Beauty in the Book: Romans 5
Themes
This section proclaims the incredible hope we have because of Jesus—past, present, and future. Other themes covered are reconciliation, salvation, and God’s abundant provisional grace.
Questions
This chapter addresses the following questions:
What holds more power: sin or grace?
Did God’s kindness end at the cross? What now?
How did Jesus’ death offset Adam’s sin?
Moving Forward
This writing will break down the chapter section-by-section, offering commentary for your reflection. Don’t miss the ending titled Beauty in the Book where it all gets wrapped up in a bow—highlighting how every chapter is woven with uplifting realities of God’s goodness and grace.
Romans 5:1-5
Here, in this opening section, we see an appeal to past, future, and even present hope. We hope in what has been done, what will be done, and what God is currently doing. Let me explain:
Past Hope (Romans 5:1): We have been justified through faith. (Notice the past-tense here!) To be justified means that we have been rendered righteous in the sight of God; as Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the Old Testament law by his once-and-for-all atoning sacrifice, and the New Covenant arrangement was ushered in. Our hope in what has already occurred impacts our current reality, as we presently walk in a restored relationship with our God who loves us.
For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:3-4 NIV
Future Hope (Romans 5:2): We now stand firm in God’s grace, with access to the Father, holding a blessed assurance that we will see his glory. In a now-and-not-yet kingdom, we believe and set our hopes on the truth that we will enjoy the eternal reign of Jesus when he comes again, even as we welcome his reign into our present life and circumstances. May our gaze be fixed forward with expectancy; his glory is underway!
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1 ESV
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16 NIV
This, then, is how you should pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…” Matthew 6:9-10 NIV
Present Hope (Romans 5:3-5): Hope sustains us in our present trials, and does the opposite of put us to shame. Shame conjures up feelings of rejection or a falling from grace. It could even be defined as one who has a hope that has been decieved. (καταισχύνω, blueletterbible.org) Ouch. Shame is the painful feeling one has who had hoped for grace, but lost out on it. But praise be to God, this is not the experience we have through hardship due to the presence of the Holy Spirit working deep within our hearts. We have a present hope, even when difficult moments threaten to dull our sense of it; the Holy Spirit continually reminds us of God’s steadfast love—a love that can be trusted in, and that covers us in a steadfast grace.
The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him. Ephesians 1:14 NLT
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. Romans 8:16-17 NIV
Romans 5:6-7
Driving the point of hope home, Paul helps people gain a better grasp on grace by reminding them of a foundational fact: God sent Jesus to die for us while we were still in the dark pit of our sin. There’s a psalm that describes God hearing our cries and reaching out to lift us from “the pit”, and what I find particularly interesting about this is that this “pit” can be translated as “the pit of despair”—the pit without hope.
I waited patiently for the Lord to help me,
and he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the pit of despair,
out of the mud and the mire.
He set my feet on solid ground
and steadied me as I walked along.
He has given me a new song to sing,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see what he has done and be amazed.
They will put their trust in the Lord. Psalm 40:1-3 NLT
That’s where our sin had us: in a pit void of hope. Left graceless, hopeless, and in total desparation.
And this is exactly the place that God met us: by grace, he saved us; in hope, he restored us; because of his love, Jesus died for us.
Because we have faith that this salvation is based on his grace, and not on our works, we can rest assured that the work is finished, and that we are held in accordance with Christ’s finished work on the cross, and not because of our own ability to get things right before a Holy God.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV
May we reiterate it for as long as we have breath: it’s because of His love that he saved us. It’s an unfathomable mystery—that the God of the universe would love us, in all of our humanity, but he does. It wasn’t in accordance with an anger that he begrudgingly saved us; it was in accordance with his pleasure that he lovingly made a way for us to be called his sons and daughters!
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. Ephesians 1:4-6 NIV
May this reality impact the way we approach his throne of grace, moment-by-moment. (Hebrews 4:16)
He is the Father in the story of the prodigal son: the one with his arms outstretched wide, eager to welcome all who call on his name. He is the one who is patient in his return, and in his final judgement, wanting each and every person to be saved, not condemned. (Luke 15:11-32, John 3:16-17, 2 Peter 3:9)
Romans 5:9-11
There are three key words* here that I’d love to explore the intricacies of, building a case for the depth of pleasantness found in this text:
justified, δικαιόω, dikaioō: to render one righteous, or as he ought to be
reconciled, καταλλάσσω, katallassō: to change—to receive/return one to favor
saved, σῴζω, sōzō: to keep safe and sound, to preserve, to restore a suffering one to health
*I found these definitions by reading the nuances of their words in the New Testament’s original language of Greek. You can explore all these and more at blueletterbible.org.
So, now that this little vocabulary lesson is wrapping up, let’s take the richness of these words and receive deep into our souls the truth held out in this portion of Romans.
For starters, as we see in 5:9, we have been justified—or rendered righteous—because of what Jesus has done for us. In God’s sight, we are now “as we ought to be”. Every person who has experienced the awful feeling of knowing they have done what they ought not do, can embrace the grace held out in this reality: in Jesus, God receives us as one who thinks, behaves, feels, and lives rightly.
The miracle of all miracles! To be rendered righteous in the sight of God.
It’s because of this—and only because of this—that we are saved from God’s rightful wrath towards a humanity that has fallen away from him. Anyone who is not righteous in God’s sight deserves the penalty laid out in the by-laws of the universe: death.
As Romans 6:23 tells us:
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 NIV
This news can threaten to sound harsh for the one who doesn’t understand the depths of God’s goodness and mercy: good to require the utmost of goodness from people, merciful to fill in for all the places we fall short by the sending of his own son. Unfathomable goodness flows from the heart of God and offers salvation to all who believe in the name of Jesus.
Furthermore, as we continue into into 5:10-5:11, it’s as if the reality of this love expands all-the-more. We are reminded that God did all of this for us while we were still his enemies: a sinful people knowingly rebelling against him, and choosing to go our own way. (See Romans 1:18-32!)
While in the midst of this hard-hearted rejection of God, he chose to provide the ultimate sacrifice for us. To save us. He laid every burden of our sin on the shoulders of his son, pulling him down to death. Can you feel the weight of it?
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6 NIV
Because of his sacrifice, we live reconciled.
That word, reconciled, denotes a change in status: from failure to favor. Instead of being imprisoned by sin, we are promoted to “sons and daughters” of the Most High God.
But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12 NLT
We now live in his favor. The favor of a beloved child. I read this mind-boggling quote the other day by Timothy Keller:
“The only person who dares wake up a king at 3:00 AM for a glass of water is a child. We have that kind of access.” —Timothy Keller
Oof. Isn’t that good?! I feel it builds into the case Paul is making in this portion of Romans: that if God was good enough to provide Jesus for us in the depths of our sin, how much better will he be now that we are no longer his enemies, but his children?!
May we draw near!
Romans 5:10 carries on by saying that because of our reconciliation—our change in status—how much more shall we be saved through his life. Through the life of our living Savior.
And here’s the wild part: “saved” isn’t a one-and-done deal. I mean it is in the sense that Jesus’ death was final. The work was finished. And we are sealed for the day of redemption.
But the word here is defined in a deeper way—in a present-tense kind of way—as one being preserved, kept safe, and restored. That is the work we can trust God to do in us now that we are in his precious favor.
It’s his desire that all would come to faith in Jesus, and be held sweetly in his care:
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. John 6:39-40 NIV
We are reminded of the span of God’s love in 1 Timothy as well:
This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:3-4 NIV
For us in Christ, we can trust his heart all the more. As if it couldn’t get any better, we are now held tenderly in the care of one who has longed to receive us, restore us, and recuperate the areas that have been damaged with the sin of the world.
We are in a restored relationship with the living God. One who kind, generous, attentive, and pure. The goodness offered when he sent Jesus to die for us as sinners can only enhance as he holds us near as saints. Saving and restoring us who are belovedly reconciled.
Romans 5:12-21
Sin entered into the world with mankind’s very first rebellion against God: played out by Adam, who ate of the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden.
The world was spotless before that, and with Adam’s sin, entered the world’s first sinful splotch. The world was no longer imperfect. Sin had entered and Adam began the pattern of all who would come after him: sinners tainting the perfection of God’s world.
Sin held people in custody and ushered them into death. (Ick!) Until, Jesus.
There’s an interesting timeline displayed here. We could almost break the entire Bible up into just three categories for our study purposes today:
Adam to Moses - Moses to Jesus - Jesus to Eternity
Adam to Moses: sin was rampant and death reigned, though it wasn’t “charged to anyone’s account” because the law didn’t define it in black-and-white yet (5:12)
Moses to Jesus: sin and death reigned, and the trespasses increased because the law now stood in to clearly define sins. (5:13-14) The concept of atonement was introduced as people offered yearly sacrifrifices to atone for their sins, albeit inadequately. See what the book of Hebrews says about this span of time below:
For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would not the offerings have ceased? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt the guilt of their sins.
Instead, those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Hebrews 10:1-4
Jesus to Eternity: because of Jesus’ all-sufficient sacrifice, once-and-for-all, life reigns for all who receive him. God’s abundance grace reigns, bringing all who have trusted in Jesus to eternal life. (5:17, 5:21)
Everything in human history has pointed to the arrival Jesus and the great cosmic swtich where death no longer reigned, but life and grace finally got to have the final say. I can’t resist sharing the way Eugene Peterson puts it in his paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 15:51-57:
But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true:
Death swallowed by triumphant Life!
Who got the last word, oh, Death?
Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now?It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God! —1 Corinthians 15:51-57, The Message
God’s extravagant grace poured out on the cross—for you and for me. Death no longer has the victory. Amen?!
Beauty in the Book
It’s as if you can see the grin on Paul’s face as he writes this portion of his letter to the Romans. A smile that says, “Just you wait! There’s moooooreee!”
As if the good news of salvation wasn’t enough, he begins building into how God’s grace is now the reigning force in the universe! His grace hold power, even over death.
This entire chapter proclaims the real and incredible truth that God is unconquerable. His goodness is not only unmatched, but undefeated. That goodness pours into our lives in tangible ways as we rest deeply in the truth that in Christ, we are reconciled, saved, held, and absolutely drenched in grace.
We can’t even imagine a benevolence as great as God’s—to sacrifice everything, just to wipe our slates of offense clean. Our offenses which, by the way, were towards him. We—as a human race and as individuals—rejected him. Rebelled against him. Didn’t receive any of the goodness he poured on us with gratitude, but rejected the truth that he is the source of everything good.
And yet, in the midst of it all, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
And not only did he die for us, but now that we are back in God’s good graces so to speak, we are continually saved, defended, and provided for by our real and living God.
Sin might have had an impact, but it is entirely eclipsed by the reality of God’s grace. Which overflows with an incalculable span, and will have the final say for all of eternity. Praise God!
When sin comes knocking at our door, may we always proclaim the truth that “grace is greater”.
We sit in God’s favor because of what Christ has done. We find our hope in who Jesus was for us, not who we are. We boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, because it’s by him that we are reconciled. And we can count on him.
Let us hold resolutely to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23 NIV
We don’t just let this hope bounce around and hope it lands on us and changes our lives. Rather, we hold fast to it. We keep it in view. And we proclaim it to a world desperate for this kind of love.
He is good!
