Romans · chapter 5 of 16
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Romans 5 explains the fruits of justification by faith: peace with God, access to his grace, firm hope and God's love poured out by the Spirit. Paul shows that Christ died for us when we were weak, sinners and enemies, and so we were reconciled. He then compares Adam, through whom sin and death entered, with Christ, through whom grace, righteousness and life abound.
Up to chapter 4, Paul showed that all are guilty and that God justifies by faith. From chapter 5 a new part of the letter begins, describing the life of the justified. First he speaks of what God has already given, and then he widens the view to compare the work of Adam with that of Christ.
Paul begins by saying that, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also gained access to the grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, because suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character and character produces hope. That hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
In verses 6 to 11 Paul shows the proof of that love: Christ died for us at the right time, when we were weak, ungodly, sinners and even enemies. One would hardly die for a righteous person; God shows his love for us in that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. If we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more shall we be saved by his life, and so we rejoice in God.
From verse 12, Paul compares two men. Through one man, Adam, sin entered the world and death through sin, and death spread to all. Death reigned from Adam to Moses, and Adam is a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass: if many died through one man's trespass, much more has the grace of God abounded for many through the one man Jesus Christ. One act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all who believe, just as one man's disobedience made many sinners and one man's obedience makes many righteous.
The law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Those who have been justified by faith have peace with God through Jesus Christ. This peace is not only a calm feeling but the end of hostility: the believer is no longer under condemnation and is on good terms with God.
The believer's hope does not disappoint because God's love has been poured into the heart through the Holy Spirit. Christian assurance rests on God's present work in us, not only on future promises.
God shows his love for us in that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. God's love did not wait for us to get better; it was displayed at the moment of our greatest need.
The law came in so that sin would increase, that is, so that it would be made visible, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. No sin is greater than God's grace in Christ.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. — Romans 5:1
Answer: Endurance, which produces character, and character produces hope. — Romans 5:3-4
Answer: In that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. — Romans 5:8
Answer: Enemies of God. — Romans 5:10
Answer: Through one man, Adam. — Romans 5:12
Answer: Grace abounded all the more. — Romans 5:20
Romans 5 teaches us to see suffering in a different light. It does not celebrate suffering as good in itself, but it shows that God uses it to form endurance, character and hope. In a small group you can share how a past difficulty ended up deepening trust in God.
The chapter also gives a firm basis for assurance: if God loved us when we were enemies, he will not let go of us now that we are his children. And the comparison of Adam with Christ reminds us that our identity does not depend on our past but on who represents us now. This produces gratitude and a desire to live for him.
Romans 5 presents the justified with peace, hope and a new position in Christ, and it declares that grace is greater than sin. That claim provokes a question Paul answers in Romans 6: if grace abounds where sin abounds, should we keep on sinning?
Paul teaches that sin and death entered the world through Adam and spread to all. Christians understand how this works in different ways: some speak of Adam representing us so that his guilt is counted to us, others stress that we inherit a nature inclined to sin and that each person sins. In any case, Paul's point is that Christ solves the problem for all humanity.
That is not the idea of the text. Paul compares the reach of Adam's work and Christ's, and stresses that Christ's benefits are received by those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness (v. 17). Elsewhere in the letter he teaches that justification comes to all who believe.
Not because pain is good but because he knows God uses it to produce endurance, character and hope in the believer. Hope is not based on circumstances but on the love God already showed on the cross and on the Spirit who lives in us.