ROMANS 5

A. (Romans 5-8)

These chapters form the exact center of the Book of Romans. So it is not surprising that John Stott states, “They are without doubt among the greatest and most glorious chapters of the whole New Testament.”

A fourfold division along present chapter lines seems justified by literary considerations, most notably their similar endings: “by, or through, Jesus Christ our Lord.” The complex organization of this section is pictured below:

 Romans 5 and 6

These chapters share an emphasis on the death of Christ, the fact that sin's power has been broken, and the concept of our life being in His. Each of the two chapters begins with a long passage in which "we" appears repeatedly.

Romans 5

Everyone agrees that Chapter 5 is divided into two sections: 1-11 and 12-21. Some see 5:1-11 as an introduction to the whole of Romans 5-8 introducing the salvation for those justified theme of by faith. This may be true, but the parallels between these two parts is rather obvious.

Romans 5

Verses 1-11                                                                 Verses 12-21

Inclusio: “God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”         Inclusio: “Sin came into the world,
“rejoice”                                                                     "law came in"

Contrasts Christ's death with human sacrifice           Contrasts it with Adam's sin.

Love is keynote                                                         “Grace/free gift” (7x) is keynote

Results of our justification                                         Cause of justification

Personal (recurring “we”)                                         Objective truths

Romans 5:1-11: Blessings of our justification: peace with God (1), access to God (2a), hope of glory (2b, 5), joy (2-3), Christian character (3-4), God's love within (5-8), salvation from future wrath (9-10), reconciliation with God (11).

Romans 5:1-2

“Therefore” either refers to previous verse or to the whole argument up to that point.

“Justified” is in the aorist tense (one-time event referring to either an individual's justification or, more likely, the event of the cross.

Verse 1b. “We have peace with God” or “Let us have peace with God.” (other translations?) Almost all modern translations read “we have” for two reasons: (1) “let us” usually appears in second half of Paul's letters (dealing with Christians' behavior) and (2) “peace” as used by Paul is a theological term, not something we can strive after.

“Peace” is not peace of mind or absence of conflict. It has the same meaning as the Hebrew shalom. Peace with God = reconciliation; it refers to our relationship with God.

The problem is that almost all the older manuscripts of the New Testament read “let us.”

The difference between the two readings is long or short O in ECHOMEN. Most textual differences are due to errors in copying a manuscript by hand (confusing the shape of one letter with another). This case is different since omicron and omega do not resemble one another, but at the time of the writing they were pronounced almost the same.

Let me explain by digressing for a moment with a more recent literary parallel: James Joyce, who was legally blind, dictated his book Finnegan's Wake to his secretary Samuel Beckett. At one point in the dictation, Joyce heard the sound of a branch tapping against his window in the wind. He thought someone was knocking on the door so he said, “Come in.” Beckett thought Joyce was still dictating so he added those words to the manuscript. When Joyce much later realized the mistake, he decided to leave the words in his novel.

Romans 16:22 indicates that Paul, who also had eye problems (Galatians 4:15), originally dictated Romans to Tertius, who may have mistaken Paul's pronunciation of this word. This could explain why most reliable manuscripts (earliest copies of that original letter) read “let us.”

“Through” – All blessings are in Christ, but they are also enjoyed through the continuing mediation of Christ.

Verse 2. Access or introduction are the two main usages of this noun in Greek: (1) entering a safe harbor or (2) being ushered into the presence of royalty. The first picture emphasizes our actions; the second one is preferred because it recognizes the role of Jesus in providing access. Either is possible in the Greek. Access to the Jewish sanctuary as the place of God's presence has been proposed as an allusion here, but that is a doubtful meaning.

“Rejoice”: When the Greek word is used elsewhere by Paul it is often translated “boast” (2 Corinthians 11:30). In both cases, our only appropriate boasting is in something beyond our control.

“Hope” doesn't mean that the possibility is in doubt. J. B. Phillips translates “hope” as a “happy certainty.”

“Glory”: This is a process that is going on today (see 2 Corinthians 3:18). And ultimately, we will see God's manifesting his glory in heaven and even share in the reflection of that glory (1 John 3:2).

Verses 3-5. Suffering leads to endurance leads to character leads to hope that does not disappoint

Similar progressions are laid out by two other NT writers: James 1: 2-4 and 1 Peter 1:6-7.

“Suffering”: This particular Greek word has the root meaning of pressure.

“Endurance”: hypomone (lit. a remaining under)

“Character”: has the meaning of a person who has undergone testing. A veteran rather than a raw recruit.

Clarification on suffering:

    A. It doesn't refer to all tribulations to all mankind, but only for the Christian.

    B. We are not called to be masochists who enjoy suffering for its own sake, but we are to rejoice in what suffering will produce (analogy – like undergoing a painful medical treatment to be cured).

Verse 5. “Disappoint” is lit. “put to shame,” referring to an eschatological situation (i.e., at the Last Judgment).

“God's love” does not refer to our love for God (as in St. Augustine and older commentators) or to God's act of love. The reference is to the encompassing power of God's love.

Verb tenses: The Holy Spirit was given to us at a certain point in our life, but God's love continues to be poured into our hearts. The image is of life-giving water being poured out (see Isaiah 44:3). 

The giving of the Holy Spirit provides evidence for our hope and is the medium for God's love. The medium is the message.

Romans 5:6-11. Look at the terms describing our state: helpless (6), ungodly (6), sinners (8), enemies (10). There is somewhat of a progression from first to last. Two of these terms need a little explanation. Not “the ungodly” as in NIV and RSV, but ungodly mankind (everyone). “Enemies” does not depend necessarily on an actively antagonistic attitude of man toward God; it is rather the objective state separating man from God.

Verse 6. “The right time”: (a) May mean the fitting time in that we were sinners and helpless.

(b) More likely, the psychological moment of the world's clock as also expressed in several of Paul's letters. See Galatians 4:4-5. In any case, it was not an afterthought of God, but planned all along.

Verse 7. Parenthetical comment. Many commentators have had trouble with the meaning of this verse and even proposed to delete it as a later addition. It has always bothered me since righteous seems better than good. There are at least five different understandings for translating tou agathou (“good”).

1. his benefactor

2. good friend

3. William Barclay translates the end of sentence “good cause,” taking tou agathou as neuter.

4. Calvin and others feel there is only one man in mind so that second clause means “for such a good man.”

5. My favorite: Several noted commentators compare a righteous man (morally, but perhaps coldly, upright) with a man who is warm, generous and friendly in his goodness.

Verses 8-9. God's love and wrath are both mentioned. (“Wrath” clearly points to the Day of Judgment.) This counters the idea that the love of Christ overcame the wrath of God. Interesting that it is God's love, not Christ's, that is demonstrated on the cross. Do you think it was harder on God or on Christ?

Romans 5:9-11. Paul uses a rabbinical argument from the lesser to the greater.

Verse 9. Justification by Christ's death. Revisit Romans 4:25 where justification appeared to be due to Christ's resurrection.

Verse 10b. “Saved by his life” probably refers to our sanctification, even though the actual word is not used. It turns the negative conclusion of 9b into a positive one. Not only salvation from but also salvation to.

Verse 11. “Now” is best translated as “already.”

“Reconciliation” = restoring a right relationship with God. The Greek katallage means “change.” Reconciliation signals a change of attitude of God toward man and man toward God. It is an objective fact, though, not just a subjective feeling.

Romans 5:12-21: Introduction

These verses are the cornerstone of the doctrine of original sin. William Barclay: “There is no passage of the NT which has had such an influence on theology as this passage.” It is also said to be one of the most condensed passages in Paul's writings, and therefore we may not be certain of its interpretation.

Paul concentrates on objective facts, not our participation in the events.

In these verses, the word “one” appears exactly 12 times. It is based on two Jewish beliefs: the solidarity of a group and the fact that death came to the world because of Adam's actions.

Verse 12a begins a long digression that isn't completed until verse 18. Some translations put this whole passage in parentheses in order to deal with some difficulties in expressing the similarities and contrasts between Christ and Adam, “the two heads of the human race” in the words of one commentator.

The idea of this verse is expressed by Paul more clearly in I Corinthians 15:21.

“Reign” appears five times. Adam and Christ each reigned over a kingdom.

Verse 12. Segal's tongue-in-cheek Law says, “A man with one clock knows what time it is; a man with two is never quite sure.” This expresses the difference between to types of Christians, and I have encountered both. Some just want to be told by someone else what a given passage of Scripture says while others would rather hear all the possibilities so they can decide on their own. The first group will be disappointed in the comments below:

Victor Hamilton lists six possible interpretations for the last clause of this verse:

a. death in which all sinned

b. one man in whom all sinned

c. one man because of whom all sinned

d. because all participate in Adam's sinning

e. because each one sins apart from Adam's sinning

f. because all sin since they inherit Adam's tendency to sin

Augustine, Luther and Calvin favored option b. Victor Hamilton feels that option f does the best justice to the leading role of Adam and to our individual responsibility.

The New International Dictionary of NT Theology explains that interpretations depend on whether eph' refers to death or to one man with epi meaning “in” or “because of”; or eph' ho meaning “on the ground of this fact, that.” The author concludes that the most likely meanings are (1) death spread to all men because all sinned (in Adam) or (2) death spread to all men because all since the time of Adam have sinned, or do sin, because of inherited tendency.

Barclay gives the following interpretations: (1) each man is his own Adam; Adam is a type of all mankind, (2) Adam was the representative of mankind and we share legally in his sin, (3) we inherit from Adam his tendency to sin, (4) because of the solidarity of all mankind, we share literally and legally in Adam's sin.