Romans 5
Summary for Rom 5:1: 5:1–8:39 a Paul now turns from the Good News about how people enter a relationship with God to the security of that relationship. Christians have a strong and unassailable promise because of God’s work in Christ, God’s love for them, and the power of the Holy Spirit. This theme frames the teaching of these chapters (5:1-11 b; 8:18-39 c) as Paul grounds that promise in the transfer of believers from the realm of Adam to the realm of Christ (5:12-21 d). No power—whether sin (ch 6 e), the law (ch 7 f), or death (8:1-13 g)—“will ever be able to separate us from the love of God” (8:39 h). 5:1 i we have peace: In many manuscripts, the underlying Greek verb is indicative, as translated here. A number of other manuscripts use the subjunctive instead (let us have peace).• Peace with God does not refer to a mere feeling of peacefulness but to a real situation of peace. It is the end of hostilities between God and sinful human beings when they believe in Jesus Christ and the state of blessing and salvation that God promised his people in the end (see Isa 9:6-7 j; 52:7 k; Ezek 34:25 l; Nah 1:15 m).
5:2 n undeserved privilege (or grace): So basic is God’s grace (Greek charis) that Paul can use the word to sum up our present situation as believers.
• Where we now stand indicates that God’s grace is needed throughout the Christian life, not just at the beginning.
• Sharing God’s glory describes the content of Christian hope, which Paul introduces here and expounds more fully in 8:18-30 o. Behind Paul’s use of the word glory (Greek doxa) is the Hebrew word kabod, which depicts God’s majesty and overwhelming presence. The prophets predict a day when God’s glory will return to dwell in the midst of his people (see, e.g., Isa 60:1-2 p).
Summary for Rom 5:3-4: 5:3-4 q See also Jas 1:2-4 r; 1 Pet 1:6-7 s. The similarities in these passages indicate early Christian teaching common to all three of these writers.
5:5 t this hope will not lead to disappointment (literally will not put to shame): In the Old Testament, shame sometimes refers to a negative verdict from God’s judgment (e.g., Isa 28:16 u, quoted in Rom 9:33 v).
• he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love: See Jer 31:33-34 w; Acts 2:17-21 x.
5:6 y At just the right time might mean that God sent Christ at the time appointed in history, or that our condition as utterly helpless was the right time for God to demonstrate his love by sending his Son on our behalf.
5:9 z The blood of Christ refers to Jesus’ sacrificial death (3:25 aa). In the Scriptures, blood is shorthand for a violent death (Lev 17:11 ab), especially when that death atones for sins.
• he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation: Paul frequently speaks of salvation as the final deliverance of believers from God’s wrath and the tribulations of this life (see Rom 13:11 ac).
5:10 ad saved through the life of his Son: Believers already share in the new life that Christ provided through his resurrection (6:11 ae). Through this vital connection with Christ, believers will also be spared from God’s wrath in the last day (see also Col 3:4 af).
5:12 ag Adam is both the name of the original man, Adam, and a Hebrew word that means “human.” Paul emphasizes the solidarity of Adam with the human race.
• sin entered the world: The significance that Paul ascribes to this act, and the parallel that he draws between Adam’s sin and Christ’s act of obedience on the cross, makes clear that Paul views Adam and his sin in the Garden of Eden as historical fact.
• everyone sinned: Death is universal because sin is universal. It is not clear when or how everyone sinned, but Paul later attributes the condemnation of all people to the sin of Adam, their representative (5:18 ah).
• Jewish tradition is divided on the relationship between Adam’s sin and the sin and death of human beings generally. Some texts emphasize a solidarity between Adam and all other people, as in “when Adam sinned a death was decreed against those who were to be born” (2 Baruch 23:4). Other texts insist that people die because of their own sin: “Adam is, therefore, not the cause, except only for himself, but each of us had become our own Adam” (2 Baruch 54:19).
Summary for Rom 5:13-14: 5:13-14 ai Paul continues his explanation of “everyone sinned” (5:12 aj) by stating that people who died between the times of Adam and Moses were not subject to specific commandments from God. Therefore, their condemnation was not only because of their own sin. It was because of their union with Adam, who sinned by violating an explicit commandment of God.
5:15 ak Paul uses the word many in contrast with one. Many does not always mean all, but it can include all people if the context suggests it. Clearly, the many who suffer death because of Adam includes everyone (see 5:12 al), but Paul makes it clear elsewhere that the many who receive the gift of forgiveness through Jesus Christ, sadly, does not include everyone (see 11:1-5 am).
5:17 an Both Adam and Jesus Christ committed a single act whose influence extends to all the people that they represent. Adam represents all people. People must receive the gift of righteousness to be represented by Christ.
5:18 ao Christ’s one act of righteousness refers to his death on the cross, a righteous act because Christ chose to die in obedience to the Father’s will (see John 10:18 ap).
• new life for everyone: Paul is not teaching that all people will experience the new life that Christ won through his death on the cross. New life is available to everyone through Christ, but not everyone receives it.
5:20 aq Many Jews believed that the giving of the law to Israel reversed or mitigated the negative effects of Adam’s sin, but Paul says that God’s law magnified and illuminated their sins.
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