Tyndale Open Study NotesRomans 5

Paul now moves from the good news about how people begin a relationship with God to the security of that relationship. Christians have a strong and lasting promise. This promise rests on God’s work in Jesus Christ, God’s love for them, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

This promise shapes the teaching in these chapters (5:1–11; 8:18–39). Paul explains it by showing that believers have been moved from the realm of Adam to the realm of Christ (5:12–21). Because of this change, no power can break this relationship. Sin (chapter 6), the law (chapter 7), or death (8:1–13) cannot separate believers from God’s love (8:39).

• We have peace: In many manuscripts, the Greek verb states a fact. This form means “we have peace” and presents peace as something believers already possess. Other manuscripts use a different verb form that expresses an appeal or encouragement. In that case, the meaning would be “let us have peace.”

• Peace with God does not mean only a feeling of calm. It describes a real situation. When people believe in Jesus Christ, hostility between God and sinful human beings comes to an end. This peace also includes the blessing and salvation God promised his people in the future (see Isaiah 9:6–7; 52:7; Ezekiel 34:25; Nahum 1:15).

• Grace: God’s grace (Greek charis) is so central that Paul uses this word to describe our whole life as believers. Grace does not only begin the Christian life. Believers continue to depend on God’s grace every day.

• in which we stand: This indicates that we need God's grace throughout the Christian life, not just at the beginning.

• Sharing God’s glory describes the hope believers have for the future. Paul introduces this hope here and explains it more fully later (8:18–30). When Paul speaks about glory (Greek doxa), he bases his meaning on the Hebrew word kabod (which means "weight, honor, powerful presence"). This word describes God’s majesty and overwhelming presence. The prophets looked forward to a future time when God’s glory would return and live among his people (see, for example, Isaiah 60:1–2).

See also James 1:2–4; 1 Peter 1:6–7. The similarities in these passages indicate early Christian teaching common to all three of these writers.

• hope does not disappoint (literally does not put to shame): In the Old Testament, shame sometimes means that God has judged someone as guilty (for example, Isaiah 28:16, quoted in Romans 9:33).

• has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit: See Jeremiah 31:33–34; Acts 2:17–21.

at just the right time: This could mean God sent Christ at a specific historical moment. It could also mean our totally vulnerable spiritual condition was the perfect time for God to demonstrate his love by sending his Son on our behalf.

• The blood of Christ refers to the sacrificial death of Jesus (3:25). In the Scriptures, blood often means a violent death, especially when that death "makes atonement" for sins (Leviticus 17:11).

• how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him!: Paul often describes salvation as the final rescue of Christians from God’s wrath and life's troubles (see Romans 13:11).

saved through His life: Christians already share in the new life that Christ provided through his resurrection (6:11). Because believers are joined to Christ, God will spare them from his final judgment on the last day (see also Colossians 3:4).

• Adam is both the name of the first man and a Hebrew word that means "human." Paul emphasizes Adam's connection with the human race.

• sin entered the world: The importance Paul gives to this act, and the way he compares Adam’s sin with Christ’s obedience on the cross, shows that Paul understood Adam and the sin in the garden of Eden as real events in history.

• all sinned: Death affects everyone because sin affects everyone. It is uncertain when or how all sinned. But Paul later attributes the condemnation of all people to the sin of Adam, their representative (5:18).

• Jewish tradition is not united on how Adam’s sin relates to the sin and death of all human beings. Different Jewish texts explain this relationship in different ways.

  Some texts teach a strong connection between Adam and all other people. These writings say that Adam’s sin brought death to the whole human family. One example says, “when Adam sinned, a death was decreed for those yet to be born” (2 Baruch 23:4). Other texts place responsibility on each individual person. These writings say that people die because of their own sin, not because of Adam’s sin. One text states, “Adam is not the cause, except for himself; each of us has become our own Adam” (2 Baruch 54:19).

Paul continues his explanation of "all sinned"(5:12) by stating that people who died between the times of Adam and Moses were not subject to specific commandments from God. Therefore, their condemnation was not only because of their own sin. It was because of their union with Adam, who sinned by violating a clear commandment of God.

Paul uses the word many to contrast with one. Many does not always mean all, but it can include everyone if the context suggests it. In this passage, the many who suffer death because of Adam clearly includes everyone (see 5:12). However, Paul explains elsewhere that the many who receive the gift of forgiveness through Jesus Christ does not include everyone (see 11:1–5).

Both Adam and Jesus Christ performed a single act whose effects reach all the people they represent. Adam represents all people. To be represented by Christ, people must receive the gift of righteousness.

• Christ’s one act of righteousness refers to his death on the cross, a righteous act because Christ chose to die in obedience to the Father’s will (see John 10:18).

• life for all men: Paul is not teaching that all people will experience the new life that Christ won through his death on the cross. New life is available to everyone through Christ, but not everyone receives it.

Many Jews believed that God’s law, given to Israel, reversed or reduced the harmful effects of Adam’s sin. Paul says instead that God’s law caused sin to increase and helped people see their sin more clearly.