Romans 5 - Core Christianity
You can have peace with God because of the perfect righteousness given to you by your representative.
Read / Listen to the chapter:
Read the chapter in an outlined format
Romans 5 (ESV)
1 Therefore,
since we have been justified by faith,
we have
peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Through him
we have also obtained access
by faith
into this grace in which we stand,
and we rejoice
in hope of the glory of God.
3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings,
knowing that
suffering produces endurance,
4 and endurance produces character,
and character produces hope,
5 and hope
does not put us to shame,
because God’s love
has been poured into our hearts
through
the Holy Spirit
who has been given to us.
6 For
while we were still weak,
at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—
though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—
8 but God shows his love for us in that
while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.
9 Since, therefore,
we have now been justified by his blood,
much more
shall we be saved by him
from the wrath of God.
10 For if
while we were enemies
we were reconciled to God
by the death of his Son, much more,
now that we are reconciled,
shall we be saved by his life.
11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
12 Therefore,
just as
sin came into the world
through one man,
and death through sin,
and so death spread
to all men
because all sinned— 1
3 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given,
but sin is not counted where there is no law.
14 Yet death reigned
from Adam to Moses,
even over those whose sinning
was not like the transgression of Adam,
who was a type of the one who was to come.
15 But the free gift is not like the trespass.
For if many died through one man’s trespass,
much more have
the grace of God
and the free gift
by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ
abounded for many.
16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin.
For
the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation,
but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.
17 For if,
because of
one man’s trespass,
death reigned through that one man,
much more will those
who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness
reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
18 Therefore,
as one trespass led to condemnation for all men,
so one act of righteousness leads to
justification
and life for all men.
19 For as by
the one man’s disobedience
the many were made sinners,
so by
the one man’s obedience
the many will be made righteous.
20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass,
but where sin increased,
grace abounded all the more,
21 so that, as sin reigned in death,
grace also might reign
through righteousness
leading to
eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Read the chapter on BibleGateway
Watch previous DIG DEEPER video post
Romans 5 Summary
Romans 5 is arguably the most important chapter in the Bible. It forms the framework we use to interpret and understand what it means to be a Christian.
The first half of chapter 5 makes several stunning claims:
Since we've been justified (declared righteous by God), we have:
peace with God;
access to God;
we can glorify God in both the good and the bad. In fact, often times the worse things get, the more we understand and appreciate the grace we've been given.
God's love for us precedes our love for Him.
Since we've been justified, we will be saved from the wrath of God (this finishes out a thought that Paul began in 1:18).
Dig Deeper
The second half of the chapter explains our salvation in terms of our federal representation. Certainly we're not saved by the US Federal government, but just like the president represents the entire country even though he's just one man, so all of humanity is represented to God by just one man.
The question is, which man represents you?
You were born in Adam. This means that when Adam sinned, you also were included in that sin. This puts you in a very bad spot if you remain represented by Adam, since we'll read tomorrow that the wages of sin is death!
This is the good news of the gospel: that there's a new choice to represent you. Since God is perfectly righteous, just and holy, so too must your representative before God be so that you can have peace with God. That perfect representative, of course, is Jesus Christ.
Verse 18 sums up the most fundamental principle of Christianity. Whereas Adam's sin led to condemnation for all those he represents, Christ's perfect righteousness leads to justification for all those He represents.
Chapter 10:9 famously tells how to gain Christ's representation: if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved.
AAA Prayer:
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: A holy God, who has demonstrated His love for you so that you have peace with Him
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will boast in God through every part of your life (v2, v11)
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
