‏ 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.

‏ Romans 6

6:1  ^ar Well then: Because Paul has just proclaimed that God multiplies grace where sin increases (5:20  ^as), he knows that people will wonder whether this means that sin does not matter in the Christian life.
6:2  ^at we have died to sin: As Paul makes clear in 6:3-10  ^au, our new relationship to sin is possible because of our vital connection with the death of Jesus. Just as dying means entrance into an entirely new state of being, our relationship with sin is now different because of Christ’s death. To be “dead to sin” does not mean to be entirely insensitive to sin and temptation—believers are still involved in a battle with sin (6:12-14  ^av). However, Christians no longer have to live as helpless slaves to sin; they can choose not to sin (6:6  ^aw, 14  ^ax, 16-22  ^ay).
6:3  ^az Baptism is the rite of initiation into the Christian faith (see Acts 2:38  ^ba, 41  ^bb). It sometimes symbolizes the entire conversion experience, so Paul refers to baptism as the means through which believers are joined to Christ in his death and resurrection (see also Rom 6:4  ^bc). However, baptism has no value apart from faith.
6:4  ^bd we died and were buried with Christ: The believer’s power over sin and the ability to lead a new life stem from identification with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection (see 6:5  ^be, 8  ^bf). From God’s perspective, Jesus’ death to sin (see 6:10  ^bg) is ours as well. His rising to new life means that we also begin to lead a new life, and in the future our bodies will also be raised.
6:6  ^bh our old sinful selves: Our “old selves” are not a nature that we possess or just one part of who we are; it reflects who we were in Adam. All human beings were born “in Adam.” As heirs of the sin and death that he introduced into the world (5:12  ^bi), we were slaves to the power of sin. But as people who are now in Christ, we have gone through crucifixion with him (see also Gal 2:20  ^bj). When he died on the cross, we also died to the dominating power of sin that ruled in our former selves.
6:8  ^bk We will also live with him refers to bodily resurrection with Christ (see 6:5  ^bl). While believers are already raised with Christ spiritually (Eph 2:5-6  ^bm; Col 2:13  ^bn), we will also be raised with him bodily at the time of his coming in glory (2 Cor 4:14  ^bo; Phil 3:21  ^bp; 1 Thes 4:17  ^bq; 2 Tim 2:11  ^br).
6:10  ^bs he died once to break the power of sin: Because we died with Jesus (6:4-5  ^bt), we have also died to sin (6:2  ^bu). Jesus was never under sin’s power in the way that we are, because he had no sin nature from Adam and he never succumbed to temptation (2 Cor 5:21  ^bv; Heb 4:15  ^bw). However, when he became human, he entered the arena where sin holds sway, and he was truly vulnerable to sin.
6:14  ^bx you no longer live under the requirements of the law: With the Messiah’s coming, the era governed by the law of Moses came to an end (see Gal 3:19-25  ^by).

• you live under the freedom of God’s grace: God’s dealings with his people have always been characterized by grace, but grace dominates the new era in which Christians live in Christ. Cp. John 1:17  ^bz.
6:15  ^ca set us free from the law: The law of Moses was the governing power of the old covenant era. Believers now live under the governing power of Christ himself.
6:16  ^cb righteous living (Greek dikaiosunē, “righteousness”): In the first part of Romans, Paul uses this Greek word in a judicial sense, referring (1) to the activity of God to set people in a right relationship with himself or (2) to the righteous standing that believers enjoy as a result of Christ’s work (see, e.g., 1:17  ^cc; 3:21-22  ^cd; 4:3  ^ce, 5  ^cf). Here, Paul uses the same word as it is often used in the Old Testament, meaning the right behavior that God demands from his people.
6:19  ^cg Paul uses the Greek word sarx (human nature, or flesh) to refer to the frailty and proneness to sin that characterizes humans. Paul uses the illustration of slavery to show the relationship of the human nature to sin.
6:20  ^ch free from the obligation to do right (literally free from righteousness): Paul means either that unbelievers feel no obligation to obey God or that they are unable to do so. But the freedom that they boast of actually makes them slaves to sin.
6:21  ^ci eternal doom (literally death): Throughout chs 5–8  ^cj, Paul uses death to describe the eternal consequences of sin (5:12  ^ck, 14  ^cl, 15  ^cm, 17  ^cn, 21  ^co; 6:16  ^cp, 23  ^cq; 7:5  ^cr, 9-10  ^cs, 13  ^ct, 24  ^cu; 8:2  ^cv, 6  ^cw, 13  ^cx). The language goes back to God’s warning to Adam and Eve (Gen 2:17  ^cy). This death is not primarily physical death; it denotes separation from the fellowship of God that, if not reversed through faith in Christ, will last forever.

‏ Romans 7

7:1  ^cz Both Jewish Christians and many of the Gentile Christians were familiar with the law. Jews were taught the law of Moses from birth. Many of the Gentiles in the church at Rome had been God-fearers, Gentiles who were interested in Judaism and attended the synagogue regularly.

• the law applies only while a person is living: Paul may be paraphrasing a rabbinic saying: “If a person is dead, he is free from the Torah and the fulfilling of the commandments” (Babylonian Shabbat 30a; baraita Shabbat 151).
Summary for Rom 7:2-3: 7:2-3  ^da These verses are not an allegory, in which every element of the story has a theological counterpart. Paul simply cites an illustration to make two basic points: Death can release a person from obligation to the law, and freedom from one relationship can allow a person to establish a new one. Paul applies the illustration in 7:4  ^db.
7:4  ^dc Christians have died to the power of the law (literally died to the law) and so are no longer bound to it. Paul often refers to the law of Moses as representing the old regime of sin and death, but through union with Christ in his death, believers are set free.
7:5  ^dd old nature (literally flesh): Although “flesh” can refer to the human body in a neutral sense (see 8:3  ^de, which speaks of Christ coming “in the flesh”), Paul more often uses the word negatively, to denote human existence apart from God. To be “in the flesh” is to be dominated by sin and its hostility to God.

• the law aroused these evil desires: The law of God is a good thing in itself (see 7:12  ^df), but it arouses sinful tendencies by provoking the rebellion that is in people’s hearts. When we are in rebellion against God, his commands spark in us a desire to do the exact opposite of what he commands.
7:6  ^dg the letter of the law (literally the letter): Paul uses the word letter to refer to the law, which was engraved on tablets of stone and consisted of individual letters (see 2:29  ^dh; 2 Cor 3:5-7  ^di).
Summary for Rom 7:7-25: 7:7-25  ^dj Well then (see study note on 6:1): Paul has just said some rather negative things about the law, and he now explains how God’s law is good in order to guard against any notion that it is evil in itself.
7:8  ^dk sin used this command (literally sin took an opportunity through this command): The word opportunity is a military term for a position seized in enemy territory that becomes a base of operations (see 7:11  ^dl). By expressing God’s demands, the commandments stimulate rebellion in sinful human beings. The commandments of God become an occasion for sin to accomplish its deadly purposes.

• sin would not have that power: The law, by clearly expressing God’s will, makes people more accountable than they would be without it. The law of Moses did not solve Israel’s sin problem but exposed and exacerbated it. This is always the effect that God’s law, by itself, has on sinful human beings.
7:9  ^dm At one time I lived without understanding the law: Paul might be referring to his early childhood, before he came to understand the full demands of the law.

• But when I learned the command: Paul’s experience with the law as he grew to maturity exemplifies every person’s experience with it. With the law, we have greater accountability to God, which brings the power of sin to life, and the result is greater judgment (7:10  ^dn; see 4:15  ^do; 5:14  ^dp, 20  ^dq).
7:10  ^dr which were supposed to bring life: The Old Testament promised a blessed and secure life to those who obeyed the law (e.g., Lev 18:5  ^ds, quoted in Rom 10:5  ^dt). However, human beings inherit from Adam a strong tendency to sin. Therefore, when God’s commands come to us, we do not naturally obey them, but resist and disobey them. Instead of bringing life, the law only confirms and exposes our lost and helpless condition. We need a change of heart that the law cannot provide.
7:11  ^du Sin ... deceived me: The language is reminiscent of Gen 3:13  ^dv—Paul might be thinking of the Fall.
7:17  ^dw I am not the one doing wrong: Paul is not evading responsibility for his sin (see also 7:20  ^dx). Rather, he is saying that because he genuinely wants to do what the law commands, some other factor must be causing him to do just the opposite. That factor is sin living in me. Paul experiences a divide between his will and his actions.
7:18  ^dy my sinful nature: See study note on 6:19. This phrase could refer to Paul’s former state as an unredeemed person or to a part of Paul that remains tied to the world and resists the will of God.
7:21  ^dz principle of life (literally law): Paul is referring to a regular occurrence, such as when we speak of the “law of gravity.” The struggle between wanting to do what is right and instead doing what is wrong reveals a regular pattern operating in the human sphere.
7:22  ^ea with all my heart (literally in my inner person): The Greeks used this phrase to denote the spiritual or immortal side of human beings (cp. 2 Cor 4:16  ^eb; Eph 3:16  ^ec).
7:23  ^ed another power. ... This power (literally another law. ... This law): Paul plays on the word law in these verses. Opposed to God’s law (7:22  ^ee) is another law, a ruling power that prevents Paul from submitting to God’s law even though he fully agrees with it.
7:24  ^ef this life that is dominated by sin and death (literally this body of death): Sin is so invasive that it affects the whole person, particularly our interactions in the physical world.