: Adam. We’re all descended from Adam, and we’re all saved through Christ.

(5:12) “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

This is not merely saying that we also sinned like Adam sinned. Later, Paul makes it clear that we died because of Adam’s sin (“by the transgression of the one the many died,” v.15), and we were given a sin nature from Adam (“through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners,” v.19). This isn’t “fair,” but neither is our forgiveness in Christ: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Cor. 5:19). It is simply a fact that in a world of free-moral agents, other people can affect us for good or for bad. Paul begins with the bad news: Adam gave us all a sin nature.

(5:13) “For until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.”

Paul seems to be responding to a possible objection: Maybe we should go back to a period of time before the Mosaic Law was given. “No,” says Paul, “this won’t work, because we still face a problem with death.” Even though people weren’t under law (a main theme of chapters 6-7), these people were still under death.

During this period of time, God surely judged people according to the light they were given. Before the Mosaic Law, God judged humans according to Natural Law (Rom. 2:14-15), which Paul has already explained.

(5:14) “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”

People continued to sin after the time of Adam, but not in the same way that Adam sinned. Adam disobeyed a direct law from God (Gen. 2:16-17).

“Who is a type of Him who was to come.” A type is a foreshadowing (or “prototype”) of something to come. Types are not identical analogies. In this case, the analogy is that Adam and Jesus both had a universal effect on humanity—even though Adam brought death and Jesus brought life. Paul shows the differences in the subsequent verses.

(5:15-16) “But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. ¹⁶ The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.”

Again, we need to stress that types are not exact analogies. The type here refers to the universal impact of both Adam and Christ. However, Adam’s decision universally impacted humanity negatively, while Jesus universally impacted us positively. Adam gave us a “transgression” to live with; Christ offers us a “gift” to enjoy forever.

(5:17) “For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”

“Much more” doesn’t refer to the total quantity of people who were affected. Rather, it refers to the insuperable quality of Christ’s work. Adam made us die, but Christ gives eternal life in heaven.

“Reign in life through the One.” The earlier contrast to “death” reigning through Adam refers to our current fallen world of separation from God, resulting in an eternity in hell apart from Him. Therefore, the concept of reigning “in life” through Christ could be setting up what Paul is going to argue for the next several chapters—namely, to “reign in life” refers to our spiritual growth in this life. This, of course, could also refer to reigning with Christ in eternity (2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 22:5).

(5:18-19) “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. ¹⁹ For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”

Paul continues to compare Adam’s action of sin and Jesus’ action of justifying sinners.

(5:20-21) “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, ²¹ so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Paul lines up a shot that he’s going to take in chapters 6 and 7: Falling under Law causes us to sin more—not less. Law is not the solution, but the problem. We appreciate the great insights of older Bible teachers on this subject:

Watchman Nee: “In his atoning work before God he acted alone; no other could have a part. But the Lord did not die only to shed his Blood: he died that we might die. He died as our Representative. In his death he included you and me.”[]

Watchman Nee: “If we are ‘in Adam’ all that is in Adam necessarily devolves upon us; it becomes ours involuntarily, for we have to do nothing to get it. There is no need to make up our minds to lose our temper or to commit some other sin; sin comes to us freely and despite ourselves. In a similar way, if we are ‘in Christ’ all that is in Christ comes to us by free grace, without effort on our part but on the ground of simple faith.”[]

Watchman Nee: “In his death we all died. None of us can progress spiritually without seeing this. Just as we cannot have justification if we have not seen him bearing our sins on the Cross, so we cannot have sanctification if we have not seen him bearing us on the Cross. Not only have our sins been laid on him but we ourselves have been put into him.”[]

Miles Stanford: “Death is his decreed portion. There cannot be two masters in our lives. If the old ‘I’ is in active possession of us, then Christ cannot be. But if we gladly take hold of the great fact of redemption—‘I have been crucified with Christ’—then Christ by His Spirit takes up the exercise of the function of life within us, and leads us as His bond-slaves (disciples), in the train of His triumph.”[]

Miles Stanford: “‘If only I were stronger,’ we say, ‘I could overcome my violent outbursts of temper,’ and so we plead with the Lord to strengthen us that we may exercise more self-control. But this is altogether wrong; this is not Christianity. God’s means of delivering us from sin is not by making us stronger and stronger, but by making us weaker and weaker. This is surely a peculiar way of victory, you say; but it is the divine way. God sets us free from the dominion of sin, not by strengthening our old man but by crucifying him; not by helping him to do anything but by removing him from the scene of action.”[]

By contrast, Douglas Moo does not think that the “old self” and “new self” refer to our natures. He contends that these refer to our old relationship to Adam and our new relationship to Christ: “What is crucified, then, is that relationship. Our tie to Adam is dissolved; he and the sin and death he represents no longer dictate terms to us.”[] However, this doesn’t fit with the language. Paul doesn’t say that our relationship died, but that we died. Just as Jesus himself died, so did our old natures. We are a “new creation” in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).

Why does Paul begin a long explanation of sanctification (Romans 5-8) by starting with Adam? Isn’t this a strange place to start?

The way we got into this sin-problem was through one man: Adam. The way we can get out of this sin-problem is also through one man: Jesus. Our problem starts with our OLD IDENTITY in Adam, and it can only be solved through our NEW IDENTITY in Jesus.

Identity is important: If sin comes naturally because we have an identity in Adam, then righteousness would come naturally because of our new identity in Jesus. Paul’s point is that if we could only get our identity working in the opposite direction, then we would be able to be break free from the stranglehold of sin.

Paul states that Adam was a type of Christ. In what ways is Adam similar to Jesus? In what ways is Adam different?