Epistle to the Romans
Chapter 05 – New Life
Romans 5:1-8
Paul has already demonstrated that we are justified by faith in the third chapter of this Epistle. As a result, we are offered peace with God. Paul now starts to talk about reconciliation. Justification and reconciliation have been used interchangeably but Paul points out a significant difference. Justification offsets man’s failure in terms of the requirements of the law. Reconciliation involves a relationship of personal trust which has been severed because of man’s sin. One is juridical, the other is personal. God justified us while we were still sinners. Nonetheless, we must be restored to fellowship with God in order to be reconciled.
Peace with God means the removal of the fundamental tension in our lives that extends into our relations with all things. The deep and abiding harmony with life cannot be achieved except through God’s redeeming activity in Christ. This peace is free from frustration and immune to defeat. It does not mean merely a state of inward contentment. We can obtain a certain satisfaction with life without satisfying the conditions which govern the gift of peace with God. That is why Jesus sharply contrasted His peace with the peace of this world.
Paul also says, "We have obtained access to this grace in which we stand." There are many things in this life where we must acquire credentials before we are allowed access into the inner chamber. A college degree is received only after completing the necessary requirements. Confirmation is required before participating in Holy Communion. Paul is saying that God’s justification of us while we were still sinners grants the necessary access to his grace. We did nothing to deserve it. The glory of God remains a hope, but it is now a hope whose fulfillment is a possibility.
Paul talks of rejoicing in our sufferings. We don’t normally think of combining those two things in one sentence. However, if you consider some accomplishment you worked very hard to achieve, you begin to understand. Pick something that was so difficult, you actually had to suffer to get there. Cramming for exams is a form of suffering. After all, you probably had to forego a party to get prepared. Success in business does not come without suffering. You work extra hours. You curtail immediate pleasures for the promise of something better in the future. Is suffering worth it? While we wouldn’t rejoice in the suffering itself, we do rejoice in coming closer to our goal.
Suffering in itself does not necessarily strengthen character; it may simply break and embitter a man’s spirit. But we get to determine its outcome. In Paul’s mind, the hardship which comes to a Christian because he is a Christian will produce a vigorous and masculine steadfastness. Endurance produces character and experience is cumulative. As character is built, it produces hope. Tribulations are a sign that we are enduring the necessary pain to achieve the goal – which is the peace of God.
We were still helpless when Christ came to our aid. Nothing within us was sufficient to meet our moral need and nothing in history to this point improved our situation. Some historians have attempted to attribute the timing of Christ’s sacrifice to contemporary social forces such as the organization and peace of the Roman Empire. Paul says it was the proven insufficiency of man’s attempts to achieve moral regeneration on his own. God sent forth his Son "in the fullness of time" but that is in reference to man’s spiritual needs, not social development. God’s divine purpose is not concerned with social constructs. It is concerned with the development of mankind toward the will of God.
Romans 5:9-14
Paul has shown that man need not stand defeated and condemned before God. They have been justified, and this is the beginning of a new life. Through Christ, God removed the alienation built by the sins of mankind. We are justified by Christ’s sacrifice. Reconciliation removes us from the threat of the wrath of God. While we were in a state of hostility to him, God reconciled us to himself. We were formerly excluded from communion with his spirit as well as from sharing in his purpose. The removal of that hostility allows a personal relationship and a loving fellowship.
Pleasure is not adequate to describe the change in our lives as a result of the atonement. Joy is different. It has an enduring quality. It is a state sustained by abiding sources of spiritual renewal. That renewal is made possible by the reconciliation. Christ has made God knowable to us by redeeming us in God’s eyes. It is common today to ignore sin and pretend it does not exist. Sin is separation from God. To say there is no sin is to say there is no God. Sin is a fact of life, but there is hope in God’s grace. Sin introduced into man’s life a principle of decay, and death was its outward result. The grace of God provides a path to regeneration.
Romans 5:15-21
A personal relationship with God could imply an individualistic existence. Paul denies that approach. The life of one can affect many others. The conduct of a nation affects many others. We are not isolated entities. God’s creation is affected by each and every one of us. The world is bound together for good or for ill. It is only in solidarity that we can work toward truth and the discernment of God’s will. One might get the notion that Christ’s gift balances Adam’s sin. In reality, Christ’s gift and the grace of God are mightier than all the sins of all mankind. Grace is available no matter how widely we have strayed or how often we have fallen. This offer of mercy is ever ready to accept penitence.
We all trace our roots to our ancestors and founders. Often our nature, the character of our customs and the form of our laws are attributed to our founders. In this frame of reference, Paul describes Adam as the founder of one race and Christ as the founder of another. Unredeemed man traces his origin to Adam. Redeemed man traces his origin to Christ. The new life is marked by spiritual wealth when compared to our former poverty. Christ alone is its source. His living presence remains at work among his people to create the new manhood which will correspond to the divine intention.
Having proved that grace is more powerful than sin, Paul points out how abundant the gift of righteousness will be in the new life. Where death once reigned, life in Christ will reign. This dependence on Christ is evident in all our prayers that end with "through Jesus Christ our Lord." This abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness show the unrestricted overflowing amplitude of grace. We have not earned it and will not receive it in measure with our merits. We receive it only by faith. We must remember, God himself will not make us good, unless our will co-operates. We have the example and inspiration of Christ’s obedience to show us the way.
Paul has shown how sin multiplied and infected all of mankind. He recounts how sin kills hope and guides us into more sin. The effect is not unlike a cell dividing and then each part dividing until it is overwhelming. The total accumulation of all man’s sin is unimaginable. Yet Paul counters with how grace abounds beyond all the sins of mankind. The KJV says, "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." The RSV says, "Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more." The result is where sin hath reigned unto death, grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life. Grace "overflowed exceedingly". Paul completes the chapter with the phrase we use to close many prayers. We use it so frequently; it is easy to overlook its significance. "Through (or by) Jesus Christ our Lord" may just seem like a nice way to pay tribute or to end our prayers on a good note. What Paul is saying is all we have covered in this chapter is achieved by God only through Jesus Christ and that is why he is our Lord.
A summary of this chapter shows that sin is the house of death. We cannot doubt the reality of sin and its final consequences. There are pleasures to be enjoyed in sin’s domain and one can enjoy it for a season. Suffering builds character and character produces hope. Pleasures in sin, although fleeting, have a permanent impact on character and hope. Spiritual paralysis creeps in from one experience of sin’s pleasure to another. It is cumulative. It numbs the conscience and kills the spirit. By the time, the body perishes, the soul is already dead.