Romans chapter 5

by Keith Simons. Free online Bible course and commentary from the Useful Bible Study Centre.

Peace with God

(Romans 5:1)

It astonishes us to discover that we can know peace with God. By our wrong and evil deeds, we have made ourselves God’s enemies (verse 10); and his anger is rightly against us (1:18).

‘Peace with God’ means a right relationship, or friendship, with him. It begins in this life when God forgives our evil deeds; and it will never end. We do not deserve it and we cannot earn it. It is God’s free gift to us when we have faith in him. In other words, we must believe God and we must trust him.

This free gift, this peace with God, comes to us because of Jesus; in particular, because of Jesus’ death (5:6-10). At his death, Jesus suffered the punishment for our evil deeds so that God can forgive us (Ephesians 2:11-13; 1 Peter 3:18).

This peace with God is the result of God’s action in our lives when we are ‘justified’. To be justified means to become righteous. A righteous person is a truly good person; to be righteous is to be truly good. A person can only be truly good if that person has a right relationship with God. Therefore, to be righteous also means to have (or to receive) a right relationship with God. So, we cannot make ourselves righteous, but God can make us righteous because of Christ’s death for us.

When we have faith (trust) in God, he justifies us (in other words, he declares us righteous). At that moment, he forgives us and we have peace with him. However, we may not immediately feel any sense of peace, for example a calm and content feeling. That is because our feelings are not reality. The reality is what God has done for us. So, we do not trust our feelings, but our faith. In other words, we trust God. He has begun a great work in our lives, and he will complete it (Philippians 1:6; Romans 8:18-21).

The hope of Christians

(Romans 5:2)

Probably, Paul wrote the Book of Romans just a few weeks after he wrote 2 Corinthians. In that letter, Paul warned strongly against some of the teachers in the church, who were boasting (2 Corinthians 11:12-21).

To boast means to speak boldly with pride and joy about something. Those teachers were proud of their own importance and greatness. Paul believed that a Christian should never have such attitudes. He told Corinth’s Christians that they should only be proud of God’s greatness (2 Corinthians 10:17).

Here in Romans chapter 5, Paul returns to the same subject. He tells Christians to speak boldly, and with joy, about their hope (verse 2), about their troubles (verse 3), and about God (verse 11).

Jesus described himself as the true and living way to God (John 14:6; see also Hebrews 10:19-20). We can receive all the benefits of God’s kindness only because of Jesus. He died so that God can forgive us (5:8). He works in our lives to bring us to a right relationship with God (Luke 15:3-7; John 10:7-9). If, by our own efforts, we had to remain in a right relationship with God, we would certainly fail (7:14-25). Instead, we must depend constantly on Jesus (8:2).

In the Bible, the word ‘hope’ usually refers to the things that God promises to his people in the future. God’s promises are certain and therefore their hope is also certain (Hebrews 6:19). God will free them from their troubles in this world. He will adopt them fully as his children (8:18-23). They will always live with him (Revelation 21:3); and they will share his glory (splendid beauty). In other words, his glory will be their constant experience (Romans 8:17; 1 Corinthians 2:9; Revelation 22:1-5).

How trouble can bring about hope instead of despair

(Romans 5:3-4)

Christians can be joyful even during their troubles. They are not, of course, joyful about their troubles. They are joyful about what God is doing in their lives during those troubles.

God is perfect (James 1:17) and he does not do any evil thing (James 1:13). He does not cause trouble for us - but he can use even the worst situations for our benefit (8:28). So even our worst troubles cannot separate us from Christ’s love for us (8:35).

Everyone suffers troubles. For many people, their experience is the exact opposite of what Paul describes. Their trouble makes them anxious. The result is that they feel doubt; and that doubt produces despair, not hope.

The experience of God’s people can and should be different. In their troubles, they are patient - in other words, they stand firm. They are trusting God, so they do not allow their troubles to disturb them.

That patience produces what some translations call character. The correct translation, however, is proof. They have stood firm during troubles that would ruin other people’s beliefs. So, now they have the proof, the experience and the confidence that God really is working in their lives.

The result is that they have hope. In other words, they expect God to do good things. This is not some uncertain hope that may disappoint them. Like Abraham (4:18), they have the confidence that God will carry out his promises. Their experience during their troubles has convinced them both of his goodness and of his power.

God does not disappoint his people, because of his love for them

(Romans 5:5)

Because God loves his people so much, even during their troubles they can expect him to do good things. Their attitude towards him is called hope; his attitude towards them is love.

People hope for many things in this world, but their hope often disappoints them. This world, and the things in it, cannot really satisfy us (1 John 2:17). However, God’s people put their hope in the living God (1 Timothy 4:9-10), and he will not disappoint them.

The Bible gives various reasons why God will not disappoint his people. In some places, it refers to his perfect character: he will not change his mind about them (for example, James 1:17). In other places, it refers to his promises (Hebrews 6:13-19) or his power (Psalm 46).

Here, however, Paul gives a very beautiful reason: God will not disappoint his people because of his great love for them. That love caused God to send his own Son, Christ, into the world to die for them (John 3:16; Romans 5:8). That same love shows that he will certainly complete his work in the lives of his people (Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:17; Philippians 1:6).

God’s people are not just aware of his love; it fills their hearts (1 John 3:1; 1 John 4:8-11). That is the work of God’s Holy Spirit, who is working in their lives (1 Corinthians 2:9-12). In 2 Corinthians 1:22, Paul writes that God has given his Holy Spirit as a guarantee, or proof, of these things.

Christ died for people who did not deserve his kindness

(Romans 5:6)

Because Christ’s death is so important (1 Corinthians 1:18), Paul tried hard to explain it as clearly as possible. He wanted everyone to understand it (1 Corinthians 9:22-23).

Paul begins here with our weak state. We are all guilty of wrong and evil deeds (3:23), and the punishment is death (6:23). God has told us his perfect standards in his law, but we cannot live by those standards (7:13-24). So, our situation is truly desperate. God loves us - but we have made ourselves his enemies (5:8-10).

God chose the right time to act on our behalf (Galatians 4:4), and then he sent Christ into the world. Christ lived a perfect life among us - he alone obeyed God completely (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15). We would not accept him (John 1:9-11) and so men killed him on a cross, like a criminal.

However, Christ’s death was in God’s plan. Paul declares the great fact, which even this world’s rulers did not know (1 Corinthians 2:8): Christ died for us. His death was not for holy people or for people who deserved his kindness. Rather, Christ died for guilty people, for people who do not deserve his love (Matthew 9:12-13). He died to suffer our punishment (Isaiah 53:4-6); he died so that God can forgive us.

Paul has already explained what we must do. Like Abraham, we must believe God (4:20-23). We must not continue to allow our doubts and our evil behaviour to rule our lives. Now, we must begin to trust God, and we must allow him to change us completely (2 Corinthians 5:17).

The person who dies to save someone else

(Romans 5:7)

Of course, people do sometimes die for other people. In fact, sometimes a person has even died in order to rescue an evil person.

However, nobody who is reading this page has yet carried out such a noble act. To us, who are still alive, Paul writes. He causes us to ask ourselves for whom we would be willing to die.

To give our own life seems to us the greatest gift that we could make. We would have to act in a completely unselfish manner; we would lose everything that we had in this world.

Certainly, we would not want to do that on behalf of someone who was ungrateful. We would not wish to die on behalf of a wicked person. In fact, it would be hard to make such a decision in order to save even a good person. However, perhaps we might even dare to die on behalf of one of the best people.

If this argument only shows the weakness of our character, it also proves the greatness of God’s love. Christ did not come into this world to die only for good people. He died for us, although we are guilty of many wrong and evil acts (3:23). We only deserved God’s anger (1:18), but he chose to show us his love (5:8).

God wants not only to forgive us, but also to do the most wonderful things for us (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). He wants to adopt us, who formerly were his enemies (5:10), as his own sons and daughters (8:15-19). Such love astonishes us. We cannot pay God for his love, but we can accept it. The Bible urges us to turn from our evil deeds (Acts 3:19) and to receive Christ into our lives (John 1:12).

Christ died to save sinners

(Romans 5:8)

Paul began his book with God’s anger (1:18), but now his subject is the love of God.

Paul has not forgotten about our evil deeds. He still describes us as ‘sinners’ - people who do wrong and evil things. However, God’s love is so great that he even loves sinners. God’s anger is rightly against their evil deeds; but he loves them so much that he desires to rescue them from that anger.

Something extraordinary must happen to make that possible. God cannot forgive people who proudly continue in their evil behaviour. Even people who want to obey God’s law cannot achieve his standards by their own efforts (7:19-23). We are God’s enemies, but we need to become his friends. We cannot rescue ourselves from God’s judgement against our evil deeds - we need God to rescue us. Only if God takes our punishment upon himself can we receive a right relationship with him (Isaiah 53:4-6).

That is what really did happen at the death of Christ (Hebrews 9:27-28). His death can change our lives completely (Romans 6:3-4; 2 Corinthians 5:17).

Notice how particular Paul is in his choice of words here. He does not say that Christ died ‘for everyone’ or ‘for Christians’, but ‘for us’. If we want to benefit from his act of love, we need to accept it for ourselves (John 1:11-12). His death is for us, if we believe and trust in him (4:23-25). God offers to give a right relationship with himself, even to us.

We should not pretend that we deserve God’s love (1 Timothy 1:15). God does not save (rescue) us because of what we have done. He saves us because of what Christ has done.

The blood of Christ gives people a right relationship with God

(Romans 5:9)

Paul says here that we receive a right relationship with God by the ‘blood’ of Christ. Of course, he means by the death of Christ. However, his use of the word ‘blood’ here interests us. It shows that he is thinking about the system of sacrifices in the Old Testament (the first part of the Bible).

The sacrifices were the animals that people killed in order to offer them to God. Leviticus 17:11 says that God provided the blood of sacrifices to make atonement for the lives of his people. ‘To make atonement’ means to provide a right relationship with God.

In other words, the people were guilty of wrong and evil deeds. They had offended against God’s holy law. God could not accept their prayers because his judgement was against their evil deeds. However, God wanted to have a right relationship with them, so he allowed them to offer a sacrifice. The animal was innocent. It suffered death so that God could accept his people.

In the same way, Christ accepted death so that people can have a right relationship with God (Hebrews 9:11-28). The sacrifices themselves could not actually give people a right relationship with God (Hebrews 10:1-4), Rather, they showed how Christ would do it (Hebrews 10:5-10). People deserve only God’s anger, because of their wrong and evil deeds. However, by his death, Christ saves (rescues) them. When they believe and trust in Christ, God forgives them. That is how people can receive a right relationship with God.

God, who forgave us, will complete his work in our lives

(Romans 5:10)

The love that God has shown for his enemies is truly extraordinary. Christ did not just die for people who consider themselves to be good. He also died for people who know themselves to be evil. He died for us, although we are guilty of many wrong and evil acts (3:23). Because we offended against God’s holy law, we made ourselves God’s enemies. However, Christ suffered our punishment. The result of his death is that God can forgive us. God has made it possible for us to have a right relationship with him.

When we invite Christ into our lives, God changes us completely (2 Corinthians 5:17). God frees us from the power of the devil (Hebrews 2:14), from the power of our sin (evil deeds) and of death (8:2). We are no longer God’s enemies, but his friends: God’s own people (1 Peter 2:9-10).

Christ’s work to save (rescue) us from the devil, from sin, and from death is complete. Christ has saved us from all these things by his death. However, these things still affect our lives. The devil continues to oppose God’s people (1 Peter 5:8-9). Sometimes we still do wrong things, and we must ask God to forgive us (1 John 1:8-10). Unless Christ returns first, we shall all die (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

However, God will certainly complete the work that he has begun in our lives (Philippians 1:6). If God cares so much about his enemies, he will certainly rescue his own people (Luke 18:7). We wait eagerly for the time when that will happen (8:18-25). Then God will destroy completely the power of death (1 Corinthians 15:51-57), the devil (Revelation 20:10), and every evil thing. His people will live again, and death and the devil will be unable to act against them again (Revelation 21:3-4).

Christians should speak boldly and with joy about God

(Romans 5:11)

Some Christians are so weak that they seem ashamed of almost everything in their lives. However, Paul shows that Christians can and should speak boldly about many things.

Christians can speak boldly and with joy about the hope that God has given them (5:2). They can be sure that God will do good things in their lives. God’s promises are certain; he will not disappoint them (Hebrews 6:17-19).

They can even be so bold that they speak joyfully about their troubles (5:3). Of course, they are not pleased about their troubles. They are pleased about the way that God is working in their lives during their troubles (8:28).

However, in the end, a Christian’s joy must not be mainly about himself, but about God. Of course we are joyful about the wonderful things that God is doing for us (1 Corinthians 2:9). However, we should be even more joyful that our God is so wonderful. We must not allow our beliefs as Christians to become an excuse for selfish attitudes (1 Corinthians 4:6-10). Rather, our attention must be upon God. His character is perfect (Exodus 34:6-7); his love is great (5:6-8). He alone deserves that we should praise him (Revelation 22:8-9). All honour and greatness in heaven and on earth belong to him (Revelation 4:11). If we desire to speak about truly great and wonderful things, we must speak about him (1 Corinthians 1:31).

Paul compares Adam and Christ

(Romans 5:12-14)

Here, Paul begins to teach another lesson from the Old Testament (the first part of the Bible). The Book of Genesis tells us that the first man was Adam (Genesis chapter 2 and 3). God created Adam to be perfect, but Adam did not obey God’s command.

Sin means people’s wrong thoughts, words and actions. Therefore, Adam, the first man, was guilty of sin. All people come from Adam and all people behave like him: we are all guilty of sin (3:23).

God never wanted people to suffer death; in a perfect world, people do not die (Revelation 21:1-4). However, after Adam’s sin, our present world was not perfect. Sin had entered the world, and the result of sin is death (Genesis 3:19; Romans 6:23).

So, sin, and its effects upon the world, were clear even before God gave his law to Moses. That law expressed God’s perfect standards. The law allowed people to see clearly what wrong things they were doing. However, the books of Moses (the first 5 books in the Bible) also included God’s promises to rescue people from sin and death, by means of Christ.

The first of those promises appears in Genesis 3:15. By his sin, Adam had given power to the devil. However, God promised that another man, Christ, would come to destroy the devil’s power. So, Adam is called a type, or pattern, of Christ. The word ‘type’ here means someone from whose life we can learn lessons about Christ. Adam and Christ were similar because their lives have an effect on the lives of many people. However, the actual effect of their acts was opposite to each other. Adam brought sin and death into the world. Christ brings a right relationship with God, and life that never ends.

The two most important events that have ever happened

(Romans 5:15-17)

The most important event in Adam’s life was when he chose not to obey God (Genesis 3:1-6). That was how evil deeds and death entered our world.

The most important event in Christ’s life was when he died for us (5:8), He had chosen to obey God (Mark 14:36) so that many people can receive a right relationship with God. That is how people can receive life without end (John 3:16; John 11:25-26),

Those two events are the most important events that have yet happened in our world. Adam was the first man, so we all naturally belong to his family. Like him, we are all guilty of wrong and evil thoughts, words and actions (3:23). Like him, we all must die (6:23).

However, God is creating a new world (Revelation 21:1), and because of Christ, we can belong to it (2 Corinthians 5:17; Revelation 21:3). All who receive Christ into their lives become members of his family (John 1:12-13; Romans 8:14-21). That is God’s free gift to them: because of Christ, they receive a right relationship with him (5:10), By means of Christ, they receive life that never ends (1 Corinthians 15:22).

Paul contrasts the results of what Adam and Christ did. Adam brought God’s judgement against the world. He (Adam) allowed death to have power against everyone born after him. However, Christ made it possible for God to forgive people. By means of Christ, people can receive a right relationship with God, as God’s free gift to them. That relationship is not just for their lives in this world - it will never end.

Adam’s family and Christ’s family

(Romans 5:18-19)

Paul is contrasting two men: Adam and Christ. He does not repeat their names here, but refers to each in turn as ‘one man’.

The ‘one man’ who did not obey God was Adam, the first man. All people belong to his family and, like him, we all do wrong and evil things (3:23). Therefore, the judgement that he suffered (Genesis 3:19) is against us all: all people die (Hebrews 9:27).

The ‘one man’ who obeyed God perfectly was Christ (Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 2:21-22). In particular, he obeyed God in his death (Mark 14:36; Luke 23:46). At his death, he suffered the punishment that we all deserve (Isaiah 53:4-6; Romans 5:6-8). Therefore, all people who receive him into their lives become members of his family (John 1:12-13). God forgives them and they receive a right relationship with him. Their bodies may die, but they will always live with him in heaven and the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:1-4).

In verse 19, Paul says that the lives of Christ and of Adam affect ‘many’ people; but he says ‘all’ people in verse 18. Paul clearly did not believe that all people will go to heaven (2:6-12). The word ‘all’ in the Bible does not actually mean absolutely everyone (Luke 6:26; Acts 22:15). All people die - but Enoch (Genesis 5:24; Hebrews 11:5) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11-18) did not die.

In fact, it seems clear that Paul is describing two different groups of people here. One group belongs to Adam’s family, and they all suffer death like him. The other group has joined the family of Christ; like him, they all will live always (John 11:25-26). We all belong to Adam’s family unless we join the people of God (1 Peter 2:10). God does not want us to suffer even the punishment that we deserve for our evil deeds (Romans 6:23; Ezekiel 18:32). He urges all people everywhere to turn to him (Acts 17:30). So we must confess our evil deeds to him; we must give him the place that he deserves in our lives.

The greatness of grace

(Romans 5:20-21)

Before God gave his law, it was impossible to measure people’s evil deeds (5:13). Then God gave his law to show his perfect standards for our lives. However, people could not live by those standards. So, their evil deeds increased.

In fact, some people’s evil deeds increased even more than if there had been no law (7:9-11).

Our first reaction to God’s law may be to feel guilty that we are not obeying it (7:7). Our next reaction may be an evil desire to do even more of those wrong things (7:8).

However, our situation is not hopeless. Our wrong and evil deeds are great and terrible, but God’s grace (kindness) is even greater. When God gave his law to Israel’s people, he also showed them how to serve him. He permitted them to offer animals to him (Leviticus chapter 1 to 7 and chapter 16). God would accept the deaths of those animals so that his people could have a relationship with him.

Now God has shown an even better way for people to receive a right relationship with him. God can forgive people’s wrong and evil deeds because of the death of his Son, Jesus Christ (Romans 5:8; Hebrews 10:11-17), God is adopting his people as his own sons and daughters (8:13-19). We can have a closer relationship with God than ever was possible before (Hebrews 10:19-22).

Formerly, our evil deeds ruled our lives. The certain result was death, with God’s punishment afterwards (6:23). Now, however, God’s grace (kindness) can direct our lives. We can have a right relationship with God, because of Jesus. We can know the kind of life that never ends. That life will continue even after the death of our bodies (8:38-39), and we will always live with God, in heaven and the New Jerusalem. That is God’s promise to those people who receive Christ into their lives (Acts 3:19; Revelation 3:20-21).

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