Romans 5

What’s Happening?

In the opening four chapters of Romans, Paul explains that humanity has rejected the God who created them and gave them life. As a result, God revealed his anger by handing humans over to the death they’ve chosen. When God hands humans over to death, it inevitably manifests itself in rampant unrighteousness through self-destructive patterns and the degrading of our own and others’ bodies. But God hasn’t only revealed his anger and our unrighteousness; he’s revealed his righteousness in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus’ death was a sacrifice that purified humanity of their unrighteousness, and his resurrection reversed the death we’d been handed over to and permanently placed all humans who trust him in good standing with the Creator they once rejected. Paul says that because of this, we’ve been made righteous. And for Paul, being made righteous isn’t just something that has been done; it gives us hope for a glorious future. In the next several chapters, Paul describes the hope that belongs to those who have been made righteous by faith. 

Because of his death and resurrection, Paul says we can be confident in the “hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1-2). Earlier in Romans, Paul said humans had fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). For Paul, “glory” means two things. First, it refers to God’s perfect power, love, justice, and goodness. Second, it refers to what humans were meant to be. Humans were created to participate in God’s glory and to be like him. Now that we have been made righteous through Jesus, Paul says that it’s a guarantee that humans will become like their God and experience his glory. Even in suffering, followers of Jesus have this hope. Because Jesus suffered, died, and rose, all believers have the hope that their suffering and death will produce resurrection and glory (Romans 5:3-5). We can be especially confident of this because Jesus died for his people while they were still unrighteous. And if Jesus was willing to die for unrighteous people, we can be even more certain that we will join God in his eternal glory (Romans 5:9-11).

Paul then explains why we can be confident of being included in God’s glory. While humanity was bound to their forefather Adam and the death he introduced to the world, we are now more powerfully bound to Jesus and the resurrection he has secured for us. Adam was the father of all humanity, and he rejected God and his laws. As a result, God handed Adam and his descendants over to the unrighteousness and death they had chosen for themselves (Romans 5:12-14). This is what Paul talked about in the opening of his letter. But what God has done in Jesus is greater than the evil done by Adam. Humanity was condemned because of one man’s disobedience. But through the gift of Jesus’ life and death, the unrighteousness of humanity can be forgiven (Romans 5:15-16). While death began to reign over humanity through Adam’s actions, resurrection life began to reign through Jesus’ actions (Romans 5:17). The actions of Adam universally condemned the world, but the actions of Jesus secured God’s promises to everyone who believes in him (Romans 5:18-19). Because what Jesus has done is greater than what Adam did, everyone who trusts in Jesus can be confident of being included in God’s future glory.

Where is the Gospel?

Since Adam, every human has been trapped under the power of unrighteousness and the curse of death. But Jesus' death reversed the curse and liberated us from our inclination to disobey God’s commands. Because of Jesus, we don’t simply have a good standing with God; we are at peace with God. We are no longer God’s enemy but his friends. By faith in Jesus, we have been given a relationship of harmony with our Creator. And like a friend, God actively seeks our good and flourishing. Paul calls this a continuous experience of God’s grace. By a grace contrary to what we deserved, Jesus saved us from the unrighteousness and death we had been handed over to. And now, that same grace will always be an active force in our lives to encourage us, help us, and transform us into the glorious kinds of humans God created us to be. Paradoxically, even though Adam’s actions caused unrighteousness and death to increase throughout human history, it has only served to highlight the grace and glory of God (Romans 8:20). While everyone in Adam was bound to death, everyone in Jesus is now bound to God’s grace and eternal life (Romans 8:21). Everyone who believes in Jesus will be joined to his death and resurrection. Jesus’ story will become ours, and we will join God in his glory forever.

See For Yourself

I pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to see the God who saves his people. And may you see Jesus as the one who has secured our future in God’s glory.