Text -- Romans 5:1-2 (NET)

The Expectation of Justification

5:1 Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 5:2 through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of God’s glory.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Robertson: Rom 5:1

Being therefore justified by faith ( dikaiōthentes oun ek pisteōs ).

First aorist passive participle of dikaioō , to set right and expressing antecedent action to the verb echōmen . The oun refers to the preceding conclusive argument (chapters 1 to 4) that this is done by faith.

Robertson: Rom 5:1

Let us have peace with God ( eirēnēn echōmen pros ton theon ).

This is the correct text beyond a doubt, the present active subjunctive, not echomen (present active indicative) of the Textus Receptus which even the American Standard Bible accepts. It is curious how perverse many real scholars have been on this word and phrase here. Godet, for instance. Vincent says that "it is difficult if not impossible to explain it."One has only to observe the force of the tense to see Paul’ s meaning clearly. The mode is the volitive subjunctive and the present tense expresses linear action and so does not mean "make peace"as the ingressive aorist subjunctive eirēnēn schōmen would mean. A good example of schōmen occurs in Mat 21:38 (schōmen tēn klēronomian autou ) where it means: "Let us get hold of his inheritance."Here eirēnēn echōmen can only mean: "Let us enjoy peace with God"or "Let us retain peace with God."We have in Act 9:31 eichen eirēnēn (imperfect and so linear), the church "enjoyed peace,"not "made peace."The preceding justification (dikaiōthentes ) "made peace with God."Observe pros (face to face) with ton theon and dia (intermediate agent) with tou kuriou .

Robertson: Rom 5:2

We have had ( eschēkamen ).

Perfect active indicative of echō (same verb as echōmen ), still have it.

Robertson: Rom 5:2

Our access ( ten prosagōgēn ).

Old word from prosagō , to bring to, to introduce. Hence "introduction,""approach."Elsewhere in N.T. only Eph 2:18; Eph 3:12.

Robertson: Rom 5:2

Wherein we stand ( en hēi hestēkamen ).

Perfect active (intransitive) indicative of histēmi . Grace is here present as a field into which we have been introduced and where we stand and we should enjoy all the privileges of this grace about us.

Robertson: Rom 5:2

Let us rejoice ( kauchōmetha ).

"Let us exult."Present middle subjunctive (volitive) because echōmen is accepted as correct. The exhortation is that we keep on enjoying peace with God and keep on exulting in hope of the glory of God.

Vincent: Rom 5:1

We have ( ἔχομεν )

The true reading is ἔχωμεν let us have ; but it is difficult if not impossible to explain it. Godet says: " No exegete has been able satisfactorily to account for this imperative suddenly occurring in the midst of a didactic development." Some explain as a concessive subjunctive, we may have ; but the use of this in independent sentences is doubtful. Others give the deliberative sense, shall we have ; but this occurs only in doubtful questions, as Rom 6:1. A similar instance is found Heb 12:28. " Let us have grace," where the indicative might naturally be expected. Compare also the disputed reading, let us bear , 1Co 15:49, and see note there.

Vincent: Rom 5:1

Peace ( εἰρήνην )

Not contentment , satisfaction , quiet , see Phi 4:7; but the state of reconciliation as opposed to enmity (Rom 5:10).

Vincent: Rom 5:1

With God ( πρός )

See on with God, Joh 1:1.

Vincent: Rom 5:2

Access ( προσαγωγὴν )

Used only by Paul. Compare Eph 2:18; Eph 3:12. Lit., the act of bringing to . Hence some insist on the transitive sense, introduction . Compare 1Pe 3:18; Eph 2:13. The transitive sense predominates in classical Greek, but there are undoubted instances of the intransitive sense in later Greek, and some illustrations are cited from Xenophon, though their meaning is disputed.

Vincent: Rom 5:2

Into this grace

Grace is conceived as a field into which we are brought. Compare Gal 1:6; Gal 5:4; 1Pe 5:12. The; state of justification which is preeminently a matter of grace.

Vincent: Rom 5:2

In hope ( ἐπ ' ἐλπίδι )

Lit., on the ground of hope.

Wesley: Rom 5:1

This is the sum of the preceding chapters.

Wesley: Rom 5:1

Being enemies to God no longer, Rom 5:10; neither fearing his wrath, Rom 5:9. We have peace, hope, love, and power over sin, the sum of the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth chapters. These are the fruits of justifying faith: where these are not, that faith is not.

Wesley: Rom 5:2

This state of favour.

JFB: Rom 5:1

"having been."

JFB: Rom 5:1

If we are to be guided by manuscript authority, the true reading here, beyond doubt, is, "Let us have peace"; a reading, however, which most reject, because they think it unnatural to exhort men to have what it belongs to God to give, because the apostle is not here giving exhortations, but stating matters of fact. But as it seems hazardous to set aside the decisive testimony of manuscripts, as to what the apostle did write, in favor of what we merely think he ought to have written, let us pause and ask--If it be the privilege of the justified to "have peace with God," why might not the apostle begin his enumeration of the fruits of justification by calling on believers to "realize" this peace as belonged to them, or cherish the joyful consciousness of it as their own? And if this is what he has done, it would not be necessary to continue in the same style, and the other fruits of justification might be set down, simply as matters of fact. This "peace" is first a change in God's relation to us; and next, as the consequence of this, a change on our part towards Him. God, on the one hand, has "reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ" (2Co 5:18); and we, on the other hand, setting our seal to this, "are reconciled to God" (2Co 5:20). The "propitiation" is the meeting-place; there the controversy on both sides terminates in an honorable and eternal "peace."

JFB: Rom 5:2

"have had"

JFB: Rom 5:2

Favor with God.

JFB: Rom 5:2

That is "To that same faith which first gave us 'peace with God' we owe our introduction into that permanent standing in the favor of God which the justified enjoy." As it is difficult to distinguish this from the peace first mentioned, we regard it as merely an additional phase of the same [MEYER, PHILIPPI, MEHRING], rather than something new [BEZA, THOLUCK, HODGE].

JFB: Rom 5:2

"glory," "boast," "triumph"--"rejoice" is not strong enough.

JFB: Rom 5:2

On "hope," see on Rom 5:4.

Clarke: Rom 5:1

Therefore being justified by faith - The apostle takes it for granted that he has proved that justification is by faith, and that the Gentiles have an equal title with the Jews to salvation by faith. And now he proceeds to show the effects produced in the hearts of the believing Gentiles by this doctrine. We are justified - have all our sins pardoned by faith, as the instrumental cause; for, being sinners, we have no works of righteousness that we can plead

Clarke: Rom 5:1

We have peace with God - Before, while sinners, we were in a state of enmity with God, which was sufficiently proved by our rebellion against his authority, and our transgression of his laws; but now, being reconciled, we have peace with God. Before, while under a sense of the guilt of sin, we had nothing but terror and dismay in our own consciences; now, having our sin forgiven, we have peace in our hearts, feeling that all our guilt is taken away. Peace is generally the first-fruits of our justification

Clarke: Rom 5:1

Through our Lord Jesus Christ - His passion and death being the sole cause of our reconciliation to God.

Clarke: Rom 5:2

By whom also - We are not only indebted to our Lord Jesus Christ for the free and full pardon which we have received, but our continuance in a justified state depends upon his gracious influence in our hearts, and his intercession before the throne of God

Clarke: Rom 5:2

We have access - προσαγωγην εσχηκαμεν, We have received this access. It was only through Christ that we could at first approach God; and it is only through him that the privilege is continued to us. And this access to God, or introduction to the Divine presence, is to be considered as a lasting privilege. We are not brought to God for the purpose of an interview, but to remain with him; to be his household; and, by faith, to behold his face, and walk in the light of his countenance

Clarke: Rom 5:2

Into this grace - This state of favor and acceptance

Clarke: Rom 5:2

Wherein we stand - Having firm footing, and a just title through the blood of the Lamb to the full salvation of God

Clarke: Rom 5:2

And rejoice - Have solid happiness, from the evidence we have of our acceptance with Him

Clarke: Rom 5:2

In hope of the glory of God - Having our sins remitted, and our souls adopted into the heavenly family, we are become heirs; for if children, then heirs, Gal 4:7; and that glory of God is now become our endless inheritance. While the Jews boast of their external privileges - that they have the temple of God among them; that their priests have an entrance to God as their representatives, carrying before the mercy-seat the blood of their offered victims; we exult in being introduced by Jesus Christ to the Divine presence; his blood having been shed and sprinkled for this purpose; and thus we have, spiritually and essentially, all that these Jewish rites, etc., signified. We are in the peace of God, and we are happy in the enjoyment of that peace, and have a blessed foretaste of eternal glory. Thus we have heaven upon earth, and the ineffable glories of God in prospect.

Calvin: Rom 5:1

1.=== Being then justified, === etc. The Apostle begins to illustrate by the effects, what he has hitherto said of the righteousness of faith: and hence the whole of this chapter is taken up with amplifications, which are no less calculated to explain than to confirm. He had said before, that faith is abolished, if righteousness is sought by works; and in this case perpetual inquietude would disturb miserable souls, as they can find nothing substantial in themselves: but he teaches us now, that they are rendered quiet and tranquil, when we have obtained righteousness by faith, we have peace with God; and this is the peculiar fruit of the righteousness of faith. When any one strives to seek tranquillity of conscience by works, (which is the case with profane and ignorant men,) he labors for it in vain; for either his heart is asleep through his disregard or forgetfulness of God’s judgment, or else it is full of trembling and dread, until it reposes on Christ, who is alone our peace.

Then peace means tranquillity of conscience, which arises from this, — that it feels itself to be reconciled to God. This the Pharisee has not, who swells with false confidence in his own works; nor the stupid sinner, who is not disquieted, because he is inebriated with the sweetness of vices: for though neither of these seems to have a manifest disquietude, as he is who is smitten with a consciousness of sin; yet as they do not really approach the tribunal of God, they have no reconciliation with him; for insensibility of conscience is, as it were, a sort of retreating from God. Peace with God is opposed to the dead security of the flesh, and for this reason, — because the first thing is, that every one should become awakened as to the account he must render of his life; and no one can stand boldly before God, but he who relies on a gratuitous reconciliation; for as long as he is God, all must otherwise tremble and be confounded. And this is the strongest of proofs, that our opponents do nothing but prate to no purpose, when they ascribe righteousness to works; for this conclusion of Paul is derived from this fact, — that miserable souls always tremble, except they repose on the grace of Christ.

Calvin: Rom 5:2

2.Through whom we have access, ¹⁵³ etc. Our reconciliation with God depends only on Christ; for he only is the beloved Son, and we are all by nature the children of wrath. But this favor is communicated to us by the gospel; for the gospel is the ministry of reconciliation, by the means of which we are in a manner brought into the kingdom of God. Rightly then does Paul set before our eyes in Christ a sure pledge of God’s favor, that he might more easily draw us away from every confidence in works. And as he teaches us by the word access, that salvation begins with Christ, he excludes those preparations by which foolish men imagine that they can anticipate God’s mercy; as though he said, “Christ comes not to you, nor helps you, on account of your merits.” He afterwards immediately subjoins, that it is through the continuance of the same favor that our salvation becomes certain and sure; by which he intimates, that perseverance is not founded on our power and diligence, but on Christ; though at the same time by saying, that we stand, he indicates that the gospel ought to strike deep roots into the hearts of the godly, so that being strengthened by its truth, they may stand firm against all the devices of Satan and of the flesh. And by the word stand, he means, that faith is not a changeable persuasion, only for one day; but that it is immutable, and that it sinks deep into the heart, so that it endures through life. It is then not he, who by a sudden impulse is led to believe, that has faith, and is to be reckoned among the faithful; but he who constantly, and, so to speak, with a firm and fixed foot, abides in that station appointed to him by God, so as to cleave always to Christ.

And glory in the hope, etc. The reason that the hope of a future life exists and dares to exult, is this, — because we rest on God’s favor as on a sure foundation: for Paul’s meaning is, that though the faithful are now pilgrims on the earth, they yet by hope scale the heavens, so that they quietly enjoy in their own bosoms their future inheritance. And hereby are subverted two of the most pestilent dogmas of the sophists. What they do in the first place is, they bid Christians to be satisfied with moral conjecture as to the perception of God’s favor towards them; and secondly, they teach that all are uncertain as to their final perseverance; but except there be at present sure knowledge, and a firm and undoubting persuasion as to the future, who would dare to glory? The hope of the glory of God has shone upon us through the gospel, which testifies that we shall be participators of the Divine nature; for when we shall see God face to face, we shall be like him. (2Pe 1:4; 1Jo 3:2.)

Defender: Rom 5:1

We are "justified by his blood" (Rom 4:9), "justified freely by his grace" (Rom 3:24), "justified by faith" (Rom 4:1) - all in relation to God - then, "justified by works" (Jam 2:21), in relation to men.

Defender: Rom 5:1

Paul opens his epistles with a salutation conveying "peace from God" (Rom 1:7), then assures them of "peace with God" (Rom 5:1), culminating in the "peace of God" (Col 3:15) ruling in their hearts."

TSK: Rom 5:1

being : Rom 5:9, Rom 5:18, Rom 1:17, Rom 3:22, Rom 3:26-28, Rom 3:30, Rom 4:5, Rom 4:24, Rom 4:25, Rom 9:30, Rom 10:10; Hab 2:4; Joh 3:16-18, Joh 5:24; Act 13:38, Act 13:39; Gal 2:16, Gal 3:11-14, Gal 3:25, Gal 5:4-6; Phi 3:9; Jam 2:23-26

we have : Rom 5:10, Rom 1:7, Rom 10:15, Rom 14:17, Rom 15:13, Rom 15:33; Job 21:21; Psa 85:8-10, Psa 122:6; Isa 27:5, Isa 32:17, Isa 54:13, Isa 55:12, Isa 57:19-21; Zec 6:13; Luk 2:14, Luk 10:5, Luk 10:6; Luk 19:38, Luk 19:42; Joh 14:27, Joh 16:33; Act 10:36; 2Co 5:18-20; Eph 2:14-17; Col 1:20, Col 3:15; 1Th 5:23; 2Th 3:16; Heb 13:20; Jam 2:23

through : Rom 6:23; Joh 20:31; Eph 2:7

TSK: Rom 5:2

By whom : Joh 10:7, Joh 10:9, Joh 14:6; Act 14:27; Eph 2:18, Eph 3:12; Heb 10:19, Heb 10:20; 1Pe 3:18

wherein : Rom 5:9, Rom 5:10, Rom 8:1, Rom 8:30-39, Rom 14:4; Joh 5:24; 1Co 15:1; Eph 6:13; 1Pe 1:4

and rejoice : Rom 5:5, Rom 8:24, Rom 12:12, Rom 15:13; Job 19:25-27; Psa 16:9-11, Psa 17:15; Pro 14:32; 2Th 2:16; Heb 3:6, Heb 6:18; 1Pe 1:3-9; 1Jo 3:1-3

the glory : Rom 2:7, Rom 3:23, Rom 8:17, Rom 8:18; Exo 33:18-20; Psa 73:24; Mat 25:21; Joh 5:24; 2Co 3:18, 2Co 4:17; Rev 3:21, Rev 21:3, Rev 21:11, Rev 21:23, Rev 22:4, Rev 22:5

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Rom 5:1

Therefore - οὖν oun Since we are thus justified, or as a consequence of being justified, we have peace.

Being justified by faith - See the notes at Rom 1:17; Rom 3:24; Rom 4:5.

We - That is, all who are justified. The apostle is evidently speaking of true Christians.

Have peace with God - see the note at Joh 14:27. True religion is often represented as peace with God; see Act 10:36; Rom 8:6; Rom 10:15; Rom 14:17; Gal 5:22; see also Isa 32:17.

"And the work of righteousness shall be peace,

And the effect of righteousness.

Quietness and assurance forever:"

This is called peace, because,

(1)    The sinner is represented as the enemy of God, Rom 8:7; Eph 2:16; Jam 4:4; Joh 15:18, Joh 15:24; Joh 17:14; Rom 1:30.

(2)\caps1     t\caps0 he state of a sinner’ s mind is far from peace. He is often agitated, alarmed, trembling. He feels that he is alienated from God. For,

"The wicked are like the troubled sea.

For it never can be at rest;

Whose waters cast up mire and dirt."

Isa 57:20.

The sinner in this state regards God as his enemy. He trembles when he thinks of his Law; fears his judgments; is alarmed when he thinks of hell. His bosom is a stranger to peace. This has been felt in all lands, alike under the thunders of the Law of Sinai among the Jews; in the pagan world; and in lands where the gospel is preached. It is the effect of an alarmed and troubled conscience.

\caps1 (3) t\caps0 he plan of salvation by Christ reveals God as willing to be reconciled. He is ready to pardon, and to be at peace. If the sinner repents and believes, God can now consistently forgive him, and admit him to favor. It is therefore a plan by which the mind of God and of the sinner can become reconciled, or united in feeling and in purpose. The obstacles on the part of God to reconciliation, arising from his justice and Law, have been removed, and he is now willing to be at peace. The obstacles on the part of man, arising from his sin, his rebellion, and his conscious guilt, may be taken away, and he can now regard God as his friend.

\caps1 (4) t\caps0 he effect of this plan, when the sinner embraces it, is to produce peace in his own mind. He experiences peace; a peace which the world gives not, and which the world cannot take away, Phi 4:7; 1Pe 1:8; Joh 16:22. Usually in the work of conversion to God, this peace is the first evidence that is felt of the change of heart. Before, the sinner was agitated and troubled. But often suddenly, a peace and calmness is felt, which is before unknown. The alarm subsides; the heart is calm; the fears die away, like the waves of the ocean after a storm. A sweet tranquillity visits the heart - a pure shining light, like the sunbeams that break through the opening clouds after a tempest. The views, the feelings, the desires are changed; and the bosom that was just before filled with agitation and alarm, that regarded God as its enemy, is now at peace with him, and with all the world.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ - By means of the atonement of the Lord Jesus. It is his mediation that has procured it.

Barnes: Rom 5:2

We have access - See the note at Joh 14:6, "I am the way,"etc. Doddridge renders it, "by whom we have been introduced,"etc. It means, "by whom we have the privilege of obtaining the favor of God which we enjoy when we are justified."The word rendered "access"occurs but in two other places in the New Testament, Eph 2:18; Eph 3:12. By Jesus Christ the way is opened for us to obtain the favor of God.

By faith - By means of faith, Rom 1:17.

Into this grace - Into this favor of reconciliation with God.

Wherein we stand - In which we now are in consequence of being justified.

And rejoice - Religion is often represented as producing joy, Isa 12:3; Isa 35:10; Isa 52:9; Isa 61:3, Isa 61:7; Isa 65:14, Isa 65:18; Joh 16:22, Joh 16:24; Act 13:52; Rom 14:17; Gal 5:22; 1Pe 1:8. The sources or steps of this joy are these:

(1) We are justified, or regarded by God as righteous.

\caps1 (2) w\caps0 e are admitted into his favor, and abide there.

\caps1 (3) w\caps0 e have the prospect of still higher and richer blessings in the fulness of his glory when we are admitted to heaven.

In hope - In the earnest desire and expectation of obtaining that glory. Hope is a complex emotion made up of a desire for an object; and an expectation of obtaining it. Where either of these is lacking, there is not hope. Where they are mingled in improper proportions, there is not peace. But where the desire of obtaining an object is attended with an expectation of obtaining it, in proportion to that desire, there exists that peaceful, happy state of mind which we denominate hope And the apostle here implies that the Christian has an earnest desire for that glory; and that he has a confident expectation of obtaining it. The result of that he immediately states to be, that we are by it sustained in our afflictions.

The glory of God - The glory that God will bestow on us. The word "glory"usually means splendor, magnificence, honor; and the apostle here refers to that honor and dignity which will be conferred on the redeemed when they are raised up to the full honors of redemption; when they shall triumph in the completion of the work: and be freed from sin, and pain, and tears, and permitted to participate in the full splendors that shall encompass the throne of God in the heavens; see the note at Luk 2:9; compare Rev 21:22-24; Rev 22:5; Isa 60:19-20.

Poole: Rom 5:1

Rom 5:1 Being justified by faith, we have peace with God,

Rom 5:2 we glory in our hopes,

Rom 5:3-5 and in present afflictions,

Rom 5:6-10 from the best experience of God’ s love, looking with

more assurance for final salvation.

Rom 5:11 we glory in God also, to whom we are reconciled by Christ.

Rom 5:12-19 As sin and death came upon all men by Adam, so the

grace of God, which justifieth unto life, cometh more

abundantly unto all mankind through Christ.

Rom 5:20,21 Under the law sin abounded unto death; but grace hath

much more abounded unto life.

Hitherto of the cause and manner of our justification; now follow the benefits and effects.

Being justified by faith as he had before asserted and proved particularly, in Rom 3:28 4:24 .

We have peace with God i.e. we have reconciliation with God, who before were utter enemies to him, Col 1:21 ; he is now become our Friend, as he was Abraham’ s.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ who is the only Mediator of reconciliation: see 2Co 5:19 Eph 2:14-16 Col 1:20 1Ti 2:5 .

Poole: Rom 5:2

We have not only reconciliation with God by Jesus Christ, but also by faith in him we are admitted to his presence, his grace and favour. One may be reconciled to his prince, and yet not to be brought into his presence: witness Absalom, &c. See Eph 2:18 3:12 1Pe 3:18 .

This grace is either that whereof he spake, Rom 3:24 ; or else rather it may be understood of that excellent state of reconciliation, friendship, and favour with God, which God hath graciously bestowed upon us.

Wherein we stand or, in which we stand or abide, not stirring a foot for any temptation or persecution: a metaphor from soldiers keeping their station in fight. A man may obtain his prince’ s favour, and lose it again; but, &c.

And rejoice in hope of the glory of God in the glory hoped for, a Hebraism; see Luk 10:20 1Pe 1:8,9 ; even in that glory which God hath promised, and which consists in the enjoyment of him.

PBC: Rom 5:1

See PB: Ps 77:1

PBC: Rom 5:2

See PB: Job 8:13

Haydock: Rom 5:1

The apostle proceeds in this chapter to shew how great a benefit it is to be truly justified by the coming of Christ. ---

Let us have [1] peace with God. That is, says St. John Chrysostom, by laying aside all contentions. Or let us have peace with God by sinning no more. And this peace we may have under the greatest tribulations, which conduce to our greater good, to an increase in virtues, in patience, in hope, in the love of God, &c. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Pacem habeamus. In the common Greek copies we read Greek: echomen, habemus. But in other manuscripts Greek: echomen, as St. John Chrysostom must have read by his commentary, Greek: meke[] amartano[]en. &c.

Gill: Rom 5:1

Therefore being justified by faith,.... Not that faith is at the first of our justification; for that is a sentence which passed in the mind of God from all eternity, and which passed on Christ, and on all the elect considered in him, when he rose from the dead; see Rom 4:25; nor is it the chief, or has it the chief place in justification; it is not the efficient cause of it, it is God that justifies, and not faith; it is not the moving cause of it, that is the free grace of God; it is not the matter of it, that is the righteousness of Christ: we are not justified by faith, either as God's work in us, for, as such, it is a part of sanctification; nor as our work or act, as exercised by us, for then we should be justified by works, by something of our own, and have whereof to glory; but we are justified by faith objectively and relatively, as that relates to the object Christ, and his righteousness; or as it is a means of our knowledge, and perception of our justification by Christ's righteousness, and of our enjoying the comfort of it; and so we come to

have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle having set the doctrine of justification in a clear light, and fully proved that it is not by the works of men, but by the righteousness of God; and having mentioned the several causes of it, proceeds to consider its effects, among which, peace with God stands in the first place; and is so called, to distinguish it from peace with men, which persons, though justified by faith in Christ's righteousness, may not have; but are sure, having a sense of this, to find peace with God, even with him against whom they have sinned, whose law they have transgressed, and whose justice they have affronted; reconciliation for sin being made, and a justifying righteousness brought in, and this imputed and applied to them, they have that "peace of God", that tranquillity and serenity of mind, the same with "peace with God" here, "which passes all understanding", Phi 4:7; and is better experienced than expressed: and this is all through our Lord Jesus Christ; it springs from his atoning sacrifice, and precious blood, by which he has made peace; and is communicated through the imputation of his righteousness, and the application of his blood; and is only felt and enjoyed in a way of believing, by looking to him as the Lord our righteousness.

Gill: Rom 5:2

By whom also we have access by faith,.... The access here spoken of is not to the blessing of justification; for though that is a grace which we have access to by Christ, and come at the knowledge of by faith, and enjoy the comfort of through it; and is a grace in which persons stand, and from which they shall never fall, and lays a solid foundation for rejoicing in hope of eternal glory; yet this sense would make the apostle guilty of a great tautology; and besides, he is not speaking of that blessing itself, but of its effects; and here of one distinct from "peace with God", before mentioned, as the word also manifestly shows: nor does it design any other blessing of grace, as pardon, adoption, sanctification, &c. and an access thereunto; not unto the free grace, favour, and good will of God, the source of all blessings; but to the throne of grace, which may be called

that grace, because of its name, for God, as the God of all grace, sits upon it; it is an high favour to be admitted to it; it is grace persons come thither for, and which they may expect to find there: and

in, or "at"

which we stand; which denotes boldness, courage, and intrepidity, and a freedom from a servile fear and bashful spirit, and a continued constant attendance at it; all which is consistent with reverence, humility, and submission to the will of God. Now access to the throne of grace, and standing at that, are "by" Christ. There is no access to God in our own name and righteousness, and upon the foot of our own works. Christ is the only way of access to God, and acceptance with him; he is the Mediator between God and us; he introduces into his Father's presence, gives audience at his throne, and renders both persons and services acceptable unto him: and this access is also "by faith"; and that both in God the Father, as our covenant God and Father; in faith of interest in his love and favour; believing his power and faithfulness, his fulness and sufficiency, and that he is a God hearing and answering prayer: and also in the Lord Jesus Christ; in his person for acceptance; in his righteousness for justification; in his blood for pardon; and in his fulness for every supply: and such as have access to the throne of grace by faith in Christ, being comfortably persuaded of their justification before God, through his righteousness imputed to them, can and do

rejoice in hope of the glory of God; which is another effect of justification by faith: by the "glory of God"; which is another effect of justification by faith: by the "glory of God", is not meant the essential glory of God; nor that which we ought to seek in all that we are concerned, and which we are to ascribe unto him on the account of his perfections and works; but that everlasting glory and happiness which he has prepared for his people, has promised to them, and has called them to by Christ, and will bestow upon them; of which he has given them a good hope through grace; and in the hope and believing views of which they can, and do rejoice, even amidst a variety of afflictions and tribulations in this world. The Vulgate Latin version reads, "in hope of the glory of the children of God"; eternal glory being proper to them.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Rom 5:1

¹ sn Many interpreters see Rom 5:1 as beginning the second major division of the letter.

² tc A number of important witnesses have the subjunctive ἔχωμεν (ecwmen, “let us have”) instead of ἔχομεν (ecomen, “we have”) in v. 1. Included in the subjunctive’s support are א* A B* C D K L 33 81 630 1175 1739* pm lat bo. But the indicative is not without its supporters: א¹ B² F G P Ψ 0220^vid 104 365 1241 1505 1506 1739^c 1881 2464 pm. If the problem were to be solved on an external basis only, the subjunctive would be preferred. Because of this, the “A” rating on behalf of the indicative in the UBS⁴ appears overly confident. Nevertheless, the indicative is probably correct. First, the earliest witness to Rom 5:1 has the indicative (0220^vid, third century). Second, the first set of correctors is sometimes, if not often, of equal importance with the original hand. Hence, א¹ might be given equal value with א*. Third, there is a good cross-section of witnesses for the indicative: Alexandrian (in 0220^vid, probably א¹ 1241 1506 1881 al), Western (in F G), and Byzantine (noted in NA²⁷ as pm). Thus, although the external evidence is strongly in favor of the subjunctive, the indicative is represented well enough that its ancestry could easily go back to the original. Turning to the internal evidence, the indicative gains much ground. (1) The variant may have been produced via an error of hearing (since omicron and omega were pronounced alike in ancient Greek). This, of course, does not indicate which reading was original – just that an error of hearing may have produced one of them. In light of the indecisiveness of the transcriptional evidence, intrinsic evidence could play a much larger role. This is indeed the case here. (2) The indicative fits well with the overall argument of the book to this point. Up until now, Paul has been establishing the “indicatives of the faith.” There is only one imperative (used rhetorically) and only one hortatory subjunctive (and this in a quotation within a diatribe) up till this point, while from ch. 6 on there are sixty-one imperatives and seven hortatory subjunctives. Clearly, an exhortation would be out of place in ch. 5. (3) Paul presupposes that the audience has peace with God (via reconciliation) in 5:10. This seems to assume the indicative in v. 1. (4) As C. E. B. Cranfield notes, “it would surely be strange for Paul, in such a carefully argued writing as this, to exhort his readers to enjoy or to guard a peace which he has not yet explicitly shown to be possessed by them” (Romans [ICC], 1:257). (5) The notion that εἰρήνην ἔχωμεν (eirhnhn ecwmen) can even naturally mean “enjoy peace” is problematic (ExSyn 464), yet those who embrace the subjunctive have to give the verb some such force. Thus, although the external evidence is stronger in support of the subjunctive, the internal evidence points to the indicative. Although a decision is difficult, ἔχομεν appears to be the authentic reading.

NET Notes: Rom 5:2

¹ tn Or “exult, boast.”

Geneva Bible: Rom 5:1

Therefore being ^{( 1 )} justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

^{( 1 )} Another argument taken from the effects: we are justified with that which truly appeases our conscience before God: and faith in Christ does appease our conscience and not the law, as it was said before, therefore by faith we are justified, and not by the law.

Geneva Bible: Rom 5:2

^{( 2 )} By whom also we ^{( a )} have access by faith into this grace ^{( b )} wherein we ^{( c )} stand, ^{( 3 )} and ^{( d )} rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

^{( 2 )} Whereas quietness of conscience is attributed to faith, it is to be referred to Christ, who is the giver of faith itself, and in whom faith itself is effectual.

^{( a )} We must know by this, that we still receive the same effect from faith.

^{( b )} By which grace, that is, by which gracious love and good will, or that state unto which we are graciously taken.

^{( c )} We stand steadfast. ^{( 3 )} A preventing of an objection against those who, beholding the daily miseries and calamities of the Church, think that the Christians dream when they brag of their felicity: to whom the apostle answers, that their felicity is laid up under hope of another place: which hope is so certain and sure, that they rejoice for that happiness just as if they presently enjoyed it.

^{( d )} Our minds are not only quiet and settled, but we are also marvellously glad, and have great joy because of the heavenly inheritance which awaits us.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Rom 5:1-21

1 Being justified by faith, we have peace with God;

2 and joy in our hope;

8 that since we were reconciled by his blood, when we were enemies;

10 we shall much more be saved, being reconciled.

12 As sin and death came by Adam;

17 so much more righteousness and life by Jesus Christ.

20 Where sin abounded, grace did superabound.

Maclaren: Rom 5:1

Let Us Have Peace

Let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.' Romans 5:1. (R.V.).

IN the rendering of the Revised Version,' Let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,' the alteration is very slight, being that of one letter in one word, the substitution of a long o' for a short one. The majority of manuscripts of authority read let us have,' making the clause an exhortation and not a statement. I suppose the reason why, in some inferior MSS., the statement takes the place of the exhortation is because it was felt to be somewhat of a difficulty to understand the Apostle's course of thought. But I shall hope to show you that the true understanding of the context, as well as of the words I have taken for my text, requires the exhortation and not the affirmation.

One more remark of an introductory character: is it not very beautiful to see how the Apostle here identifies himself, in all humility, with the Christians whom he is addressing, and feels that he, Apostle as he is, has the same need for the same counsel and stimulus that the weakest of those to whom he is writing have? It would have been so easy for him to isolate himself, and say, Now you have peace with God; see that you keep it.' But he puts himself into the same class as those whom he is exhorting, and that is what all of us have to do who would give advice that will be worth anything or of any effect. He does not stand upon a little molehill of superiority, and look down upon the Roman Christians, and imply that they have needs that he has not, but he exhorts himself too, saying, Let all of us who have obtained like precious faith, which is alike in an Apostle and in the humblest believer, have peace with God.'

Now a word, first, about the meaning of this somewhat singular exhortation.

There is a theory of man and his relation to God underlying it, which is very unfashionable at present, but which corresponds to the deepest things in human nature, and the deepest mysteries in human history, and that is, that something has come in to produce the totally unnatural and monstrous fact that between God and man there is not amity or harmony. Men, on their side, are alienated, because their wills are rebellious and their aims diverse from God's purpose concerning them. And--although it is an awful thing to have to say, and one from which the sentimentalism of much modern Christianity weakly recoils--on God's side, too, the relation has been disturbed, and we are by nature the children of wrath, even as others'; not of a wrath which is unloving, not of a wrath which is impetuous and passionate, not of a wrath which seeks the hurt of its objects, but of a wrath which is the necessary antagonism and recoil of pure love from such creatures as we have made ourselves to be. To speak as if the New Testament taught that reconciliation' was lop-sided--which would be a contradiction in terms, for reconciliation needs two to make it--to talk as if the New Testament taught that reconciliation was only man's putting away his false relation to God, is, as I humbly think, to be blind to its plainest teaching. So, there being this antagonism and separation between God and man, the Gospel comes to deal with it, and proclaims that Jesus Christ has abolished the enmity, and by His death on the Cross has become our peace; and that we, by faith in that Christ, and grasping in faith His death, pass from out of the condition of hostility into the condition of reconciliation.

With this by way of basis, let us come back to my text. It sounds strange; Therefore, being justified by faith, let us have peace.' Well,' you will say, but is not all that you have been saying just this, that to be justified by faith, to be declared righteous by reason of faith in Him who makes us righteous, is to have peace with God? Is not your exhortation an entirely superfluous one?' No doubt that is what the old scribe thought who originated the reading which has crept into our Authorised Version. The two things do seem to be entirely parallel. To be justified by faith is a certain process, to have peace with God is the inseparable and simultaneous result of that process itself. But that is going rather too fast. Being justified by faith let us have peace with God,' really is just this --see that you abide where you are; keep what you have. The exhortation is not to attain peace, but retain it. Hold fast that thou hast; let no man take thy crown.' Being justified by faith' cling to your treasure and let nothing rob you of it--let us have peace with God.'

Now a word, in the next place, as to the necessity and importance of this exhortation.

There underlies it, this solemn thought, which Christian people, and especially some types of Christian doctrine, do need to have hammered into them over and over again, that we hold the blessed life itself, and all its blessings, only on condition of our own cooperation in keeping them; and that just as physical life dies, unless by reception of food we nourish and continue it, so a man that is in this condition of being justified by faith, and having peace with God, needs, in order to the permanence of that condition, to give his utmost effort and diligence. It will all go if he do not. All the old state will come back again if we are slothful and negligent, live cannot keep the treasure unless we guard it. And just because we have it, we need to put all our mind, the earnestness of our will, and the concentration of our efforts, into the specific work of retaining it.

For, consider how manifold and strong are the forces which are always working against our continual possession of this justification by faith, and consequent peace with God. There are all the ordinary cares and duties and avocations and fortunes of our daily life, which, indeed, may be so hallowed in their motives and in their activities, as that they may be turned into helps instead of hindrances, but which require a great deal of diligence and effort in order that they should not work like grains of dust that come between the parts of some nicely-fitting engine, and so cause friction and disaster. There are all the daily tasks that tempt us to forget the things that we only know by faith, and to be absorbed in the things that we can touch and taste and handle. If a man is upon an inclined plane, unless he is straining his muscles to go upwards, gravitation will make short work of him, and bring him down. And unless Christian men grip hard and continually that sense of having fellowship and peace with God, as sure as they are living they will lose the clearness of that consciousness, and the calm that comes from it. For we cannot go into the world and do the work that is laid upon us all without there being possible hostility to the Christian life in everything that we meet. Thank God there is possible help, too, and whether our daily calling is an enemy or a friend to our religion depends upon the earnestness and continuousness of our own efforts. But there is a worse force than these external distractions working to draw us away, one that we carry within, in our own vacillating wills and wayward hearts and treacherous affections and passions that usually lie dormant, but wake up sometimes at the most inopportune periods. Unless we keep a very tight hand upon ourselves, certainly these will rob us of this consciousness of being justified by faith which brings with it peace with God that passes understanding.

In the Isle of Wight massive cliffs rise hundreds of feet above the sea, and seem as if they were as solid as the framework of the earth itself. But they rest upon a sharply inclined plane of clay, and the moisture trickles through the rifts in the majestic cliffs above, and gets down to that slippery substance and makes it like the greased ways down which they launch a ship; and away goes the cliff one day, with its hundreds of feet of buttresses that have fronted the tempest for centuries, and it lies toppled in hideous ruin on the beach below. We have all a layer of blue slipper' in ourselves, and unless we take care that no storm-water finds its way down through the chinks in the rocks above they will slide into awful ruin. Being justified, let us have peace with God,' and remember that the exhortation is enforced not only by a consideration of the many strong forces which tend to deprive us of this peace, but also by a consideration of the hideous disaster that comes upon a man's whole nature if he loses peace With God. For there is no peace with ourselves, and there is no peace with man, and there is no peace in face of the warfare of life and the calamities that are certainly before us all, unless, in the deepest sanctuary of our being, there is the peace of God because in our consciences there is peace with God. If I desire to be at rest--and there is no blessedness but rest--if I desire to know the sovereign joy of tranquillity, undisturbed by my own stormy passions or by any human enmity, and to have even the beasts of the field at peace with' me, and all things my helpers and allies, there is but one way to realise the desire, and that is the retention of peace with God that comes with being justified by faith.

Lastly, a word or two as to the ways by which this exhortation can be carried into effect.

I have tried to explain how the peace of which my text speaks comes originally through Christ's work laid hold of by my faith, and now I would say only three things.

Retain the peace by the exercise of that same faith which at first brought it. Next, retain it by union with that same Lord from whom you at first received it. Very significantly, in the immediate context, we have the Apostle drawing a broad distinction between the benefits which we have received from Christ's death, and those which we shall receive through His life. And that is the best commentary on the words of my text. If when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.' So let our faith grasp firmly the great twin facts of the Christ who died that He might abolish the enmity, and bring us peace; and of the Christ who lives in order that He may pour into our hearts more and more of His own life, and so make us more and more in His own image. And the last word that I would say, in addition to these two plain, practical precepts is, let your conduct be such as will not disturb your peace with God. For if a man lets his own will rise up in rebellion against God's, whether that. divine will command duty or impose suffering, away goes all his peace. There is no possibility of the tranquil sense of union and communion with my Father in heaven lasting when I am in rebellion against Him. The smallest sin destroys, for the time being, our sense of forgiveness and our peace with God. The blue surface of the lake, mirroring in its unmoved tranquillity the sky and the bright sun, or the solemn stars, loses all that reflected heaven in its heart when a cat's paw of wind ruffles its surface. If we would keep our hearts as mirrors, in their peace, of the peace in the heavens that shine down on them, we must fence them from the winds of evil passions and rebellious wills. Oh! that thou wouldest hearken unto Me, then had thy peace been like a river.'

Maclaren: Rom 5:2

Access Into Grace

By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.' Romans 5:2.

I MAY be allowed to begin with a word or two of explanation of the terms of this passage. Note then, especially, that also which sends us back to the previous clause, and tells us that our text adds something to what was spoken of there. What was spoken of there? The peace of God' which comes to a man by Jesus Christ through faith, the removal of enmity, and the declaration of righteousness. But that peace with God, which is the beginning of everything in the Christian view, is only the beginning, and there is much to follow. While, then, there is a progress clearly marked in the words of our text, and access into this grace wherein we stand' is something more than, and after, the peace with God,' mark next the similarity of the text and the preceding verse. The two great truths in the latter, Christ's mediation or intervention, and our faith as the condition by which we receive the blessings which are brought to us in and through Him, are both repeated, with no unmeaning tautology, but with profound significance in our text--By whom also we have access'--as well as--the peace of God'--access by faith into this grace.' So then, for the initial blessing, and for all the subsequent blessings of the Christian life, the way is the same. The medium and channel is one, and the act by which we avail ourselves of the blessings coming through that one medium is the same. Now the language of my text, with its talking about access, faith, and grace, sounds to a great many of us, I am afraid, very hard and remote and technical. And there are not wanting people who tell us that all that terminology in the New Testament is like a dying brand in the fire, where the little kernel of glowing heat is getting covered thicker and thicker with grey ashes. Yes; but if you blow the ashes off, the fire is there all the same. Let us try if we can blow the ashes off.

This text seems to me in its archaic phraseology, only to need to be pondered in order to flash up into wonderful beauty. It carries in it a magnificent ideal of the Christian life, in three things: the Christian place, access into grace ; the Christian attitude, wherein we stand'; and the Christian means of realising that ideal, through Christ' and by faith.' Now let us look at these three points.

I. The Christian Place.

There is clearly a metaphor here, both in the word access' and in that other one stand.' The grace' is supposed as some ample space into which a man is led, and where he can continue, stand, and expatiate. Or, we may say, it is regarded as a palace or treasure-house into which we can enter. Now, if we take that great New Testament word grace,' and ponder its meanings, we find that they run something in this fashion. The central thought, grand and marvellous, which is enshrined in it, and which often is buried for careless ears, is that of the active love of God poured out upon inferiors who deserve something very different. Then there follows a second meaning, which covers a great part of the ground of the use of the phrase in the New Testament, and that is the communication of that love to men, the specific and individualised gifts which come out of that great reservoir of patient, pardoning, condescending, and bestowing love. Then there may be taken into view a meaning which is less prominent in Scripture but not absent, namely, the resulting beauty of character. A gracious soul ought to be, and is, a graceful soul; a supreme loveliness is imparted to human nature by the communication to it of the gifts which are the results of the undeserved, free, and infinite love of God.

Now if we take all these three thoughts as blended together in the grand metaphor of the Apostle, of the ample space into which the Christian man passes, we get such lessons as this. A Christian life may, and therefore should, be suffused with a continual consciousness of the love of God. That would change everything in it. Here is some great sweep of rolling country, perhaps a Highland moor: the little tarns on it are grey and cold, the vegetation is gloomy and dark, dreariness is over all the scene, because there is a great pall of cloud drawn beneath the blue. But the sun pierces with his lances through the grey, and crumples up the mists, and sends them flying beneath the horizon. Then what a change in the landscape! All the tarns that looked black and wicked are now infantile in their innocent blue and sunny gladness, and every dimple in the heights shows, and all the heather burns with the sunshine that falls upon it. So my lonely doleful life, if that light from God, the beam of His love, shines down upon it, rises into nobility, and flashes into beauty, and is calm and fair and great, as nothing else can make it. You may dwell in love by dwelling in God, and then your lives will be fair. You have access into the grace; see that you go there. They tell us that nightingales sing by the wayside by preference, and we may have in our lives, singing a quiet tune, the continual thought of the love of God, even whilst life's highway is dusty and rough, and our feet are often weary in treading it. A Christian life may be, and therefore should be, suffused with the sense of the abiding love of God.

Take the other meaning of the word, the secondary and derived meaning, the communication of that love to us, and that leads us to say that a Christian life may, and therefore should, be enriched with continual gifts from God's fullness. I said that the Apostle was using a metaphor here, regarding the grace as being an ample space into which a man was admitted, or we may say that he is thinking of it as a great treasure-house. We have the right of entrance there, where on every side, as it were, the ingots of uncoined gold, and masses of treasure, and we may have just as much or as little as we choose. It is entirely in our own determination how much of the wealth of God we shall possess. We have access to the treasure-house; and this permit is put into our hands: Be it unto thee even as thou wilt.' The size of the sack that the man brings, in the old story, determined the amount of wealth that he carried away. Some of you bring very tiny baskets and expect little and desire little; you get no more than you desired and expected.

That wealth, the fullness of God, takes the shape of, as well as is determined in its measure by the magnitude of, the vessel into which it is put. It is multiform, and we get whatever we desire, and whatever either our characters or our circumstances require. The one gift assumes all forms, just as water poured into a vase takes the shape of the vase into which it is poured. The same gift unfolds itself in an infinite variety of manners, according to the needs of the man to whom it is given; just as the writer's pen, the carpenter's hammer, the farmer's ploughshare, are all made out of the same metal. So God's grace comes to you in a different shape from that in which it comes to me, according to our different callings and needs, as fixed by our circumstances, our duties, our sorrows, our temptations.

So, brethren, how shameful it is that, having the possibility of so much, we should have the actuality of so little. There is an old story about one of our generals in India long ago, who, when he came home was accused of rapacity because he had brought away so much treasure from the Rajahs whom he had conquered, and his answer to the charge was, I was surprised at my own moderation.' Ah! there are a great many Christian people who ought to be ashamed of their moderation. They have gone into the treasure-house; stacks of jewels, jars of gold on all sides of them--and they have been content to come away with some one poor little coin, when they might have been rich beyond the dreams of avarice.' Brethren, you have access' to the fullness of God. Whose fault is it if you are empty?

Then, further, I said there was another meaning in these great words. The love which may suffuse our lives, the gifts, the consequence of that love, which may enrich our lives, should, and in the measure in which they are received will, adorn and make beautiful our lives. For grace' means loveliness as well as goodness, and the God who is the fountain of it all is the fountain of whatsoever things are fair,' as well as of whatsoever things are good. That suggests two considerations on which I have no time to dwell. One is that the highest beauty is goodness, and unless the art of a nation learns that, its art will become filthy and a minister of sin. They talk about Art for Art's sake.' Would that all these poets and painters who are trying to find beauty in corruption--and there is a phosphorescent glimmer in rotting wood, and a prismatic colouring on the scum of a stagnant pond--would that all those men who are seeking to find beauty apart from goodness, and so are turning a divine instinct into a servant of evil, would learn that the true gracefulness comes from the grace which is the fullness of God given unto men.

But there is another lesson, and that is that Christian people who say that they have their lives irradiated by the love of God, and who profess to be receiving gifts from His full hand, are bound to take care that their goodness is not harsh and crabbed,' as not only dull fools suppose' it to be, but as it sometimes is, but is musical and fair. You are bound to make your goodness attractive, and to show that the things that are of good report' are likewise the things that are lovely.'

II. And So, Now, Turn To The Second Point Here, Viz. The Christian Attitude.

The grace wherein ye stand'; that word is very emphatic here, and does not merely mean continue,' but it suggests what I have put into that phrase, the Christian attitude.

Two things are implied. One is that a life thus suffused by the love, and enriched by the gifts, and adorned by the loveliness that come from God, will be stable and steadfast. Resistance and stability are implied in the words. One very important item in determining a man's power of resistance, and of standing firm against whatever assaults may be hurled against him, is the sort of footing that he has. If you stand on slippery mud, or on the ice of a glacier, you will find it hard to stand firm; but if you plant your foot on the grace of God, then you will be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.' And how does a man plant his foot on the grace of God? simply by trusting in God, and not in himself. So that the secret of all steadfastness of life, and of all successful resistance to the whirling onrush of temptations and of difficulties, is to set your foot upon that rock, and then your goings' will be established.

Jesus Christ brings to us, in the gift of life in Him, stability which will check the vacillations of our own hearts. We go up and down, we yield when pressure is brought to bear against us, we are carried off our feet often by the sudden swirl of the stream, and the fitful blast of the wind. But His grace comes in, and will make us able to stand against all assaults. Our poor natures, necessarily changeable, and sinfully vacillating and weak, will be uniform, in the measure in which the grace of God comes into our hearts. Just as in these so-called petrifying wells, they take a bit of cloth, a bird's nest, a billet of wood, and plunge it into the water, and the mineral held in solution there infiltrates into the substance of the thing plunged in, and makes it firm and inflexible: so let us plunge our poor, changeful, vacillating resolutions, our wayward, wandering hearts, our passions, so easily excited by temptation, into that great fountain, and there will filter into our flexibility what will make it firm, and into our changefulness what will give in us some faint copy of the divine immutability, and we shall stand fast in the Lord and in the power of His might.

Further, in regard to this attitude, which is the result of the possession of grace, we may say that it indicates not only stability and steadfastness, but erectness, as in opposition to crouching or bowing. A man's independence is guaranteed by his dependence upon, and his possession of, that communicated grace of God. And so you have the fact that the phase of the Christian teaching which has laid most stress on the decrees and sovereign will of God, on divine grace in fact, and too little upon the human side--the phase which is roughly described as Calvinism--has underlain the liberties of Europe, and has stiffened men into the rejection of all priestly and civic domination. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,' and if a man has in his heart the grace of God, then he stands erect as a man. Ye are bought with a price; be ye not the servants of men.' The Christian democracy, the Christian rejection of all sacerdotal and other domination, flows from the access of each individual Christian to the fountain of all wisdom, the only source of law and command, the inspirer of all strength, the giver of all grace. By faith ye stand. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free.'

III. Lastly, And Only A Word; We Have Here The Christian Way Of Entrance Into Grace.

I have already remarked on the emphasis with which, both in my text and in the preceding clause, there are laid down the two conditions of possessing this grace, or the peace which precedes it: By Christ --through faith.' Notice, too, that Jesus Christ gives us access.' Now that expression is but an imperfect rendering of the original. If it were not for its trivial associations, one might read instead of access,' introduction, by whom we have introduction into this grace wherein we stand.' The thought is that Jesus Christ secures us entry into this ample space, this treasure-house, as some court officer might take by the the hand a poor rustic, standing on the threshold of the palace, and lead him through all the glittering series of unfamiliar splendour, and present him at last in the central ring around the king. The reality that underlies the metaphor is plain. We sinners can never pass into that central glory, nor ever possess those gifts of grace, unless the barrier that stands between us and God, between us and His highest gifts of love, is swept away.

I recall an old legend where two knights are represented as seeking to enter a palace, where there is a mysterious fire burning in the middle of the portal. One of them tries to pass through, and recoils scorched; but when the other essays an entrance the fierce fire sinks, and the path is cleared. Jesus Christ has died, and I say it with all reverence, as His blood touches the fire it flickers down and the way is opened into the holiest of all, whither the Forerunner is for us entered.' He both brings the grace and makes it possible that we should go in where the grace is.

But Jesus Christ's work is nothing to you unless your personal faith comes in, and so that is pointed to in the second of the clauses here: By faith we have access.' That is no arbitrary appointment. It lies in the very nature of the gift and of the recipient. How can God give access into that grace to a man who shrinks from being near Him; who does not want access,' and who could not use the grace if he had it? How can God bestow inward and spiritual gifts upon any man who closes his heart against them, and will not have them? My faith is the condition; Christ is the Giver. If I ally myself to Him by my faith, He gives to me. If I do not, with all the will to do it, He cannot bestow His best gifts any more than a man who stretches out his hand to another sinking in the flood can lift him out, and set him on the safe shore, if the drowning man's hand is not stretched out to grasp the rescuer's outstretched hand.

Brethren, God is infinitely willing to give the choicest gifts of His love to us all, to gladden, to enrich, to adorn, to make stable and erect. But He cannot give them unless you will trust Him. It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.'

That alabaster box is brought to earth. It was broken on the Cross that the house' might be filled with the odour of the ointment.' Our faith is the only condition; it is only the condition, but it is the indispensable condition, of our being anointed with that fragrant anointing. He, and He only, can give us the fullness of God.

The Sources Of Hope

We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4. And patience, experience; and experience, hope.'--Romans 5:2-4.

WE have seen in a previous sermon that the Apostle in the foregoing context is sketching a grand outline of the ideal Christian life, as all rooted in being justified by faith,' and flowering into peace with God,' access into grace,' and a firm stand against all antagonists and would-be masters. In our text he advances to complete the outline by sketching the true Christian attitude towards the future. I have ventured to take so pregnant and large a text, because there is a very striking and close connection throughout the verses, which is lost unless we take them together. Note, then, we rejoice in hope,' we glory in tribulation.' Now, it is one word in the original which is diversely rendered in these two clauses by rejoice' and glory.' The latter is a better rendering than the former, because the original expression designates not only the emotion of joy, but the expression of it, especially in words. So it is frequently rendered in the New Testament by the word boast,' which, of course, has unpleasant associations, which scarcely fit it for use here. So then you see Paul regards it as possible for, and more than possibly characteristic of, a Christian, that the very same emotion should be excited by that great bright future hope, and by the blackness of present sorrow. That is strong meat; and so he goes on to explain how he thinks it can and must be so, and points out that trouble, through a series of results, arrives at last at this, that if it is rightly borne, it flashes up into greater brightness the hope which has grasped the glory of God. So then we have here, not only a wonderful designation of the object around which Christian hope twines its tendrils, but of the double source from which that hope may come, and of the one emotion with which Christian people should front the darkness of the present and the brightness of the future. Ah! how different our lives would be if that ideal of a steadfast hope and an untroubled joy were realised by each of us. It may be. It should be. So I ask you to look at these three points which I have suggested.

I. That Wonderful Designation Of The One Object Of Christian Hope.

Which should fill, with an uncoruscating and unflickering light, all that dark future.

We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.' Now, I suppose I need not remind you that that phrase the glory of God' is, in the Old Testament, used especially to mean the light that dwelt between the cherubim above the mercy-seat; the symbol of the divine perfections and the token of the Divine Presence. The reality of which it was a symbol is the total splendour, so to speak, of that divine nature, as it rays itself out into all the universe. And,' says Paul, the true hope of the Christian man is nothing less than that of that glory he shall be, in some true sense, and in an eternally growing degree, the real possessor. It is a tremendous claim, and one which leads us into deep places that I dare not venture into now, as to the resemblance between the human person and the Divine Person, notwithstanding all the differences which of course exist, and which only a presumptuous form of religion has ventured to treat as transitory or insignificant. Let me use a technical word, and say that it is no pantheistic absorption in an impersonal Light, no Nirvana of union with a vague whole, which the Apostle holds out here, but it is the closest possible union, personality being saved and individual consciousness being intensified. It is the clothing of humanity with so much of that glory as can he imparted to a finite creature. That means perfect knowledge, perfect purity, perfect love, and that means the dropping away of all weaknesses and the access of strange new powers, and that means the end of the schism between will' and ought,' and of the other schism between will' and can.' It means what this Apostle says: Whom He justified them He also glorified,' and what He says again, We all, beholding as in a glass'--or rather, perhaps, mirroring as a glass does--the glory, are changed into the same image.'

The very heart of Christianity is that the Divine Light of which that Shekinah was but a poor and transitory symbol has tabernacled' amongst men in the Christ, and has from Him been communicated, and is being communicated in such measure as earthly limitations and conditions permit, and that these do point on assuredly to perfect impartation hereafter, when we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.' The Three could walk in the furnace of fire, because there was One with them,' like unto the Son of God.' Who among us shall dwell with the everlasting fire,' the fire of that divine perfection? They who have had introduction by Christ into the grace, and who will be led by Him into the glory.

Now, brethren, it seems to me to be of great importance that this, the loftiest of conceptions of that future life, should be the main aspect under which we think of it. It is well to speak of rest from toil; it is well to speak of all the negations of present unfavourable, afflictive conditions which that future presents to us. And perhaps there is none of the aspects of it which appeals to deeper feelings in ourselves, than those which say there shall be no night there,' there shall be no tears there, neither sorrow nor sighing'; there shall be no toil there.' But we must rise above all that, for our heaven is to live in God, and to be possessors of His glory. Do not let us dwell upon the symbols instead of the realities. Do not let us dwell only on the oppositions and contradictions to earth. Let us rather rise high above symbols, high above negations, to the positive truth, and not contented with saying We shall be full of blessedness; we shall be full of purity; we shall be full of knowledge,' let us rather think of that which embraces them all--we shall be full of God.

So much, then, for the one object of Christian hope. We have here--

II. The Double Source Of That Hope.

Observe that the first clause of my text comes as the last term in a sequence. It began with being justified by faith.' The second round of the ladder was, we have peace with God.' The third, we have access into this grace.' The fourth, we stand,' and then comes, we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.' That is to say, to put it into general words, and, of course, presupposing the revelation in Jesus Christ as the basis of all, without which there is no assured hope of a future beyond the grave, then the facts of a Christian man's life are for him the best brighteners of the hope beyond. Of course, that is so. Justified by faith'--peace with God '--access into grace'; what, in the name of common-sense, can death do with these things? How can its blunted sword cut the bond that unites a soul that has had such experiences as these with the source of them all? Nothing can be more grotesque, nothing more incongruous, than to think that that subordinate and accidental fact, whose region is the physical, has anything whatever to do with this higher region of consciousness.

And, further than that, it is absolutely unthinkable to a man in the possession of these spiritual gifts, that they should ever come to a close; and the fact that in the precise degree in which we realise as our very own possession, here and now, these Christian emotions and blessings, we instinctively rise to the belief that they are not for an age, but for all time,' and not for all time, but for eternity, is itself, if not a proof, yet a very strong presumption, if you believe in God, that a man who thus feels he was not made to die' because he has grasped the Eternal, is right in so feeling. If, too, we look at the experiences themselves, they all have the stamp of incompleteness, and suggest completeness by their own incompleteness. The new moon with its ragged edge not more surely prophesies its completed silver round, than do the experiences of the Christian life here, in their greatness and in their smallness, declare that there come a time and an order of things in which what was thwarted tendency shall be accomplished result. The tender green spikelet, pushing up through the brown clods, does not more surely prophesy the waving yellow ear, nor the broad highway on which a man comes in the wilderness more surely declare that there is a village at the end of it, than do the facts of the Christian life, here and now, attest the validity of the hope of the glory of God.

And so, brethren, if you wish to brighten that great light that fills the future, see to it that your present Christianity is fuller of peace with God,' access into grace,' and the firm, erect standing which flows from these. When the springs in the mountains dry up, the river in the valley shrinks; and when they are full, it glides along level with the top of its banks. So when our Christian life in the present is richest, our Christian hope of the future will be the brighter. Look into yourselves. Is there anything there that witnesses to that great future; anything there that is obviously incipient, and destined to greater power; anything there which is like a tropical plant up here in 45 degrees of north latitude, managing to grow, but with dwarfed leaves and scanty flowers and half shrivelled and sourish fruit, and that in the cold dreams of the warm native land? Reflecting telescopes show the stars in a mirror, and the observer looks down to see the heavens. Look into yourselves, and see whether, on the polished plate within, there are any images of the stars that move around the Throne of God.

But let us turn for a moment to the second source to which the Apostle traces the Christian hope here. I must not be tempted to more than just a word of explanation, but perhaps you will tolerate that. Paul says that trouble works patience, that is to say, not only passive endurance, but brave persistence in a course, in spite of antagonisms. That is what trouble does to a man when it is rightly borne. Of course the Apostle is speaking here of its ideal operation, and not of the reality which alas! often is seen when our tribulations lash us into impatience, or paralyse our efforts. Tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience.' That is a difficult word to put into English. There underlies it the frequent thought which is familiar in Scripture, of trouble of all kinds as testing a man, whether as the refiner's fire or the winnower's fan. It tests a man, and if he bears the trouble with patient persistence, then he has passed the test and is approved. Patient perseverance thus works approval, or proof of the man's Christianity, and, still more, proof of the reality and power of the Christ whom his Christianity grasps. And so from out of that approval or proof which comes, through perseverance, from tribulation, there rises, of course, in that heart that has been tested and has stood, a calm hope that the future will be as the past, and that, having fought through six troubles, by God's help the seventh will be vanquished also, till at last troubles will end, and heaven be won.

Brethren, there is the true point of view from which to look, not only at tribulations, but at all the trials, for they too bring trials, that lie in duty and in enjoyment, and in earthly things. They are meant to work in us a conviction, by our experience of having been able to meet them aright, of the reality of our grasp of God, and of the reality and power of the God whom we grasp. If we took that point of view in regard to all the changes of this changeful life, we should not so often be bewildered and upset by the darkest of our sorrows. The shining lancets and cruel cutting instruments that the surgeon lays out on his table before he begins the operation are very dreadful. But the way to think of them is that they are there in order to remove from a man what it does him harm to keep, and what, if it is not taken away, will kill him. So life, with its troubles, great and small, is all meant for this, to make us surer of, and bring us closer to, our God, and to brace and strengthen us in our own personal character. And if it does that, then blessed be everything that produces these results, and leads us thereby to glorying in the troubles by which shines out on us a brighter hope.

So there are the two sources, you see: the one is the blessedness of the Christian life, the other the sorrows of the outward life, and both may converge upon the brightening of our Christian hope. Our rainbow is the child of the marriage of the sun and the rain. The Christian hope comes from being justified by faith, having peace with God and access into grace,' and it comes from tribulation, which worketh patience,' and patience which worketh approval.' The one spark is struck from the hard flint by the cold steel, and the other is kindled by the sun itself, but they are both fire.

And so, lastly, we have here--

III. The One Emotion With Which The Christian Should Front All The Facts, Inward And Outward, Of His Earthly Life.

We glory in the hope,' we glory in tribulation.' I need not dwell upon the lesson which is taught us here by the fact that the Apostle puts as one in a series of Christian characteristics this of a steadfast and all-embracing joy. I do not believe that we Christian people half enough realise how imperative a Christian duty, as well as how great a Christian privilege, it is to be glad always. You have no right to be anxious; you are wrong to be hypochondriac and depressed, and weary and melancholy. True; there are a great many occasions in our Christian life which minister sadness. True; the Christian joy looks very gloomy to a worldly eye. But there are far more occasions which, if we were right, would make joy instinctive, and which, whether we are right or not, make it obligatory upon us. I need not speak of how, if that hope were brighter than it commonly is with us, and if it were more constantly present to our minds and hearts, we should sing with gladness. I need not dwell upon that great and wonderful paradox by which the co-existence of sorrow and of joy is possible. The sorrows are on the surface; beneath there may be rest. All the winds of heaven may rave across the breast of ocean, and fret it into clouds of spume against a storm-swept sky. But deep down there is stillness, and yet not stagnation, because there is the great motion that brings life and freshness; and so, though there will be wind-vexed surfaces on our too-often agitated spirits, there ought to be deeper than these the calm setting of the whole ocean of our nature towards God Himself. It is possible, as this Apostle has it, to be sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.' It is possible, as his brother Apostle has it, to rejoice greatly, though now for a season we are in sorrow through manifold temptations.' Look back upon your lives from the point of view that your tribulation is an instrument to produce hope, and you will be able to thank God for all the way by which He has led you.

Now, brethren, the plain lesson of all this is just that we have here, in these texts, a linked chain, one end of which is wrapped around our sinful hearts, and the other is fastened to the Throne of God. You cannot drop any of the links, and you must begin at the beginning, if you are to be carried on to the end. If we are to have a joy immovable, we must have a steadfast hope.' If we are to have a steadfast hope,' we must have a present grace.' If we are to have a present grace,' and access' to the fullness of God, we must have peace with God.' If we are to have peace with God,' we must have the condemnation and the guilt taken away. If we are to have the condemnation and the guilt taken away, Jesus Christ must take them. If Jesus Christ is to take them away, we must have faith in Him. Then you can work it backward, and begin at your own end, and say, If I have faith in Jesus Christ, then every link of the chain in due succession will pass through my hand, and I shall have justifying, peace, access, the grace, erectness, hope, and exultation, and at last He will lead me by the hand into the glory for which I dare to hope, the glory which the Father gave to Him before the foundation of the world, and which He will give to me when the world has passed away in fervent heat.'

MHCC: Rom 5:1-5

A blessed change takes place in the sinner's state, when he becomes a true believer, whatever he has been. Being justified by faith he has peace with God. The holy, righteous God, cannot be at peace with a sinner, while under the guilt of sin. Justification takes away the guilt, and so makes way for peace. This is through our Lord Jesus Christ; through him as the great Peace-maker, the Mediator between God and man. The saints' happy state is a state of grace. Into this grace we are brought, which teaches that we were not born in this state. We could not have got into it of ourselves, but we are led into it, as pardoned offenders. Therein we stand, a posture that denotes perseverance; we stand firm and safe, upheld by the power of God. And those who have hope for the glory of God hereafter, have enough to rejoice in now. Tribulation worketh patience, not in and of itself, but the powerful grace of God working in and with the tribulation. Patient sufferers have most of the Divine consolations, which abound as afflictions abound. It works needful experience of ourselves. This hope will not disappoint, because it is sealed with the Holy Spirit as a Spirit of love. It is the gracious work of the blessed Spirit to shed abroad the love of God in the hearts of all the saints. A right sense of God's love to us, will make us not ashamed, either of our hope, or of our sufferings for him.

Matthew Henry: Rom 5:1-5

The precious benefits and privileges which flow from justification are such as should quicken us all to give diligence to make it sure to ourselves that we are justified, and then to take the comfort it renders to us, and to do the duty it calls for from us. The fruits of this tree of life are exceedingly precious.

I. We have peace with God, Rom 5:1. It is sin that breeds the quarrel between us and God, creates not only a strangeness, but an enmity; the holy righteous God cannot in honour be at peace with a sinner while he continues under the guilt of sin. Justification takes away the guilt, and so makes way for peace. And such are the benignity and good-will of God to man that, immediately upon the removing of that obstacle, the peace is made. By faith we lay hold of God's arm and of his strength, and so are at peace, Isa 27:4, Isa 27:5. There is more in this peace than barely a cessation of enmity, there is friendship and loving-kindness, for God is either the worst enemy or the best friend. Abraham, being justified by faith, was called the friend of God (Jam 2:23), which was his honour, but not his peculiar honour: Christ has called his disciples friends, Joh 15:13-15. And surely a man needs no more to make him happy than to have God his friend! But this is through our Lord Jesus Christ - through him as the great peace-maker, the Mediator between God and man, that blessed Day's-man that has laid his hand upon us both. Adam, in innocency, had peace with God immediately; there needed no such mediator. But to guilty sinful man it is a very dreadful thing to think of God out of Christ; for he is our peace, Eph 2:14, not only the maker, but the matter and maintainer, of our peace, Col 1:20.

II. We have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, Rom 5:2. This is a further privilege, not only peace, but grace, that is, this favour. Observe, 1. The saints' happy state. It is a state of grace, God's loving-kindness to us and our conformity to God; he that hath God's love and God's likeness is in a state of grace. Now into this grace we have access prosagōgēn - an introduction, which implies that we were not born in this state; we are by nature children of wrath, and the carnal mind is enmity against God; but we are brought into it. We could not have got into it of ourselves, nor have conquered the difficulties in the way, but we have a manuduction, a leading by the hand, - are led into it as blind, or lame, or weak people are led, - are introduced as pardoned offenders, - are introduced by some favourite at court to kiss the king's hand, as strangers, that are to have audience, are conducted. Prosagōgēn eschēkamen - We have had access. He speaks of those that have been already brought out of a state of nature into a state of grace. Paul, in his conversion, had this access; then he was made nigh. Barnabas introduced him to the apostles (Act 9:27), and there were others that led him by the hand to Damascus (Rom 5:8), but it was Christ that introduced and led him by the hand into this grace. By whom we have access by faith. By Christ as the author and principal agent, by faith as the means of this access. Not by Christ in consideration of any merit or desert of ours, but in consideration of our believing dependence upon him and resignation of ourselves to him. 2. Their happy standing in this state: wherein we stand. Not only wherein we are, but wherein we stand, a posture that denotes our discharge from guilt; we stand in the judgment (Psa 1:5), not cast, as convicted criminals, but our dignity and honour secured, not thrown to the ground, as abjects. The phrase denotes also our progress; while we stand, we are going. We must not lie down, as if we had already attained, but stand as those that are pressing forward, stand as servants attending on Christ our master. The phrase denotes, further, our perseverance: we stand firmly and safely, upheld by the power of God; stand as soldiers stand, that keep their ground, not borne down by the power of the enemy. It denotes not only our admission to, but our confirmation in, the favour of God. It is not in the court of heaven as in earthly courts, where high places are slippery places: but we stand in a humble confidence of this very thing that he who has begun the good work will perform it, Phi 1:6.

III. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Besides the happiness in hand, there is a happiness in hope, the glory of God, the glory which God will put upon the saints in heaven, glory which will consist in the vision and fruition of God. 1. Those, and those only, that have access by faith into the grace of God now may hope for the glory of God hereafter. There is no good hope of glory but what is founded in grace; grace is glory begun, the earnest and assurance of glory. He will give grace and glory, Psa 84:11. 2. Those who hope for the glory of God hereafter have enough to rejoice in now. It is the duty of those that hope for heaven to rejoice in that hope.

IV. We glory in tribulations also; not only notwithstanding our tribulations (these do not hinder our rejoicing in hope of the glory of God), but even in our tribulations, as they are working for us the weight of glory, 2Co 4:17. Observe, What a growing increasing happiness the happiness of the saints is: Not only so. One would think such peace, such grace, such glory, and such a joy in hope of it, were more than such poor undeserving creatures as we are could pretend to; and yet it is not only so: there are more instances of our happiness - we glory in tribulations also, especially tribulations for righteousness' sake, which seemed the greatest objection against the saints' happiness, whereas really their happiness did not only consist with, but take rise fRom. those tribulations. They rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer, Act 5:41. This being the hardest point, he sets himself to show the grounds and reasons of it. How come we to glory in tribulations? Why, because tribulations, by a chain of causes, greatly befriend hope, which he shows in the method of its influence. 1. Tribulation worketh patience, not in and of itself, but the powerful grace of God working in and with the tribulation. It proves, and by proving improves, patience, as parts and gifts increase by exercise. It is not the efficient cause, but yields the occasion, as steel is hardened by the fire. See how God brings meat out of the eater, and sweetness out of the strong. That which worketh patience is matter of joy; for patience does us more good than tribulations can do us hurt. Tribulation in itself worketh impatience; but, as it is sanctified to the saints, it worketh patience. 2. Patience experience, Rom 5:4. It works an experience of God, and the songs he gives in the night; the patient sufferers have the greatest experience of the divine consolations, which abound as afflictions abound. It works an experience of ourselves. It is by tribulation that we make an experiment of our own sincerity, and therefore such tribulations are called trials. It works, dokimēn - an approbation, as he is approved that has passed the test. Thus Job's tribulation wrought patience, and that patience produced an approbation, that still he holds fast his integrity, Job 2:3. 3. Experience hope. He who, being thus tried, comes forth as gold, will thereby be encouraged to hope. This experiment, or approbation, is not so much the ground, as the evidence, of our hope, and a special friend to it. Experience of God is a prop to our hope; he that hath delivered doth and will. Experience of ourselves helps to evidence our sincerity. 4. This hope maketh not ashamed; that is, it is a hope that will not deceive us. Nothing confounds more than disappointment. Everlasting shame and confusion will be caused by the perishing of the expectation of the wicked, but the hope of the righteous shall be gladness, Pro 10:28. See Psa 22:5; Psa 71:1. Or, It maketh not ashamed of our sufferings. Though we are counted as the offscouring of all things, and trodden under foot as the mire in the streets, yet, having hopes of glory, we are not ashamed of these sufferings. It is in a good cause, for a good Master, and in good hope; and therefore we are not ashamed. We will never think ourselves disparaged by sufferings that are likely to end so well. Because the love of God is shed abroad. This hope will not disappoint us, because it is sealed with the Holy Spirit as a Spirit of love. It is the gracious work of the blessed Spirit to shed abroad the love of God in the hearts of all the saints. The love of God, that is, the sense of God's love to us, drawing out love in us to him again. Or, The great effects of his love: (1.) Special grace; and, (2.) The pleasant gust or sense of it. It is shed abroad, as sweet ointment, perfuming the soul, as rain watering it and making it fruitful. The ground of all our comfort and holiness, and perseverance in both, is laid in the shedding abroad of the love of God in our hearts; it is this which constrains us, 2Co 5:14. Thus are we drawn and held by the bonds of love. Sense of God's love to us will make us not ashamed, either of our hope in him or our sufferings for him.

Barclay: Rom 5:1-5

Here is one of Paul's great lyrical passages in which he almost sings the intimate joy of his confidence in God. Trusting faith has done what the labour to produce the works of the law could never do; it has given a man peace with God. Before Jesus came, no man could ever be really close to God.

Some, indeed, have seen him, not as the supreme good, but as the supreme evil. Swinburne wrote:

"His hidden face and iron feet,

Hath not man known and felt them in their way

Threaten and trample all things every day?

Hath he not sent us hunger? Who hath cursed

Spirit and flesh with longing? Filled with thirst

Their lips that cried to him?"

Some have seen him as the complete stranger, the utterly untouchable. In one of H. G. Wells' books there is the story of a man of affairs whose mind was so tensed and strained that he was in serious danger of a complete nervous and mental breakdown. His doctor told him that the only thing that could save him was to find the peace that fellowship with God can give. "What!" he said, "to think of that, up there, having fellowship with me! I would as soon think of cooling my throat with the milky way or shaking hands with the stars!" God, to him, was the completely unfindable. Rosita Forbes, the traveller, tells of finding shelter one night in a Chinese village temple because there was nowhere else to sleep. In the night she woke and the moonlight was slanting in through the window on to the faces of the images of the gods, and on every face there was a snarl and a sneer, as of those who hated men.

It is only when we realize that God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that there comes into life that intimacy with him, that new relationship, which Paul calls justification.

Through Jesus, says Paul, we have an introduction to this grace in which we stand. The word he uses for introduction is prosagoge, (4318). It is a word with two great pictures in it.

(i) It is the regular word for introducing or ushering someone into the presence of royalty; and it is the regular word for the approach of the worshipper to God. It is as if Paul was saying, "Jesus ushers us into the very presence of God. He opens the door for us to the presence of the King of Kings; and when that door is opened what we find is grace; not condemnation, not judgment, not vengeance, but the sheer, undeserved, incredible kindness of God."

(ii) But prosagoge (4318) has another picture in it. In late Greek it is the word for the place where ships come in, a harbour or a haven. If we take it that way, it means that so long as we tried to depend on our own efforts we were tempest-tossed, like mariners striving with a sea which threatened to overwhelm them completely, but now that we have heard the word of Christ, we have reached at last the haven of God's grace, and we know the calm of depending, not on what we can do for ourselves, but on what God has done for us.

Because of Jesus we have entry to the presence of the King of Kings and entry to the haven of God's grace.

No sooner has Paul said this than the other side of the matter strikes him. All this is true, and it is glory; but the fact remains that in this life the Christians are up against it. It is hard to be a Christian in Rome. Remembering that, Paul produces a great climax. "Trouble," he said, "produces fortitude." The word he uses for trouble is thlipis (2347), which literally means pressure. All kinds of things may press in upon the Christian--want and straitened circumstances, sorrow, persecution, unpopularity and loneliness. All that pressure, says Paul, produces fortitude. The word he uses for fortitude is hupomone (5281) which means more than endurance. It means the spirit which can overcome the world; it means the spirit which does not passively endure but which actively overcomes the trials and tribulations of life.

When Beethoven was threatened with deafness, that most terrible of troubles for a musician, he said: "I will take life by the throat." That is hupomone (5281). When Scott was involved in ruin because of the bankruptcy of his publishers, he said: "No man will say 'Poor fellow!' to me; my own right hand will pay the debt." That is hupomone (5281). Someone once said to a gallant soul who was undergoing a great sorrow: "Sorrow fairly colours life, doesn't it?" Back came the reply: "Yes! And I propose to choose the colour!" That is hupomone (5281). When Henley was lying in Edinburgh Infirmary with one leg amputated, and the prospect that the other must follow, he wrote Invictus.

"Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul."

That is hupomone (5281). Hupomone is not the spirit which lies down and lets the floods go over it; it is the spirit which meets things breastforward and overcomes them.

"Fortitude," Paul goes on, "produces character." The word he uses for character is dokime (1382). Dokime (1382) is used of metal which has been passed through the fire so that everything base has been purged out of it. It is used of coinage as we use the word sterling. When affliction is met with fortitude, out of the battle a man emerges stronger, and purer, and better, and nearer God.

"Character," Paul goes on, "produces hope." Two men can meet the same situation. It can drive one of them to despair, and it can spur the other to triumphant action. To the one it can be the end of hope, to the other it can be a challenge to greatness. "I do not like crises," said Lord Reith, "but I do like the opportunities they provide." The difference corresponds to the difference between the men. If a man has let himself become weak and flabby, if he has allowed circumstances to beat him, if he has allowed himself to whine and grovel under affliction, he has made himself such that when the challenge of the crisis comes he cannot do other than despair. If, on the other hand, a man has insisted on meeting life with head up, if he has always faced and, by facing, conquered things, then when the challenge comes, he meets it with eyes aflame with hope. The character which has endured the test always emerges in hope.

Then Paul makes one last great statement: "The Christian hope never proves an illusion for it is founded on the love of God." Omar Khayyam wrote wistfully of human hopes:

"The Worldly Hope men set their hearts upon

Turns Ashes--or it prospers; and anon,

Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face

Lighting a little Hour or two--is gone."

When a man's hope is in God, it cannot turn to dust and ashes. When a man's hope is in God, it cannot be disappointed. When a man's hope is in the love of God, it can never be an illusion, for God loves us with an everlasting love backed by an everlasting power.

Constable: Rom 3:21--6:1

III. THE IMPUTATION OF GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS 3:21--5:21

In beginning the next section of his argument Paul returned to the major subject of this epistle, the righteousness of God (v. 21; cf. 1:17). He also repeated the need for faith (v. 22; cf. 1:16) and summarized his point that everyone is guilty before God (v. 22; cf. 1:18-3:20). This brief recapitulation introduces his explanation of the salvation that God provides for guilty sinners that follows.

"The first main division of the epistle forms a powerful negative argument for the second, and was evidently so intended. Since man is a sinner with no help in himself and none in the law, what is left to him but to look to the mercy of God? . . . In a court of justice it is only after every defense has failed and the law itself has been shown to be broken, it is only at this point that the appeal is made to the judge for his clemency. The epistle has brought us to such a point."⁹¹

Constable: Rom 5:1-11

D The benefits of justification 5:1-11

Paul's original readers would have had another question because of what he had written in chapters 1-4. Is this method of justification safe? Since it is by faith, it seems quite unsure. Paul next gave evidence that this method is reliable by explaining the results of justification by faith.¹⁴⁵

"In the first eleven verses we have the blessed results of justification by faith, along with the most comprehensive statement in the Bible of the pure love and grace of God, in giving Christ for us sinners."¹⁴⁶

5:1 "Therefore" signals that what follows rests on what has preceded. Paul now put the question of whether justification is by faith or by works behind him. He had proved that it comes to us by faith.

"We must note at once that the Greek form of this verb declared righteous,' or justified,' is not the present participle, being declared righteous,' but rather the aorist participle, having been declared righteous,' or justified.' You say, What is the difference? The answer is, being declared righteous' looks to a state you are in; having been declared righteous' looks back to a fact that happened. Being in a justified state' of course is incorrect, confusing, as it does, justification and sanctification."¹⁴⁷

The first of the blessings "that came spilling out of the cornucopia of justification"¹⁴⁸ is peace (cf. 1:7; 2:10). However this is peace with God (i.e., reconciliation), not just a subjective feeling of tranquillity that is the peace of God (Phil. 4:7). Paul had been speaking of God's wrath being poured out on sinners (1:18). Those who stand justified need not fear God's wrath since Jesus Christ has made peace between them and God by His death (cf. Col. 1:20; Eph. 2:14). Note that references to peace and reconcilation frame this pericope (vv. 1, 11).

"Our peace with God is not as between two nations before at war; but as between a king and rebellious and guilty subjects."¹⁴⁹

"It is well known that Romans lacks any extended christological discussion per se, but Paul's repeated insistence in these chapters [5--8] that all the believer experiences of God's blessings comes only through Christ develops a very significant christological focus in its own right. Christology, we might say, is not the topic of any part of Rom. 5-8, but it is the basis for everything in these chapters."¹⁵⁰

5:2 The second benefit is access (Gr. prosagoge). The idea here is that Jesus Christ enables us to enjoy continuing relationship with God (cf. Eph. 2:17-18; 3:12). Paul spoke of "this grace in which we stand" as the realm into which Christ's redeeming work transfers us. He stressed the fact that our being in this state is an act of God's grace. Our present position in relation to God is all grace, and our justification admits us to that position.

The last part of the verse focuses on that part of our reconciliation that we can look forward to with joyful confidence. Paul had in view the glory that we will experience when we stand in the Lord's presence.

5:3-4 The third benefit of justification is joy in sufferings. Peace with God does not always result in peace with other people. Nevertheless the fact that we have peace with God and a relationship with Him with hope of standing before Him acceptable enables us to view present difficulties with joy. We can rejoice in tribulations because God has revealed that He uses them to produce steadfast endurance and proven character in those who relate to their sufferings properly (cf. Job 23:10; James 1; Heb. 12).

"Our English word tribulation' comes from a Latin word tribulum. In Paul's day, a tribulum was a heavy piece of timber with spikes in it, used for threshing the grain. The tribulum was drawn over the grain and it separated the wheat from the chaff."¹⁵¹

"The newborn child of God is precious in His sight, but the tested and proven saint means even more to Him because such a one is a living demonstration of the character-developing power of the gospel. When we stand in the presence of God, all material possessions will have been left behind, but all that we have gained by way of spiritual advance will be retained."¹⁵²

This quotation helps us see how character produces hope. Hope of glorifying God with our characters when we see Him is in view. Our progress in character development will then testify to God's grace in our lives.

5:5 This hope, the focal point of this pericope, will not suffer disappointment because God loves us and enables us to withstand tribulations. He does this by His Holy Spirit whom He has given to indwell every justified sinner living during and after the time Paul wrote (cf. Acts 2:33; Rom. 8:9). Paul developed the Holy Spirit's ministry to the believer later (ch. 8). The fourth benefit of justification therefore is the indwelling Holy Spirit. Note the progression in these verses from faith (v. 1) to hope (vv. 2-5) to love (v. 5; cf. 1 Cor. 13:13).

"The confidence we have for the day of judgment is not based only on our intellectual recognition of the fact of God's love, or even only on the demonstration of God's love on the cross (although that is important; cf. vv. 6-8), but also on the inner, subjective certainty that God does love us."¹⁵³

5:6 The depth of God's love (v. 5) becomes clearer in this verse and those that follow (vv. 6-10). Four terms that are increasingly uncomplimentary describe those for whom Christ died. The first is "helpless" or "powerless." The idea expressed by the Greek word (asthenon) is that we were "incapable of working out any righteousness for ourselves."¹⁵⁴ At that very time Christ died for us.

"At the right time" refers to the fullness of time, the right time from God's perspective (cf. 3:26; 8:18; 13:11; Gal. 4:4). The second term is "ungodly," a strong pejorative term in Paul (cf. 1:18; 4:5). Even though some people who are lost seek the things of God, everyone neglects God and rebels against God. This is ungodliness.

5:7 This verse prepares for the next one that contrasts with it. Paul used "righteous" here in the general sense of an upright person, not in the theological sense of a person made right with God. People appreciate a good person more than an upright person. Goodness carries the idea of one who is not only upright but loved for it because he or she reaches out to help others.¹⁵⁵

5:8 The third term used to describe those for whom Christ died is "sinners" ("wicked"; cf. 3:23), neither righteous nor good. Paul here was contrasting the worth of the life laid down, Jesus Christ's, and the unworthiness of those who benefit from His sacrifice. Whereas people may look at one another as meriting love because they are righteous or good, God views them as sinners. Nevertheless God loves them. His provision of His own Son as our Savior demonstrated the depth of His love (John 3:16).

The preposition in the clause "Christ died for (huper) sin" stresses the substitute character of His sacrifice. It also highlights the fact that God in His love for us provided that sacrifice for our welfare.

5:9 So far Paul had referred to four benefits of justification. These blessings were peace with God (v. 1), access into a gracious realm (v. 2), joy in tribulations (vv. 3-5a), and the indwelling Holy Spirit (v. 5b). Still there is "much more" (cf. vv. 10, 15, 17, 20). What Paul next described are benefits that justified sinners will experience in the future. The first of these is deliverance from the outpouring of God's wrath on the unrighteous (cf. 1:18). Jesus Christ's blood is the symbol of His death and the literal expression of His life poured out as a sacrifice (cf. 3:25). Having done the harder thing, namely justifying us when we were yet sinners (v. 8), how much more will He do the easier thing, namely delivering us from coming wrath.

5:10 The fourth and worst term used to describe those for whom Christ died is "enemies." People are not only helpless to save themselves (v. 6), neglectful of God (v. 6), and wicked (v. 8), but they also set themselves against God and His purposes. Even though many unsaved people profess to love God, God who knows their hearts sees opposition to Himself in them. Their antagonism toward Him is the proof of it.

Jesus Christ's death reconciled us to God (cf. 2 Cor. 5:18). The Scriptures always speak of man as reconciled to God. They never speak of God as reconciled to man.¹⁵⁶ Man has offended and departed from God and needs reconciliation into relationship with Him. It is man who has turned from God, not God who has turned from man.¹⁵⁷ There are two aspects of reconciliation: one for all mankind (2 Cor. 5:19), and another for the believer (2 Cor. 5:20). Jesus Christ's death put mankind in a savable condition, but people still need to experience full reconciliation with God by believing in His Son.

Jesus Christ's death is responsible for our justification. His continuing life is responsible for our progressive sanctification and our glorification. Having done the harder thing for us, delivering Christ to death to reconcile us to Himself, God will certainly do the easier thing. He will see that we share Christ's risen life forever.

We experience continuing salvation (sanctification) and ultimate salvation (glorification) because of Jesus Christ's ongoing life. These present and future aspects of our salvation were not the direct results of His death, but they are the consequences of His life after death and resurrection (cf. 6:8-13). We have salvation in the present and in the future because our Savior lives. He is still saving us. This verse shows that we are eternally secure.

5:11 Jesus Christ's death reconciled us to God with the effect that one day in the future we will stand before Him complete (cf. vv. 5-10). However we also enter into the benefits of that reconciliation now (cf. vv. 1-4). "This" probably refers to our future salvation, the closest antecedent.

In this section we have observed the following benefits of justification by faith.

1. Peace with God (v. 1)

2. Access into the grace of God (v. 2)

3. Joy in tribulation (vv. 3-5a)

4. The indwelling Holy Spirit (v. 5b)

5. Deliverance from future condemnation (v. 9)

6. Present continuing salvation (v. 10)

7. Union with God (v. 11)

This section of the argument of the book should help any reader realize that justification by faith is a safe method. It is the doorway to manifold blessings that obedience to the Law could never guarantee.

"Totally apart from Law, and purely by grace, we have a salvation that takes care of the past, the present, and the future. Christ died for us; Christ lives for us; Christ is coming for us! Hallelujah, what a Savior!"¹⁵⁸

College: Rom 5:1-21

III. 5:1-21 - GRACE AND ASSURANCE

How does Romans 5 relate to the overall development of Paul's argument in this epistle? In my opinion it should be regarded as the conclusion of the discussion that began at 3:21. The main subject continues to be the presentation of grace as the only effective way of salvation. In 3:21-31 Paul explains the essence of grace as the free gift of God's righteousness to sinners, a righteousness established by the propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus Christ and received by faith apart from works of law. In ch. 4 he shows that being counted righteous (i.e., being justified) by faith has always been God's way of saving sinners, citing especially the example of Abraham. Now in ch. 5 the Apostle sets forth one of the most important immediate results of justification by faith, namely, assurance of salvation.

In one way or another almost all commentators describe ch. 5 this way. They use a variety of terms but say the same thing, i.e., that this chapter presents the results, fruits, benefits, blessings, effects, or consequences of justification by faith. Though these benefits may be enumerated in various ways (e.g., peace, hope, joy), they all may be summed up in one word: assurance .

A. ASSURANCE OF PERSONAL SALVATION (5:1-11)

The first half of Romans 5 shows how justification by faith yields a genuine sense of assurance of personal salvation, a conviction of being at peace with God and accepted by God. The main point of the passage is "the certainty of Christian hope" (Moo, I:317), or the "certainty of salvation" (Erdman, 61). Its theme is that "those who have been justified by God have peace with God" (Cranfield, I:257-258). "Such peace with God, such access to a loving Father, such unclouded hope of glory, are the sure and inevitable blessings of all who are justified by faith" (Erdman, 64). This is what these verses teach.

A sense of personal assurance is the privilege of every Christian, and we cannot overemphasize the blessedness of it. Unfortunately, many Christians do not have this sense of assurance, mainly because they do not understand its proper basis. What is that proper basis? It is the knowledge that we are justified by our faith in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. That is the point of 5:1-11.

1. Justification by Faith Is the Key to Assurance (5:1-2)

5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ . . . . "Therefore" introduces the practical conclusion to be drawn from the presentation of grace in 3:21-4:25. "Since we have been justified through faith" sums up the main point of that passage and states the heart of grace. The verb is aorist (past) tense, indicating that justification is an event that has already occurred in the experience of Paul's Christian readers. This past act, however, produces a continuing state of being justified, so that the Christian is a justified person, a forgiven person. "Through faith" indicates the means by which we first became justified, and also the means by which we remain justified.

The main point here is the cause-and-effect relationship between justification and peace: because we have been justified, "we have peace with God." This refers to an objective state of peace, a cessation of hostilities and an end of enmity between God and the sinner. The relation between God and unbelievers is a kind of warfare; each is the enemy of the other. The unbeliever fights against God in rebellion, lawlessness, and fear; God's righteous holiness is turned against the sinner in wrath and hatred (Ps 5:5-6). But God's righteous love initiates a process of reconciliation (5:10-11), leading to this state of peace in which we are no longer God's enemies but are his friends. The key element in this process of reconciliation, of course, is "the death of his Son" (5:10); thus Paul says our peace with God comes "through our Lord Jesus Christ."

This peace is an objective state, not a subjective feeling; but we may rightly infer that peace as a subjective state of mind is the natural consequence of being at peace with God and knowing it.

This latter point - knowing it - is crucial for attaining subjective peace. The fact is that Christians truly are justified and truly are at peace with God; but often because of confusion concerning how faith, works, and justification are related, they do not understand their own status before God and do not have true inner peace. This is why it is so important to understand what Paul is teaching about law and grace in Romans 1-4. Only when we understand that we are justified by faith apart from works of law (3:28) can we have this inner peace, which is a basic element of assurance of salvation.

Beginning with the state of enmity, the following sequence of events thus takes place: God's love sent Jesus to die in our place, removing God's own enmity toward us. We accepted God's offer of reconciliation in faith, giving up our enmity toward him. God then bestowed his gift of righteousness upon us, i.e., he justified us. This was the beginning of our objective state of peace with God. Because we understand the meaning of these events, we have a feeling of inner peace. In other words, because we know that we are in a right relationship with God, we have assurance of our salvation. We know that if we were to die now, or if Christ were to come at this moment, we would be saved, because we will meet him as friends and not as enemies.

Verse 1 contains a textual variation for the verb translated "we have." In some ancient manuscripts this verb is indicative, a statement of fact: "we have peace with God" (NIV, NASB, KJV, RSV, NRSV). In other manuscripts it is subjunctive, an exhortation: " let us have peace with God" (see Goodspeed, Moffatt, NEB, Phillips). Though the latter has better textual support, the former makes more sense in the context and is preferred by most commentators, including myself. As Lard says, "Peace is a fact which results from justification, not something which the justified are merely exhorted to have, but may not have" (153).

5:2 Verse 2 continues the thought by speaking of Jesus as the one through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. The work of Jesus is always the cause of our salvation, the meritorious ground or basis which makes it possible. "By faith" is simply the means by which we personally receive the gift of grace made available through his work.

Because of the demonstrative pronoun, "this grace" must refer specifically to something named in the preceding verse. Paul is most certainly referring to the state of justification (Murray, I:160; Cranfield, I:259), though he may also mean the state of peace with God. Most likely "this grace" includes both, since they are inseparable.

In any case Paul describes "this grace" as a state or sphere that is entered and in which one stands . The idea of entering grace is seen in the phrase "we have gained access." This is not the best translation; the language suggests personal accomplishment ("gained") rather than a free gift. Also, "access" suggests the continuing availability of grace as needed, which is not the idea here (Mounce, 134; Moo, I:308). The word for "access" is better rendered "entry" or "introduction" (NASB); this is consistent with the preposition "into" ( eis ) before "grace" (Lard, 154; Moo, I:308). The idea is that at a certain point of time we entered into the state of grace; we were introduced into it by Jesus Christ.

Paul also says grace is a state "in which we now stand," within which we securely rest. " We stand translates a perfect tense, used in the sense of the present," says Morris (219). The idea seems to be that of a continuing, abiding existence within the state of grace, rather than a sporadic, revolving-door, "now you're in, now you're out" condition. The word "to stand" suggests that our position in grace is firm and secure, rather than tentative and precarious (see Stott, 140). We are standing on a firm foundation, rather than clinging by our fingertips to some weak and tattered cord.

The point is that grace is like a room into which we enter by the door of Jesus Christ, a room which becomes our refuge and in which we continue to dwell. It is the sphere of our Christian existence, "the sphere of God's grace" (NEB) as opposed to the sphere of law.

Verse 2 concludes with these words: And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. This affirmation is parallel to "we have peace with God" in v. 1. "Peace" is our present relationship with God; "hope of glory" (Col 1:27) points to our future heavenly inheritance.

"The glory of God" (see 3:23) in this verse is surely a reference to the final, eschatological revelation of God's majesty and splendor (Lard, 155; Cranfield, I:260). Our hope is not only that we will one day behold his glory (DeWelt, 73), but that in a limited sense we will actually participate in it (Murray, I:162) or partake of it (MacArthur, I:280). The latter will be true in the sense that we will have a glorified body like the glorified human body of Christ (8:29-30; Phil 3:21; 1 John 3:2), and in the sense that we will actually dwell in the beneficent radiance of God's glorious presence (Rev 21:3-4, 23; 22:4-5).

Paul says that we who are justified by faith and have peace with God have hope of this glory. As noted earlier (4:18), in the Bible the Christian's hope is not an uncertain wish or an unfounded longing, but a confident expectation of our future possession of all the elements of salvation not yet received (Cranfield, I:260; Stott, 140). Its object is not simply what we want to happen, but what God has promised will happen (see 2 Tim 1:12). See Newman and Nida, 93.

As such, biblical hope is the heart and core of the Christian's assurance of salvation. As we saw under 5:1, assurance includes first of all the subjective peace of mind that comes from knowing we are at peace with God now that we are justified by faith. We are sure of our present relationship with God. But here we see that our assurance also includes a blessed confidence about the future . We have neither anxiety nor terror as we look ahead to the day of judgment, because we know that the same justifying blood of Christ that brought us into this present relationship with God will continue to cover us and will be our passage into future glory.

No wonder "we rejoice"! The same or similar words are translated "brag" or "boast" in earlier texts (2:17, 23; 3:27; 4:2), but "rejoice" is proper and preferred in this context (as in 5:3, 11). It is a stronger concept than ordinary rejoicing. Murray calls it "exultant rejoicing and confident glorying" (I:161); Cranfield adds "jubiliation" (I:259). This "exceeding great joy" rests upon the hope described above; it is the natural product and companion of assurance.

2. Tribulations of Believers Do Not Nullify Assurance (5:3-5)

In this fallen world everyone suffers the general ravages of sin, sickness, and death; but Christians often suffer even more in the form of persecution from Satan and from the unbelieving world. When this happens we are strongly tempted to doubt our salvation and to question the very love of God. Thoughts like these form in our hearts: "If God really loves me, why does he let these things happen to me? It seems as if God has abandoned me; he must be punishing me for my sin. Maybe there is no God, and heaven is a myth."

This seems to be the kind of potential situation Paul is addressing in these verses. He has stressed the reality of our peace and hope that are based on the knowledge that we are justified by faith in Christ's blood. But he knows that the hope of future glory is sometimes hidden by the dark clouds of present suffering. So he reminds us that within the broad scope of God's sovereignty and love, not even tribulations can nullify our assurance of salvation. In fact, they actually strengthen it.

5:3-4 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings . . . . "Sufferings" (afflictions, hardships) is a strong term and refers to the experiences of life that press down upon us and crush us both physically and mentally. Here they include the kinds of suffering shared by all people (e.g., hunger, war, disease, death), as well as persecutions directed specifically toward Christians. The latter are not just end-time tribulations, but include the constant hostility and ongoing opposition of the unbelieving world.

Here Paul makes the unlikely assertion that we rejoice in such suffering. In v. 2 he says we rejoice in our hope, which makes perfectly good sense. But now he says we also rejoice in the very things that would seem to negate and bedim that hope. In fact, he says that in an indirect way, such sufferings even increase our hope!

This does not mean that we should deliberately seek such suffering, like masochists; nor does it necessarily mean that God is purposefully causing us to suffer, contrary to a popular idea. It is rather a recognition of the fact that, now that suffering is present in the world and is inevitable for Christians, God is able to use it in such a way that it actually adds to our assurance (8:28). Thus the Bible consistently describes the afflictions of Christians as positive experiences that produce joy and blessing. See Matt 5:4, 11-12; Acts 5:41; 2 Cor 4:17; 12:9-10; 2 Thess 1:4-5; Jas 1:2-4; 1 Pet 4:12-14.

Paul does not go into great detail in explaining how tribulations produce hope. He mentions only three steps: because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. First, suffering produces perseverance. This is uJpomonhv (hypomonç ), often translated "patience." It means patient endurance, steadfastness, the ability to bear and to bear up under whatever comes along. The assumption is that the Christian is facing his sufferings in faith, with full confidence that God will work all things for good (8:28) and that he will provide the strength necessary for such perseverance. In other words, sufferings do not in and of themselves automatically produce endurance. Rather, when we enter into such sufferings while holding onto the hand of God, he himself works endurance within us through them and for them.

Second, perseverance works character. This is dokimhv (dokimç ), which belongs to a word group that refers to the process of testing or trying or proving something, and also to the state of having been tested or proved and thus of being approved. Here it means "the quality of provedness which is possessed by faith when it has stood up to testing, like the precious metal which is left when the base metals have been refined away" (Cranfield, I:261). The NASB more appropriately translates it here as "proven character." The idea is that sufferings are like a test which, when endured by the strength which God supplies, results in a quality of life and character that has been tempered and purified and demonstrated to be pleasing to God. (See Zech 13:9.)

Finally, proven character produces hope. This assumes that we as Christians are consciously aware that we have stood up under the trial of our sufferings, and that God has been with us and has not allowed us to be defeated by them. This gives us even more confidence in God, and the sense that nothing, not even the worst tribulations, can separate us from the grace of God and prevent us from entering eternal life. Thus our hope is strengthened and confirmed. As Morris says (221), "The Christian who has been tested has proved God's faithfulness and will surely hope the more confidently."

5:5 Assurance of salvation is ultimately based on the assurance that God really does love us, that he is truly on our side, that he is for us and not against us. The various trials and sufferings of this life can very easily cause us to lose sight of this crucial and basic truth of God's love. Thus here Paul stresses that no matter how severe our present trials may be, our hope is still secure because we know for a fact that God loves us.

And hope does not disappoint us . . . . The word for "disappoint" is more properly translated "does not cause us to be ashamed." The tense is present, but it points also to the future, especially to the end time when our hope will be fulfilled and we will be vindicated for continuing to hope "against all hope" (4:18). We will not be personally disappointed, nor will we have to feel humilation and shame in the face of mocking and ridicule from the enemies of Christ. Our hope is solidly based; it will not let us down now and will not prove vain in the future.

. . . because God has poured out his love into our hearts . . . . Our hope is certain because it is grounded upon the reality of the love of God. The original text is passive; it reads, "the love of God has been poured out." The NIV rightly identifies "the love of God" as "God's love toward us" ("his love") rather than "our love toward God." Only the former fits the context. "Into our hearts" refers to the soul or spirit (as distinct from the body), which includes the "conscious inner life" of the person (Schlatter, 122). Thus Paul is talking about how the love of God becomes present within our inner life and in a sense present to our consciousness. It becomes present within us by being "poured out" into our hearts. The imagery of "pouring out" represents the concept of abundance . God's love comes to us as a brimming and overflowing river (Bartlett, 61), in "immeasurable torrents" (MacArthur, I:283), in "unstinting lavishness" (Cranfield, I:263).

God's love is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. This refers to the gift consisting of the Holy Spirit, who himself was poured out from heaven on Pentecost (Acts 2:17-18, 33) and who is poured out into the heart of each individual believer in the act of baptism (Acts 2:38; Titus 3:5-6). Here "given us" refers to the latter event.

The main question now is, how does the Holy Spirit pour God's love into our hearts? We must pay close attention to the wording. For one thing, Paul specifically says that the love of God itself is poured out, not the consciousness or awareness of it. Thus we must be careful not to limit the outpouring of love to the latter. Also, Paul does not specifically say that the pouring out occurs when the Spirit is given to us; the expression "whom he has given us" is simply a phrase describing the Spirit. Thus the outpouring need not be limited to the time when the Spirit is given. With these cautions in mind, we may identify three ways in which the Holy Spirit pours out God's love into our hearts.

First, as the divine author of Scripture, the Holy Spirit does pour out the knowledge of God's love into our hearts through the biblical testimony to the atoning sacrifice of Christ, which is the greatest possible demonstration of God's love (John 3:16; 15:13; Rom 5:8; 1 John 4:8-10). The fact that God loves us is objectively revealed in the very events of redemption; and the knowledge of this love is objectively recorded for us in the words of Scripture, which were given through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Our subjective knowledge or awareness of this love is thus poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit primarily through his inspired Word. We must be on guard here against unwarranted subjectivism.

Second, the Holy Spirit pours the love of God into our hearts as the agent by which the blessings of redemption are applied to us in the initial moment of our salvation. That God's love is poured out into our hearts somehow means that we now possess it. Exactly what do we possess? Not the love of God as the inner attribute of his nature, nor as the subjective attitude of his heart toward us. Rather, we possess the love of God in the concrete form of the gifts and blessings produced for us by and because of his inner affection toward us. In fact, the Holy Spirit himself is one of the primary gifts of God's love to us; when God pours out the Spirit into us (Titus 3:6), he is in that very event pouring out his love into us. The Holy Spirit in turn lavishly pours out further gifts of God's love, i.e., the renewing and regeneration of the new birth (Titus 3:5; John 3:5) and his ongoing, ever-present sanctifying power (8:13; Eph 3:16). This is why our hope does not disappoint us, because the Holy Spirit as the initial gift of God's love has already been poured out in us and is already present within us as the first-fruits of the fullness of eschatological glory (8:23), and as the earnest or down payment guaranteeing our full and final salvation (Eph 1:13-14). This is Paul's primary point.

Third, the Holy Spirit pours the love of God into our hearts by strengthening our inner conviction of the certainty of God's love for us personally. Most commentators tend to ignore the first two points above and to focus entirely upon this subjective experience. Dunn says Paul is referring here to "deep emotional experiences" common to Christians, especially the "awareness of being loved" (I:265). Moo says it means "the inner, subjective certainty that God does love us," as an "internal, subjective, yes, even emotional sensation" (I:312-313). The Spirit gives us a "fresh awareness" and "the assurance" of God's love (Mounce, 135; Murray, I:165).

Certainly we cannot deny that the Holy Spirit strengthens and sharpens our awareness of and faith in God's love as a part of his sanctifying work in our hearts. But we must be careful not to separate this from the first two points above, as if some purely subjective experience of God's love were the basis for our hope. However important this inward strengthening of the Spirit may be, our hope is not based on this subjective experience as such. The fact is that this subjective experience presupposes and supplements several prior objective realities: the atoning death of Christ, the Spirit's inspiration of Scripture, our hearing and obeying of the gospel, and our reception of the Holy Spirit himself in Christian baptism. All of these things together constitute the outpouring of the love of God into our hearts, and together they assure us that our hope will not make us ashamed.

3. Christ Died for Us While We Were Still Sinners (5:6-8)

The next six verses are an exposition of the point stated above, that assurance of salvation is ultimately based on the assurance that God really loves us. Here Paul explains how we can know for sure that God loves us, and he explains how this knowledge is the way to assurance.

One key element in Paul's argument is the distinction or contrast between what we were before we turned to God for salvation, and what we are now , in the present state of grace. The main point is this: if, while we were God's enemies , he loved us so much that he was willing to die for us, how can we think that he loves us any less now that we are his friends ?

The other key element in the argument is the comparison between the first and second transitions in the process of our salvation. The first one, already accomplished, is the transition from wrath to grace . The second, which is yet to come, is the transition from grace to glory . Which of these transitions is the more difficult, the more radical, the less likely and less expected? The first one, by far. Yet, because of his love and by the power of the cross, God has brought us through this first transition, through faith. The main point now is this: if we have already experienced the first transition, which was infinitely unlikely and even impossible from the standpoint of human expectation, how much more can we confidently expect God to bring us through the second transition as well? We came through the first one by faith apart from works of law; are we now trying to make the second one somehow more difficult than the first?

In this present section (5:6-8) Paul focuses on what we were , prior to the first transition. His point is that no matter how miserable and hopeless our condition was then, God still loved us so much that Christ died for us.

5:6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Manuscripts differ slightly as to the transitional words at the beginning of v. 6. Some have ei[ ge ( ei ge ), "if indeed"; others have e[ti gavr ( eti gar ), "for nevertheless." The latter is preferred; gar provides an explanatory link with vv. 3-5. The love of God has been poured out into our hearts, and we have hope, because we have heard the gospel of the cross.

As Godet says (191), this verse "describes the miserable condition in which we were at the time when divine love was extended to us." First, we were ajsqenhv" (asthençs ), "powerless, weak, helpless, without strength." Here this means not the finiteness of the creature, but the helplessness of the sinner. It refers to that state of "moral sickness" in which we were mired (Godet, 192), "that helpless weakness of sin which so incapacitated us as to render us incapable of goodness" (MP, 332). Also, we were totally helpless to do anything about it; we were unable to save ourselves.

Second, we were ajsebhv" (asebçs ), "wicked, ungodly" (see 1:18; 4:5). This means that we were in a state of opposition to God and his law, and were totally undeserving of his loving forgiveness. It means that we were standing in his wrath, since the wrath of God is against all the wickedness ( asebeia ) of men (1:18).

These adjectives describe the condition of the whole fallen human race, and the plight of each individual in our unsaved state as God viewed us in his foreknowledge from the perspective of eternity past. ("We" refers to all human beings.) Even then he loved us so much that he planned the atonement (Rev 13:8); and "at just the right time" in history (see Gal 4:4), Christ came and died for us. This explains how God is able to justify the wicked (asebçs ), as 4:5 declares. As the saying goes, "Love will find a way."

In the expression "Christ died for the ungodly," the word "for" is uJpevr ( hyper , v. 8 also). It means "for" in the sense of "on behalf of, for the sake of." Though some question this, it can also mean more precisely "in the place of, instead of." In other words, it can have the connotation of substitution; and when used here for the death of Christ it connotes the substitutionary atonement. Harris ("Prepositions," 1196) explains that the word originally meant "over" or "above." Thus the meaning "on behalf of" seems "to have arisen from the image of one person standing or bending over another in order to protect or shield him, or of a shield lifted over the head which suffers the blow instead of the person." It is easy to see how it would also come to mean "in the place of."

5:7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. This verse raises a number of exegetical questions. One is whether the adjectives "righteous" and "good" are meant to be neuter or masculine (in the genitive they have the same form). If the former, Paul is saying it is difficult to find anyone who will die for a just and good cause . If the latter, "a righteous man" and "a good man" are correct. The latter seems the better choice, since the comparison is with Christ dying for people rather than a cause.

Another issue is whether the "righteous man" and the "good man" are basically the same, or whether there is a significant distinction between them. Those who take the latter view usually say the "good man" is somehow better and more likeable than the other, and that Paul is thus presenting a progression of thought: "It's really hard to find anyone who would give his life for a pedantic, holier-than-thou legalist, but you might find some who would die for a nice, generous, neighborly sort of guy."

I agree with Hendriksen, though, that such efforts to distinguish these words in this text amount to "over-interpretation." The distinction, he says, "should not be pressed" (I:172-173). The two clauses are best understood as saying the same thing in different ways. The first says it negatively: scarcely ever will anyone die for a righteous man. The second says it positively: well, maybe - possibly, perhaps - someone could be found who would do this. And if this is such a rarity, it goes without saying that we might as well give up trying to find anyone willing to die for a wicked and unjust person!

But is this not the very point Paul is making? There is indeed someone who was willing to die for the weak and the wicked, namely, Jesus our Lord! Thus the contrast here is not between the righteous man and the good man, but between the (hypothetical) good and righteous man of v. 7, and the weak and ungodly persons of v. 6. The latter are the very ones for whom Christ died! And if it is so difficult to find someone who is willing to die for a good man, then how much more amazing it is that he died for weak and ungodly sinners! In view of this contrast, the love of God is magnified even more, as Paul now states:

5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He died "for" us ( hyper , see v. 6) while we were weak, ungodly sinners. This was our condition in the mind of God when he determined to give his only-begotten Son to be the propitiation for our sins. What more could he do to show us that he really and truly loves us? This actually proves it, says Paul. The word for "demonstrates" has the connotation of proof. That Christ died for our sins, while we were sinners, is proof of his love.

This is why Paul can say that God has "poured out" his love into our hearts (v. 5). Whenever we hear and meditate upon the message of the cross, it floods our consciousness with the awareness of just how much God loved us and still loves us.

This is why we know our hope will not disappoint us. The reality of the cross is set over against whatever sufferings may come upon us. When suffering afflicts us and tempts us to doubt God's love for us and thus challenges our assurance, we must remember the cross. The worst suffering this world can inflict cannot silence the resounding voice crying out from the cross, "God loves you! God loves you!"

4. Our Hope Is Even More Secure

Now That We Are His Friends (5:9-11)

In this paragraph Paul brings into full view the contrast between what we were and what we are, and the relative ease of the remaining transition from grace to glory as compared with the already-accomplished transition from wrath to grace. Actually Paul's point here is that there are three stages in the Christian's spiritual journey, marked by the two transitions. In these verses they are named thus: (1) enemies; (2) justified and reconciled; (3) saved. The point is that if God's love has brought us from the first to the second stage, it will all the more surely bring us from the second to the third.

A more complete chart of these stages and transitions, based on this entire section (5:1-11) follows:

PAST PRESENT FUTURE Powerless (v. 6) Justified (vv. 1, 9) Glory of God (v. 2) Ungodly (6) Peace with God (1) Saved from Sinners (8) Standing in grace (2) wrath (9) Enemies of Rejoicing in hope (2, 11) (Fully) saved (10) God (10) Rejoicing in suffering (3) God's love in our hearts (5) Holy Spirit within us (5) Under Christ's blood (9) Reconciled to God (10, 11) The key words in this paragraph are "much more." We may think of this passage as teaching us the "much more" of Christian assurance. We know that God has already brought us from wrath to grace through the greatest possible demonstration of his love, even though we were his enemies at the time. Therefore, now that we are his friends, we can have much more confidence that his love and Christ's blood will suffice to take us on to glory.

Verses 9 and 10 are parallel in form, both making this same point in different ways. Verse 9 emphasizes justification and thus our changed legal standing before God; verse 10 focuses on reconciliation and thus our changed personal relationship with God (Hendriksen, I:174). Each is an argument from the greater to the lesser, thus: "If God has already done the most difficult thing, reconcile and justify unworthy sinners, how much more can he be depended on to accomplish the 'easier' thing, save from eschatological wrath those who have been brought into such relationship with him" (Moo, I:318). As Godet puts it, "When one has done the most for his enemies , he does not refuse to do the least for his friends" (194).

5:9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! The opening words of this verse in the Greek are "Therefore much more." The word "therefore" shows that Paul is drawing a conclusion from the fact stated in v. 8, which is the "greater" element in his argument, v. 9 being the "lesser." The words "much more" are put here for emphasis.

The word "now" points to the present stage of our spiritual odyssey, as compared both with the past stage ("sinners," v. 8) and the future stage ("saved," v. 9b). Where are we, now ? In 5:2 Paul says we are "standing in grace," which he here says includes being "justified." This is an aorist participle, referring to the past act in which God declared us righteous, resulting in the continuing state of being justified (see 5:1).

"By his blood" refers of course to the blood poured out on Calvary when Christ put himself in our place and suffered the eternal wrath of God for us. It is the efficacious basis for our justification. God counts us as righteous because he accepts Christ's payment of our penalty in our place. We stand in justification because we are now standing under his blood, which is over us as a shield from God's wrath. Standing in grace thus includes standing under the blood. See 3:24-26.

Our future state is described as being saved from God's wrath. Here "saved" is future tense and refers to our final salvation on the day of judgment (see 13:11; 1 Cor 3:15; 5:5). "God's wrath" is the sentence of condemnation at the final judgment and eternal consignment to the lake of fire (Rev 20:14-15). This is the ultimate outpouring of divine wrath (1 Thess 1:10; 5:9; 2 Thess 1:7-9; Rev 6:16-17; 11:18). As Christians justified by Christ's blood, we know that this is not our destiny; "no wrath is reserved for the justified at the judgment seat" (Murray, I:171).

Paul continues to remind us that this is all because of Jesus Christ. We became and remain justified "by his blood," and we shall be saved from wrath "through him!" "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (8:1), i.e., under his blood.

5:10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Here the form of the argument is exactly the same as v. 9, with the focus being on reconciliation rather than justification. The past-present-future theme is clearly stated: enemies, reconciled, saved. That the greater transition gives us assurance of the yet-to-come lesser one is emphasized by the repeated words, "much more."

The transition from being God's enemy to being in a state of reconciliation with him is as radical a transition as can be imagined. The worst possible situation a creature can be in is to be an enemy of God. This relationship of enmity includes, of course, the sinner's hostility toward and hatred of God (8:7; Col 1:21), which must be removed in the process of reconciliation. But it also includes God's hostility toward and hatred of the sinner (11:28), which must also be removed in this process.

It is a myth that God hates the sin but does not hate the sinner also. "You hate all who do wrong," says Ps 5:5. "The Lord detests men of perverse heart" (Prov 11:20). See also Deut 25:16; Ps 11:5; Prov 6:16-19; 16:5; 17:15; Jer 12:8; Mal 1:3; Rom 9:13. In the state of enmity, not only are we against God; he is also against us. "The face of the Lord is against those who do evil" (Ps 34:16; 1 Pet 3:12). "I am against you," are the words God hurls in the faces of sinners (Jer 21:13; 50:31; Ezek 13:8; 21:3; 26:3). This is the whole point of the wrath of God. It is his righteous judicial enmity toward those who are against him (1:18-32).

Paul's point is that, even while we were in this state of mutual hostility, God took the initiative to eliminate the enmity and bring about reconciliation between the warring parties. This means that the infinite and all-conquering love of God co-existed within his nature alongside his own enmity toward us in a kind of tension. But in accordance with his eternal wisdom, his love was able to find a way for him to give full expression to his righteous wrath and enmity, while at the same time offering reconciliation to repentant sinners. This "way" of course was "through the death of his Son," which was a propitiatory sacrifice that allowed God to pour out his wrath upon Jesus instead of upon us. Thus through the death of Jesus God's wrath is satisfied and his own enmity is set aside. This is the first step to reconciliation.

The second step is to confront sinners with the reality of what God has done, and to persuade them to give up their own enmity toward him and allow him to cancel his enmity toward them personally (5:11; 2 Cor 5:20). Only when this takes place does the reconciled state actually begin. At that point the "peace with God" of which 5:1 speaks begins to exist.

Now comes the argument from the greater to the lesser: "If God has done so much for his enemies, what will he not do for his friends?" (Erdman, 63-64). Being his friends, how much more can we now count on him to take us on to the final state of glory! God is no longer against us; he is for us (8:31), imperfect though we are. He surely will not abandon us now.

Again Paul refers to this future stage as "being saved," i.e., receiving the full and final salvation of heaven. "Through his life" refers to Christ's risen and glorified life as he exists at the right hand of the Father in his ongoing intercessory ministry (Mounce, 138). See 4:25; 8:34. This will come to a climax on the day of judgment, when Christ the Judge will himself intercede for us and continue to cover our sins with his blood and usher us into eternal life.

Paul's greater-to-lesser argument for assurance of salvation, based on the much more radical nature of the first transition as compared with the second, may be illustrated thus. The gap or chasm separating our former state (wrath) from our present state (grace) was like the Grand Canyon in its vastness; but the love of God and the cross of Christ were able to bridge that chasm, and we crossed the bridge through faith. Now, the gap separating our present state (grace) from the future one (glory) is like a small drainage ditch by comparison. Surely the same means that brought us across the first gap are more than sufficient to get us across the second one.

The three key factors mentioned by Paul as the means of bridging these gaps are first and most important, the love of God (vv. 5, 8); second, the cross of Christ as the product of that love (vv. 1-2, 6, 8-11); and finally, our faith as that which clings to the cross (vv. 1, 2). We must be especially aware of this third one. We must not think that from the standpoint of our own participation in this process of salvation, God is somehow making it harder for us to cross the second and smaller gap than it was for us to cross the first and greater one. If we made the first transition by faith apart from works, so shall we make the second. We were justified by faith in the beginning, we are justified by faith now, and we shall be justified by faith in the end.

5:11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. "This" refers to "shall be saved" in vv. 9 and 10, namely, our future salvation. Paul is reminding us that our salvation is not just future; it has already begun. We have already received the reconciliation and possess it now as the result of being justified now (5:9).

Thus even now our lives are filled with rejoicing in God . This is the same word used in vv. 2 and 3, where the NIV also translates it "rejoice." In 2:17, where the word probably has the connotation of bragging or boasting in God, Paul reproves the Jews for joyfully boasting in God in reference to his Law, or more specifically in reference to their own prideful use of that Law. Here in 5:11 Paul shows us how to rightfully boast or rejoice in God, namely, in reference to his grace . We are constantly overwhelmed with "jubilant exultation" (Cranfield, I:268) as we think about what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. And why should God's people not rejoice, asks Bruce, when they know that "the end to which they confidently look forward is no longer the outpouring of divine wrath but the unveiling of divine glory" (121)!

Finally we must call attention to the way Paul has exalted Jesus Christ throughout this passage as the one who has made grace and assurance possible. Ten times in these 11 verses the saving role of Jesus is thrust before our consciousness: "through our Lord Jesus Christ . . . through whom . . . Christ died . . . Christ died . . . by his blood . . . through him . . . through the death of his Son . . . through his life . . . through our Lord Jesus Christ . . . through whom." He, and not ourselves - what he has done, not what we have done or are doing - is the source and basis for our assurance of salvation.

B. THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF

THE DEATH OF CHRIST (5:12-21)

This section, which serves as the conclusion to the second main section of Romans (3:21-5:21), has a reputation for difficulty. No passage in the New Testament, says Barclay, "is more difficult for a modern mind to understand" (77). Long ago Lard (162-163) acknowledged these difficulties, but regarded them as "exaggerated." In a real sense Lard is right. There are some genuine exegetical problems here; but once four key questions are answered, the overall meaning of the passage becomes quite clear.

The first question is this: What is the purpose of this passage in relation to the epistle as a whole? This passage is best understood as continuing the theme of assurance that began with 5:1. In 5:1-11 Paul assures us that we can put all our hope and confidence in one saving act (the cross) of one man (Jesus Christ). We have pointed out how in those 11 verses the apostle makes 10 references to the saving efficacy of Christ and his cross. In light of this someone might begin to wonder, "Isn't this expecting an awfully lot from just one man?" This is indeed what the gospel asks us to believe, that essentially one act of just one man has the power to save the whole world from all its sins. It calls upon us to "put all our eggs in one basket," so to speak. But how can this be? Paraphrasing Winston Churchill, Stott (148-149) asks how can "so many owe so much to only one person"? As MacArthur words it (I:291), "How could what one man did at one time in history have such an absolute effect on mankind?"

In order to show that this is not as far-fetched as we might at first think, Paul calls attention to the man whose one act has already been demonstrated to have a universal effect upon the human race, namely, Adam. Then he uses this by way of comparison and contrast to show that the "one righteous act" of the one man, Jesus, will surely be just as efficacious and universal as the "one sinful act" of the one man, Adam - and even "much more" (5:15, 17). His argument moves from the lesser to the greater. If we can accept the fact that the one sin of a mere man has brought sin and death upon the whole world, then we can surely believe that the atoning death of the Son of God has brought salvation upon the whole world. The purpose of the passage, then, is to increase our confidence in the all-sufficiency of the death of Christ.

The second preliminary question is this: Does this paragraph teach the doctrine of original sin? It is not wrong to raise this question. Indeed, we cannot read Paul's many references to Adam and to the universal consequences of his one sin without wondering about it. Adam's sin brought death, judgment, and condemnation upon all; by his one sin all were made sinners. Does this mean that every child is conceived and born sinful, and born condemned to death and eternal punishment? Is this the main doctrine Paul wants to establish in this passage?

The fact is that at least since the time of Augustine (early fifth century), many in Christendom have used these verses to construct this very doctrine. Because the concept of original sin has had such a profound and far-reaching impact upon Christian thought as a whole, Barclay has rightly said that no passage in the NT "has had such an influence on theology as this passage" (77). The doctrine of original sin basically teaches that, in addition to physical death, Adam's first sin brought severe spiritual consequences upon all his natural descendants. The term itself refers not to that first sin but to the spiritual state in which children are conceived and born as the result of it.

Now the question is this: does 5:12-21 actually teach some form of original sin? Without doubt Paul is here affirming that Adam's sin did bring serious consequences upon all his offspring. Our understanding of the exact nature of these consequences depends upon how we interpret the terms "death," "judgment," "condemnation," and "made sinners" as used in the text. Many have tried to limit them all to physical death only, thus denying that 5:12-21 teaches any sort of original sin. Others believe that these terms, both in themselves and as compared with the blessings received from Christ, must refer to something much more serious than physical death by itself. Thus they conclude that this text does indeed teach original sin.

The biggest problem with this whole approach is that it implicitly assumes that Paul's main subject here is Adam and his sin and its consequences. But that is not the case. Paul did not write this passage just to teach a doctrine of original sin. Yes, he does declare that Adam's sin brought all these terrible things upon the human race, but that is not his main point. His main subject is Jesus and his cross and the universal, all-sufficient consequences of that saving event. His purpose is not to emphasize what happened to the race as the result of Adam's sin, but to emphasize what has happened to it as the result of Christ's saving work.

The fact is that it really does not matter which view of "original sin" one holds. Did Adam's sin bring only physical death upon us? Or did it also bring spiritual depravity - partial or total? Did it also make us guilty sinners, condemned to eternal punishment in hell? In the final analysis it does not matter what content anyone feels compelled to pour into the concept of "original sin," because Paul's main point is this: whatever the whole human race got (or would have got) from Adam has been completely canceled out for the whole human race by the gracious atoning work of Jesus Christ . Make the Adamic legacy as dire as you want: physical death, total depravity, genuine guilt and condemnation to hell. The whole point of the passage is that Christ's "one act of righteousness" (5:18) has completely intercepted, nullified, negated, canceled, and counteracted whatever was destined to be ours because of Adam. All the potential spiritual consequences of Adam's sin are intercepted even before they can be applied. The only consequence that actually takes effect is physical death, and it is countered with the promise of resurrection to eternal life.

This understanding of 5:12-21 and original sin has been clearly understood at least since the Reformation, when it was taught by Anabaptist writers, and is widely accepted within the Wesleyan tradition. Also, this principle has been most clearly stated in earlier Restoration Movement writings. As A.I. Hobbs succinctly puts it,

It should be emphasized that, under the reign of grace, whatever death was brought upon our race through Adamic sin by reason of his federal headship was annulled by reason of the federal headship of the second Adam. . . . What, without our will or consent, we lost in the first Adam, we have regained or shall regain in the second Adam, without our will or consent ("Conversion," 269).

Robert Milligan repeats this principle and concludes that "no man need, therefore, feel any concern or anxiety about the sin of Adam and its effects on his posterity" ( Scheme , 60). See also J.S. Lamar ("Ground," 105); McGarvey and Pendleton (336-337); and Lard (174).

What does this mean? It means that there is no doctrine of original sin taught in 5:12-21. No child is actually conceived and born under the curse of Adam's sin. If anything, this passage teaches a doctrine of original grace : every child is born under the grace of God, born saved, "born free" from all spiritual effects of Adam's sin, and born with the guarantee of ultimate freedom from all physical effects of that sin by means of the resurrection unto glory. God began to apply this "original grace" to the first generation of Adam's own children, in the same way that the results of the cross were applied retrospectively to believing adults in the pre-Christian era (3:25).

We are now ready for the third question: What is the scope of the words MANY and ALL as they are used in 5:12-21? These terms appear at crucial points in the text. "Death came to all men" (5:12). By Adam's trespass "many died," but Christ's grace overflowed "to the many" (5:15). Through Adam came "condemnation for all men," but through Christ came justification of life "for all men" (5:18). In Adam "the many were made sinners," but in Christ "the many will be made righteous" (5:19). Exactly who are meant to be included in these terms?

What is at stake here is this: if the answer given to the second question above is correct, as it so obviously seems to be, why do so many still believe and teach a doctrine of original sin? The answer lies in how they interpret "many" and "all" in the verses cited above.

Most interpreters, even those who hold to original sin, generally agree that there is no difference in scope between the two terms themselves. I.e., "many" and "all" refer to the same group of people. The term "many" is not intended to be set in contrast with "all," but rather in contrast with "one." Even though Adam is just one man, his one sin had consequences that extend to the many (i.e., more than one). Even though Christ is just one man, his one act likewise applies to the many . The term "all" is then used to convey the connotation of totality, but is not meant to be broader in scope than "the many." I am in total agreement with this.

Wherein lies the problem, then? It lies in the way these two terms are applied to Adam on the one hand and to Christ on the other hand. The most commonly-held idea seems to be that when these terms are used in relation to Adam's sin, they are completely universal in scope; but when they are used in relation to the work of Christ, they are more limited and restricted in scope and do not really mean "all." In Stott's words, "The 'all men' who are affected by the work of Christ cannot refer to absolutely everybody," as it does for Adam (159). Adam did indeed inflict the entire race with the consequences of his sin, but the atoning work of Christ canceled out these consequences only for the smaller group of those who are actually saved. "Original sin," however understood, thus remains intact for the rest of mankind.

One way of saying this is that Christ's one righteous act is able to cancel original sin for everyone, that it has the power or potential to do so; but in fact it does so only for those who consciously receive the gift of grace through faith (5:17). E.g., MacArthur says the passage teaches that "all can be made righteous in Christ," that "Christ's one sacrifice made salvation available to all mankind" (I:297, 302). Mounce says, "Just as condemnation spread to all, so also is the divine acquittal offered to all" (144).

More often, however, especially for those who hold to the classical Augustinian doctrine of original sin, the distinction between Adam's "all" and Christ's "all" is stated thus: the consequences of Adam's act extended to all who were in him or belonged to him when he sinned-which includes the whole race; but the consequences of Christ's act extended only to "all" who were in him or belonged to him when he died-which includes only the elect. "Both Adam and Christ would then be viewed as inclusive representatives whose actions can be considered as the actions also of those who belong to them" (Moo, I:340). In v. 18, says Mounce, the contrast is between "all who are in Adam" and "all who are in Christ" (145).

What I want to emphasize, however, is that all such approaches to 5:12-21 are false; all attempts to reduce the "many" and "all" when used of Christ to anything less than their scope when used of Adam must be rejected. The reason should be obvious: such a discrepancy in the numbers would negate the whole purpose of the Adam-Christ comparison! The question of assurance is this: can I have confidence that Christ's work is sufficient for taking away all my sins - and those of the whole world as well? Paul's answer is "Yes! You can have such assurance! Look at what has already been done as the result of his work: his one righteous act has already counteracted everything brought upon everyone by Adam. This is the stepping stone for our confidence that his work is capable of 'much more' (5:15, 17), i.e., it is capable of taking away all the consequences of our personal sins as well."

Thus to maintain the basic theme of assurance, we must insist that the terms "many" and "all" when used of Christ are at least as broad in scope as when used of Adam. Adam's sin brought sin, death, judgment, and condemnation upon every member of the human race; likewise Christ's atoning act brought righteousness, justification, and life upon every member of the human race. Schlatter (126) asks, "How is the work of the one through whom all are what they are canceled? Through the one who acts as effectively for all as the first one did" (italics added). The failure to acknowledge this is the greatest hindrance to a proper understanding of this passage; it is also the single most influential reason why many still believe this passage teaches a doctrine of original sin.

This leads to the fourth and final preliminary question: Does this passage teach universal salvation, then? Some believe that Paul's use of "all" and the inclusive "many" do indeed suggest universalism. Käsemann (157) asks, "Does not the hope of general restoration . . . come to expression here" if we take these terms seriously? Surely "all-powerful grace is unthinkable without eschatological universalism." Reflecting on 5:18 Dunn opines that we should not "exclude the possibility that Paul . . . cherished the hope of such a universal salvation . . . . How, after all, can grace be 'so much more' in its effect if it is less universal than the effect of death?" (I:297).

Many of those who limit the "all" to whom Christ's work applies in 5:12-21 do so because they think that to do otherwise is to embrace such universalism. For example, Stott very clearly implies that taking "all" to mean "everybody without exception" is "to believe in universal salvation" (159). Many have uncritically assumed this to be so.

The answer to the question, however, is NO! Romans 5:12-21 does not teach universal salvation, and taking the "all" and "many" who receive Christ's grace to refer to the whole human race does not entail such universalism. Why not? Because the primary focus of the passage as a whole and of these words specifically is how the work of Christ counteracts and cancels in their entirety the consequences of the one sin of Adam for every single individual. This is not a matter of possibility or potentiality; it is not just something Christ is able to do, or something that is offered to all and accepted by some. No, this is a reality; it is an accomplished fact; it has been done and will be done for the entire race; it is a sure thing.

However, Paul here absolutely does not say the same thing about the consequences for all our own personal sins . This is another matter altogether. As Romans has already made perfectly clear, the guilt and penalty for our personal sins are removed only through personal faith. The language of possibility and potentiality and "offered" applies to our personal sins, and 5:12-21 certainly implies that Christ's sacrifice is sufficient to take care of these also; indeed, this is the ultimate conclusion to which Paul's argument leads. But the universal language in the text applies only to what we have all received from Adam's sin.

In other words, from a practical point of view, this passage addresses the question of the spiritual state of infants when they are conceived and born. Do infants "inherit" anything from Adam, or is anything imposed upon them as the result of Adam's sin alone? Quite obviously so, particularly physical death. Paul affirms in 5:12 that death comes to all men as the result of sin, but this cannot mean personal sins since even infants sometimes die. Therefore death must come upon all because of Adam's sin. This is Paul's point in 5:13-14, where "those who did not sin by breaking a commandment" must refer to infants. (This is the force of the word kaiv [ kai ], "even," in v. 14.) It is likely that the language used in other verses (judgment, condemnation, made sinners) means that Adam's sin brought serious spiritual consequences upon infants as well.

The point of the passage, though, is that Christ's one atoning act cancels out all of these consequences for all infants. Because of Jesus Christ no infant is born sinful, depraved, or condemned. All do face the inevitability of physical death, but insofar as such death derives from Adam's sin, it too will one day be canceled out in the final resurrection from the dead. Every single baby is thus conceived and born in a redeemed or saved state (original grace!). The gifts of righteousness and justification and life are received universally and automatically by every infant as the means of salvation from Adam's sin. This is the only "universalism" in 5:12-21.

At the same time in this passage Paul alludes to the fact that babies grow up and reach the age of accountability and commit personal sins ("many trespasses," v. 17). Commenting on the "much more" in 5:15 McGarvey and Pendleton (336-337) say,

If we had only Adam's sin to answer for, then the teaching of this passage would establish the doctrine of universal salvation, for Christ's act completely counteracted Adam's act. But there are other sins beside that first one committed by Adam, and other punishments beside natural death. It is in its dealings with those that the range of Christ's act exceeds that of Adam, and it is here also that salvation becomes limited.

When a child reaches the age of accountability and begins to become responsible for his personal sins, he forfeits the original grace under which he has been living since conception. He comes under the wrath of God and bears the full consequences of the sins that he is now committing by his own choice. He has even forfeited the redemptive resurrection gained through the cancellation of the death derived from Adam. If he dies in his own sins, he will be raised from the dead, but not redemptively in a glorified body like that of Christ.

The only way to escape the consequences of one's personal sins is by conscious choice and personal faith. Since everyone does not so choose and believe, there is no universal salvation.

Thus the spiritual odyssey of the individual has four possible stages: (1) " Original sin ," even if this is understood to involve only the penalty of physical death as the result of Adam's sin. Many understand it to include much more, of course. The main point about this stage is that (except for physical death) it is theoretical or potential only; it is never actually experienced because it is intercepted and canceled for everyone by the all-sufficient work of Christ. Thus no one ever actually passes through this stage, and children are certainly not born in it.

(2) " Original grace ," which is the stage we enter when we first come into existence and under which we stay until we reach the age of accountability, thanks to the work of the Second Adam. All infants and young children are here, as are those whose mental abilities never develop beyond those of young children. This is a state of salvation and it is universal; thus the concept of "universal salvation" applies here.

(3) " Personal sin ," the stage all enter when they reach the age of accountability and lose the original grace under which they were born. Those in this stage are the lost, the unsaved. If they die here they will be condemned forever to hell.

(4) " Personal grace ," a term we might use for the position occupied by all believers, or those who have personally repented and believed God's gracious promises. This is a state of salvation, but it is not universal. It is available to all, but is entered only through personal choice.

This concludes our discussion of the four preliminary questions. In answering them I have tried to present the gist of Paul's teaching in 5:12-21 in a summary form. We are now ready to begin our verse-by-verse study of the passage, proceeding according to the following outline: a) Verses 12-14 show how the sin of one man (Adam) brought sin and death upon the whole world. In v. 12 Paul begins a thought that is not immediately completed. It is put on hold while he pursues some related ideas; then in v. 18 he picks it up again. b) In vv. 15-17 Paul presents a negative contrast between Christ and Adam, showing that Christ and his sacrifice are greater than Adam and his sin. c) In vv. 18-19 Paul completes the thought of v. 12 by declaring that Christ's cross completely cancels the consequences of Adam's sin. d) The final section, vv. 20-21, asserts the triumph of grace over sin and death.

1. One Sin of One Man (Adam) Brought

Sin and Death to All (5:12-14)

5:12 Therefore . . . . This first word in the verse indicates that Paul is about to draw a conclusion from something that serves as a premise or basis for it. Opinions vary widely as to what this premise is. Most find it in the preceding context. For some it is the reference to the death of Jesus in v. 10 (Lard, 164). Others say the premise is the entire section, 5:1-11 (Cranfield, I:271). Still others say it includes everything from 1:18 to 5:11 (Dunn, I:272). On the other hand, some actually find the premise in v. 12 itself (Williams, 172-173).

This is a difficult question, but the connection is probably both backward and forward. As stated above, at the end of v. 12 Paul seems to break off his main argument until he can lay down some related truths; then he picks it up again in v. 18, with 18a reiterating v. 12 and 18b stating the long-awaited conclusion. The progression of the main thought, then, is this: "Therefore, in view of what has just been said about the saving power of the death of Christ (5:1-11), and also because we know that an example of such vicarious power already exists in the person of Adam (5:12-14), we may safely conclude that the one righteous act of the one man Jesus Christ is definitely sufficient to bring salvation to all people."

. . . just as sin entered the world through one man . . . . The "one man," of course is Adam (v. 14), who along with Eve was responsible for introducing sin into the world (Gen 3:1-7). Since Adam was the head of his wife and in a real sense the head of the whole human family, he alone is singled out as the responsible party and also as a kind of pattern for Jesus (v. 14). The word for "sin" is aJmartiva ( hamartia ), which in this case refers not to a specific act but to the very principle or power of evil and lawlessness that enters like an invading force and takes root in the hearts of its willing victims (Godet, 204; Moo, I:331). "The world" (as in John 3:16) is the world of mankind, the sphere of human beings; sin had already entered the world of angels through the sin of Satan (1 John 3:8).

The main point of this statement is the phrase, "through one man," which is in the emphatic position in the Greek. To make his point that just one man (Jesus) is the source of all salvation, Paul is reminding us that just one man (and a lesser one at that) is the source of all sin.

. . . and death through sin . . . . This statement is highly condensed. Several words carry over from the first clause, so that the entire thought is thus: "And (just as) death (entered the world [of human beings]) through sin." In this case "sin" ( hamartia again) seems to refer to the first specific sinful act of Adam, his disobedience to the command about the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:16-17). Just as this one man was the channel through which sin entered, his one sin was the channel through which death entered. Again we understand the entry to be limited to the world of human beings; we can draw no conclusions from this verse about death among animals (Schlatter, 127; Stott, 165-166).

To what specific kind of death is Paul referring here? Many rightly understand the Bible to distinguish three kinds of death: physical, spiritual, and eternal (Godet, 205). Physical death of course is the death of the body; spiritual death is equivalent to the soul's condition of sinfulness and depravity (Eph 2:1, 5; Col 2:13); eternal death is condemnation to hell or the lake of fire (Rev 20:6, 14). Some believe Paul is referring to all three kinds here (Hendriksen, I:185; MacArthur, I:295). Sometimes those who hold this view lump the last two kinds (spiritual and eternal) into the single category of spiritual death, and declare that Adam's sin resulted in both physical death and this inclusive spiritual death, or "total death" (Moo, I:332; Shields, 65; Mounce 141; Stott, 150). On the other hand, some contend that in this verse Paul means physical death only (Lard, 165-166; MP, 340; Murray, I:181-182). Morris (230) agrees that physical death is in mind, but believes that spiritual death is indirectly in view in that physical death is the sign and symbol of it.

In my judgment, Paul's primary concern in 5:12 is with physical death; this is clear from 5:13-14, where physical death is obviously in view (Godet, 205; Smith, I:85). Whether Paul considers anything else to be imposed upon the human race as a result of Adam's one sin must be determined by a consideration of 5:15-19. But at this point, to focus on spiritual death misses the main point of 5:13-14, where physical death even among babies is cited as evidence for the point about the "one man" in v. 12.

Paul is not just saying that death is the result of sin in general, and he is especially not saying that each individual's death is the result of his own sin. No, his whole point in 5:12-21 rests on the fact that the deaths of all individual human beings are the penal consequence of one sin of one man , Adam: "The many died by the trespass of the one man" (5:15a; Smith, I:85).

. . . and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned . . . . Up to this point, based on 5:12a alone, there is no reason to extend the sin of Adam and the resulting death beyond their entry point, namely, Adam himself. But 5:12b shows that there is more to it than this - much more. This part of the verse reveals the universal consequences of Adam's one sin. "In this way," i.e., through the one sin of the one man, "death came to all men." The word for "came" means "went through," "spread," or "permeated." Paul is saying that death "made its way to each individual member of the race . . . like a father's inheritance divided among his children" (Sanday and Headlam, 133).

If Paul had ended his thought here and gone directly to v. 13, the task of exegetes and theologians would no doubt have been considerably lighter. But this was not to be. Led by the Spirit, Paul added these four words: ejf= w/| pavnte" h{marton (eph' hô pantes hçmarton ). The last two words are not difficult to translate; they simply state, "all sinned," or "all have sinned" (as in 3:23). Thus sin, like death, is universalized: all die; likewise all sinned. Adam sinned, but everyone else sinned as well.

This leaves two major problems to be resolved. First, what is the meaning of eph' hô ? And second, in what sense have all sinned? Regarding the former question, some have taken the hô in eph' hô to be a relative pronoun referring back to the "one man" in 5:12a. Thus it has been translated "in whom," namely, "in Adam," the whole clause then meaning "in Adam all sinned." Augustine, who was following the common Latin translation in quo , accepted this view and used it as a significant part of the basis for his doctrine of original sin.

Modern interpreters agree that this is a poor translation of eph' hô . The antecedent is too far removed from hô , and "in" is not a common meaning for epi ( eph' ). By general agreement today eph' hô is taken as a conjunction introducing a dependent clause, and is usually translated "because." Thus the NIV translation, "because all sinned." I see no reason to disagree.

But this does not really help a lot, because it still leaves us asking in what sense "all sinned." I.e., how is the sin of all somehow the cause of the death of all, especially since the death of all has already been stated to be the result of the one sin of the one man, Adam?

Proposed answers fall into two categories. One approach is that the statement "all sinned" must be taken as referring to each individual's personal sins, as in 3:23. In this case each person dies because of his own sins. But how is Adam's sin involved? One view is that when we sin personally we are imitating Adam's sin; thus Adam's sin is still indirectly responsible for every person's death (Shields, 66; Barrett, 111). Another view is that Adam's sin imposes a corrupt nature on all his descendants, which causes them all to sin and thus incur death (Dunn, I:290; Cranfield, I:278-279; Batey, 73-74). Again, the relation between Adam's sin and our death is indirect.

In my judgment neither version of this view is acceptable. Once Adam is made only the indirect cause of death, rather than the direct cause, the main point of the passage - the analogy between Adam and Christ - breaks down. The "one man Adam vs. one man Jesus" theme (5:15-19) loses its punch (Morris, 232). Also, neither form of this approach can explain the death of infants, who have not sinned personally. (See Murray, I:183-184, for these and other arguments against this view.)

The other approach to "all sinned" is to posit some kind of union between Adam and his descendants, the result being that when he sinned, we all somehow sinned in or with him. Thus "all sinned" does not refer to the subsequent personal sins of each individual, but to a kind of collective sinning of all in Adam's one act of disobedience in the Garden of Eden. (Practically speaking, this view has the same effect as translating eph' hô as "in Adam.")

One version of this latter approach is to see all mankind as existing within Adam when he sinned, so that his sin literally was the sin of us all; thus we all are equally accountable for it and are punished for it (MacArthur, I:293, 296). An analogy is the relation between Abraham and Levi in Heb 7:9-10. When Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek (Heb 7:1-2), Levi also "paid tithes, for he was still in the loins of his father" when Abraham tithed. In this same sense we were all in Adam's loins when he sinned; thus we also sinned.

The other version of this second approach is to treat Adam as acting as a representative for the whole race in his test regarding the tree (Lard, 167-168; Smith, 87). Thus Adam is called the "federal head" of all mankind (MP, 334). The analogy here is the relation between Christ on the cross and the whole human race. We were not in him when he died; but he died representatively for all (2 Cor 5:14), and the consequences of his death are imputed to others.

In my judgment this second approach is the better one, either according to its second version or as a combination of the two. (See Stott, 151-154.) "All sinned" does not refer to our personal sins, but to the one sin of Adam in which we all participated in some form, and for which we all suffer the penal consequences. We can offer no explanation for such an arrangement other than divine appointment. "All sinned in Adam as being in him. By divine appointment, Adam . . . stood for and represented the whole of his posterity" (Lard, 167). "When Adam sinned he was not just a man, he was mankind" (Smith, 84). "In Adam all sinned; in Adam all died" (Hendriksen, I:178). Thus, as Moo points out, "all die because all sinned" and "all die because Adam sinned" are both true, "because the sin of Adam is the sin of all" (I:338).

It is wrong, though, to conclude (as many do) that this understanding of "because all sinned" leads to the doctrine of original sin. I have explained in the introduction to this section why this is not the case.

5:13 Verse 12 introduces an intended comparison between Adam and Christ that is not completed. Only the "just as" portion (the protasis ) is given; the "so also" part (the apodosis ) is not stated. In 5:18-19 Paul will come back to the comparison and present it in two different ways. But before then, in 5:13-17 (sometimes treated as a parenthesis, as in the KJV), he pauses in order to verify and clarify what he says in 5:12.

In v. 12 two crucial points are made: one, that death is the result of sin; and two, that the death of all is the result of the sin of one man, Adam. Paul does not try to prove the first point, but 5:13-14 seems designed to prove the second point (Godet, 209; MP, 334; Murray, I:187). The proof lies in the fact that some people die even though they have never sinned personally, including babies, young children, and some with mental handicaps. Thus if sin is indeed the cause of death, the fact that such people sometimes die proves that the one representative sin of Adam must be that cause.

. . . for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. This and v. 14 are very difficult, and in my opinion can be understood only as an extremely condensed argument, some parts of which are assumed. We may wonder why Paul even brings up the Adam-to-Moses period, if his main proof is going to be infants. The answer seems to be that in the minds of his Jewish audience especially, the general nature of this period as a whole ought to prove Paul's point. This would seem to be the case based upon the combination of two factors: first, "where there is no law there is no transgression" (4:15); and second, the Law was not given until the time of Moses. Thus even though in the pre-Mosaic period people did things that were sinful, they could not be held accountable for them because there was no law. But the whole population in this period died anyway; therefore they must have died because of Adam's sin.

This train of thought would seem perfectly valid to many, especially to those who put such strong emphasis on the Law of Moses. So this is where Paul begins his argument, even though it is not where he ends it.

That "sin was in the world" before Moses' Law was given is indisputable (Gen 6:5, 11; 8:21; 18:20; Exod 9:27). It is also indisputable that "sin is not taken into account when there is no law," as Paul had already said in 4:15. The word for "taken into account" (used here and in Phlm 18) is an accounting term and means "to enter into the ledger or into the account of someone." This is the concept of imputation, though in this case Paul is talking about imputing one's own sins to one's own account. He says this does not occur when no law exists by which sins can be identified as violations of God's will. In such a case God does not impute sinful acts to a person's account and therefore does not punish him. But since people between Adam and Moses did suffer the penalty of death (v. 14a), they could only have died because of Adam's sin.

This reasoning would be sound except for one thing: there was law between Adam and Moses! True, the Law of Moses was not yet given, but Paul has already argued that law is revealed and known through general revelation (1:18-32; 2:14-15); and he has already declared that Gentiles or pagans are "without excuse" (1:20) when they go against this general revelation. Indeed, Paul named a whole list of specific sins (1:24-31) committed by pagans; and he specifically said that those who commit these sins know God's decree, that those who do so are worthy of death (1:32)! Also, we have every reason to believe that God instructed Adam and Eve regarding his moral law; it is ludicrous to assume that the only law they were given was the one about the trees (Gen 2:16-17). What they knew of God's moral law would thus have been handed down from generation to generation, supplemented by occasional special revelation (e.g., Gen 4:9; 6:13; 7:1; 9:1-7). Otherwise, how could Noah have functioned as "a preacher of righteousness" (2 Pet 2:5)? The fact that God destroyed the human race (except for Noah's family) because of their wickedness shows that they had law and were being held accountable for it. The same is true of Sodom and Gomorrah. Thus the idea that "there was no positive commandment" in the pre-Mosaic period except for Gen 2:16-17 is quite false (contra Bruce, 130; Trench, Synonyms , 244; Schneider, "parabaivnw ," 5:740; and Schlatter, 128-129).

But if this reasoning is not sound, why does Paul bring it up? Because the argument would no doubt have occurred especially to Paul's Jewish audience, and he brings it up to get it out of the way. Thus I am suggesting that between v. 13 and v. 14 Paul is assuming that his readers will remember what he has already said very plainly in 1:18-32 and 2:14-15, and will draw their own conclusions as to the invalidity of the argument. This unspoken caveat then sets the stage for Paul's own argument in v. 14.

The thought of 5:13-14a may be paraphrased thus: "We have said that all die because of Adam's sin. But what gives us any reason to think this? Let's consider first of all a common assumption. Some who agree that Adam must be the source of human death base this conclusion on the fact that people died between Adam and Moses, before the Law was given; and we know God does not hold people accountable for their sins where is no law. Thus (so this argument goes) since people died then, they must have died because of Adam's sin.

"Now, at first glance this argument seems sound, but I'm sorry to say that it does not hold together. Why not? Mainly because it assumes that there was no law in this period between Adam and Moses; but this is not true. You will remember my clear teaching that there was law during this period, and people knew that by breaking this law they deserved God's wrath. So if we are going to show that all die because of Adam's sin, we must find another argument."

5:14 "Let's stay with the period between Adam and Moses. In this era (as in all other times, of course), death came to all human beings, even over those not old enough to commit personal sins like the sin of Adam. The fact that infants sometimes die is all the proof we need for the truth that all die because of Adam's sins."

Nevertheless introduces Paul's own valid argument, in contrast with the abbreviated invalid argument from v. 13.

. . . death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses . . . . This is clearly a reference to physical death, which is personified as a tyrant having everyone under its power in the period in question (and in all other times as well; see v. 17). To depict death as a reigning monarch emphasizes its universal scope, its oppressive domination, and its inescapable certainty.

. . . even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam . . . . This is the key point of the whole argument in vv. 13-14; this is what proves the fact that Adam's sin brought death upon us all: death reigned, even over this group. The word "even" ( kai ) is important, because it focuses the argument on a group that is more narrow than the general population of the earth (contra Godet, 212; Moo, I:345-346). This group is described as "those who did not sin by breaking a command."

Who are in this group? It depends on what Paul means by the expression, "did not sin by breaking a command." The word "command" is not in the original; this participial phrase literally reads "the ones who did not sin after the likeness of Adam's transgression." The word for "transgression," paravbasi" ( parabasis ), is used in the NT here and in 2:23; 4:15; Gal 3:19; 1 Tim 2:14; Heb 2:2; 9:15. Its meaning is important, since many believe it is the key to identifying the group introduced by "even."

Parabasis literally means "stepping over a boundary, a deviation from the prescribed path or norm, a trespass, a transgression." In the NT it refers to breaking God's law, a transgression of his law. Here in 5:14, the group singled out by Paul did not sin according to the likeness of the parabasis of Adam. I.e., they did not transgress God's law in the same way that Adam did.

Most interpreters take this statement to mean that the law which Adam transgressed was crucially different from the law transgressed by those who lived between Adam and Moses. I.e., it was of such a nature that he could be held responsible for breaking it, whereas the latter group could not. The law Adam transgressed (Gen 2:16-17) is variously described as a direct command, an express command, an explicit command, an expressly revealed ordinance, a positive prohibition, a clear and definite divine commandment, a prohibition known to be a commandment of God. It is implied that no other command of this nature was given by God until the Law of Moses. Some add that the command to Adam was accompanied by a death sentence, and in this way was different from any laws between Adam and Moses (MP, 334-335; Moo, I:343). Thus it is concluded (by most interpreters) that the expression "those who did not sin by breaking a command" refers to everyone who lived between Adam and Moses, and not just to a special group such as infants.

The reasons I cannot accept this view are as follows. First, there were explicit commands and prohibitions (other than the command regarding the trees) between Adam and Moses, available in the beginning and sporadically thereafter by means of special revelation, and passed along as tradition to future generations. Also, the definitions usually given to parabasis in this context are much too narrow. It means transgression of the law, to be sure; but limiting such law only to that given through special revelation is indefensible. For example, in light of the emphasis Paul gives to general revelation in 1:18-32 and 2:14-15, the principle set forth in 4:15 (using parabasis ) surely cannot be limited to specially-revealed law. We should also remember that the laws known through general revelation also carry the death sentence and that this is known by those who break them (1:32).

Finally, the main difference between Adam's sin and the sins committed by the specific group in 5:14 was not a difference in the kind of law they transgressed, but rather in the way the law was transgressed. Adam's sin was indeed a voluntary, conscious, deliberate decision to disobey a command of God. But so were most sins committed by most people even before the Law of Moses came. It does not matter whether the law being transgressed was specially revealed or written on the heart; anyone deliberately breaking either kind of law was guilty of parabasis and thus was "without excuse" (1:20; 2:1). I.e., all lawbreakers during this period committed personal sins worthy of death.

But there is one way of sinning that is "not like the transgression of Adam" (NASB), i.e., not a voluntary, deliberate, personal sin. What is it? None other than the sin which everyone committed representatively in Adam in the Garden of Eden (5:12). This is the only kind of sin some people have committed, and even they sometimes die. Who are in this group? Infants, small children, and some with mental handicaps. These are the ones to whom Paul refers here in the "even" clause.

I am aware that many declare that Paul cannot be talking about infants here, but rather must be talking about adult sinners only (e.g., Cranfield, I:279; Dunn, I:276; Moo, I:345-346); or at least that he cannot be talking about infants only (Lard, 172). But it seems to me that this misses the whole point of Paul's argument, and severely weakens his case that Adam's sin is the cause of the death of all. Paul has made it clear that even sinners against general revelation are worthy of death and know it (1:32). Genesis makes it clear that the bulk of those who died in the Flood and in the cities of the plain deserved to die because of their own sin. Thus only a group (such as infants) who have committed no personal sins and who sometimes die anyway can truly prove Paul's point that the real cause of human death is the one representative sin of Adam.

Having established his point about Adam, Paul briefly points us back in the direction his original thought was beginning to take in v. 12, i.e., a comparison between Adam and Christ. He does this by stating that Adam was . . . a pattern of the one to come. "The one to come" refers to Christ, who was yet to come from Adam's perspective. The word "pattern" is tuvpo" ( typos ) or "type." Moo (I:346) explains that this word originally meant "the impression made by striking something," and that it came to mean "a form, pattern, or example." In the NT it refers to "those OT persons, institutions, or events that are seen to have a divinely intended function of prefiguring the eschatological age inaugurated by Christ." See Cranfield, I:283.

In what sense does Adam prefigure Christ? Only in this one point, namely, that just as Adam was only one man yet performed a single act that affected the entire world, so also was Jesus Christ just one man whose one act likewise affected the whole human race.

2. Christ and His Sacrifice Are Greater

than Adam and His Sin (5:15-17)

The main point in 5:12-21 is the one positive comparison between Adam and Christ, as just described. In this sense Adam is a type of Christ. But before Paul actually states this comparison (5:18-19), he pauses once again, this time to make it clear that in most ways Adam and Christ are very different . Even though the positive comparison he is about to draw is very important, so are the contrasts between Adam's one sinful act and Christ's one saving act.

5:15 But the gift is not like the trespass . . . . This statement is a heading over 5:15-17, telling us that the subject is the contrast between the negative results of Adam's sin and the positive results of Christ's cross. The word for "trespass" is paravptwma (paraptôma ), "a false step, straying from the path, departing from the norm." There is little difference between this and parabasis as used in 5:14. The word for "gift" is cavrisma ( charisma , closely related to cavri" [ charis ], "grace"). It refers to the gracious result that flows unto all from the one saving act of Christ, in contrast with the devastating result that comes upon all from Adam's trespass. What is this gift, this gracious result? Most likely it is the "gift of righteousness" (5:17), the imputed righteousness of Christ that results in justification (5:16, 18) and life (5:17-18).

The rest of this verse is the first of three different ways Paul expresses this contrast. Adam's side of it is stated thus: For if the many died by the trespass of the one man . . . . As Murray sums it up, "The one sin of Adam is the judicial ground or reason for the death of the many" (I:192). This point has already been made in 5:12 and proved in 5:13-14. The word "many" (see 5:19) is equivalent in scope to "all men" in 5:12 and 5:18. Here it is used in contrast with "one," i.e., even though Adam was only one man, what he did had consequences for many men (denoting all others as a totality). The word "died" is aorist (past) tense, pointing back to the first sin of Adam as the time when all came under the sentence of death (Lard, 177).

The other side of the contrast is stated thus: how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! The words "much more" indicate that this is an argument from the lesser (Adam) to the greater (Christ). Some say this expression has a quantitative meaning, indicating the superiority of the power and effects of Christ's cross as contrasted with the power and effects of Adam's sin. It describes "the infinitely superior effectiveness" of Christ's act (Cranfield, I:284; see Mounce, 143; Stott, 161).

The quantitative superiority of Christ's cross is suggested by the word translated "overflow." God's grace and the gift that comes by it overflowed or abounded to the many (see v. 17). This means first of all that God's gracious gift reached out to embrace all who have been affected by Adam's sin, and has completely canceled and nullified the total consequences of Adam's sin for the entire human race. If it has not done at least this, then Christ's act is not even as powerful as Adam's sin, much less more powerful. This is the "original grace" explained in the introduction, above.

Second, the overflowing "much more" of Christ's cross means that the saved state into which it brings us is a state far better than what was lost in Adam. It includes "a better body than Adam ever had, a better life than he ever lived, a better world than he ever lived in, a world where Satan, and sin, and death can never come" (Lard, 178).

But most importantly, the overflowing "much more" means that the one saving act of Christ not only saves the entire race from whatever consequences have come upon us because of Adam's sin; it also is able to save the entire race from the consequences of their own personal sins, and does in fact cancel all such consequences for those who personally accept the free gift of grace through faith (MP, 336-337; DeWelt, 82). (We will see this point made in 5:16, where Paul refers to "many trespasses.") The saving work of Christ does not actually and in fact set the whole human race free from the effects of their personal sins; this would be universalism. Its application to personal sins is conditional and therefore limited. But the point is that the ability of Christ's cross to counteract mankind's personal sins means that its effectiveness extends far beyond the scope of Adam's sin. McGarvey and Pendleton (336) sum up this point very well: "We are here informed that the result of the sacrificial act of Christ fully reversed and nullified the effects of the act of Adam, and that it did even much more. The effect, in other words, had in all points as wide a range, and in some points a much wider range, than that of Adam's act." If not for this "wider range," most human beings would still be without hope, for "in addition to their sin in Adam," they have "other sins of their own for which to answer. The hope of the world lies, therefore, in the 'much more.'"

But some see another sense to the words "much more," called the logical sense, where the point is not the quantitative contrast between the two acts of the two men, but rather the superior degree of certainty we can have with regard to the efficacy of Christ's act, once we understand the nature and efficacy of the one act of Adam. This approach to "much more" presupposes the quantitative superiority of Christ over Adam. As Godet put it (216), "If a slight cause could bring sentence of death on all mankind, this same mankind will experience in its entirety the salutary effect of a much more powerful cause." He states the logic of Paul's argument thus: "Adam's offence has reached down to me, having had the power of subjecting me to death; how much more certainly will the grace of God and the grace of Christ combined have the power of reaching to me to save me!" Wiens says, "If such a little act has had a great and universal effect, how much more certain is it that a greater act will also extend to all men!" ("Exegesis," 48). See also Moo, I:349.

My inclination is to see both meanings, the quantitative and the logical, in Paul's reference to "much more." The former is surely emphasized as part of the contrast between Adam and Christ in 5:15-17, especially in the references to overflowing (v. 15), "many trespasses" (v. 16), and abundance (v. 17). The latter is even more appropriate, given the assurance theme that permeates this whole chapter. In view of what we know about Adam, we have all the more reason to put our total trust in the all-sufficiency of Christ's one saving act.

"God's grace" here probably refers to grace as an attribute of his nature. His loving grace overflowed to us in his decision to come to us in the person of "the one man, Jesus Christ," whose death provided for us the gift of righteousness and life.

Because of the widespread resistance to this fact, it is necessary to repeat here that "the many" to whom God's gracious gift has come are the same as "the many" who died from Adam's sin, and the same as the "all men" in 5:12 and 5:18. I.e., the term includes the whole human race, and it refers primarily to the complete cancellation of the effects of Adam's sin for all men. Any limitations we may place on "the many" (e.g., believers only, those who are "in Christ" only) begin to apply only when we get past this universal application to Adam's sin and are talking about individuals' personal sins.

5:16 Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin . . . . This repeats the heading of v. 15 and introduces the second version of the contrast between Adam and Christ. Again the emphasis is on the infinite superiority of Christ's work. His saving act is much more efficacious than Adam's sin since it not only nullifies the universal results of that one sin but also is able to cancel the consequences of the personal sins of the many. It takes away the former unconditionally for all; it takes away the latter conditionally for believers.

"The one man's sin" is better translated "the one who sinned" (NASB). The gift again seems to be the gift of Christ's righteousness, on which our justification is based.

The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. One contrast here is between "one sin" and "many trespasses." The judgment unto condemnation results from the single sin of one man; but the gift unto justification applies not only to this one sin but to many personal sins as well (and thus is quantitatively superior).

Another contrast is between the results of each man's act. On the one hand, Adam's sin brought "judgment" unto "condemnation." The word for "judgment" is krivma ( krima ), which is a judge's decision or verdict, usually an unfavorable one (see 2:2-3; 3:8; 13:2). Leaving no doubt that he is talking about a negative judgment, Paul says it is unto "condemnation" (katavkrima , katakrima ), a term used in the NT only here and in 5:18; 8:1. It refers to the sentence of punishment, not only as pronounced but also as carried out.

On the other hand, the free gift that comes from Christ, the gift of imputed righteousness (v. 17b), is unto "justification" (dikaivwma , dikaiôma ). This Greek word is used ten times in the NT, but it means "justification" only here. (In 5:18 it means "righteous act.") The only other noun translated "justification" is dikaivwsi" (dikaiôsis ), which is used only twice in the NT (4:25; 5:18). Exegetes think Paul used dikaiôma here because its ending matches the other -ma words in the verse: dwvrhma (dôrçma , "gift"), krivma ( krima , "judgment"), katavkrima ( katakrima , "condemnation"), cavrisma ( charisma , "gift"), and paravptwma (paraptôma , "trespass").

The key question concerning this verse is, what does Paul mean by "condemnation" and "justification"? He says Adam's sin brought condemnation, and Christ's cross cancelled the condemnation by bringing justification. Up to this point the apostle has mentioned only death as the result of Adam's sin, and contextually there has been no reason to think that he means anything more than physical death. But the language of this verse raises the question of whether something more serious must be added to the Adamic legacy.

Some are quick to answer no , nothing more than physical death is in view, even with these new terms. The "condemnation" means only the sentence of physical death, they say; and the "justification" means only the temporary suspension of this sentence allowing some time to live on the earth, then in the end resurrection from the dead (DeWelt, 78). We can agree that physical death is a judicial penalty and can rightly be called "condemnation." When katakrima is used in 8:1, however, it hardly seems limited to physical death, and is usually taken to refer to eternal punishment. Even the word krima ("judgment") is often used in this sense. Thus we are persuaded to think that by using the word "condemnation" Paul is telling us here that the death imposed upon all men because of Adam's sin is not just physical death, but includes eternal death also (see 6:23).

This conclusion seems all the more warranted when we realize that this condemnation received from Adam is counteracted with the "justification" received from Christ. In other contexts justification involves so much more than resurrection from the dead. Thus I believe we are wrong to limit it to that in this context. Here we should give it the meaning it has in other places, especially here in Romans, namely, the cancellation of eternal punishment in hell.

Indeed, this is exactly how almost everyone understands these two terms when they are applied to the "many trespasses" (personal sins) in this verse. Thus how can we give them a more limited meaning when applying them to Adam's sin and its consequences?

But when we interpret condemnation as eternal death in hell and justifiction as the cancellation of this eternal punishment, are we not opening the door to the doctrine of original sin? Not at all. But is this not the Augustinian view? No, it is not. True, the Augustinian doctrine of original sin says the condemnation of eternal death in hell comes upon all as the result of Adam's sin; but it omits the most important part of Paul's teaching, namely, that the original grace of Jesus Christ justifies all men insofar as Adam's sin is concerned. I.e., it completely cancels out this condemnation, so that in its eternal element it is never even applied.

5:17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man . . . . These words begin a third way of expressing the contrast between Adam and Christ, another way of explaining how the gift is not like the trespass. They add nothing to what has already been expressed in vv. 12-16. To say that death reigns emphasizes "the powerful and destructive sway it exercises over the affairs of human beings" (Hendriksen, I:181). The aorist tense again indicates the past point in time when death began to reign, i.e., when Adam sinned.

. . . how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. The word translated "abundant provision" (the noun form of the verb "overflow" in v. 15) points again to the fact that the benefits of Christ's cross extend far beyond the scope of Adam's sin and are able to offset the "many trespasses" (personal sins) of v. 16. This suggests that the phrase "much more" may again be emphasizing the quantitative superiority of Christ's work. There is no doubt, though, that "much more" has a logical force here and is stressing the glorious certainty or assurance we can have with regard to Christ's gift of grace. As Godet explains it, it has already been established that the weaker cause (Adam's sin) has had serious universal effects; therefore how much more certain it is that the more powerful cause (Christ's cross) will have an even greater effect and an even wider extension (220-223). See also Lard (182) and MP (339).

Many interpreters seriously misunderstand the identity of "those who receive" here in v. 17b. They say that this expression refers only to adults or those old enough to personally make a conscious decision to accept the promise of grace. They see this as parallel to "many trespasses" in v. 16b. Since that phrase means personal sin, "those who receive" is taken to mean those who personally believe. Some see another dimension of death being introduced at this point, too. In addition to the physical death (only) which came to all through Adam's sin, they see these verses as referring to spiritual death, which comes only as the result of personal sins (DeWelt, 82-83; Smith, I:85-86).

A principal reason why many take this view is their understanding of the verb lambavnw (lambanô , "receive"). Again and again we hear that this verb "is active, and not passive," and therefore that it must refer to a personal, conscious decision (MP, 339; see Godet, 217, 221). "The reception is voluntary and active, not passive. It is the act of him who believes in Christ and obeys him, and of no other" (Lard, 182; see DeWelt, 83). The word indicates "choice and personal decision," says Moo; it refers only to "those who respond" (I:353). "The lambanontes are undoubtedly believers," says Käsemann (155). The grace of Christ is for all and sufficient for all and offered to all, but only believers will receive it (see Dunn, I:295, 297).

Now, we can agree that personal, conscious, voluntary, active choice is a condition for receiving grace for those who have committed personal sins. We can also agree that such persons are included in the discussion at least in vv. 16-17. But I believe it is a serious mistake to think that these are the only ones Paul has in view in these verses, and I believe it is contrary to fact to say that lambanô must refer only to the active, voluntary reception of grace.

Throughout these verses (15-17) where Adam and Christ are set in contrast to one another, the scope of those affected by both men is the same in all three verses. Adam's sin affected all , and so does the cross insofar as it cancels the results of Adam's sin for all . To deny this jeopardizes the main point of this whole passage, the all -sufficiency of Christ's cross. The reference to personal sins in this immediate text is in addition to the Adamic sin, but not instead of it. Also, as v. 16 indicates, it is likely that spiritual death (including eternal death) has been brought into the picture here, but there is no textual basis for regarding it as the result of personal sins only.

The key question, though, is whether lambanô necessarily means an active, conscious act. This seems to be a myth. Interestingly, in his TDNT article on this word, Delling (5-6) says this verb developed both active and passive meanings, and that the latter is predominant in the NT, especially in theological contexts. A survey of the many NT verses using this word shows that it can indeed refer to the passive reception of something, apart from a deliberate act of acceptance by the recipient. See, e.g., Luke 20:47; Acts 1:8; Rom 13:2; 1 Cor 4:7; 2 Cor 11:24; Jas 3:1; 1 Pet 4:10. The bottom line is that there is nothing in the word lambanô that requires us to limit "those who receive" to conscious, willing adults; the word is no less able to describe the passive reception of "original grace" by all those affected by Adam's sin, even in infancy or before. (See Murray, I:198.)

We conclude, then, that the primary reference in v. 17b (as in 15b and 16b) is to the universal application of grace to all mankind to counteract the results of Adam's sin, with the added assurance that this grace is abundant enough to erase the effects of our personal sins as well.

In vv. 15-16 Paul has spoken of the "gift" that comes to all through Christ; here he identifies its content as "righteousness." This is the "righteousness of God" (1:17; 3:21) established by Christ's atoning death and received by sinners through grace. Thus it is not something different from the "abundant provision of grace," but explains what this grace consists of. Receiving this gift of righteousness is the event of justification.

Those who receive the gift will "reign in life" through the power of this one man, Jesus. Rather than being slaves of the tyrant death, they themselves will reign in abundant life. "Reign" is future tense and refers to the yet-to-come resurrection of the body at the end time and to the gift of eternal life to be lived in the very presence of God. As Christians we are already partaking of the abundance of grace, especially justification, and we are already reigning in a spiritual way over sin (Rev 20:4, 6); but in the life to come we shall surely reign as kings in an unprecedented way! See Rev 1:6; 5:10; 22:5. (This is true of all children who die before reaching the age of accountability, and of all accountable persons who have personally accepted Christ's saving grace.)

3. Christ's Cross Completely Cancels the

Results of Adam's Sin (5:18-19)

Having established the fact that Christ's one act is different from Adam's sin in many ways, Paul returns to the main point he began with in v. 12. He now focuses on the one respect in which the two are equal, namely, the breadth or scope of the effects of the one act of each. Just as Adam's sin had a universal effect, so also did the cross of Christ. This point is intended to reinforce our assurance that the cross is worthy of our trust. We need not doubt its all-encompassing and all-sufficient power.

Actually this truth has been implicit throughout 5:15-17, even while Paul was emphasizing the contrasts between Adam and Christ (MP, 340). But it is necessary now to make explicit the one positive comparison Paul had in mind when he said that Adam was a type or pattern for Christ. Thus he now presents this comparison in a symmetrical, no-frills manner, stating it in two distinct ways.

5:18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men . . . . This begins the first version of the comparison and basically sums up the content of v. 12, where Paul began to make this very argument before breaking it off for the parenthesis of vv. 13-17. No new concepts are introduced here.

The language is extremely condensed. A verb must be supplied ("the result was," NIV; "there resulted," NASB; "led to," NRSV). Also, some think the "one" refers to the one man , Adam, and read it thus: "through the trespass of the one man." This makes it parallel with 17a and 19a, they say (Cranfield, I:289; Dunn, I:283; Moo, I:354, 357). I believe it is best to stay with the NIV, though (Lard, 183; Hendriksen, I:182). Murray rightly says that "this rendering is more natural than 'through the trespass of one'" (I:199). Also, it makes explicit what is implicit throughout, that what is at stake is not just what one man can do, but what one act of one man can do.

The word for "condemnation" is katakrima again (see v. 16). Some limit this to physical death only (Lard, 185; MP, 339; DeWelt, 78, 83). But while physical death is no doubt included in the condemnation that comes from Adam, I believe that such a strong word as katakrima cannot be limited to that alone but must also include eternal condemnation (see 6:23; 8:1). This is all the more likely when we see that its opposite is justification (v. 18b). See the discussion under 5:16, above.

Through Adam's one sin this condemnation came upon "all men," the whole human race. Whether it was physical death only or both physical and spiritual/eternal death is largely irrelevant, since it has been totally nullified for "all men" by the cross, as the rest of the verse shows.

. . . so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. This is the long-delayed completion of the thought begun in v. 12. Again some say the "one" refers to the one man , Jesus (Moo, I:354; Dunn, I:283), but I disagree and concur with the NIV. The word for "act of righteousness" is dikaivwma ( dikaiôma ), the same word used for "justification" in 5:16. Sometimes it means "ordinance" of the law (2:26; 8:4), but "righteous act" is also a valid meaning (Rev 15:4; 19:8). The latter is appropriate here, since it is being contrasted with the one (sinful) act of Adam (Murray, I:200; contra Morris, 239).

What is this "one act of righteousness"? No doubt it means the atoning death of Jesus on the cross (Lard, 185; MP, 340; Schlatter, 131). Many who agree that the cross is in view are not satisfied with limiting it to just this one act, though. They take it as embracing Jesus' whole sinless life also. As Hendriksen says, "We should not interpret this concept too narrowly: Christ's voluntary death represents his entire sacrificial earthly ministry of which that death was the climax" (I:182). Cranfield says that "Paul means not just his atoning death but the obedience of his life as a whole" (I:289). Murray apparently agrees, saying that the term represents Christ's life as a "compact unity" (I:201).

I strenuously object to this, however. The "one act of righteousness" is one act , the cross. We must not lump Christ's life and death together as if they had equal significance and are equally imputed to sinners as the basis for our justification (see under 1:17 above). The comparison here is between one sinful act and one righteous act. To broaden the scope of the latter to include the whole life of Christ compromises the comparison and forfeits the whole point of this passage (Dunn, I:283).

The result of this one righteous act is to offset the condemnation that came through Adam's sin. This result is called "justification that brings life," or literally "justification of life." "Justification" is dikaivwsi" (dikaiôsis ), used also in 4:25. What does this include? Those who see the condemnation as physical death only must and do limit this justification to the gift of physical life only. Lard specifically denies that it includes remission of sins here; he limits it to temporary postponement of the death sentence and eventual bodily resurrection (186). See also DeWelt (78) and MP (340).

As I have said in the discussion of 5:16 above, this is an unacceptable limitation to the concept of justification. Although seldom represented by a noun (4:25, 5:16, and here), the event and the state of justification are very often represented by the verb dikaioô (e.g., 2:13; 3:20, 24, 26, 28, 30; 4:2, 5; 5:1, 9; 8:33). In these other contexts it implicitly involves the cancellation of the full penalty of sin, especially condemnation to hell. In my opinion limiting it to the cancellation of physical death alone gives it an unnatural sense. Thus I take it here to imply that Adam's sin brought full condemnation upon the entire race, but that Christ's cross brought full justification upon all men in that it releases all (in infancy) from Adamic condemnation.

The "life" brought by this justification is therefore not just physical, bodily life, but eternal life in the sense of release from the penalty of hell and entrance into heaven.

When Paul says the one righteous act of Christ results in justification of life for all men , he means exactly that and nothing less. In the introduction to this section I have discussed the common view that this "all" is somehow less than the "all" affected by Adam's sin. This view must be emphatically rejected. Christ's original grace cancels any potential state of original sin for all men . If this is not the case, then the point and purpose of 5:12-21 as a whole are completely negated.

5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners . . . . This verse affirms the parallel between Adam and Christ in a different way, keeping the symmetrical form of v. 18. The word "for" may mean that Paul is here explaining why it is possible or appropriate for all to receive condemnation as the result of one man's sin. The reason is that, by this one man's sin, the many were "made sinners." This recalls the point at the end of 5:12, "because all sinned" in Adam. His sin was the sin of all; when he disobeyed God's command, all became sinners. Thus it is appropriate that all should be condemned for that one sin. ("The many" is universal in scope and equivalent to "all men" in v. 18a.)

The difficult question here is the meaning of "made." The Greek word is kaqivsthmi (kathistçmi ). It means "to appoint, ordain, make, constitute, render, place in a particular class or category." The issue is whether it means merely "counted as" or "declared to be something," or whether it means "actually made to be something."

How one understands it here depends largely upon what is regarded to be the subject of the action. Exactly who or what is it that "makes" us sinners? Those who take the subject to be God (Lard, 187; Shedd, 139) usually prefer the former meaning. Adam's sin is what caused all to be sinners; consequently God merely declares us to be sinners or places us in the category of sinners. "He pronounced them to be what they had already become by their own act in Adam" (Shedd, 139-140). On the other hand, if the subject of kathistçmi is Adam or Adam's sin, then this word could itself be taken in a causative sense. The point would then be that Adam through his one act made us all sinners. (Actually, even if God is the subject of the action, it could still be taken in a causative sense, since God is the one who decreed this connection - whatever it entails - between Adam's sin and his posterity in the first place.)

Whether the subject is God or Adam, in my opinion the second meaning given above is preferred, i.e., made and not just declared. This seems to be how the word is used in other contexts, even in classical Greek (see Godet, 225-226). In the NT it is most commonly used for appointing or ordaining someone to a particular position or office. Someone is "made to be" a judge, a ruler, a governor, an elder, a high priest. For example, when Pharaoh "made" Joseph governor over Egypt (Acts 7:10), he was not just announcing an already-existing reality, but was actually causing Joseph to become the governor. Likewise, as the result of Adam's sin, the many actually became sinners; they were placed in the position of being sinners. This does not mean simply that "they all in their turn lived sinful lives" (contra Cranfield, I:291), or "were made liable to sin" (contra DeWelt, 78). Rather, it means that in their solidarity with Adam all men actually became sinners; that's why it was appropriate to treat them as sinners by condemning them (5:18).

One point must be kept in mind, namely, that whatever nuance we give to "made sinners," it must be parallel to the meaning we give to "made righteous" in 19b.

. . . so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. The obedience of Jesus is set over against the disobedience of Adam. Some err again by expanding this obedience so that it "covers his whole life, not just his passion and death" (Cranfield, I:290; see also Godet, 226; Murray, 205). But again this destroys the parallel with the one act of Adam's disobedience. The obedience here is the one act of righteousness, the one supreme act of obedience, the cross (Phil 2:8; Heb 5:8). See Lard, 189; and especially Dunn, I:284-285.

The key question here is the meaning of "made righteous." The issue is whether it refers to a simple forensic declaration equivalent to justification, or whether it refers to a change in the sinner's nature or status by which he is actually made righteous. Our answer must take into account the parallel with "made sinners" in v. 19a, as well as the meaning of kathistçmi as discussed there.

Many take "made righteous" in the former sense alone. Stott says, "The expressions 'made sinners' and 'made righteous' cannot mean that these people actually became morally good or evil, but rather that they were 'constituted' legally righteous or unrighteous in God's sight" (156). The expression "basically means ' to be declared righteous," says Hendriksen (I:183). Murray equates it with the justification of v. 18b (I:205). Mounce says it is an imputed "right standing before God" (145). See also Cranfield, I:291.

Others, however, see something of the latter sense in the expression. Godet says it includes eschatological sanctification (226). MacArthur says it means "to be made righteous by nature and constitution." When a person is made righteous, "he not only is declared righteous forensically but is . . . given an inward rightousness that must and will bear fruit" (I:307). In my opinion, even if forensic righteousness is involved, the meaning of kathistçmi and the meaning of "made sinners," as discussed above, seem to require something of this second sense. I.e., as the result of Christ's one act of obedience, all are actually made righteous and become righteous.

The fact that this is future tense (" will be made righteous") may simply reflect the fact that this is an ongoing process and will continue to apply to people in the future (Murray, I:206). Or it may mean that this "making righteous" is something that will be consummated at the final judgment, when the redeemed will finally be completely sanctified (Godet, 226).

As we have already determined, "the many" who are made righteous is no less a number than the "all men" who are justified in v. 18b. More importantly, they are no less than "the many" who are made sinners by Adam. Again we deplore all efforts to reduce the number of those affected by Christ's cross to anything less than those affected by Adam's sin. That the making righteous is universal does not result in universal salvation, of course, since it applies to all men only in reference to the sense in which they were made sinners by the one sin of Adam. In whatever sense the latter would have been the case, it does not in fact happen because of the cross. Thus no baby is born a depraved sinner, a spiritually-weak sinner, a guilty sinner, a condemned sinner, a sinner by declaration, or a sinner in any other sense of the term. All are made righteous by the obedience of the one man, Jesus Christ.

4. Grace Triumphs Over Sin and Death (5:20-21)

This brief paragraph makes a fitting conclusion not just to this section (5:12-21) but to Part Two as a whole. Indeed, it draws together the main elements of the entire letter thus far: law, sin, and death versus grace, righteousness, and life.

5:20 The law was added so that the trespass might increase. This is most likely a reference to the Mosaic Law. Why does Paul bring it up at this point? He is probably answering a question that must have been in the minds of his Jewish audience, i.e., how does the Law relate to all of this? To the devout Jew the Law was regarded as the solution to everything. Surely it must have some part in the resolution of the problem that began with Adam. But Paul has for all practical purposes jumped directly from Adam to Christ. Where is the place for Moses? (See Moo, I:360.)

Paul's answer to such questions is not what the Jews wanted to hear. He says "the law was added." The word for "added" is not at all complimentary; the concept is closer to "temporarily tacked on." In its other NT use (Gal 2:4) it has a negative connotation ("sneaked in," NASB). That idea is somewhat harsh for this context, but the word is still unfavorable enough to suggest that the Law was definitely a secondary part of God's plan, and not an end in itself. It implies that the Law came in through the servants' door, as opposed to making a grand entrance. See Morris, 241; Moo, I:360.

But that's not all. The Law was added, says Paul, "so that the trespass might increase." Thus in a sense the Law, rather than being a part of the solution, is a part of the problem! But this is not meant to be altogether negative. We must remember that it was God himself who added the Law (see Gal 3:19), and the increase of sin was at least part of the very reason why he added it in the first place. ("So that" is i{na [ hina ], indicating purpose.) And God would not have done this unless he had some ultimately good purpose in mind.

The Law certainly was not given to prevent sin; it was too late for that. Nor was it intended to save anyone from sin; it was too weak for that (Morris, 241). But it could cause sin to increase. Certainly sins were already present in abundance, because law in other forms was already present, including the law written on the heart. And certainly the giving of the Law of Moses added to the already-present ocean of sins. It did so by increasing the very number of laws that could be broken, and by provoking specific sins (7:7-8).

But this is not exactly the point here. The Law (indeed, any law) does make sins more numerous, but that is not what Paul names here as God's purpose for adding the Law. He says the Law was added so that the trespass (singular) might increase. "Trespass" is paravptwma (paraptôma ), a word used several times in the previous verses for the one sin of Adam (vv. 15, 17, 18). Thus it seems likely that Paul is not talking here about the quantitative increase of sins in general, but some kind of increase in the sin of Adam.

In what sense could the Law cause "the trespass" to increase, and why would God purposely cause this to happen? The best answer is that the Law served to increase man's awareness of the power and seriousness of sin and of the sinful condition brought upon the world by Adam's trespass. By objectively embodying God's standard for righteousness, and by unmistakably identifying sinful behavior, the Law served to magnify the reality of sin and to intensify man's sense of hopelessness as he struggles against it. "The law causes sin to stand out in all its heinousness and ramifications."

But why did God want to thus increase the trespass? What possible good could come from this? The answer lies in the rest of the verse: But where sin increased, grace increased all the more . . . . God is always ready to bestow the gift of his grace; but (apart from the cancellation of the Adamic sin) this gift must be willingly accepted. Thus the only thing that prevents the increase of grace is man's denial of his need for it and his refusal to accept it. But when confronted with the law in any form, man can no longer deny that he is a sinner. So by increasing man's sense or consciousness of sin, the Law increases his sense of need for God's grace, thereby causing grace to be more readily received and thus to increase.

Actually this applies to any law from God, not just the Mosaic Law. But here Paul seems to be speaking especially of the latter. In what special sense has the Law of Moses caused sin and therefore grace to increase? The answer relates to God's messianic purpose for Israel as a whole. The Law of Moses magnified the reality and seriousness of sin within Israel as such. The chosen people's manifold violations of the law aspect of the covenant are recorded in detail in the OT. Thus the consciousness of sin increased not only for the Israelites themselves, but it increases also for all who read about them (1 Cor 10:6-11). Indeed, one of the clearest lessons we learn from the OT is the sinfulness of mankind and how we deserve to be condemned for our sins. Reading about Israel is like looking at ourselves in a mirror, and we do not like what we see.

But at the very place "where sin increased," namely, in Israel, God caused grace to increase all the more . Among the very people where the Law caused the trespass of Adam to explode like an atomic bomb, the grace of God exploded like the more powerful hydrogen bomb. This explosion of grace came in the person and work of Jesus the Messiah, which was the reason for Israel's existence in the first place. Thus the Law itself had a large part in Israel's purpose of preparation for the coming of the Savior. By increasing the consciousness of sin, it increased the sense of need for grace, and thereby caused at least some Israelites to welcome the Messiah all the more. This is one way the law, even the Law of Moses, should still function today.

5:21 so that, just as sin reigned in death . . . . "So that" introduces another purpose statement. It tells the reason why God wanted grace to increase, i.e., to be accepted by more and more sinners. The train of thought in vv. 20-21 is this: God added the Law so that the awareness of sin might increase (20a). He wants the awareness of sin to increase so that grace may be all the more accepted and increased (20b). And he wants grace to increase so that it might defeat sin and death and reign triumphantly in the end (21).

This thought is stated in the form of one last comparison. "Just as sin reigned in death" sums up the point about Adam in 5:12-19. Paul has said twice (vv. 14, 17) that death reigned through Adam's sin. But here he identifies the true tyrant, sin itself. Sin not only rules the sinner's heart in a state of spiritual death (Eph 2:1, 5; Col 2:13); it also tyrannizes man's physical existence by causing it to be permeated with the inescapable canker of bodily death. The aorist (past) tense is used in reference to the sin of Adam, at which time sin "established its reign" (Dunn, I:287).

. . . so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The reign of sin and death is not the final word. Adam is not the victor; Jesus is. Sin reigned in death, and still does to some degree; but grace will ultimately reign in life, and already does to some degree. Grace reigns through righteousness, the righteousness of God which is the content of the gospel (1:17) and which was established by Christ's incomparable atoning sacrifice wherein he paid the penalty for our sins. When this gift of imputed righteousness is bestowed upon the believing sinner, sin and death become defeated enemies and grace reigns triumphant unto eternal life, all because of the all-sufficient redemptive work of Jesus Christ our Lord.

This statement appropriately brings the second main section of Romans to an end. In the first section Paul showed how law cannot succeed as a way to heaven, since that could happen only if one kept the law perfectly, which no one has done. Then here in the second section the Apostle has shown how God provided an alternative way into heaven, the way of salvation known as grace . This he has done only through the propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus Christ, on the basis of which a believing sinner is justified or declared righteous before God. Knowing that we are justified by faith in Jesus Christ gives us a sure foundation for hope. The sin and death which once ruled over us have been forever vanquished by the power of his blood. Grace reigns!

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

McGarvey: Rom 5:1

Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ ;

McGarvey: Rom 5:2

through whom also we have had our access by faith into this grace wherein we stand; and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God . [Having fully established justification by faith as a fact beyond all controversy, the apostle now proceeds to display its fruits and benefits. Therefore, says he, being justified or accounted righteous because of our faith, we have, through the merits of Jesus Christ, obtained peace with God; that is to say, we have the friendship of God, and our disquieted conscience has grown tranquil in the assurance that God no longer regards us as enemies, to be subdued, or criminals, to be punished. And, through the merits of Christ, we have also entered, by faith, into this gracious state of covenant relationship, favor, fellowship and communion with God which is now accorded us, and by which we are now strengthened and established, and we have hope of that infinitely greater fellowship and communion which we shall enjoy when we stand at last in the revealed glory of God -- Joh 17:24 ; Rev 21:11 ; Rev 22:4-5]

Introduction / Outline

Robertson: Romans (Book Introduction)

The Epistle to the Romans

Spring of a.d. 57

By Way of Introduction

Integrity of the Epistle

The genuineness of the Epistle is so generally admitted by scholars that it is unnecessary to prove it here, for Loman, Steck, and the Dutch scholars (Van Manen, etc.) who deny it as Pauline are no longer taken seriously. He wrote it from Corinth because he sent it to Rome by Phoebe of Cenchreae (Rom_16:2) if chapter 16 is acknowledged to be a part of the Epistle. Chapter 16 is held by some to be really a short epistle to Ephesus because of the long list of names in it, because of Paul’s long stay in Ephesus, because he had not yet been to Rome, and because, in particular, Aquila and Priscilla are named (Rom_16:3-5) who had been with Paul in Ephesus. But they had come from Rome before going to Corinth and there is no reason for thinking that they did not return to Rome. It was quite possible for Paul to have many friends in Rome whom he had met elsewhere. People naturally drifted to Rome from all over the empire. The old MSS. (Aleph A B C D) give chapter 16 as an integral part of the Epistle. Marcion rejected it and chapter 15 also for reasons of his own. Renan’s theory that Romans was a circular letter like Ephesians sent in different forms to different churches (Rome, Ephesus, Thessalonica, etc.) has appealed to some scholars as explaining the several doxologies in the Epistle, but they cause no real difficulty since Paul interjected them in his other epistles according to his moods (2Co_1:20, for instance). That theory raises more problems than it solves as, for example, Paul’s remarks about going to Rome (Rom_1:9-16) which apply to Rome. Lightfoot suggests the possibility that Paul added Rom_16:25-27 some years after the original date so as to turn it into a circular letter. But the MSS. do not support that theory and that leaves Rom_15:22-33 in the Epistle quite unsuitable to a circular letter. Modern knowledge leaves the Epistle intact with occasional variations in the MSS. on particular points as is true of all the N.T.

The Time and Place

The place is settled if we accept Rom_16:1. The time of the year is in the spring if we combine statements in the Acts and the Epistle. He says: " I am now going to Jerusalem ministering to the saints" (Rom_15:25). In Act_20:3 we read that Paul spent three months in Corinth. In II Corinthians we have a full account of the collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem. The account of the journey from Corinth to Jerusalem is given in Acts 20:3-21:17. It was in the spring between passover at Philippi (Act_20:6) and pentecost in Jerusalem (Act_20:16; Act_21:17). The precise year is not quite so certain, but we may suggest a.d. 57 or 58 with reasonable confidence.

The Purpose

Paul tells this himself. He had long cherished a desire to come to Rome (Act_19:21) and had often made his plans to do so (Rom_1:13) which were interrupted (Rom_15:22), but now he definitely plans to go from Jerusalem, after taking the contribution there (Rom_15:26), to Rome and then on to Spain (Rom_15:24, Rom_15:28). Meanwhile he sends this Epistle that the Romans may know what Paul’s gospel really is (Rom_1:15; Rom_2:16). He is full of the issues raised by the Judaizing controversy as set forth in the Epistles to Corinth and to Galatia. So in a calmer mood and more at length he presents his conception of the Righteousness demanded by God (Rom_1:17) of both Gentile (Rom_1:18-32) and Jew (Romans 2:1-3:20) and only to be obtained by faith in Christ who by his atoning death (justification) has made it possible (Romans 3:21-5:21). This new life of faith in Christ should lead to holiness of life (sanctification, chapters Romans 6-8). This is Paul’s gospel and the remaining chapters deal with corollaries growing out of the doctrine of grace as applied to practical matters. It is a cause for gratitude that Paul did write out so full a statement of his message. He had a message for the whole world and was anxious to win the Roman Empire to Christ. It was important that he go to Rome for it was the centre of the world’s life. Nowhere does Paul’s Christian statesmanship show to better advantage than in this greatest of his Epistles. It is not a book of formal theology though Paul is the greatest of theologians. Here Paul is seen in the plenitude of his powers with all the wealth of his knowledge of Christ and his rich experience in mission work. The church in Rome is plainly composed of both Jews and Greeks, though who started the work there we have no way of knowing. Paul’s ambition was to preach where no one else had been (Rom_15:20), but he has no hesitation in going on to Rome.

JFB: Romans (Book Introduction)

THE GENUINENESS of the Epistle to the Romans has never been questioned. It has the unbroken testimony of all antiquity, up to CLEMENT OF ROME, the apostle's "fellow laborer in the Gospel, whose name was in the Book of Life" (Phi 4:3), and who quotes from it in his undoubted Epistle to the Corinthians, written before the close of the first century. The most searching investigations of modern criticism have left it untouched.

WHEN and WHERE this Epistle was written we have the means of determining with great precision, from the Epistle itself compared with the Acts of the Apostles. Up to the date of it the apostle had never been at Rome (Rom 1:11, Rom 1:13, Rom 1:15). He was then on the eve of visiting Jerusalem with a pecuniary contribution for its Christian poor from the churches of Macedonia and Achaia, after which his purpose was to pay a visit to Rome on his way to Spain (Rom 15:23-28). Now this contribution we know that he carried with him from Corinth, at the close of his third visit to that city, which lasted three months (Act 20:2-3; Act 24:17). On this occasion there accompanied him from Corinth certain persons whose names are given by the historian of the Acts (Act 20:4), and four of these are expressly mentioned in our Epistle as being with the apostle when he wrote it--Timotheus, Sosipater, Gaius, and Erastus (Rom 16:21, Rom 16:23). Of these four, the third, Gaius, was an inhabitant of Corinth (1Co 1:14), and the fourth, Erastus, was "chamberlain of the city" (Rom 16:23), which can hardly be supposed to be other than Corinth. Finally, Phœbebe, the bearer, as appears, of this Epistle, was a deaconess of the Church at Cenchrea, the eastern port of Corinth (Rom 16:1). Putting these facts together, it is impossible to resist the conviction, in which all critics agree, that Corinth was the place from which the Epistle was written, and that it was despatched about the close of the visit above mentioned, probably in the early spring of the year 58.FOUNDER of this celebrated church is unknown. That it owed its origin to the apostle Peter, and that he was its first bishop, though an ancient tradition and taught in the Church of Rome as a fact not to be doubted, is refuted by the clearest evidence, and is given up even by candid Romanists. On that supposition, how are we to account for so important a circumstance being passed by in silence by the historian of the Acts, not only in the narrative of Peter's labors, but in that of Paul's approach to the metropolis, of the deputations of Roman "brethren" that came as far as Appii Forum and the Three Taverns to meet him, and of his two years' labors there (Act 28:15, Act 28:30)? And how, consistently with his declared principle--not to build on another man's foundation (Rom 15:20) --could he express his anxious desire to come to them that he might have some fruit among them also, even as among other Gentiles (Rom 1:13), if all the while he knew that they had the apostle of the circumcision for their spiritual father? And how, if so, is there no salutation to Peter among the many in this Epistle? or, if it may be thought that he was known to be elsewhere at that particular time, how does there occur in all the Epistles which our apostle afterwards wrote from Rome not one allusion to such an origin of the church at Rome? The same considerations would seem to prove that this church owed its origin to no prominent Christian laborer; and this brings us to the much-litigated question.

For WHAT CLASS of Christians was this Epistle principally designed--Jewish or Gentile? That a large number of Jews and Jewish proselytes resided at this time at Rome is known to all who are familiar with the classical and Jewish writers of that and the immediately subsequent periods; and that those of them who were at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Act 2:10), and formed probably part of the three thousand converts of that day, would on their return to Rome carry the glad tidings with them, there can be no doubt. Nor are indications wanting that some of those embraced in the salutations of this Epistle were Christians already of long standing, if not among the earliest converts to the Christian faith. Others of them who had made the apostle's acquaintance elsewhere, and who, if not indebted to him for their first knowledge of Christ, probably owed much to his ministrations, seemed to have charged themselves with the duty of cherishing and consolidating the work of the Lord in the capital. And thus it is not improbable that up to the time of the apostle's arrival the Christian community at Rome had been dependent upon subordinate agency for the increase of its numbers, aided by occasional visits of stated preachers from the provinces; and perhaps it may be gathered from the salutations of the last chapter that it was up to that time in a less organized, though far from less flourishing state, than some other churches to whom the apostle had already addressed Epistles. Certain it is, that the apostle writes to them expressly as a Gentile Church (Rom 1:13, Rom 1:15; Rom 15:15-16); and though it is plain that there were Jewish Christians among them, and the whole argument presupposes an intimate acquaintance on the part of his readers with the leading principles of the Old Testament, this will be sufficiently explained by supposing that the bulk of them, having before they knew the Lord been Gentile proselytes to the Jewish faith, had entered the pale of the Christian Church through the gate of the ancient economy.

It remains only to speak briefly of the PLAN and CHARACTER Of this Epistle. Of all the undoubted Epistles of our apostle, this is the most elaborate, and at the same time the most glowing. It has just as much in common with a theological treatise as is consistent with the freedom and warmth of a real letter. Referring to the headings which we have prefixed to its successive sections, as best exhibiting the progress of the argument and the connection of its points, we here merely note that its first great topic is what may be termed the legal relation of man to God as a violator of His holy law, whether as merely written on the heart, as in the case of the heathen, or, as in the case of the Chosen People, as further known by external revelation; that it next treats of that legal relation as wholly reversed through believing connection with the Lord Jesus Christ; and that its third and last great topic is the new life which accompanies this change of relation, embracing at once a blessedness and a consecration to God which, rudimentally complete already, will open, in the future world, into the bliss of immediate and stainless fellowship with God. The bearing of these wonderful truths upon the condition and destiny of the Chosen People, to which the apostle next comes, though it seem but the practical application of them to his kinsmen according to the flesh, is in some respects the deepest and most difficult part of the whole Epistle, carrying us directly to the eternal springs of Grace to the guilty in the sovereign love and inscrutable purposes of God; after which, however, we are brought back to the historical platform of the visible Church, in the calling of the Gentiles, the preservation of a faithful Israelitish remnant amidst the general unbelief and fall of the nation, and the ultimate recovery of all Israel to constitute, with the Gentiles in the latter day, one catholic Church of God upon earth. The remainder of the Epistle is devoted to sundry practical topics, winding up with salutations and outpourings of heart delightfully suggestive.

JFB: Romans (Outline)

• INTRODUCTION. (Rom. 1:1-17)
• THE JEW UNDER LIKE CONDEMNATION WITH THE GENTILE. (Rom. 2:1-29)
• JEWISH OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. (Rom 3:1-8)
• THAT THE JEW IS SHUT UP UNDER LIKE CONDEMNATION WITH THE GENTILE IS PROVED BY HIS OWN SCRIPTURE. (Rom 3:9-20)
• GOD'S JUSTIFYING RIGHTEOUSNESS THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, ALIKE ADAPTED TO OUR NECESSITIES AND WORTHY OF HIMSELF. (Rom 3:21-26)
• INFERENCES FROM THE FOREGOING DOCTRINES AND AN OBJECTION ANSWERED. (Rom 3:27-31)
• THE FOREGOING DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ILLUSTRATED FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT. (Rom. 4:1-25)
• THE BLESSED EFFECTS OF JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. (Rom 5:1-11)
• COMPARISON AND CONTRAST BETWEEN ADAM AND CHRIST IN THEIR RELATION TO THE HUMAN FAMILY. (Rom 5:12-21)
• THE BEARING OF JUSTIFICATION BY GRACE UPON A HOLY LIFE. (Rom 6:1-11)
• WHAT PRACTICAL USE BELIEVERS SHOULD MAKE OF THEIR DEATH TO SIN AND LIFE TO GOD THROUGH UNION TO THE CRUCIFIED SAVIOUR. (Rom 6:12-23)
• SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED. (Rom. 7:1-25)
• CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE ARGUMENT--THE GLORIOUS COMPLETENESS OF THEM THAT ARE IN CHRIST JESUS. (Rom. 8:1-39)
• THE BEARING OF THE FOREGOING TRUTHS UPON THE CONDITION AND DESTINY OF THE CHOSEN PEOPLE--ELECTION--THE CALLING OF THE GENTILES. (Rom. 9:1-33)
• SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED--HOW ISRAEL CAME TO MISS SALVATION, AND THE GENTILES TO FIND IT. (Rom. 10:1-21)
• SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED AND CONCLUDED--THE ULTIMATE INBRINGING OF ALL ISRAEL, TO BE, WITH THE GENTILES, ONE KINGDOM OF GOD ON THE EARTH. (Rom. 11:1-36)
• DUTIES OF BELIEVERS, GENERAL AND PARTICULAR. (Rom. 12:1-21)
• SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED--POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RELATIONS--MOTIVES. (Rom 13:1-14)
• SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED--CHRISTIAN FORBEARANCE. (Rom. 14:1-23)
• SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED AND CONCLUDED. (Rom 15:1-13)
• CONCLUSION: IN WHICH THE APOSTLE APOLOGIZES FOR THUS WRITING TO THE ROMAN CHRISTIANS, EXPLAINS WHY HE HAD NOT YET VISITED THEM, ANNOUNCES HIS FUTURE PLANS, AND ASKS THEIR PRAYERS FOR THE COMPLETION OF THEM. (Rom. 15:14-33)
• CONCLUSION, EMBRACING SUNDRY SALUTATIONS AND DIRECTIONS, AND A CLOSING PRAYER. (Rom. 16:1-27)
• WHY THIS DIVINELY PROVIDED RIGHTEOUSNESS IS NEEDED BY ALL MEN. (Rom 1:18)
• THIS WRATH OF GOD, REVEALED AGAINST ALL INIQUITY, OVERHANGS THE WHOLE HEATHEN WORLD. (Rom 1:18-32)

TSK: Romans (Book Introduction)

The Epistle to the Romans is " a writing," says Dr. Macknight, " which, for sublimity and truth of sentiment, for brevity and strength of expression, for regularity in its structure, but above all, for the unspeakable importance of the discoveries which it contains, stands unrivalled by any mere human composition, and as far exceeds the most celebrated productions of the learned Greeks and Romans, as the shining of the sun exceeds the twinkling of the stars." " The plan of it is very extensive; and it is surprising to see what a spacious field of knowledge is comprised, and how many various designs, arguments, explications, instructions, and exhortations, are executed in so small a compass....The whole Epistle is to be taken in connection, or considered as one continued discourse; and the sense of every part must be taken from the drift of the whole. Every sentence, or verse, is not to be regarded as a distinct mathematical proposition, or theorem, or as a sentence in the book of Proverbs, whose sense is absolute, and independent of what goes before, or comes after, but we must remember, that every sentence, especially in the argumentative part, bears relation to, and is dependent upon, the whole discourse, and cannot be rightly understood unless we understand the scope and drift of the whole; and therefore, the whole Epistle, or at least the eleven first chapters of it, ought to be read over at once, without stopping. As to the use and excellency of this Epistle, I shall leave it to speak for itself, when the reader has studied and well digested its contents....This Epistle will not be difficult to understand, if our minds are unprejudiced, and at liberty to attend to the subject, and to the current scriptural sense of the words used. Great care is taken to guard and explain every part of the subject; no part of it is left unexplained or unguarded. Sometimes notes are written upon a sentence, liable to exception and wanting explanation, as Rom 2:12-16. Here Rom 2:13 and Rom 2:15 are a comment upon the former part of it. Sometimes are found comments upon a single word; as Rom 10:11-13. Rom 10:12 and Rom 10:13 are a comment upon πας [Strong’s 3956]

TSK: Romans 5 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

Rom 5:1, Being justified by faith, we have peace with God; Rom 5:2, and joy in our hope; Rom 5:8, that since we were reconciled by his blood, when we were enemies; Rom 5:10, we shall much more be saved, being reconciled; Rom 5:12, As sin and death came by Adam; Rom 5:17, so much more righteousness and life by Jesus Christ; Rom 5:20, Where sin abounded, grace did superabound.

Poole: Romans 5 (Chapter Introduction)

CHAPTER 5

MHCC: Romans (Book Introduction)

The scope or design of the apostle in writing to the Romans appears to have been, to answer the unbelieving, and to teach the believing Jew; to confirm the Christian and to convert the idolatrous Gentile; and to show the Gentile convert as equal with the Jewish, in respect of his religious condition, and his rank in the Divine favour. These several designs are brought into on view, by opposing or arguing with the infidel or unbelieving Jew, in favour of the Christian or believing Gentile. The way of a sinner's acceptance with God, or justification in his sight, merely by grace, through faith in the righteousness of Christ, without distinction of nations, is plainly stated. This doctrine is cleared from the objections raised by Judaizing Christians, who were for making terms of acceptance with God by a mixture of the law and the gospel, and for shutting out the Gentiles from any share in the blessings of salvation brought in by the Messiah. In the conclusion, holiness is further enforced by practical exhortations.

MHCC: Romans 5 (Chapter Introduction)

(Rom 5:1-5) The happy effects of justification through faith in the righteousness of Christ.

(Rom 5:6-11) That we are reconciled by his blood.

(Rom 5:12-14) The fall of Adam brought all mankind into sin and death.

(Rom 5:15-19) The grace of God, through the righteousness of Christ, has more power to bring salvation, than Adam's sin had to bring misery.

(Rom 5:20, Rom 5:21) As grace did superabound.

Matthew Henry: Romans (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans

If we may compare scripture with scripture, and take the opinion of some devout and pious persons, in the Old Testament David's Psalms, and in the New Testament Paul's Epistles, are stars of the first magnitude, that differ from the other stars in glory. The whole scripture is indeed an epistle from heaven to earth: but in it we have upon record several particular epistles, more of Paul's than of any other, for he was the chief of the apostles, and laboured more abundantly than they all. His natural parts, I doubt not, were very pregnant; his apprehension was quick and piercing; his expressions were fluent and copious; his affections, wherever he took, very warm and zealous, and his resolutions no less bold and daring: this made him, before his conversion, a very keen and bitter persecutor; but when the strong man armed was dispossessed, and the stronger than he came to divide the spoil and to sanctify these qualifications, he became the most skilful zealous preacher; never any better fitted to win souls, nor more successful. Fourteen of his epistles we have in the canon of scripture; many more, it is probable, he wrote in the course of his ministry, which might be profitable enough for doctrine, for reproof, etc., but, not being given by inspiration of God, they were not received as canonical scripture, nor handed down to us. Six epistles, said to be Paul's, written to Seneca, and eight of Seneca's to him, are spoken of by some of the ancients [ Sixt. Senens. Biblioth. Sanct. lib. 2] and are extant; but, upon the first view, they appear spurious and counterfeit.

This epistle to the Romans is placed first, not because of the priority of its date, but because of the superlative excellency of the epistle, it being one of the longest and fullest of all, and perhaps because of the dignity of the place to which it is written. Chrysostom would have this epistle read over to him twice a week. It is gathered from some passages in the epistle that it was written Anno Christi 56, from Corinth, while Paul made a short stay there in his way to Troas, Act 20:5, Act 20:6. He commendeth to the Romans Phebe, a servant of the church at Cenchrea (ch. 16), which was a place belonging to Corinth. He calls Gaius his host, or the man with whom he lodged (Rom 16:23), and he was a Corinthian, not the same with Gaius of Derbe, mentioned Acts 20. Paul was now going up to Jerusalem, with the money that was given to the poor saints there; and of that he speaks, Rom 15:26. The great mysteries treated of in this epistle must needs produce in this, as in other writings of Paul, many things dark and hard to be understood, 2Pe 3:16. The method of this (as of several other of the epistles) is observable; the former part of it doctrinal, in the first eleven chapters; the latter part practical, in the last five: to inform the judgment and to reform the life. And the best way to understand the truths explained in the former part is to abide and abound in the practice of the duties prescribed in the latter part; for, if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, Joh 7:17.

I. The doctrinal part of the epistles instructs us,

1. Concerning the way of salvation (1.) The foundation of it laid in justification, and that not by the Gentiles' works of nature (ch. 1), nor by the Jews' works of the law (ch. 2, 3), for both Jews and Gentiles were liable to the curse; but only by faith in Jesus Christ, Rom 3:21, etc.; ch. 4. (2.) The steps of this salvation are, [1.] Peace with God, ch. 5. [2.] Sanctification, ch. 6, 7. [3.] Glorification, ch. 8.

2. Concerning the persons saved, such as belong to the election of grace (ch. 9), Gentiles and Jews, ch. 10, 11. By this is appears that the subject he discourses of were such as were then the present truths, as the apostle speaks, 2Pe 1:12. Two things the Jews then stumbled at - justification by faith without the works of the law, and the admission of the Gentiles into the church; and therefore both these he studied to clear and vindicate.

II. The practical part follows, wherein we find, 1. Several general exhortations proper for all Christians, ch. 12. 2. Directions for our behaviour, as members of civil society, Rom 13:1-14. 3. Rules for the conduct of Christians to one another, as members of the Christian church, ch. 14 and Rom 15:1-14.

III. As he draws towards a conclusion, he makes an apology for writing to them (Rom 15:14-16), gives them an account of himself and his own affairs (Rom 15:17-21), promises them a visit (Rom 15:22-29), begs their prayers (Rom 15:30-32), sends particular salutations to many friends there (ch. 16:1-16), warns them against those who caused divisions (Rom 16:17-20), adds the salutations of his friends with him (Rom 16:21-23), and ends with a benediction to them and a doxology to God (Rom 16:24-27).

Matthew Henry: Romans 5 (Chapter Introduction)

The apostle, having made good his point, and fully proved justification by faith, in this chapter proceeds in the explication, illustration, and application of that truth. I. He shows the fruits of justification (Rom 5:1-5). II. He shows the fountain and foundation of justification in the death of Jesus Christ, which he discourses of at large in the rest of the chapter.

Barclay: Romans (Book Introduction)

A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTERS OF PAUL

The Letters Of Paul

There is no more interesting body of documents in the New Testament than the letters of Paul. That is because of all forms of literature a letter is most personal. Demetrius, one of the old Greek literary critics, once wrote, "Every one reveals his own soul in his letters. In every other form of composition it is possible to discern the writercharacter, but in none so clearly as the epistolary." (Demetrius, On Style, 227.) It is just because he left us so many letters that we feel we know Paul so well. In them he opened his mind and heart to the folk he loved so much; and, in them, to this day, we can see that great mind grappling with the problems of the early church and feel that great heart throbbing with love for men, even when they were misguided and mistaken.

The Difficulty Of Letters

At the same time there is often nothing so difficult to understand as a letter. Demetrius (On Style, 223) quotes a saying of Artemon, who edited the letters of Aristotle. Artemon said that a letter ought to be written in the same manner as a dialogue, because it was one of the two sides of a dialogue. In other words, to read a letter is like listening to one side of a telephone conversation. So when we read the letters of Paul we are often in a difficulty. We do not possess the letter which he was answering; we do not fully know the circumstances with which he was dealing; it is only from the letter itself that we can deduce the situation which prompted it. Before we can hope to understand fully any letter Paul wrote, we must try to reconstruct the situation which produced it.

The Ancient Letters

It is a great pity that Paulletters were ever called epistles. They are in the most literal sense letters. One of the great lights shed on the interpretation of the New Testament has been the discovery and the publication of the papyri. In the ancient world, papyrus was the substance on which most documents were written. It was composed of strips of the pith of a certain bulrush that grew on the banks of the Nile. These strips were laid one on top of the other to form a substance very like brown paper. The sands of the Egyptian desert were ideal for preservation, for papyrus, although very brittle, will last for ever so long as moisture does not get at it. As a result, from the Egyptian rubbish heaps, archaeologists have rescued hundreds of documents, marriage contracts, legal agreements, government forms, and, most interesting of all, private letters. When we read these private letters we find that there was a pattern to which nearly all conformed; and we find that Paulletters reproduce exactly that pattern. Here is one of these ancient letters. It is from a soldier, called Apion, to his father Epimachus. He is writing from Misenum to tell his father that he has arrived safely after a stormy passage.

"Apion sends heartiest greetings to his father and lord Epimachus.

I pray above all that you are well and fit; and that things are

going well with you and my sister and her daughter and my

brother. I thank my Lord Serapis [his god] that he kept me safe

when I was in peril on the sea. As soon as I got to Misenum I got

my journey money from Caesar--three gold pieces. And things

are going fine with me. So I beg you, my dear father, send me a

line, first to let me know how you are, and then about my

brothers, and thirdly, that I may kiss your hand, because you

brought me up well, and because of that I hope, God willing, soon

to be promoted. Give Capito my heartiest greetings, and my

brothers and Serenilla and my friends. I sent you a little picture

of myself painted by Euctemon. My military name is Antonius

Maximus. I pray for your good health. Serenus sends good

wishes, Agathos Daimonboy, and Turbo, Galloniuson."

(G. Milligan, Selections from the Greek Papyri, 36.)

Little did Apion think that we would be reading his letter to his father 1800 years after he had written it. It shows how little human nature changes. The lad is hoping for promotion quickly. Who will Serenilla be but the girl he left behind him? He sends the ancient equivalent of a photograph to the folk at home. Now that letter falls into certain sections. (i) There is a greeting. (ii) There is a prayer for the health of the recipients. (iii) There is a thanksgiving to the gods. (iv) There are the special contents. (v) Finally, there are the special salutations and the personal greetings. Practically every one of Paulletters shows exactly the same sections, as we now demonstrate.

(i) The Greeting: Rom_1:1 ; 1Co_1:1 ; 2Co_1:1 ; Gal_1:1 ; Eph_1:1 ; Phi_1:1 ; Col_1:1-2 ; 1Th_1:1 ; 2Th_1:1 .

(ii) The Prayer: in every case Paul prays for the grace of God on the people to whom he writes: Rom_1:7 ; 1Co_1:3 ; 2Co_1:2 ; Gal_1:3 ; Eph_1:2 ; Phi_1:3 ; Col_1:2 ; 1Th_1:1 ; 2Th_1:2 .

(iii) The Thanksgiving: Rom_1:8 ; 1Co_1:4 ; 2Co_1:3 ; Eph_1:3 ; Phi_1:3 ; 1Th_1:3 ; 2Th_1:3 .

(iv) The Special Contents: the main body of the letters.

(v) Special Salutations and Personal Greetings: Rom 16 ; 1Co_16:19 ; 2Co_13:13 ; Phi_4:21-22 ; Col_4:12-15 ; 1Th_5:26 .

When Paul wrote letters, he wrote them on the pattern which everyone used. Deissmann says of them, "They differ from the messages of the homely papyrus leaves of Egypt, not as letters but only as the letters of Paul." When we read Paulletters we are not reading things which were meant to be academic exercises and theological treatises, but human documents written by a friend to his friends.

The Immediate Situation

With a very few exceptions, all Paulletters were written to meet an immediate situation and not treatises which he sat down to write in the peace and silence of his study. There was some threatening situation in Corinth, or Galatia, or Philippi, or Thessalonica, and he wrote a letter to meet it. He was not in the least thinking of us when he wrote, but solely of the people to whom he was writing. Deissmann writes, "Paul had no thought of adding a few fresh compositions to the already extant Jewish epistles; still less of enriching the sacred literature of his nation. He had no presentiment of the place his words would occupy in universal history; not so much that they would be in existence in the next generation, far less that one day people would look at them as Holy Scripture." We must always remember that a thing need not be transient because it was written to meet an immediate situation. All the great love songs of the world were written for one person, but they live on for the whole of mankind. It is just because Paulletters were written to meet a threatening danger or a clamant need that they still throb with life. And it is because human need and the human situation do not change that God speaks to us through them today.

The Spoken Word

One other thing we must note about these letters. Paul did what most people did in his day. He did not normally pen his own letters but dictated them to a secretary, and then added his own authenticating signature. (We actually know the name of one of the people who did the writing for him. In Rom_16:22 Tertius, the secretary, slips in his own greeting before the letter draws to an end.) In 1Co_16:21 Paul says, "This is my own signature, my autograph, so that you can be sure this letter comes from me" (compare Col_4:18 ; 2Th_3:17 ).

This explains a great deal. Sometimes Paul is hard to understand, because his sentences begin and never finish; his grammar breaks down and the construction becomes involved. We must not think of him sitting quietly at a desk, carefully polishing each sentence as he writes. We must think of him striding up and down some little room, pouring out a torrent of words, while his secretary races to get them down. When Paul composed his letters, he had in his mindeye a vision of the folk to whom he was writing, and he was pouring out his heart to them in words that fell over each other in his eagerness to help.

INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

The Epistle That Is Different

There is an obvious difference between PaulLetter to the Romans and any other of his letters. Anyone coming from, say, a reading of the Letters to the Corinthians, will immediately feel that difference, both of atmosphere and of method. A very great part of it is due to one basic fact--when Paul wrote to the Church at Rome he was writing to a Church with whose founding he had had nothing whatever to do and with which he had had no personal contact at all. That explains why in Romans there are so few of the details of practical problems which fill the other letters. That is why Romans, at first sight, seems so much more impersonal. As Dibelius put it, "It is of all Paulletters the least conditioned by the momentary situation."

We may put that in another way. Romans, of all Paulletters, comes nearest to being a theological treatise. In almost all his other letters he is dealing with some immediate trouble, some pressing situation, some current error, some threatening danger, which was menacing the Church to which he was writing. Romans is the nearest approach to a systematic exposition of Paulown theological position, independent of any immediate set of circumstances.

Testamentary And Prophylactic

Because of that, two great scholars have applied two very illuminating adjectives to Romans. Sanday called Romans "testamentary." It is as if Paul was writing his theological last will and testament, as if into Romans he was distilling the very essence of his faith and belief. Rome was the greatest city in the world, the capital of the greatest Empire the world had ever seen. Paul had never been there, and he did not know if he ever would be there. But, in writing to such a Church in such a city, it was fitting that he should set down the very centre and core of his belief. Burton called Romans "prophylactic." A prophylactic is something which guards against infection. Paul had seen too often what harm and trouble could be caused by wrong ideas, twisted notions, misguided conceptions of Christian faith and belief. He therefore wished to send to the Church in the city which was the centre of the world a letter which would so build up the structure of their faith that, if infections should ever come to them, they might have in the true word of Christian doctrine a powerful and effective defence. He felt that the best protection against the infection of false teaching was the antiseptic of the truth.

The Occasion Of PaulWriting To Rome

All his life Paul had been haunted by the thought of Rome. It had always been one of his dreams to preach there. When he is in Ephesus, he is planning to go through Achaea and Macedonia again, and then comes a sentence obviously dropped straight from the heart, "After I have been there, I must also see Rome" (Act_19:21 ). When he was up against things in Jerusalem, and the situation looked threatening and the end seemed near, he had one of those visions which always lifted up his heart. In that vision the Lord stood by him and said, "Take courage, Paul. For as you have testified about me at Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also at Rome" (Act_23:11 ). In the very first chapter of this letter Pauldesire to see Rome breathes out. "I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you" (Rom_1:11 ). "So, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome" (Rom_1:15 ). It might well be said that the name Rome was written on Paulheart.

When he actually wrote the Letter to the Romans, the date was sometime in the year A.D. 58, and he was in Corinth. He was just about to bring to its completion a scheme that was very dear to his heart. The Church at Jerusalem was the mother Church of them all, but it was poor, and Paul had organized a collection throughout the younger churches for it (1Co_16:1 ; 2Co_9:1 ). That collection was two things. It was an opportunity for his younger converts to put Christian charity into Christian action, and it was a most practical way of impressing on all Christians the unity of the Christian Church, of teaching them that they were not members of isolated and independent congregations, but of one great Church, each part of which had a responsibility to all the rest. When Paul wrote Romans he was just about to set out with that gift for the Jerusalem Church. "At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem with aid for the saints" (Rom_15:25 ).

The Object Of PaulWriting

Why, then, at such a moment should he write?

(a) Paul knew that the journey to Jerusalem was not without its peril. He knew that he had enemies there, and that to go to Jerusalem was to take his life and liberty in his hands. He desired the prayers of the Roman Church before he set out on this expedition. "Now I appeal to you brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judaea" (Rom_15:30-31 ). He was mobilizing the prayers of the Church before he embarked on this perilous undertaking.

(b) Paul had great schemes simmering in his mind. It has been said of him that he was "always haunted by the regions beyond." He never saw a ship at anchor but he wished to board her and to carry the good news to men across the sea. He never saw a range of mountains, blue in the distance, but he wished to cross them, and to bring the story of the Cross to men who had never heard it. At this time Paul was haunted by the thought of Spain. "I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain" (Rom_15:24 ). "When I have completed this [that is, when he had delivered the collection to the Church in Jerusalem] I shall go on by way of you to Spain" (Rom_15:28 ).

Why this great desire to go to Spain? Rome had opened up that land. Some of the great Roman roads and buildings still stand there to this day. And it so happened that, just at this time, there was a blaze of greatness in Spain. Many of the great figures who were writing their names on Roman history and literature were Spaniards. There was Martial, the master of the epigram. There was Lucan, the epic poet. There were Columella and Pomponius Mela, great figures in Roman literature. There was Quintilian, the master of Roman oratory. And, above all, there was Seneca, the greatest of the Roman Stoic philosophers, the tutor of the Emperor Nero, and the Prime Minister of the Roman Empire. It was most natural that Paulthoughts should go out to this land which was producing such a scintillating galaxy of greatness. What might happen if men like that could be touched for Christ? As far as we know Paul never got to Spain. On that visit to Jerusalem he was arrested and he was never freed again. But, when he was writing Romans, that was his dream.

Paul was a master strategist. He had an eye for the layout of territory like a great commander. He felt that by this time he could move on from Asia Minor and for the time being leave Greece behind. He saw the whole west lying in front of him, virgin territory to be won for Christ. But, if he was to launch a campaign in the west, he needed a base of operations. There was only one such base possible--and that was Rome.

That was why Paul wrote this letter to Rome. He had this great dream in his heart and this great plan in his mind. He needed Rome for a base for this new campaign. He was aware that the Church in Rome must know his name. But he was also aware, for he was a realist, that the reports which reached Rome would be mixed. His opponents were not above spreading slanders and false accusation against him. So he wrote this letter to set out for the Church at Rome an account of the very essence of his belief, in order that, when the time came for action, he might find in Rome a sympathetic Church from which the lines of communication might go out to Spain and the west. It was with such a plan and such an intention, that in A.D. 58 Paul sat down in Corinth to write his letter to the Church at Rome.

The Layout Of The Letter

Romans is at once a very complicated and a very carefully constructed letter. It will therefore help us to find our way through it, if we have in our minds an idea of its framework. It falls into four definite divisions.

(i) Rom 1-8, which deal with the problem of righteousness.

(ii) Rom 9-11, which deal with problem of the Jews, the chosen

people.

(iii) Rom 12-15, which deal with practical questions of life and

living.

(iv) Rom 16 , which is a letter of introduction for Phoebe,

and a list of final personal greetings.

(i) When Paul uses the word "righteousness," he means a right relationship with God The man who is righteous is the man who is in a right relationship with God, and whose life shows it.

Paul begins with a survey of the Gentile world. We have only to look at its decadence and corruption to know that it had not solved the problem of righteousness. He looks at the Jewish world. The Jews had sought to solve the problem of righteousness by meticulous obedience to the law. Paul had tried that way himself, and it had issued in frustration and defeat, because no man on earth can ever fully obey the law, and, therefore, every man must have the continual consciousness of being in debt to God and under his condemnation.

So Paul finds the way to righteousness in the way of utter trust and utter yieldedness. The only way to a right relationship with God is to take him at his word, and to cast oneself, just as one is, on his mercy and love. It is the way of faith. It is to know that the important thing is, not what we can do for God, but what he has done for us. For Paul the centre of the Christian faith was that we can never earn or deserve the favour of God, nor do we need to. The whole matter is one of grace, and all that we can do is to accept in wondering love and gratitude and trust what God has done for us.

That does not free us, however, from obligations or entitle us to do as we like; it means that for ever and for ever we must try to be worthy of the love which does so much for us. But we are no longer trying to fulfil the demands of stern and austere and condemnatory law; we are no longer like criminals before a judge; we are lovers who have given all life in love to the one who first loved us.

(ii) The problem of the Jews was a torturing one. In a real sense they were Godchosen people, and yet, when his Son had come into the world, they had rejected him. What possible explanation could there be for this heart-breaking fact?

The only one Paul could find was that, in the end, it was all Goddoing. Somehow the hearts of the Jews had been hardened; but it was not all failure, for there had always been a faithful remnant. Nor was it for nothing, for the very fact that the Jews had rejected Christ opened the door so the Gentiles would bring in the Jews and all men would be saved.

Paul goes further. The Jew had always claimed that he was a member of the chosen people in virtue of the fact that he was a Jew. It was solely a matter of pure racial descent from Abraham. But Paul insists that the real Jew is not the man whose flesh and blood descent can be traced to Abraham. He is the man who has made the same decision of utter yieldedness to God in loving faith which Abraham made. Therefore, Paul argues, there are many pure-blooded Jews who are not Jews in the real sense of the term at all; and there are many people of other nations who are really Jews in the true meaning of that word. The new Israel was not a racial thing at all; it was composed of those who had the same faith as Abraham had had.

(iii) Rom 12 is so great an ethical statement that it must always be set alongside the Sermon on the Mount. In it Paul lays down the ethical character of the Christian faith. The fourteenth and fifteenth chapters deal with an ever-recurring problem. In the Church there was a narrower party who believed that they must abstain from certain foods and drinks, and who counted special days and ceremonies as of great importance. Paul thinks of them as the weaker brethren because their faith was dependent on these external things. There was a more liberal party, who had liberated themselves from these external rules and observances. He thinks of them as the brethren who are stronger in the faith. He makes it quite clear that his sympathies are with the more liberal party; but he lays down the great principle that no man must ever do anything to hurt the conscience of a weaker brother or to put a stumbling block in his way. His whole point of view is that we must never do anything which makes it harder for someone else to be a Christian; and that that may well mean the giving up of something, which is right and safe for us, for the sake of the weaker brother. Christian liberty must never be used in such a way that it injures anotherlife or conscience.

(iv) The fourth section is a recommendation on behalf of Phoebe, a member of the Church at Cenchreae, who is coming to Rome. The letter ends with a list of greetings and a final benediction.

Two Problems

Rom 16 has always presented scholars with a problem. Many have felt that it does not really form part of the Letter to the Romans at all; and that it is really a letter to some other Church which became attached to Romans when Paulletters were collected. What are their grounds? First and foremost, in this chapter Paul sends greetings to twenty-six different people, twenty-four of whom he mentions by name and all of whom he seems to know very intimately. He can, for instance, say that the mother of Rufus has also been a mother to him. Is it likely that Paul knew intimately twenty-six people in a Church which he had never visited? He, in fact, greets far more people in this chapter than he does in any other letter, and yet he had never set foot in Rome. Here is something that needs explanation.

If Rom 16 was not written to Rome, what was its original destination? It is here that Prisca and Aquila come into the argument. We know that they left Rome in A.D. 52 when Claudius issued his edict banishing the Jews (Act_18:2 ). We know that they went with Paul to Ephesus (Act_18:18 ). We know that they were in Ephesus when Paul wrote his letter to Corinth, less than two years before he wrote Romans (1Co_16:19 ). And we know that they were still in Ephesus when the Pastoral Epistles were written (2Ti_4:19 ). It is certain that if we had come across a letter sending greeting to Prisca and Aquila we should have assumed that it was sent to Ephesus, if no other address was given.

Is there any other evidence to make us think that chapter sixteen may have been sent to Ephesus in the first place? There is the perfectly general reason that Paul spent longer in Ephesus than anywhere else, and it would be very natural for him to send greetings to many people there. Paul speaks of Epaenetus, the first-fruits of Asia. Ephesus is in Asia, and such a reference, too, would be very natural in a letter to Ephesus, but not so natural in a letter to Rome. Rom_16:17 speaks about difficulties, in opposition to the doctrine which you have been taught, which sounds as if Paul was speaking about possible disobedience to his own teaching, and he had never taught in Rome.

It can be argued that the sixteenth chapter was originally addressed to Ephesus, but the argument is not so strong as it looks. For one thing, there is no evidence that the chapter was ever attached anywhere except to the Letter to the Romans. For another thing, the odd fact is that Paul does not send personal greetings to churches which he knew well. There are no personal greetings in Thessalonians, Corinthians, Galatians, and Philippians, all of them letters to churches he knew well; whereas there are personal greetings in Colossians, although Paul had never set foot in Colosse.

The reason is really quite simple. If Paul had sent personal greetings to churches he knew well, jealousies might well have arisen; on the other hand, when he was writing to churches he had never visited, he liked to establish as many personal links as possible. The very fact that Paul had never been in Rome makes it likely that he would try to establish as many personal connections as possible. Again, it is to be remembered that Prisca and Aquila were banished by edict from Rome. What is more likely than that, after the trouble was over, six or seven years later, they would return to Rome and pick up the threads of their business after their stay in other towns? And is it not most likely that many of the other names are names of people who shared in this banishment, who took up temporary residence in other cities, who met Paul there, and who, when the coast was clear, returned to Rome and their old homes? Paul would be delighted to have so many personal contacts in Rome and to seize hold of them.

Further, as we shall see, when we come to study chapter 16 in detail, many of the names--the households of Aristobulus and Narcissus, Amplias, Nereus and others--well suit Rome. In spite of the arguments for Ephesus, we may take it that there is no necessity to detach chapter sixteen from the Letter to the Romans.

But there is a more interesting, and a much more important, problem. The early manuscripts show some very curious things with regard to Rom 14-16. The only natural place for a doxology is at the very end. Rom_16:25-27 is a doxology, and in most good manuscripts it comes at the end. But in a number of manuscripts it comes at the end of Rom 14 ; two good manuscripts have it in both places; one ancient manuscript has it at the end of Rom 15 ; two manuscripts have it in neither place, but leave an empty space for it. One ancient Latin manuscript has a series of section summaries. The last two are as follows:

50: On the peril of him who grieves his brother by meat.

That is obviously Rom_14:15-23 .

51: On the mystery of the Lord, kept secret before his passion

but after his passion revealed.

That is equally clearly Rom_16:25-27 , the doxology. Clearly, these summaries were made from a manuscript which did not contain chapters fifteen and sixteen. Now there is one thing which sheds a flood of light on this. In one manuscript the mention of Rome in Rom_1:7 and Rom_1:15 is entirely omitted. There is no mention of any destination.

All this goes to show that Romans circulated in two forms--one form as we have it with sixteen chapters, and one with fourteen chapters; and perhaps also one with fifteen chapters. The explanation must be this. As Paul wrote it to Rome, it had sixteen chapters; but Rom 15-16 are private and personal to Rome. Now no other letter gives such a compendium of Pauldoctrine. What must have happened was that Romans began to circulate among all the churches, with the last two local chapters omitted, except for the doxology. It must have been felt that Romans was too fundamental to stop at Rome and so the purely local references were removed and it was sent out to the Church at large. From very early times the Church felt that Romans was so great an expression of the mind of Paul that it must become the possession not of one congregation, but of the whole Church. We must remember, as we study it, that men have always looked on Romans as the quintessence of Paulgospel.

FURTHER READING

Romans

C. H. Dodd, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans (MC; E)

A. M. Hunter, The Epistle to the Romans: The Law of Love (Tch; E)

W. Sanday and A.C. Headlam, Romans (Sixth edition, in two volumes, revised by C. E. B. Cranfield) (ICC; G)

Abbreviations

ICC: International Critical Commentary

MC : Moffatt Commentary

Tch: Torch Commentary

E: English Text

G: Greek Text

Barclay: Romans 5 (Chapter Introduction)

At Home With God (Rom_5:1-5)

The Final Proof Of Love (Rom_5:6-11)

Ruin And Rescue (Rom_5:12-21)

Constable: Romans (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Historical Background

Throughout the history of the church, from postapostolic times to the present, Christians have regarded Romans as having been one of the Apostle Paul's epistles.¹ Not only does the letter claim that he wrote it (1:1), but it develops many of the same ideas and uses the same terminology that appear in Paul's earlier writings (e.g., Gal. 2; 1 Cor. 12; 2 Cor. 8-9).

Following his conversion on the Damascus Road (34 A.D.), Paul preached in Damascus, spent some time in Arabia, and then returned to Damascus. Next he travelled to Jerusalem where he met briefly with Peter and James. He then moved on to Tarsus, which was evidently his base of operations and from which he ministered for about six years (37-43 A.D.). In response to an invitation from Barnabas he moved to Antioch of Syria where he served for about five years (43-48 A.D.). He and Barnabas then set out on their so-called first missionary journey into Asia Minor (48-49 A.D.). Returning to Antioch Paul wrote the Epistle to the Galatians to strengthen the churches that he and Barnabas had just planted in Asia Minor (49 A.D.). After the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15), Paul took Silas and began his second missionary journey (50-52 A.D.) through Asia Minor and on westward into the Roman provinces of Macedonia and Achaia. From Corinth, Paul wrote 1 and 2 Thessalonians (51 A.D.). He proceeded to Ephesus by ship and then on to Syrian Antioch. From there he set out on his third missionary journey (53-57 A.D.). Passing through Asia Minor he arrived in Ephesus where he labored for three years (53-56 A.D.). During this time he wrote 1 Corinthians (56 A.D.). Finally Paul left Ephesus and travelled by land to Macedonia where he wrote 2 Corinthians (56 A.D.). He continued south and spent the winter of 56-57 A.D. in Corinth. There he wrote the Epistle to the Romans and sent it by Phoebe (16:1-2) to the Roman church.

The apostle then proceeded from Corinth by land clockwise around the Aegean Sea back to Troas in Asia where he boarded a ship and eventually reached Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, the Jews arrested Paul and imprisoned him (57 A.D.). He arrived in Rome as a prisoner and ministered there for two years (60-62 A.D.). During this time he wrote the Prison Epistles (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon). The Romans freed Paul, and he returned to the Aegean area. There he wrote 1 Timothy and Titus, experienced arrest again, suffered imprisonment in Rome a second time, wrote 2 Timothy, and died as a martyr under Nero in A.D. 68.²

We know very little about the founding of the church in Rome. According to Ambrosiaster, a church father who lived in the fourth century, an apostle did not found it (thus discrediting the Roman Catholic claim that Peter founded the church). A group of Jewish Christians did.³ It is possible that these Jews became believers in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) or at some other time quite early in the church's history. By the time Paul wrote Romans the church in Rome was famous throughout the Roman Empire for its faith (1:18).

Purpose

Paul wrote this epistle under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit for several reasons.⁴ He wanted to prepare the way for his intended visit to the church (15:22-24). He evidently hoped that Rome would become a base of operations and support for his pioneer missionary work in Spain and the western portions of the empire that he had not yet evangelized. His full exposition of the gospel in this letter would have provided a solid foundation for their participation in this mission.

As Paul looked forward to returning to Jerusalem between his departure from Corinth and his arrival in Rome, he was aware of the danger he faced (15:31). He may have written the exhaustive exposition of the gospel that we have in Romans to set forth his teaching in case he did not reach Rome. From Rome his doctrine could then go out to the rest of the empire as others preached it. Paul may have viewed Romans as his legacy to the church, his last will and testament.

Another reason for writing Romans was undoubtedly Paul's desire to minister to the spiritual needs of the Christians in Rome even though they were in good spiritual condition (15:14-16). The common problems of all the early churches were dangers to the Roman church as well. These difficulties included internal conflicts, mainly between Jewish and Gentile believers, and external threats from false teachers. Paul gave both of these potential problems attention in this epistle (15:1-8; 16:17-20).

Paul also wrote Romans as he did because he was at a transition point in his ministry, as he mentioned at the end of chapter 15. His ministry in the Aegean region was solid enough that he planned to leave it and move farther west into new virgin missionary territory. Before he did that, he planned to visit Jerusalem where he realized he would be in danger. Probably therefore Paul wrote Romans as he did to leave a full exposition of the gospel in good hands if his ministry ended prematurely in Jerusalem.

"The peculiar position of the apostle at the time of writing, as he reviews the past and anticipates the future, enables us to understand the absence of controversy in this epistle, the conciliatory attitude, and the didactic and apologetic elements which are all found combined herein."⁵

The great contribution of this letter to the body of New Testament inspired revelation is its reasoned explanation of how God's righteousness can become man's possession.

The Book of Romans is distinctive among Paul's inspired writings in several respects. It was one of the few letters he wrote to churches with which he had had no personal dealings. The only other epistle of this kind was Colossians. It is also a formal treatise within a personal letter.⁶ Paul expounded on the gospel in this treatise. He probably did so in this epistle rather than in another because the church in Rome was at the heart of the Roman Empire. As such it was able to exert great influence in the dissemination of the gospel. For these two reasons Romans is more formal and less personal than most of Paul's other epistles.

The Epistle to the Romans is, by popular consent, the greatest of Paul's writings. William Tyndale, the great English reformer and translator, referred to Romans as "the principle and most excellent part of the New Testament." He went on to say the following in his prologue to Romans that he wrote in the 1534 edition of his English New Testament.

"No man verily can read it too oft or study it too well; for the more it is studied the easier it is, the more it is chewed the pleasanter it is, and the more groundly [sic] it is searched the preciouser [sic] things are found in it, so great treasures of spiritual things lieth hid therein."⁷

Martin Luther wrote the following commendation of this epistle.

"[Romans] is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul. It can never be read or pondered too much, and the more it is dealt with the more precious it becomes, and the better it tastes."⁸

Message⁹

Throughout the history of the church Christians have recognized this epistle as the most important book in the New Testament. The reason for this conviction is that it is an exposition of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Luther called Romans "the chief part of the New Testament and the perfect gospel." Coleridge, the English poet, declared it to be "the most profound work in existence." Frederick Godet, the French commentator, described it as "the cathedral of the Christian faith."¹⁰

To appreciate the message of this book it will be helpful first to consider Paul's presuppositions. He based these, of course, on Old Testament revelation concerning cosmology and history.

First, Paul assumed the God of the Old Testament. He assumed God's existence and full deity. He believed that God is holy and just. He also held that God is the creator, sustainer, and sovereign ruler of the universe.

Second, Paul's view of man is that he is subject to God's government of the universe. Man has received a measure of freedom from God, so he can choose to pursue sin. However, if he does so, he is still in the sovereign hand of God. God can allow the consequences of his sins to have their effects on him both now and forever. Man is also in authority over the rest of the material creation (Gen. 1:28). What man has experienced, the material creation also has experienced and reflects as a result of man's action.

Third, Paul's view of history was that of Old Testament revelation. The important historical events for Paul were those in his Scriptures.

Adam was the first man. He rebelled against God's authority. The result was threefold: the practical dethronement of God in the minds of Adam's descendents, the degradation of humanity, and the defilement of creation. This is a very different view of history from what evolutionists and humanists take. Man has lost his scepter because he rebelled against God's scepter.

Two other individuals were specially significant in history for Paul as we see in Romans: Abraham and Jesus Christ. God called Abraham to be a channel of blessing to the world. Christ is the greatest blessing. Through Him people and creation can experience restoration to God's original intention for them.

These are Paul's basic presuppositions on which all his reasoning in Romans rests. Romans is not the best book to put in the hands of an unsaved person to lead him or her to salvation. John is better for that purpose. However, Romans is the best book to put in the hands of a saved person to lead him or her to understand and appreciate our salvation.

We turn now to the major revelations in this book. These are its central teachings, the emphases that distinguish Romans from other books of the Bible.

First, Romans reveals the tragic helplessness of the human race. No other book of the Bible looks so fearlessly into the abysmal degradation that has resulted from human sin. If you read only 1:18-3:20, you will become depressed by its pessimism. If you keep reading, you will conclude from 3:21 on that we have the best, most optimistic news you have ever heard. This book is all about ruin and redemption. Its first great revelation is the absolute ruin and helplessness of the human race.

Paul divides the ruined race into two parts. The first of these is the Gentiles who have the light of nature. God has given everyone, Gentiles and Jews, the opportunity of observing and concluding two things about Himself: His wisdom and power. The average person as well as the scientist concludes that Someone wise must have put the natural world together, and He must be very powerful. Nevertheless having come to that conclusion he turns from God to vain reasonings, vile passions, unrighteous behavior, envy, murder, strife, deceit, insolence, pride, and perverted conduct. Just read today's newspaper and you will find confirmation of Paul's analysis of the human race.

The other part of the ruined race is the Jews who, in addition to the light of nature, also had the light of Scripture. Paul observed that in spite of his greater revelation and privilege the Jew behaves the same way as the Gentile. Yet he is a worse sinner. Having professed devotion to God and having claimed to be a teacher of the Gentiles because of his greater light he disobeys God and causes the Gentiles to blaspheme His name. Paul concluded, "There is none righteous, no, not one" (3:10). "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (3:23).

The second major revelation of Romans is the magnificence of the divine plan of salvation. This plan centers on Jesus Christ whom Paul introduced on the very first page of his letter (1:3-4). God declared to everyone that the Jesus of the Gospels is His Son by resurrecting Him.

Two words describe Christ's relation to the divine plan of salvation: manifestation and propitiation. The righteousness manifested in Him is available to people through His propitiation. God's righteousness is available to everyone because Jesus died as the perfect offering for sin. The righteousness we see in Jesus in the Gospel records is available to those who believe that His sacrifice satisfied God (3:21, 25).

We can also describe God's relation to the plan of salvation with two words: holiness and love. The plan of salvation that Romans expounds resulted from a holy God reaching out to sinful humanity lovingly (3:22, 24). This plan vindicates the holiness of God as it unveils God's gracious love (chs. 9-11).

Man's relation to the plan of salvation is threefold. It involves justification, the imputation of God's righteousness to the believing sinner. It also involves sanctification, the impartation of God's righteousness to the redeemed sinner. Third, it involves glorification, the perfection of God's righteousness in the sanctified sinner. In justification God lifts the sinner into a relationship with Himself that is more intimate than we would have enjoyed if we had never sinned. In sanctification God progressively transforms the sinner into the Savior's image by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. In glorification God finally restores the sinner to the place God intended for us to occupy in creation.

The creation's relation to the plan of salvation is twofold. God restores creation's king, man, to his intended position. Second, creation realizes all of its intended possibilities that sin has denied it.

Let us note next some of the lessons of this book. What did God want us to learn from it?

First, Romans calls us to measure ourselves by divine rather than human standards. We sometimes evaluate ourselves and one another by using the criteria that our age sets or that we set. However to know our true condition we must use the criteria that God sets. This standard reveals that we are all guilty before God. This is one of the great lessons that Romans teaches us.

Second, Romans calls us to live by faith rather than by sight. God did not come any closer to mankind in the incarnation of Christ than He ever had been. Yet in the incarnation the nearness of God became more obvious to people. In the resurrection the Son of God became observable as the Son of God to human beings. All the glories of salvation come to us as we believe God. Romans contrasts the folly of trying to obtain salvation by working for it with trusting God, simply believing what He has revealed as true.

Third, Romans calls us to dedicate ourselves to God rather than living self-centered lives (12:1). This is the reasonable response to having received salvation. We should give ourselves to God. God's grace puts us in His debt. Paul did not say that if we fail to dedicate ourselves to God we are unsaved. Rather he appeals to us as saved people to do for God what He has done for us, namely giving ourselves out of love. When we do this, we show that we truly appreciate what God has done for us.

On the basis of these observations I would summarize the message of Romans in these words. Since God has lovingly provided salvation for helpless sinners through His Son, we should accept that sacrifice by faith and express our gratitude to God by dedicating our lives to Him.

In conclusion let me suggest an application of the message of Romans.

In view of the greatness of the salvation that God has provided as Romans reveals, we, as Paul, have a duty to communicate this good news to the world (1:14-17; Matt. 28:19). We do this both by lip and life, by explanation and by example (8:29). Our living example will reflect death to self as well as life to God (6:13).

Constable: Romans (Outline)

Outline

I. Introduction 1:1-17

A. Salutation 1:1-7

1. The writer 1:1

2. The subject of the epistle 1:2-5

3. The original recipients 1:6-7

B. Purpose 1:8-15

C. Theme 1:16-17

II. The need for God's righteousness 1:18-3:20

A. The need of all people 1:18-32

1. The reason for human guilt 1:18

2. The ungodliness of mankind 1:19-27

3. The wickedness of mankind 1:28-32

B. The need of good people 2:1-3:8

1. God's principles of judgment 2:1-16

2. The guilt of the Jews 2:17-29

3. Answers to objections 3:1-8

C. The guilt of all humanity 3:9-20

III. The imputation of God's righteousness 3:21-5:21

A. The description of justification 3:21-26

B. The defense of justification by faith alone 3:27-31

C. The proof of justification by faith from the law ch. 4

1. Abraham's justification by faith 4:1-5

2. David's testimony to justification by faith 4:6-8

3. The priority of faith to circumcision 4:9-12

4. The priority of faith to the promise concerning headship of many nations 4:13-17

5. The exemplary value of Abraham's faith 4:18-22

6. Conclusions from Abraham's example 4:23-25

D. The benefits of justification 5:1-11

E. The universal applicability of justification 5:12-21

IV. The impartation of God's righteousness chs. 6-8

A. The believer's relationship to sin ch. 6

1. Freedom from sin 6:1-14

2. Slavery to righteousness 6:15-23

B. The believer's relationship to the law ch. 7

1. The law's authority 7:1-6

2. The law's activity 7:7-12

3. The law's inability 7:13-25

C. The believer's relationship to God ch. 8

1. Our deliverance from the flesh by the power of the Spirit 8:1-11

2. Our new relationship to God 8:12-17

3. Our present sufferings and future glory 8:18-25

4. Our place in God's sovereign plan 8:26-30

5. Our eternal security 8:31-39

V. The vindication of God's righteousness chs. 9-11

A. Israel's past election ch. 9

1. God's blessings on Israel 9:1-5

2. God's election of Israel 9:6-13

3. God's freedom to elect 9:14-18

4. God's mercy toward Israel 9:19-29

5. God's mercy toward the Gentiles 9:30-33

B. Israel's present rejection ch. 10

1. The reason God has set Israel aside 10:1-7

2. The remedy for rejection 10:8-15

3. The continuing unbelief of Israel 10:16-21

C. Israel's future salvation ch. 11

1. Israel's rejection not total 11:1-10

2. Israel's rejection not final 11:11-24

3. Israel's restoration assured 11:25-32

4. Praise for God's wise plans 11:33-36

VI. The practice of God's righteousness 12:1-15:13

A. Dedication to God 12:1-2

B. Conduct within the church 12:3-21

1. The diversity of gifts 12:3-8

2. The necessity of love 12:9-21

C. Conduct within the state ch. 13

1. Conduct towards the government 13:1-7

2. Conduct toward unbelievers 13:8-10

3. Conduct in view of our hope 13:11-14

D. Conduct within Christian liberty 14:1-15:13

1. The folly of judging one another 14:1-12

2. The evil of offending one another 14:13-23

3. The importance of pleasing one another 15:1-6

4. the importance of accepting one another 15:7-13

VII. Conclusion 15:14-16:27

A. Paul's ministry 15:14-33

1. Past labors 15:14-21

2. Present program 15:22-29

3. Future plans 15:30-33

B. Personal matters ch. 16

1. A commendation 16:1-2

2. Various greetings to Christians in Rome 16:3-16

3. A warning 16:17-20

4. Greetings from Paul's companions 16:21-24

5. A doxology 16:25-27

Constable: Romans

Romans

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: Romans (Book Introduction)

THE

EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL, THE APOSTLE,

TO THE ROMANS.

INTRODUCTION.

After the Gospels, which contain the history of Christ, and the Acts of the Apostles, which contain the history of the infant Church, we have the Epistles of the Apostles. Of these fourteen have been penned on particular occasions, and addressed to particular persons, by St. Paul; the others of St. James, St. Peter, St. John, and St. Jude, are called Catholic Epistles, because they are addressed to all Christians in general, if we except the two latter short epistles of St. John. --- The epistles of St. Paul contain admirable advice, and explain fully several tenets of Christianity: but an humble and teachable mind and heart are essentially requisite to draw good from this inexhaustible source. If we prepare our minds by prayer, and go to these sacred oracles with proper dispositions, as to Jesus Christ himself, not preferring our own weak judgment to that of the Catholic Church divinely inspired, and which he has commanded us to hear, and which he has promised to lead in all truth unto the end of the world, we shall improve both our mind and heart by a frequent and pious perusal. We shall learn there that faith is essentially necessary to please God; that this faith is but one, as God is but one; and that faith which shews itself not by good works, is dead. Hence, when St. Paul speaks of works that are incapable of justifying us, he speaks not of the works of moral righteousness, but of the ceremonial works of the Mosaic law, on which the Jews laid such great stress as necessary to salvation. --- St. Peter (in his 2nd Epistle, chap. iii.) assures us that there were some in his time, as there are found some now in our days, who misconstrue St. Paul's epistles, as if he required no good works any more after baptism than before baptism, and maintaining that faith alone would justify and save a man. Hence the other apostles wrote their epistles, as St. Augustine remarks in these words; "therefore because this opinion, that faith only was necessary to salvation, was started, the other apostolical epistles do most pointedly refute it, forcibly contending that faith without works profiteth nothing." Indeed St. Paul himself, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, (Chap. xiii. 2.) positively asserts: if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. --- This epistle, like most of the following, is divided into two parts: the first treats of points of doctrine, and extends to the eleventh chapter inclusively; the second treats of morality, and is contained in the last five chapters: but to be able to understand the former, and to practise the latter, humble prayer and a firm adherence to the Catholic Church, which St. Paul (1 Timothy chap. iii.) styles, the pillar and ground of truth, are undoubtedly necessary. Nor should we ever forget what St. Peter affirms, that in St. Paul's epistles there are some things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and the unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. (2 Peter chap. iii. ver. 16.) (Haydock) --- St. Paul had not been at Rome when he wrote this epistle, which was in the year fifty-seven or fifty-eight, when he was preparing to go to Jerusalem with the charitable contributions and alms, collected in Achaia and Macedonia, for the benefit and relief of the poor Christians in Judea, and at Jerusalem; and after he had preached in almost all places from Jerusalem even to Illyris, Illyrium, or Illyricum. See this Epistle, chap. xv. It was written in Greek. It is not the first in order of time, though placed first, either because of the dignity of the chief Christian Church, or of its sublime contents. --- The apostle's chief design was not only to unite all the new Christian converts, whether they had been Gentiles or Jews, in the same faith, but also to bring them to a union in charity, love, and peace; to put an end to those disputes and contentions among them, which were particularly occasioned by those zealous Jewish converts, who were for obliging all Christians to the observance of the Mosaic precepts and ceremonies. They who had been Jews, boasted that they were the elect people of God, preferred before all other nations, to whom he had given this written law, precepts, and ceremonies by Moses, to whom he had sent his prophets, and had performed so many miracles in their favour, while the Gentiles were left in their ignorance and idolatry. The Gentiles, now converted, were apt to brag of the learning of their great philosophers, and that sciences had flourished among them: they reproached the Jews with the disobedience of their forefathers to God, and the laws he had given them; that they had frequently returned to idolatry; that they had persecuted and put to death the prophets, and even their Messias, the true Son of God. St. Paul shews that neither the Jew nor the Gentile had reason to boast, but to humble themselves under the hand of God, the author of their salvation. He puts the Jews in mind, that they could not expect to be justified and saved merely by the ceremonies and works of their law, thought good in themselves; that the Gentiles, as well as they, were now called by the pure mercy of God: that they were all to be saved by believing in Christ, and complying with his doctrine; that sanctification and salvation can only be had by the Christian faith. He does not mean by faith only, as it is one particular virtue, different from charity, hope, and other Christian virtues; but he means by faith, the Christian religion, and worship, taken in opposition to the law of Moses and to the moral virtues of heathens. The design of the Epistle to the Galatians is much the same. From the 12th chapter he exhorts them to the practice of Christian virtues. (Witham)

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Gill: Romans (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO ROMANS

Though this epistle is in order placed the first of the epistles, yet it was not first written: there were several epistles written before it, as the two epistles to the Thessalonians, the two to the Corinthians, the first epistle to Timothy, and that to Titus: the reason why this epistle stands first, is either the excellency of it, of which Chrysostom had so great an esteem that he caused it to be read over to him twice a week; or else the dignity of the place, where the persons lived to whom it is written, being Rome, the imperial city: so the books of the prophets are not placed in the same order in which they were written: Hosea prophesied as early as Isaiah, if not earlier; and before Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and yet stands after them. This epistle was written from Corinth, as the subscription of it testifies; and which may be confirmed from the apostle's commendation of Phoebe, by whom he sent it, who was of Cenchrea, a place near Corinth; by his calling Erastus, the chamberlain of the city, who abode at Corinth, 2Ti 4:20, and Gaius his host, who was a Corinthian, Rom 16:23, 1Co 1:14, though at what time it was written from hence, is not so evident: some think it was written in the time of his three months' travel through Greece, Act 20:2, a little before the death of the Emperor Claudius, in the year of Christ 55; others, that it was written by him in the short stay he made at Corinth, when he came thither, as is supposed, from Philippi, in his way to Troas, where some of his company went before, and had been there five days before him: and this is placed in the second year of Nero, and in the year of Christ 56; however, it was not written by him during his long stay at Corinth, when he was first there, but afterwards, even after he had preached from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum: and when he was about to go to Jerusalem, with the contributions of the churches of Macedonia and Achaia, to the poor saints there, Rom 15:19. The persons to whom this epistle was sent were Roman saints, both Jews and Gentiles, inhabiting the city of Rome; of which city and church; See Gill on Act 28:14; Act 28:15; by whom the Gospel was first preached at Rome, and who were the means of forming the church there, is not very evident Irenaeus, an ancient writer, says ^a, that Peter and Paul preached the Gospel at Rome, and founded the church; and Gaius, an ecclesiastical man, who lived in the time of Zephyrinus, bishop of Rome, asserts the same; and Dionysius; bishop of the Corinthians, calls the Romans the plantation of Peter and Paul ^b: whether Peter was ever at Rome is not a clear point with many; and certain it is, that the Apostle Paul had not been at Rome when he wrote this epistle, at least it seems very probable he had not, by several expressions in Rom 1:10; and yet here was a church to which he writes, and had been a considerable time; for their faith was spoken of throughout the world, Rom 1:8; and when the apostle was on the road to this city, the brethren in it met him, Act 28:15. The chief design of this epistle is to set in a clear light the doctrine of justification: showing against the Gentiles, that it is not by the light of nature, and works done in obedience to that, and against the Jews, that it was not by the law of Moses, and the deeds of that; which he clearly evinces, by observing the sinful and wretched estate both of Jews and Gentiles: but that it is by the righteousness of Christ imputed through the grace of God, and received by faith; the effects of which are peace and joy in the soul, and holiness in the life and conversation: he gives an account of the justified ones, as that they are not without sin, which he illustrates by his own experience and case; and yet are possessed of various privileges, as freedom from condemnation, the blessing of adoption, and a right to the heavenly inheritance; he treats in it concerning predestination, the calling of the Gentiles, and the rejection of the Jews; and exhorts to the various duties incumbent on the saints, with respect to one another, and to the world, to duties of a moral and civil nature, and the use of things indifferent; and closes it with the salutations of divers persons.

Gill: Romans 5 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO ROMANS 5

The Apostle having clearly stated, and fully proved the doctrine of justification by the righteousness of faith, proceeds to observe the comfortable fruits and effects of this great blessing, known and enjoyed by the believer; as also the source and spring of it, the love of God, which appears in the death of Christ, in the room and stead of his people, which is the foundation on which it stands; and likewise gives an illustration of this benefit, by comparing the two heads, Adam and Christ, together. The first fruit and effect of justification, as a benefit perceived and enjoyed by faith, is peace with God through Christ, Rom 5:1. The next is access through the Mediator to the throne of grace, where justified ones stand with a holy boldness and confidence, and the third is a cheerful hope of eternal glory, Rom 5:2, yea, such not only have joy in the hope of what is to come, but glory even in present afflictions; which prevents an objection that might be made to the above mentioned fruits and effects of justification, taken from the tribulations which saints are exercised with: and what occasions glorying even in these, is the sanctified use, or happy produce of afflictions, these being the means of exercising and increasing patience; by means of which a larger experience of divine things is gained; and through that, hope is confirmed, and all influenced by a plenteous discovery of the love of God to the soul, by the Spirit, Rom 5:4, an instance of which love is given, Rom 5:6, in Christ's dying for men; which love is enhanced by the character and condition of the persons for whom Christ died, being ungodly, and without strength; and by the time of it, being due time: then follows a further illustration of this love, by comparing it with what instances of love are to be found among men, Rom 5:7, by which it appears to be unparalleled; since scarcely for a righteous man, peradventure for a good man, one would die, yet no man dies for the ungodly, as Christ did: hence as his, so his Father's love is highly commended, by giving him up to death for persons while in such a state and condition, and under such a character, Rom 5:8, and justification now springing from this love, and being founded on the death of Christ, hence follow a security from wrath to come, Rom 5:9, a certainty of salvation, Rom 5:10, which is strongly argued from the different characters those Christ died for bear, before and after reconciliation, and from the death to the life of Christ, Rom 5:10, and also a rejoicing and glorying: in God through Christ, full expiation being made by his blood for sin, and this received by faith, Rom 5:11, and then the apostle proceeds to compare the two heads, Adam and Christ, together; the design of which is to show the largeness and freeness of the love and grace of God; how righteousness for justification comes by Christ; and how the persons, before described as sinners and ungodly, came to be in such a condition; and that is through the sin of the first man, in whom they all were, and in whom they all sinned and died, Rom 5:12, wherefore there must be a law before the law of Moses, or there could have been no sin, Rom 5:13, but that sin was in being, and was reckoned and imputed to the posterity of Adam, is clear from this single instance, death's power even over infants, from the times of Adam to Moses, Rom 5:14 who therefore must be a public head, representing all his posterity; so that they were involved in the guilt of his sin, which brought death upon them; and in this he was a type of Christ, as is asserted in the same verse; that so as Adam was but one, and by one sin of his conveyed death to all his seed; so Christ, the Mediator, is but one, and by his one obedience conveys righteousness and, life to all his seed: and yet in some things there is a dissimilitude; sin and death, through the first man, are conveyed in a natural way to his offspring, but righteousness and life from Christ in a way of grace, Rom 5:15, It was one offence of Adam's, which brought condemnation and death upon all his posterity; but the righteousness of Christ is not only a justification of his seed from that one offence, but from all others, Rom 5:16, the one is unto death, the other unto life; and greater is the efficacy in the one to quicken, than in the other to kill, Rom 5:17, where a repetition is made of what is said in Rom 5:15, with an explanation, and the similitude between the two heads is clearly expressed, Rom 5:18, where condemnation on account of the sin of Adam, and justification through the righteousness of Christ, are opposed to each other; and both as extending to the whole of their several respective offspring, condemnation through Adam's offence to all his natural seed, and justification of life through Christ's righteousness to all his spiritual seed; which is still more fitly and clearly expressed in Rom 5:19, where the way and manner in which the one become sinners, and the other righteous, is plainly directed to; that it is, by the imputation of Adam's disobedience to the one, and by the imputation of Christ's righteousness to the other: in Rom 5:20, an objection is obviated, which might be formed thus; if justification is by the grace of God, and through the obedience and righteousness of Christ, then the law is of no use; what purpose does that serve? what occasion was there for its entrance? The apostle replies, that though justification is not by it, yet a good end is answered by its entrance; for hereby sin is more known to be what it is, both original and actual; and the grace of God appears more abundant in justification from it, and in the pardon of it; and this grace is further illustrated in Rom 5:21, by comparing sin and grace together, and the different effects of their empire over the sons of men; the one reigning unto death, the other reigning through righteousness to eternal life by Christ.

College: Romans (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION

I. ROMANS: ITS INFLUENCE AND IMPORTANCE

God's Word is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path (Ps 119:105), and no part of it shines more brilliantly than the book of Romans. The truth of God's Word sets us free (John 8:32), and Romans teaches us the most liberating of all truths. God's Word is sharp and piercing like a sword (Heb 4:12), and no blade penetrates more deeply into our hearts than Romans. Overall the book of Romans may be the most read and most influential book of the Bible, but sometimes it is the most neglected and most misunderstood book. The Restoration Movement has tended to concentrate especially on the book of Acts, which is truly foundational and indispensable. But Romans is to Acts what meat is to milk. We need to mature; we need to graduate from Acts to Romans.

In 1 Cor 15:3-4 Paul sums up the gospel as these three truths: Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised up again on the third day. The reality of the historical facts of the Savior's death and resurrection is stressed over and over in the book of Acts. Romans, however, is an exposition of the meaning of these facts. In the language of 1 Cor 15:3, Romans focuses not on "Christ died," but on the next three words: " for our sins ." Acts explains what salvation consists of and how we may receive it. Romans does the same, but carries the explanation to heights and depths that thrill and satisfy the soul, providing it with an experience that is at the same time intellectual, spiritual, and esthetic.

The unparalleled ability of Romans to convict sinners and to motivate Christians is well attested. The comment of Sanday and Headlam (v) has often been noted: "If it is a historical fact that the spiritual revivals of Christendom have been usually associated with closer study of the Bible, this would be true in an eminent degree of the Epistle to the Romans." Leon Morris (1) concurs: "It is commonly agreed that the Epistle to the Romans is one of the greatest Christian writings. Its power has been demonstrated again and again at critical points in the history of the Christian church."

The role of Romans in Augustine's conversion is well known. In his Confessions he tells how a discussion of Christian commitment with two of his friends brought him under strong conviction, filling him with remorse for his sins of sexual immorality and a sense of helplessness to overcome them. Later he and his friend Alypius went into the garden, taking along a copy of Paul's writings. Augustine went off by himself to weep over his sins. While doing so, he reports, "I heard the voice as of a boy or girl, I know not which, coming from a neighbouring house, chanting, and oft repeating, 'Take up and read; take up and read.'" He took this as a sign from God to open the book of Paul's writings and read the first passage that met his eyes. He quickly returned to where Alypius was sitting and the book was lying. When he opened it, the first words he saw were these from Rom 13:13-14: "Not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature." This experience and these words gave him what he needed to turn completely to Christ. He says, "No further would I read, nor did I need; for instantly, as the sentence ended, - by a light, as it were, of security infused into my heart, - all the gloom of doubt vanished away."

Godet (1) declares that "the Reformation was undoubtedly the work of the Epistle to the Romans." Morris (1) agrees: "The Reformation may be regarded as the unleashing of new spiritual life as a result of a renewed understanding of the teaching of Romans."

Insofar as the Reformation depends on the work of Martin Luther, this is surely the case. Luther confesses how in 1519 he had an ardent desire to understand the epistle to the Romans. His problem was the way he had been taught to understand the expression "the righteousness of God" in Rom 1:17. To him it meant the divine justice and wrath by which God punishes sin, which did not sound very much like gospel . "Nevertheless," he says, "I beat importunately upon Paul at that place, most ardently desiring to know what St. Paul wanted." Finally, by the mercy of God, he began to understand this expression in a totally different way, i.e., as the righteousness of Christ that God bestows upon the sinner and on the basis of which the sinner is justified. The effect on Luther was electrifying: "I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates." This new understanding of this one verse - Rom 1:17 - changed everything; it became in a real sense the doorway to the Reformation. "Thus that place in Paul was for me truly the gate to paradise," says Luther ("Latin Writings," 336-337).

Luther's regard for Romans is clearly seen in this well-known paragraph from his famous preface to this epistle:

This epistle is really the chief part of the New Testament, and is truly the purest gospel. It is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but also that he should occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul. We can never read it or ponder over it too much; for the more we deal with it, the more precious it becomes and the better it tastes ("Preface," 365).

These words, first published in 1522, were echoed almost verbatim by the English reformer William Tyndale, in his prologue to his 1534 English translation of the New Testament. He says, "This epistle is the principal and most excellent part of the New Testament, and most pure . . . gospel, and also a light and a way in unto the whole Scripture." He also recommends learning it by heart and studying it daily, because "so great treasure of spiritual things lieth hid therein."

The Swiss reformer John Calvin echoes some of Tyndale's thoughts in his own commentary on Romans (xxix): "When any one gains a knowledge of this Epistle, he has an entrance opened to him to all the most hidden treasures of Scripture."

Working indirectly through Luther's preface, the book of Romans had an effect on John Wesley similar to the way it influenced Augustine and Luther. In his journal Wesley recounts his own search for personal victory over sin and assurance of salvation based on trust in the blood of Christ alone. He tells what happened to him on May 24, 1738:

In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation: And an assurace was given me, that he had taken away my sins, even mine , and saved me from the law of sin and death ( Works , I:103).

Modern scholars and expositors seem unable to praise the letter to the Romans highly enough. Philip Schaff has said, "The Epistle to the Romans is the Epistle of the Epistles, as the Gospel of John is the Gospel of the Gospels" ("Preface," v). "This is in every sense the greatest of the Epistles of Paul, if not the greatest book in the New Testament," declares Thiessen ( Introduction , 219). Newell (375) says Romans is "probably the greatest book in the Bible." "If the apostle Paul had written nothing else, he would still be recognized as one of the outstanding Christian thinkers of all time on the basis of this letter alone," say Newman and Nida (1). This familiar praise comes from Godet (x):

The pious Sailer used to say, "O Christianity, had thy one work been to produce a St. Paul, that alone would have rendered thee dear to the coldest reason." May we not be permitted to add: And thou, O St. Paul, had thy one work been to compose an Epistle to the Romans, that alone would have rendered thee dear to every sound reason.

Godet adds, "The Epistle to the Romans is the cathedral of the Christian faith" (1).

Others add even higher praise. Batey (7) says, "Paul's epistle to the Romans stands among the most important pieces of literature in the intellectual history of Western man." "It is safe to say that Romans is probably the most powerful human document ever written," declares Stedman. Some might think this honor should go to the U.S. Constitution or to the Declaration of Independence. "But even they cannot hold a candle to the impact the Epistle to the Romans has had upon human history" (I:1-2). Boice avows: "Christianity has been the most powerful, transforming force in human history - and the book of Romans is the most basic, most comprehensive statement of true Christianity" (I:13).

Commentators often quote this statement from Coleridge: "I think St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans the most profound work in existence" ( Table Talk , 245). Many will certainly agree, but to Coleridge such profundity was not altogether a virtue. For him it meant that Romans "undoubtedly . . . is, and must be, very obscure to ordinary readers" (ibid., 245-246). Indeed, some think that the Apostle Peter may have been referring to Romans in 2 Pet 3:16. But at the same time, perhaps paradoxically, Newell is correct when he says (vii), "There is no more simple book in the Bible than Romans, when one comes to know the book, its contents, its message, its power."

Scholars praise Romans as the clearest statement of the gospel of salvation. As noted above, Luther called it "the purest gospel." Nygren agrees (3): "What the gospel is, what the content of the Christian faith is, one learns to know in the Epistle to the Romans as in no other place in the New Testament." Cranfield says Romans is "the most systematic and complete exposition of the gospel that the NT contains" (I:31). The Restoration scholar Moses Lard (xx) concurs: "It is the whole gospel compressed into the short space of a single letter - a generalization of Christianity up to the hight [sic] of the marvelous, and a detail down to exhaustion." In Stott's words (19), Romans is "the fullest, plainest and grandest statement of the gospel in the New Testament."

Scholars also praise Romans for its unparalleled presentation of the essence of Christian doctrine . In his preface to Romans (380) Luther says that in Romans we "find most abundantly the things that a Christian ought to know, namely, what is law, gospel, sin, punishment, grace, faith, righteousness, Christ, God, good works, love, hope, and the cross; and also how we are to conduct ourselves toward everyone." Thus it seems that Paul "wanted in this one epistle to sum up briefly the whole Christian and evangelical doctrine." Schaff declares it to be "the heart of the doctrinal portion of the New Testament. It presents in systematic order the fundamental truths of Christianity in their primitive purity, inexhaustible depth, all-conquering force, and never-failing comfort. It is the bulwark of the evangelical doctrines of sin and grace" ("Preface," v).

Modern writers agree. "The truth laid down in Romans forms the Gibraltar basis of doctrine, teaching, and confession in the true evangelical church," says Lenski (8). Moo says the Puritan writer Thomas Draxe described Romans as "the quintessence and perfection of saving doctrine." Moo agrees: "When we think of Romans, we think of doctrine" (I:1). Lard (xx) calls Romans Paul's "great doctrinal chart for the future." Newman and Nida (1) declare that "above all else, the appeal of Romans is its theology ."

Concerning its doctrinal content, MacArthur lists 49 significant questions about God and man that are answered by Romans, e.g., How can a person who has never heard the gospel be held spiritually responsible? How can a sinner be forgiven and justified by God? How are God's grace and God's law related? Why is there suffering? MacArthur points out that these key words are used repeatedly in the epistle: God (154 times), law (77), Christ (66), sin (45), Lord (44), and faith (40).

Which of these assessments is correct? Is Romans the crowning presentation of the Christian gospel ? Or is it the grandest statement of Christian doctrine ? Actually, it is both. Romans is the theology of the New Testament; it is also the definitive statement of the gospel. In this epistle doctrine and gospel merge, and the result is a spiritual feast for Christians.

Boice (I:10) advises that "it is time to rediscover Romans." Actually, it is always time to "rediscover" Romans, and down through the history of Christianity individuals have been doing just this. The results have been earth-shaking. It can and does happen over and over, in the lives of individuals, in congregations, in the Church at large. F.F. Bruce (60) has well said, "There is no telling what may happen when people begin to study the Epistle to the Romans."

II. THE AUTHOR OF ROMANS

The epistle to the Romans was written by the Apostle Paul (1:1). In the past a few critics challenged this, but without any real basis in fact. Today, as Cranfield says, "no responsible criticism disputes its Pauline origin" (I:2). Romans was quoted by the earliest Christian writers (Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin), and was attributed to Paul by name by Marcion in the mid-second century. Since the time of Irenaeus (late second century) writers have explicitly and regularly viewed it as Pauline.

Though composed and dictated by Paul, the letter was actually written down by a Christian scribe named Tertius, who inserted his own greeting in 16:22.

A. PAUL'S JEWISH BACKGROUND

It is not necessary to go into the details of Paul's life, except for a few facts that are important in view of the content of the epistle, which relates especially to the distinction between law and grace. One relevant fact is Paul's Jewish background, which he proudly avowed: "I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin," a "Hebrew of Hebrews" (11:1; Phil 3:5; 2 Cor 11:22). Though born in Tarsus, he was reared in Jerusalem (Acts 22:3), the capital of Judaism.

Paul's education included strict and thorough religious training in the contents of the Old Testament - especially the Law (Torah) - at the feet of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). Gamaliel was one of the most famous and most revered of all rabbis. His knowledge of the Law was so great that he was practically identified with it, being given the title "the Beauty of the Law." A saying recorded in the Talmud declares, "Since Rabban Gamaliel died the glory of the Law has ceased." "Under Gamaliel," says Paul, "I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers" (Acts 22:3). "Thoroughly" translates kataÉ ajkrivbeian ( kata akribeian ), "according to exactness, strictness, precision."

Paul's zeal for God and commitment to his Law was total (Acts 22:3; Gal 1:14). He was a Pharisee (Acts 23:6; Phil 3:5), which he properly identified as "the strictest sect of our religion" (Acts 26:5). The glory of the Pharisees was the Law; they were devoted to akribeia in its interpretation and observance (Dunn, I:xl). Thus Paul not only knew the Law but also devoted himself to scrupulous obedience to its commandments (Acts 26:4-5; Phil 3:6).

This probably means that he was a legalist in the proper sense of that word, i.e., one who sought acceptance by God on the basis of his obedience to the Law. This is implied in the way he contrasted his pre-Christian life (Phil 3:6) and his Christian life (Phil 3:9). This is also the way Pharisees are generally pictured in the Gospels.

Paul's zeal for the Law was expressed perhaps most vehemently in his fanatical persecution of the earliest Christians, all converted Jews whom he no doubt regarded as traitors to God and his Law (Phil 3:6). See Acts 7:58; 8:3; 9:1-2; 22:4-5; 26:9-11; Gal 1:13; 1 Tim 1:13.

B. PAUL'S CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY

The second relevant fact about the Apostle Paul is his conversion. The details need not be recounted here. What is important is that the one who converted him to Christianity was no human preacher, but was Jesus himself (Gal 1:15-16). Also, the gospel he preached was not taught to him by a human teacher; he received it by direct revelation from Jesus (Gal 1:11-12). The result was that Paul's conversion, his change, his turnaround, was complete. Whereas before he was totally committed to the Mosaic Law as a way of life and salvation, once converted he was just as totally committed to the gospel of grace.

As a Christian Paul set himself in complete opposition to everything he had stood for as a Pharisee. He now understood the way of law to be futile (10:3). He saw that his former legalistic approach to salvation was, as Murray says, "the antithesis of grace and of justification by faith" (I:xiii). Thus when Paul presents the classic contrast between law and grace in Romans, he speaks as one who knew both sides of the issue from personal experience and from the best teachers available. As Murray says, he is describing "the contrast between the two periods in his own life history, periods divided by the experience of the Damascus road" (I:xiv).

It is no surprise that Paul's preaching of the gospel and his condemnation of law-righteousness turned the Jews completely against him, even to the point that they tried to kill him (Acts 9:29; 13:45; 14:2, 19; 17:5-8; 18:12; 2 Cor 11:24-26). His opponents included "false brothers" (2 Cor 11:26), the Judaizers, or Jews who accepted Jesus as the Messiah but still clung to the Law of Moses.

In spite of all of this upheaval, Paul did not turn against the Jews as such. He still regarded them as his beloved brothers according to the flesh (9:1-3; 10:1), and as blessed by God in an incomparable way (3:1-2; 9:4-5). In fact, a major aspect of the teaching in Romans is an explanation and a defense of God's purpose for his Old Covenant people, the Jews (see especially chs. 9-11).

C. PAUL'S COMMISSION AS

THE APOSTLE TO THE GENTILES

The last detail about Paul's life that is relevant here is his call and commission to be the Apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 26:17). His appointment as an apostle (1:1) invested him with the full authority of Jesus Christ and with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so that his teachings are truly the Word of God (1 Cor 2:6-13; 1 Thess 2:13). When we read the book of Romans, we must understand it to be nothing less than this.

Also, Paul's appointment as the apostle to the Gentiles (1:5) completely governed his thoughts and deeds from that point on. As a Jew and a Pharisee, he had no doubt shared the typical Hebrew aversion to anything Gentile; and he had no doubt gloried in the Jews' exclusive position as God's chosen people. Thus when God revealed to him the mystery of the Gentiles - that it had been his plan all along to include Gentiles in the people of the Messiah (Eph 3:1-10), Paul was overwhelmed with awe and joy. He unhesitatingly opened his heart to the very people he had once despised. This was another complete turnaround in his life, and he devoted himself totally to his new mission.

Paul's role as apostle to the Gentiles had a direct bearing on his relationship with the Roman church and his letter to them. Paul tells us that he had often desired to visit Rome, in order to preach the gospel and have some converts there, "just as I have had among the other Gentiles" (1:13). But since there was already a church in Rome, God's Spirit directed him into other Gentile areas in Asia Minor and the Greek peninsula first (15:17-22). But now he has covered this territory with three lengthy tours of missionary service (15:19). Thus he is ready to launch out into a totally new area, namely, Spain; and his journey there will take him through Rome, as he announces in this epistle (15:23-24).

Throughout the epistle to the Romans, Paul writes with the full conciousness of his mission to the Gentiles and of the Gentiles in his audience. One point that he clarifies in the letter is the relation of the Gentiles to the Jews with respect to salvation.

III. TIME AND PLACE OF WRITING

Immediately after his baptism Paul began to preach Christ in Damascus (Acts 9:19-20), but soon went away into Arabia (Gal 1:17), which may have been the time he received his revelation from Jesus Christ (Gal 1:12). He went from there back to Damascus, then to Jerusalem (Gal 1:17-18) and elsewhere, and ultimately to Antioch (Acts 11:25-26).

From Antioch Paul launched his first missionary trip among the Gentiles (Acts 13:1-3), which was followed by two more. While in Ephesus on his third journey, "Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. 'After I have been there,' he said, 'I must visit Rome also'" (Acts 19:21). He shortly departed for Achaia (Greece) and arrived in Corinth, where he stayed for three months (Acts 20:1-3). This was approximately twenty years after his conversion, and ten years after the beginning of his first journey.

Corinth was the farthest point of his third trip, whence he retraced his steps back toward Ephesus. He stopped at Miletus instead, and traveled from there on to Jerusalem, with the goal of arriving by Pentecost (Acts 20:16-17). One main reason for the trip to Jerusalem was to deliver the money he had collected from the (mostly Gentile) churches in Galatia, Macedonia, and Greece, to help the poor (mostly Jewish) saints in Jerusalem (1 Cor 16:1-4; Rom 15:25-26). Though "compelled by the Spirit" to go to Jerusalem, he was apprehensive about what might happen to him there (Acts 20:22-23).

It was in the midst of this final journey, during the three months Paul spent at Corinth, that he most likely wrote the letter to the Romans. He was apparently staying at the house of Gaius (16:23), one of his converts at Corinth (1 Cor 1:14). The letter was carried to Rome by Phoebe, a Christian from the church in nearby Cenchrea (16:1).

The exact date of the writing of Romans is calculated in relation to the overall chronology of Paul's life and work. There is no unanimity on this chronology, though the differences of opinion are minor. Everyone agrees that the Apostle's stay in Corinth must have been in late winter and/or early spring, since he planned to set out from there and arrive in Jerusalem by Pentecost. Most agree also that this would have been in the middle or late 50s. Thus Romans was probably written early in A.D. 56, 57, or 58.

IV. RECIPIENTS OF ROMANS:

THE CHURCH IN ROME

Rome was the largest and most important city in the Roman Empire in Paul's day. Its population was probably over one million. Of this number, it is estimated that forty to fifty thousand were Jews, with as many as fifteen identifiable synagogues (Dunn, I:xlvi; Edwards, 9).

How the church in Rome originated is not known. There is no real evidence that Peter founded it, contrary to a common tradition. Some say that Rom 15:20 shows this could not have been the case. Here Paul says that he does not intend to "be building on someone else's foundation." The fact that he did plan to visit Rome and work there implies that no apostle had been there yet (MacArthur, I:xviii; Moo, I:4).

One very common speculation is that the Roman church was probably started by Jews and proselytes from Rome who were in the audience that heard Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:10), and who were among the converts baptized that day. Upon returning to Rome, they would have established the church there. If so, and this seems very likely, then the first Christians in Rome were converts from Judaism.

Another likely speculation is that Christians from other churches, perhaps some of Paul's own converts from his earlier work in Tarsus and Antioch and Asia Minor, were among those who started the Roman church and helped it to grow. Perhaps some of Paul's acquaintances named in Romans 16 were among this group. Such a scenario is highly probable, given the importance of Rome and the constant travel to and from that city.

Thus the church in Rome would have begun not as the result of some formal missionary effort, but by residents converted while traveling (e.g., Acts 2:10) and by Christians moving there from other places. Their own evangelistic efforts would certainly have focused on the synagogues of Rome, following the pattern of evangelism reflected in the book of Acts. This would have resulted in converts not only from Judaism but also from among Gentile "God-fearers" who were commonly attached to the synagogues (Dunn, I:xlvii-xlviii).

The epistle to the Romans is addressed "to all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints" (1:7). The main question about these saints is the relative number of Jews and Gentiles among them. In answering this question, scholars usually begin with one solid historical fact, and then draw conclusions based on inferences and a bit of speculation. This has led to the following scenario, for which there is considerable consensus among commentators today.

The one fact is that the Roman emperor Claudius issued a decree that expelled all Jews from Rome. This is recorded in Acts 18:2, and is also mentioned by the Roman historian Suetonius. The exact date of the decree is somewhat unclear, but the best calculation is A.D. 49. The reason for the decree is stated thus by Suetonius: "Because the Jews at Rome caused continuous disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, (Emperor Claudius) expelled them from the city" (cited in Fiensy, Introduction , 224). Though we cannot be certain about this, most scholars agree that "Chrestus" is just a mistaken spelling of "Christus," and that the decree had to do with Jesus Christ.

In what way would Christ be instigating disturbances among the Jews in Rome? It is inferred that this refers to conflicts among the Jews stemming from Christian evangelism in the various synagogues. Because there was a wide diversity among the Jews and synagogues in Rome, it is concluded that some were more receptive to Christianity than others, and that this must have led to disputes among them. The resulting unrest was apparently unpleasant enough for Claudius to order all Jews to leave the city. It is also assumed that his decree did not make a distinction between unbelieving and believing Jews; thus even the Jewish Christians had to leave, e.g., Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:2). After the decree the Roman church thus would be composed almost entirely of Gentiles. (See Donfried, "Presuppositions," 104-105.)

When Claudius died around A.D. 54, the decree was no longer enforced, and Jews and Jewish Christians were free to return to Rome. Some think, however, that they were still forbidden to assemble publicly (Wiefel, "Community," 92-94). The results for the church would have been twofold. First, the problem with public assembly may have forced the Christians to set up a number of "house churches," a possibility that seems to be confirmed in Rom 16:5, 14, 15. Second, the returning Jewish Christians would find the Roman church dominated by the Gentile Christians, if not in number then certainly in power and influence (Wiefel, "Community," 94-96).

Thus the saints in Rome, to whom the letter is addressed, were almost certainly a mixture of Jewish and Gentile Christians, though there is no way to tell which group had the larger number. If the circumstances outlined in the above scenario are correct, however, it is safe to assume that there was tension if not conflict among the two groups. Wiefel refers to "quarrels about status" ("Community," 96). Bruce says, "It is implied in Romans 11:13-24 that the Gentile Christians tended to look down on their Jewish brethren as poor relations" ("Debate," 180). Dunn speaks of "at least some friction between Gentile and Jew" within the house churches, with the Jews being in a minority and feeling themselves vulnerable (I:liii).

What is obvious is that in the epistle Paul addresses both groups, with some passages being specifically directed toward the Jewish Christians and some toward the Gentile Christians (see Moo, I:10-11; Murray, I:xviii-xix). Some say the letter as a whole is directed mainly to the Jewish saints; others say it was mainly intended for the Gentiles.

Hendriksen is surely right, though, when he says that regarding the main point of Romans this whole question is really irrelevant, since it applies equally to both groups (I:23). All are sinners (3:9, 23), no one will be saved by law (3:19-20), and all are equal recipients of the grace that is in Christ Jesus (3:24; 4:11-12). Hendriksen stresses Rom 10:12-13, "For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile - the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'"

V. THE OCCASION OF THE WRITING

What were the circumstances that prompted Paul to write his epistle to the Romans? We have already noted that he wrote the letter during his three-month stay in Corinth on his final mission trip. What sorts of things were going through his mind that led him to write it at that particular time?

We are fortunate that Paul reveals his mind to us in certain statements of his desires and plans in chapters 1 and 15. These statements show us what occasioned the writing of Romans.

One main consideration was Paul's immediate travel plans, as they related to his all-determining calling as apostle to the Gentiles (15:15-24). He refers to his "priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God" (15:16). For twenty years he had been preaching in the eastern and northeastern sections of the Mediterranean area, and had covered it well. "So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum," he says, "I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ"; so now "there is no more place for me to work in these regions" (15:19, 23). Thus he decided to change his focus to the northwestern section, Spain in particular (15:24, 28). In his mind he was already planning his trip to Spain.

But first he had to go to Jerusalem (15:25-31). His purpose for doing this was to deliver the funds he had been collecting from the Gentile churches "for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem" (15:26). He wanted to do this personally, to make sure that the funds were properly received (15:28). To this end he asked the Roman Christians to offer two specific prayers for him (15:30-31).

First, he knew that he still had many enemies in Jerusalem among the Jews especially. He knew that some of these enemies had already tried to kill him. Thus he really was not sure what dangers he might be facing in Jerusalem. Nevertheless he was determined to go (Acts 20:22-23), so he requested that the Roman Christians "pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea" (15:31). He was not afraid of losing his life; he just did not want his newly-formed missionary plans to be aborted (Acts 20:24; Rom 15:32).

Second, Paul was not really sure how the offering from the Gentile churches would be received by the Jewish saints in Jerusalem. There were still a lot of suspicions and misunderstandings between the two groups, mostly about the relation between the Old and New Covenants and the role of the Mosaic Law in the life of the Christian. Thus the money he was bringing to the poor in Jerusalem was not just an act of charity, but was also a symbol of unity between the two main factions in the church. Thus Paul was anxious that it might be received in the proper spirit, so he asked the Romans to pray "that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there" (15:31).

Thus Paul was ultimately bound for Spain, after an initial trip to Jerusalem. But there was a third item in his itinerary: an intermediate stop in Rome itself (Acts 19:21; 23:11), a place he had never been. So he announced to the Christians in Rome that on his way to Spain he would stop and visit them (15:23, 24, 28). This was something he had longed to do for many years and had even made plans to do (1:11, 13; 15:23), but had "often been hindered from coming to you" (15:22; cf. 1:13).

Paul had many reasons for wanting to visit the church in Rome. For one thing, he wanted to enlist their help for his mission to Spain. "I hope to visit you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there," he says (15:24). But he had other reasons that predated his plans for Spain. For example, he seems simply to have desired to visit with the Christians there: to have fellowship with them, to enjoy their company, to be spiritually refreshed by them (15:24, 32), and to be encouraged by them (1:12). After all, he knew quite a few of them personally (16:3-15).

Paul's principal longstanding reason for wanting to visit Rome, though, was his desire to preach the gospel there. "I am obligated," he says, "both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome" (1:14-15). By this means or by some accompanying means he would be able to "impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong" (1:11). This would also enable him to "have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles" (1:13).

No wonder that Paul says he was praying "that now at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come to you" (1:10).

These are the immediate circumstances that prompted Paul to write the epistle to the Romans. But a simple presentation of these facts does not in itself answer the question of exactly why he wrote the letter. What was his purpose for writing? What did he hope to accomplish by writing this particular letter? This is the subject of the next section.

VI. THE PURPOSE OF ROMANS

The question of Paul's purpose for writing the epistle to the Romans is very controversial; there is much disagreement about it. Everyone agrees on the facts described above relating to the occasion for the writing. The problem is that these facts have to be assessed in view of the contents of the main body of the letter, 1:18-15:13. The question is not just why he wrote a letter to the Roman church, but why he wrote this specific letter with this particular content. Why does he write "such a lengthy and involved discussion to a largely unknown congregation"? (Dunn, I:lv).

There are two basic approaches to this question. The older and more traditional approach is that the historical circumstances as described in the previous section were not particularly relevant with regard to Paul's decision to write the letter. Neither Paul's own plans nor the state of the Roman church presented him with a pressing need or occasion that required him to write. Thus unlike his other letters, Romans is more or less non-occasional. It is regarded rather as a kind of timeless theological essay on the essence of Christianity. As Sanday and Headlam describe this view, "the main object of the Epistle is doctrinal; it is rather a theological treatise than a letter; its purpose is to instruct the Roman Church in central principles of the faith, and has but little reference to the circumstances of the moment" (xl).

The more recent approaches to the purpose of Romans take the opposite view, that it is "a situational letter rather than a doctrinal treatise" (Jewett, "Argument," 265). Paul was not simply writing an essay detached from his circumstances, but was specifically addressing a particular situation that needed his attention at that time. Thus Romans is just as much an occasional letter as 1 Corinthians or Galatians.

Those who take the latter approach usually go in one of two directions. Some emphasize that Paul wrote the letter to fulfill certain needs of his own, relating to his trip either to Jerusalem or to Spain. Others say that Paul wrote mainly to meet the needs of the Roman church at that particular time.

It is possible, of course, that Paul had more than one purpose for writing Romans, as Cranfield says: "It is surely quite clear that Paul did not have just one single purpose in mind but rather a complex of purposes and hopes" (II:815). Dunn (I:lx) and Moo (I:20) agree.

A. ROMANS IS A DOCTRINAL ESSAY

Now we shall go into a bit more detail concerning the possibilities outlined above. The first view is that Paul was not addressing a specific situation but was writing a timeless doctrinal essay. In its most extreme form this view says that Romans is a complete systematic theology, a compendium of Christian doctrine. Shedd (viii) calls it " an inspired system of theology , . . . a complete statement of religious truth." Romans is so "encyclopædic in its structure" that one "need not go outside of this Epistle, in order to know all religious truth."

More recently Bornkamm has taken a similar view, describing Romans as Paul's "last will and testament" - "a summary of his theology in light of the impending danger in Jerusalem" (Donfried, "Presuppositions," 103). Bornkamm says ("Letter," 27-28), "This great document . . . summarizes and develops the most important themes and thoughts of the Pauline message and theology and . . . elevates his theology above the moment of definite situations and conflicts into the sphere of the eternally and universally valid."

Many writers agree that Romans was not occasioned by some immediate need or crisis but was a kind of doctrinal essay. Nygren says (4), "The characteristic and peculiar thing about Romans, differentiating it from the rest of Paul's epistles, is just the fact that it was not, or was only in slight degree aimed at circumstances within a certain congregation." Lenski (10-12) agrees.

Most who take this non-occasional view, however, say that it is an exaggeration to call Romans a full-blown systematic theology. "If Romans is a compendium of theology," says Morris (8), "there are some curious gaps." (See also Moo, I:1; Hendriksen, I:25; W. Williams, 19-20.) It is a doctrinal essay, to be sure, but one that is more focused and limited in its scope.

Just what is the focus of this doctrinal essay? The most common view is that it has to do with the doctrines of salvation, i.e., that Romans is a summary or synopsis of Paul's gospel . Morris says that Paul probably thought his three-month, pressure-free sojourn in Corinth was a good time to bring together the timeless teachings that had crystallized in his thinking during his twenty years as a preacher. Thus he sets forth "a summary of the gospel and its consequences as he understood them" (pp. 18-19). Cranfield likewise says it is likely that Paul "was conscious of having reached a certain maturity of experience, reflection and understanding, which made the time ripe for him to attempt, with God's help, such an orderly presentation of the gospel" (II:817).

Vincent summarizes this whole approach quite well when he says that Romans "is distinguished among the epistles by its systematic character. Its object is to present a comprehensive statement of the doctrine of salvation through Christ, not a complete system of christian doctrine" ( Word Studies , III:x). As Hendriksen says (I:25), "Romans is not really 'a complete compendium of Christian Doctrine.' If it had been Paul's intention to draw up such a document, he would surely have included far more material." The specific doctrine he deals with is one needed not just in Rome but by all people in all times: " the manner in which sinners are saved ." (See Edwards, 3.)

The idea that Romans is a kind of doctrinal essay focusing on the general doctrine of salvation is correct, in my opinion. However, I do not think it is wise to separate it too sharply from the occasion or circumstances discussed in the last section. I question W. Williams' approach, for example, when he says (19), "The Epistle to the Romans is a discussion of the relation of the Gentile world to God's plan of salvation," and in the next sentence says, "This discussion was incidental to the apostle's circumstances." In my opinion this is a false choice. It is an essay on salvation, but its purpose was definitely related to the circumstances at that time, as we shall see below.

B. ROMANS WAS OCCASIONED

BY PAUL'S IMMEDIATE NEEDS

The second major approach to the purpose of Romans is that it was occasioned by the various circumstances relating to Paul's immediate plans in relation to his mission. In other words, it was designed to meet needs that Paul felt in his own life at the time. As Jervell says, "Its raison d'être does not stem from the situation of the Roman congregation, but is to be found in Paul himself at the time of writing" ("Letter," 54).

The main idea here resembles the modern practice of churches requesting that prospective ministers send a tape recording of one of their sermons. In this case Paul takes the initiative and sets forth in writing a "sermon" or a lengthy presentation of his gospel. He does this because he needs to introduce himself to people who are not familiar with him or with what he preaches. Or, he does this because his enemies are spreading false rumors about what he preaches, and are misrepresenting his gospel especially as to what he says about Jew-Gentile relations. Thus Romans is not just a presentation but also a defense of Paul's gospel.

This is how Moo explains the purpose of Romans. The various circumstances that he faced "forced Paul to write a letter in which he carefully rehearsed his understanding of the gospel, especially as it related to the salvation-historical questions of Jew and Gentile and the continuity of the plan of salvation" (I:20). Bruce agrees that it was "expedient that Paul should communicate to the Roman Christians an outline of the message which he proclaimed. Misrepresentations of his preaching and his apostolic procedure were current and must have found their way to Rome" ("Debate," 182). (See Stuhlmacher, "Purpose," 236.)

Why was it crucial for Paul at this particular time to write such a presentation and defense of his gospel? The answer is that it was necessary in order to facilitate his immediate plans. For one thing, he was on his way to Jerusalem with the offering for the poor saints, and was apprehensive about how this would turn out. Thus some contend that in this letter Paul was rehearsing what he was going to say in Jerusalem in defense of himself and in an effort to seal Jew-Gentile unity. He sent the product to the Roman church in a letter, asking them to pray for him and the upcoming Jerusalem episode (15:30-32). Thus, says Jervell, Romans is Paul's "'collection speech,' or more precisely, the defense which Paul plans to give before the church in Jerusalem." He sends it to Rome "to ask the Roman congregation for solidarity, support, and intercession on his behalf" ("Letter," 56). Dunn calls this Paul's "apologetic purpose" (I:lvi; see I:xlii-xliii).

Though this is a fairly common view today, some object to it or at least doubt that it could be the only purpose for Romans (Moo, I:18). Thus other aspects of Paul's immediate plans must have elicited the letter. One of the most obvious is Paul's plan to visit Rome itself. Though he knew some of the Roman Christians, he had never been in Rome and would not know most of the people there. It must have seemed expedient, then, for him to write a kind of "letter of introduction" to himself, especially in view of the false rumors that were probably afoot.

This is how Morris understands it (16-17). Paul used his three-month interlude in Corinth "to write to the Roman Christians to let them know of his plan to visit them and to set down in order something of what the gospel meant." He wanted to give them "a clear but profound statement of the essential message of Christianity as he proclaimed it. This will show the Romans where he stands." MacArthur's view is similar: "Paul's letter to the church at Rome was, among other things, an introduction to himself as an apostle. He clearly set forth the gospel he preached and taught, so that believers in Rome would have complete confidence in his authority" (I:xix). (See also Stott, 34.)

Those who hold this view usually take it a step further, and say that Paul laid out and defended his gospel to the Romans as a means of enlisting their support for his Spanish mission. In a real sense Rome was just a means to an end, both in Paul's itinerary and in his missionary strategy. He needed them as a kind of "base of operations" for what he hoped to accomplish in Spain (Stott, 33). Thus "if Rome was to be his base, the Romans would need to be assured of his message and theological position" (Morris, 17). This is what Dunn calls Paul's "missionary purpose" for Romans (I:lv). This is a fairly common view. (See Cranfield, II:817-818; Jewett, "Argument," 266, 277.)

C. ROMANS WAS OCCASIONED BY NEEDS AT ROME ITSELF

As we have just seen, those who believe the writing of Romans was motivated by the immediate circumstances sometimes locate those circumstances in Paul's own personal needs. Others who take the occasional approach, however, believe that the situation in Rome itself is what Paul is specifically addressing in this epistle. Though he had not been there, he still would have been acquainted with the state of the Roman church. It was, after all, a famous church (1:8). Besides, Paul's Roman friends, such as Aquila and Priscilla (16:3), would probably have kept him informed especially of any problems that existed there (Sanday and Headlam, xl-xli).

Whatever the nature of those problems or needs, Paul wrote to resolve them. Since all of Paul's other letters were "addressed to the specific situations of the churches or persons involved," says Donfried, we must begin with the assumption that Romans "was written by Paul to deal with a concrete situation in Rome" ("Presuppositions," 103). This is what Dunn calls Paul's "pastoral purpose" (I:lvi-lviii).

1. The Need for Jew-Gentile Unity

What sorts of needs existed at Rome that would call forth from Paul's pen the most magnificent gospel tract ever written? Several possibilities are suggested, but the one most commonly held begins with the assumption that there was considerable tension in the Roman church between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians. Thus the purpose of Paul's letter was to resolve this tension.

This view usually grows out of the speculations (discussed above) concerning the development of the Roman church following Claudius' decree expelling the Jews from Rome. With Jewish Christians being forced to leave Rome, the Gentile Christians became the dominant force; and this situation prevailed even after the former returned to Rome. This led to conflict between the two factions. This scenario is supported by the various references to Jews and Gentiles (Greeks) in Romans, by the discussion of the weak (Jews?) and the strong (Gentiles?) in 14:1-15:13, and by several references to unity and division within the church (12:16; 15:5; 16:17-18). Such texts seem to be evidence of a "basic division existing between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians at Rome" (P. Williams, "Purpose," 64).

This view has been argued by Marxsen and more recently by Wiefel, who concludes that Romans "was written to assist the Gentile Christian majority, who are the primary addressees of the letter, to live together with the Jewish Christians in one congregation, thereby putting an end to their quarrels about status" ("Community," 96). Here is Edwards' summary (15-16):

Romans is addressed to the problems which inevitably resulted when Jewish Christians began returning to Rome following the edict of Claudius. We can imagine their trials of readjusting to churches which had become increasingly Gentile in their absence. Would Gentile believers who had established their supremacy during the Jewish absence, and for whom the law was now largely irrelevant, continue to find a place within their fellowship for a Jewish Christian minority which still embraced the law? Paul cannot have been unaware of such concerns.

In Dunn's words, "Paul wrote to counter (potential) divisions within Rome among the Christian house churches, particularly the danger of gentile believers despising less liberated Jewish believers" (I:lvii). (See also Stott, 34-36.)

2. The Need for an Apostolic Foundation

Another possible need being addressed by Paul is related to the circumstances of the origin of the church in Rome. It is inferred from 15:20 that no apostle was involved in its founding, nor as yet had even visited Rome. Thus Paul was concerned that the church did not have a solid apostolic foundation (see Eph 2:20), and he writes this epistle in order to provide that foundation. This is the view of Günter Klein ("Purpose," 39, 42), but Morris (11-12) gives reasons for doubting it.

3. The Need for Paul's Gospel

Another possibility (to which I subscribe) is that Paul did indeed recognize the need of the Roman church to hear his apostolic preaching and teaching, but not necessarily in a foundational sense. This view begins with Paul's sense of duty, based upon his special calling, to preach the gospel to everyone in the Gentile world (1:14), including those in Rome: "That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome" (1:15).

But these people are already Christians. Why would Paul want to "preach the gospel" to believers ? Here is a point that is often missed: the gospel is more than just the initial evangelistic witness given to unbelievers with a view to their conversion. It also includes the deeper meaning and implications of the basic facts of salvation, which are things about which even mature believers can never hear enough. That Paul wanted to preach the gospel to the Christians in Rome means that he wanted to go deeper into the meaning of Christ's saving work "for our sins," unfolding for them the full power of the gospel in the Christian life and at the same time clearing up common misunderstandings that may arise through incomplete knowledge.

Paul's desire, of course, was to do this in person, and he had often planned to travel to Rome for this very reason. Up to this point, however, God's providence had prevented it (1:13; 15:22). Now he is once again planning to go to Rome, after his trip to Jerusalem with the offering. But based on his past experience and the uncertainty about what would happen to him in Jerusalem (Acts 20:22-24), at this point he could not be certain that he would ever reach Rome in person.

This led Paul to the conclusion that if he was ever going to preach the gospel in Rome, perhaps the only way he would be able to do so was in writing . Thus he takes the time, while staying in Corinth just before traveling to Jerusalem, to prepare a well-thought-out essay on the gospel as every Christian needs to hear it; and he sends it on to Rome in advance of his intended trip there. Thus it seems likely, says Campbell, that "the letter is the written equivalent of the oral presentation which Paul would have delivered to the congregation had he himself been present" ("Key," 258).

According to this view, then, Romans is not just a basic presentation of the gospel, written in order to provide the Roman Christians with a missing apostolic foundation. And as Nygren (7) rightly notes, "it is a misunderstanding of Romans to see in it a typical example of Paul's missionary preaching." This is contrary to those who think Paul was just introducing himself to the Roman church, hoping to win their support for his mission to Spain by rehearsing the gospel as he usually preached it. Stuhlmacher rightly notes that how Paul "preached and taught as a missionary cannot be simply inferred from the outline of Romans" ("Purpose," 242).

According to this view, then, the primary purpose for Romans is not related to some need within Paul himself (e.g., his concern for defending himself; his missionary plans); nor is it related to some negative situation in the Roman church (e.g., Jew-Gentile disunity). It is motivated rather by Paul's loving concern for his fellow-Christians at Rome, and his desire to bless their hearts and lives with this written version of the deeper aspects of the gospel of grace. This point is brought out very well by Hendriksen (I:24):

Paul, being an intensely warm and loving person, desires to go to Rome in order to be a blessing to his friends (Rom. 1:10, 11) and to be refreshed by them (15:32). Moreover, it is for this same reason that he, now that it is impossible for him to go to Rome immediately , communicates with the Roman church by means of this letter. He writes to the Romans because he loves them. They are his friends "in Christ," and by means of this letter he imparts his love to them . . . .

It is strange that this deeply personal reason . . . , a reason clearly brought out by the apostle himself, is often overlooked. At times the emphasis is placed entirely on theological motivation or on mission incentive: Paul wants to correct errors of the antinomians and/or wants to make Rome the headquarters for the evangelization of Spain. To be sure, these matters are important, but we should begin with the reason first stated by Paul himself in this very epistle.

D. CONCLUSION

We have surveyed the main reasons why Paul wrote the epistle to the Romans. It should be obvious that some of these reasons may overlap or be combined; so we need not focus narrowly upon just one of them. Jewett, for example, says the immediate reason was to resolve the Jew-Gentile tensions, but this was sought in order to gain a strong and unified backing for the mission to Spain ("Argument," 266). After summarizing the missionary, apologetic, and pastoral purposes, Dunn concludes that "all three of these main emphases and purposes hang together and indeed reinforce each other when taken as a whole" (I:lviii).

In my opinion, though, the dominant reason is the last one discussed above: Paul's desire to preach the gospel to the Romans, and his decision to do so in the form of an epistle. This is the factor that Paul stresses in the introductory section of the letter, where we would expect him to say what is closest to his heart. It seems inappropriate to give priority to ch. 15 on this matter, and to pass over what Paul himself chooses to mention first of all. Just because he tells the Romans about his plans in ch. 15 is no reason to assume that his purpose for writing to Rome is specifically or directly related to these plans.

We may conclude, then, that Romans is indeed an occasional letter, that it was occasioned by the need of the Roman Christians to hear Paul's gospel and by the circumstances that made it expedient for him to send it to them in written form at this particular time. Thus Romans is by design a clear presentation of the deeper implications of the gospel, written not for Paul's sake but for the sake of the church at Rome. The references to Paul's own plans and needs in ch. 15 are secondary.

At the same time, just because of the nature of the situation that caused Paul to write this epistle, the purpose for Romans includes the first view discussed above, namely, that it was intended to be a kind of doctrinal essay focusing on the meaning of salvation through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. As noted above, it is a systematic presentation of the gospel : not necessarily the gospel as proclaimed in an evangelistic situation, but the gospel as unfolded to mature Christians.

When this point is understood, we can see that the epistle to the Romans is intended not just for the saints in Rome in the middle of the first century A.D., but for all Christians in all ages. It is relevant for all since it deals with salvation from sin through God's grace. As Moo rightly says (I:21),

That Paul was dealing in Romans with immediate concerns in the early church we do not doubt. But, especially in Romans, these issues are ultimately the issues of the church - and the world - of all ages: the continuity of God's plan of salvation, the sin and need of human beings, God's provision for our sin problem in Christ, the means to a life of holiness, security in the face of suffering and death.

The circumstances contributing to the writing of this letter were far broader than the immediate situation in Rome and Paul's own immediate travel plans. They included Paul's own pre-Christian life as a Jew who sought acceptance with God on the basis of his own righteousness. They included Paul's twenty years of preaching to sinners of all types, Jews and Gentiles. They included his dealings with new Christians and new churches with all their weaknesses and problems. His experience and knowledge of human nature and human need were personal and comprehensive; thus the gospel of Romans is generic and timeless.

In most of the discussions of the purpose of Romans, a forgotten factor is the role of the Holy Spirit in the inspiration of Scripture. It is Paul himself who tells us that "all Scripture is God-breathed" (2 Tim 3:16). Whatever circumstances led Paul to compose his letter to the Romans, the choice to write and the message he wrote were not his alone. The Holy Spirit worked through Paul to produce this letter (see 2 Pet 1:20-21), and the Holy Spirit knows more than any man what is needed by every sinner and by every Christian seeking peace and power. In the final analysis it is the Spirit of God, and not just the Apostle Paul, who speaks to our hearts in the epistle to the Romans.

VII. THE THEME OF ROMANS

Almost everyone today rejects the idea that Romans is a compendium or summary of Christian theology as such. It is nevertheless generally recognized that the content of the epistle is doctrinal in nature. Its main body is an essay or treatise with a strong doctrinal emphasis and seems to be built around a particular theme. The question now is, exactly what is the theme of Romans? Several answers have been proposed.

A. JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH

The Reformation established a way of looking at Romans that still has considerable support among Protestants, namely, that the main theme of the epistle is stated in 1:16-17. It can be summed up in the familiar phrase, "justification by faith," i.e., justification or righteousness before God comes through faith alone. John Calvin (xxix) states succinctly that "the main subject of the whole Epistle" is "justification by faith."

Boers says this is the theme that "currently almost universally controls the interpretation of the letter" ( Justification , 77). This is surely an exaggeration, but the justification view is still very popular. Concerning the principal content of Romans, Nygren says (16), "From the beginning evangelical Christianity has spoken clearly on that point: justification by faith. That answer is correct." Defining "theme" as "central topic" rather than as exclusive topic, Hendriksen agrees that justification by faith, "spread out into 'justification by grace through faith'. . . , is clearly the theme of Romans" (I:29). Edwards (3) says that "the driving concern throughout is salvation - that righteousness comes as a free gift of God and is received by faith alone." Stott (35) says two themes are woven together in the epistle. "The first is the justification of guilty sinners by God's grace alone in Christ alone through faith alone, irrespective of either status or works."

Many scholars today have rejected this traditional approach. Though justification by faith is a main topic in Romans, says Boers (88), it "never becomes thematic." Too much of its subject matter simply does not relate to this subject, he says (78). Moo agrees (I:26-27). (See Stott, 24-31.)

B. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD

Those who are not satisfied with justification by faith as the theme for Romans sometimes opt for one that is very similar, namely, the righteousness of God (1:17). Beker says this is "the key term for the letter as a whole" ("Faithfulness," 331). Jewett says the thesis of Romans is that the gospel is "the 'power of God' to achieve the triumph of divine righteousness (Rom. 1:16-17)" ("Argument," 266).

Since the righteousness of God is integrally related to justification by faith, the two themes are sometimes confused. This is because one aspect of the theme of divine righteousness is that the righteousness of God is the basis for the personal justification of individual sinners. This is the sense in which Nygren says that the righteousness of God - in the sense of righteousness from God - is "the fundamental concept" and "the very foundation thought" of the epistle (9, 14-15), even though he says the "principal content" of the letter is justification by faith (16).

But most of those today who say that the righteousness of God is the theme of Romans are using the expression in a broader, more comprehensive sense. For them it includes the idea of the divine righteousness as the basis for individual justification, to be sure. For example, Stuhlmacher says the theme of Romans is "the gospel of the divine righteousness in Christ for those who believe from among the Jews and Gentiles" ("Theme," 334, 337). But in Romans, they say, the theme is more inclusive than this. It includes God's righteousness as the basis not only of his dealings with individual believers, but also of his dealings with mankind in general and especially with the Jewish nation in the context of redemptive history.

The question raised by the indiscriminate offer of justification by faith to both Jews and Gentiles is whether God is being fair with the Jews, in view of all the special treatment he has already bestowed upon them and the special promises he has given them. Does the gospel's "no partiality" principle bring God's justice or righteousness into question? "What is at stake is nothing less than the faithfulness of God," says Beker ("Faithfulness," 330); and this is what Paul is dealing with especially in Rom 9-11. Stuhlmacher explains that the "righteousness of God" refers to "the entire redemptive activity of God in Christ from creation to redemption" ("Theme," 341).

Thus according to this view the theme of Romans is not just the salvation of man but the defense of God, with perhaps the greater emphasis falling on the latter. As Fiensy says (227), "Romans is then a theodicy or defense of God in light of the Jewish-Gentile problem in the church." Gaertner says that the kinds of questions Paul raises in Romans (e.g., 3:3; 3:5; 3:29; 9:14) inquire into the nature of God's dealings with sinners, especially with his fairness and faithfulness. Thus Gaertner labels Romans "the gospel of God's fairness" ("Fairness," 1:14).

C. THE EQUALITY OF JEWS AND GENTILES

A third view is that the theme of Romans is the equality of Jews and Gentiles in God's plan of salvation. This is currently a popular view. It stems mainly from the reconstruction of the origin and development of the Roman church as described earlier in this introduction. It goes hand in hand with the idea that the letter is intended to deal with certain specific circumstances existing in Rome, especially the apparent disunity between Jewish and Gentile Christians. It recognizes that "the entire letter to the Romans is . . . permeated with Jew-Gentile issues" (Fiensy, Introduction , 230).

In its most general form this view says that the main emphasis of Romans is the universality of the gospel: there is just one way of salvation for Jews and Gentiles alike. The transcendent gospel goes beyond the Jew-Gentile distinction. God's salvation is given to both groups equally, favoring neither and offering favor to both.

Boers is an example of this view. He says the consistent theme of the main body of Romans is "salvation of Jews and gentiles, and the relationship between them" ( Justification , 80). This theme is stated in Rom 1:16, "that the gospel is the power of God for all who believe, to the Jews first, and to the Hellenes" (80). That salvation is offered to the Jews first is important, but so is the idea that "there is no difference between Jews and gentiles" (81-82).

Dunn says, "It is precisely the tension between 'Jew first but also Greek' (1:16), which . . . provides an integrating motif for the whole letter." Paul's "repeated emphasis on 'all'" underscores the theme of universality. Even the emphasis on the righteousness of God "is primarily an exposition of the same Jew/Gentile theme," i.e., it is Paul's way of arguing that Gentiles are full recipients of the saving grace of God as much as Jews are (I:lxii-lxiii).

As noted earlier, Stott says two themes are woven together in Romans, the first being justification by faith. But since this applies equally to all people, it is the "fundamental basis of Christian unity." This provides the second theme of Romans, that "'there is no difference' now between Jews and Gentiles. . . . Indeed, 'the single most important theme of Romans is the equality of Jews and Gentiles'" (35-36).

Interpreters differ as to the nature of the circumstances that led Paul to emphasize the theme of equality. Some say the Gentile Christians at Rome did not want to fully accept the Jewish Christians, so Romans is basically defending the right of the latter to full status in the Kingdom of God. This is how Boers understands the "Jews first" theme, as noted above. Jewett says, "Nowhere else in Paul's writings are the concerns of Jewish Christians taken up in so systematic and friendly a manner, thus counterbalancing the prejudices of the Gentile majority of Roman Christians" ("Argument," 276). The development of this theme in Rom 9-11 "is relevant to the situation in Rome," says Bruce. Here Paul "warns the Gentiles among his readers not to despise the Jews, . . . because God has not written them off" ("Debate," 183-184).

On the other hand, some say the problem in Rome was the status of the Gentile Christians. W. Williams says (19-20), "The Epistle to the Romans is a discussion of the relation of the Gentile world to God's plan of salvation." More specifically, Romans is Paul's "defense of the rights of the Gentiles against the Jewish assumption that excluded them from the Church, and from the chance of salvation." Thus "the sole intent of the apostle was to maintain the equality of the Gentiles against the assumption of the Jews." Stendahl agrees that Paul's concern is the salvation of the Gentiles. Even the subject of justification serves the purpose of "defending the rights of Gentile converts to be full and genuine heirs to the promises of God to Israel" ( Paul , 2-4).

Either way the subject is approached, the main point is the same: the principal theme of Romans is to demonstrate the equality of Jews and Gentiles with regard to the saving grace of God.

D. SINNERS ARE SAVED BY GRACE, NOT LAW

All of the themes discussed above are certainly present in Romans, and all are important. All of them contribute significantly to the main theme. But I believe none of them as such is the main point Paul is communicating to us in the epistle. Rather than seeing 1:16-17 as the thesis statement for Paul's treatise, I see it more or less as the starting point leading up to the thesis, which is 3:28: "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law."

In the most general sense Paul's thesis relates to the gospel , since his desire to preach the gospel in Rome (1:15) is what led him to compose the epistle as a written version of his gospel. In this sense Moo is correct: "What, then, is the theme of the letter? If we have to choose one - and perhaps it would be better not to - we would choose 'the gospel.'" Romans is simply "Paul's statement of 'his' gospel" (I:28).

But since the gospel is the good news about salvation, also in a general sense the theme of Romans is salvation . As Harrison says (7), "Salvation is the basic theme of Romans (cf. 1:16) - a salvation presented in terms of the righteousness of God, which, when received by faith, issues in life (1:17)." Or as Hendriksen says, the basic doctrine at stake (especially in 1:16-8:39) is " the manner in which sinners are saved" (I:25). And the manner in which sinners are saved, whether Jews or Gentiles, is the same: justification by faith.

But the theme of Romans is more precise than this. Yes, sinners are justified by faith, but this means they are not justified by works of law, which is the only alternative. It is just as important to include the negative statement in the theme as the positive one.

In actuality, then, the basic theme of Romans is the contrast between law and grace as ways of salvation. This contrast is seen especially in 3:28, which (literally translated) says, "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law." The contrast is stated succinctly in 6:14, "You are not under law, but under grace." This is the gospel, the good news of salvation. Certainly it is good news to know that God justifies us by faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ. But in a real sense it is also good news to know that we are not justified by law-keeping: a way of salvation which is not only futile but which sinners in their hearts know is futile, and which thus leads only to self-deception or to despair.

Commenting on Romans, Grubbs says, "The Gospel versus the Law is the one theme of which he [Paul] never loses sight in the elaboration of the details of this wonderful production" (9). Though this is a very common way of speaking - "gospel versus law" - it is not altogether accurate. The real contrast is grace versus law, and this message as a whole is the gospel.

Thus Paul's theme is indeed that we are saved by grace, not by law. Law is not a viable option as a means of salvation; the only way for sinners to be counted righteous before God is by grace. Yes, we are justified by faith, but not by works of law. Yes, the righteousness of God figures prominently in our justification, but in contrast to the righteousness of man. Yes, Romans does emphasize full equality regarding this way of salvation; Jews and Gentiles are saved the same way. Both are saved by grace and justified by faith as provided by the righteousness of God, but in contrast with every false way.

This contrast between law and grace as competing ways of salvation is not a matter of OT versus NT nor Old Covenant versus New Covenant, as if law were the way to be saved prior to Christ and grace is the way to be saved now that Christ has come. Also, the contrast between law and grace - THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT - is not simply the Law of Moses versus the grace of Jesus Christ. No sinner has ever been saved nor can be saved by the law that applies to him, whether it be the Law of Moses for Jews under the Old Covenant, or some other comparable set of God's commandments for anyone else in any other time. Every sinner who has been saved since the time of Adam has been saved by grace and not by law, and this will always be the case.

The problem that Paul addresses in the book of Romans is not one that confronts Jews only, nor Gentiles only. It is not a problem faced only by those who are under the Mosaic Law, nor only by those to whom the Mosaic Law does not apply. The problem being addressed is this: As a sinner, how can I be saved? It is a problem faced by Jews and Gentiles alike, and the solution is the same for both.

Perhaps even more significantly, the problem addressed in Romans is not one confronted only by unbelieving sinners. It is a problem that believers often wrestle with as well (e.g., the Judaizers). When we state the problem thus - "As a sinner, how can I be saved?" - we can break it down into two separate problems. First is the unbeliever's problem: "How can I become saved?" The answer is: by grace through faith, not by works of law. Second is the believer's continuing problem: "How can I stay saved?" And the answer is: by grace through faith, not by works of law.

This is why the epistle to the Romans has always been and always will be in a class by itself with regard to its impact on individuals and upon the church as a whole. Its basic theme is one that is always needed and always applicable, and one that will result in the highest praise to God the Redeemer once it is understood.

PREFACE TO VOLUME 2

The introductory issues regarding the book of Romans have been discussed in Vol. 1 of this work (pp. 21-55). Also, the outline for chs. 1-8 of Romans is included in that volume (pp. 55-58).

References to passages in the book of Romans itself are usually limited to chapter and verse data only. For my policy regarding quotations from other sources, see the note at the beginning of the bibliography.

I wish to express my thanks to my wife, Barbara, for her patience in accepting my writing schedule while this work has been in production. My thanks go also to College Press for inaugurating this project, and especially to College Press editor John Hunter for adjusting to a writer who suffers from incurable prolixity. Another special word of thanks is due to my employers at the Cincinnati Bible College and Seminary who encourage my writing in many ways, especially through their regular sabbatical policy.

Above all, thanks be to God for his saving grace, for his Holy Word, and especially for the letter to the Romans with its incomparable beauty and power.

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The following bibliography includes commentaries, books, and articles cited in the text and footnotes of this work. Citations include a minimum of information; the reader must use this list for full titles and bibliographical data.

When commentaries are cited, only the author's name and page number are given. When other sources are cited, usually just the author's name and an abbreviated title (in bold print below) are given.

I. COMMENTARIES

Barclay, William. The Letter to the Romans , 2 ed. The Daily Study Bible. Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press, 1957.

Barrett, C.K. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans . Harper's New Testament Commentaries. New York: Harper & Row, 1957; reprint, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1987.

Bartlett, C. Norman. Right in Romans: Studies in the Epistle of Paul to the Romans . Chicago: Moody Press, 1953.

Batey, Richard A. The Letter of Paul to the Romans . Austin: R.B. Sweet, 1969.

Black, Matthew. Romans , 2 ed. New Century Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989.

Boice, James Montgomery. Romans , 4 vols. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1991ff.

Brokke, Harold J. Saved by His Life . Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, 1964.

Bruce, F.F. The Epistle of Paul to the Romans . Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1963.

Calvin, John. Commentaries on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans . Tr. by John Owen. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1947 reprint.

Cranfield, C.E.B. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans . 2 vols. The International Critical Commentary, new series. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1975 (1990 corrected printing).

DeWelt, Don. Romans Realized . Joplin, MO: College Press, 1959.

Dodd, C.H. The Epistle of Paul to the Romans . New York: Harper & Brothers, 1932.

Dunn, James D.G. Romans. 2 vols. Volume 38 in Word Biblical Commentary. Dallas: Word Books, 1988.

Edwards, James R. Romans . New International Biblical Commentary. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1992.

Erdman, Charles R. The Epistle to the Romans: An Exposition . Philadelphia: Westminster, 1925.

Godet, Frederic L. Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans . Tr. by A. Cusin. Ed. by Talbot W. Chambers. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1956 reprint of 1883 ed.

Greathouse, William M. Romans . Vol. 6 of Beacon Bible Expositions. Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press, 1975.

Grubbs, Isaiah Boone. An Exegetical and Analytical Commentary on Paul's Epistle to the Romans . Ed. by George A. Kingman. 6th ed. Nashville: Gospel Advocate, n.d.

Harrison, Everett F. "Romans." In The Expositor's Bible Commentary . Volume 10. Ed. by Frank E. Gaebelein. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976. Pp. 1-171.

Hendriksen, William. Exposition of Paul's Epistle to the Romans . 2 vols. New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980-1981.

Käsemann, Ernst. Commentary on Romans . Tr. by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980.

Lard, Moses E. Commentary on Paul's Letter to Romans . Cincinnati: Standard Publishing, n.d.

Lenski, R.C.H. The Interpretation of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans . Columbus, OH: Wartburg Press, 1945.

Lipscomb, David. Romans . Vol. I in A Commentary on the New Testament Epistles. 2nd ed. Ed. by J. W. Shepherd. Nashville: Gospel Advocate, 1965.

Lloyd-Jones, D.M. Romans: An Exposition of Chapters 3.20-4.25-Atonement and Justification . London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1970.

. Romans: An Exposition of Chapter 6-The New Man . Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1973.

. Romans: An Exposition of Chapters 7.1-8.4-The Law: Its Functions and Limits . Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1973.

Luther, Martin. Luther: Lectures on Romans . Ed. & tr. by Wilhelm Pauck. The Library of Christian Classics. Vol. XV. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1961.

MacArthur, John, Jr. Romans . 2 vols. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary. Chicago: Moody, 1991, 1994.

McGarvey, J.W., and Philip Y. Pendleton. Thessalonians, Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans . Cincinnati: Standard Publishing, n.d.

McClain, Alva J. Romans: The Gospel of God's Grace . Ed. by Herman A. Hoyt. Chicago: Moody Press, 1973.

Mitchell, John G., with Dick Bohrer. Right with God: A Devotional Study of the Epistle to the Romans . Portland, OR: Multnomah, 1990.

Moo, Douglas. Romans . 2 vols. The Wycliffe Exegetical Commentary. Chicago: Moody, 1991.

Morris, Leon. The Epistle to the Romans . Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988.

Moser, K.C. The Gist of Romans , revised ed. Delight, AR: Gospel Light Publishing Company, 1958.

Moule, H.C.G. The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans . The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. Cambridge: The University Press, 1918.

Mounce, Robert H. Romans . Vol. 27 in The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1995.

Murray, John. The Epistle to the Romans . 2 vols. New International Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959, 1965.

Newell, William R. Lessons on the Epistle of Paul to the Romans . No publisher given, 1925.

Newman, Barclay M., and Eugene A. Nida. A Translator's Handbook on Paul's Letter to the Romans . London: United Bible Societies, 1973.

Nygren, Anders. Commentary on Romans . Tr. by Carl C. Rasmussen. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1949.

Reese, Gareth L. New Testament Epistles: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Paul's Epistle to the Romans . Moberly, MO: Scripture Exposition Press, 1987.

Robertson, A.T. The Epistles of Paul . Vol. IV in Word Pictures in the New Testament. Nashville: Broadman, 1931.

Sanday, William, and Arthur C. Headlam. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans . 2nd ed. The International Critical Commentary, old series. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, n.d.

Schlatter, Adolf. Romans: The Righteousness of God . Tr. by Siegfried Schatzmann. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995.

Shedd, William G.T. A Critical and Doctrinal Commentary on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans . Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1967 reprint of 1879 edition.

Shields, Bruce. Romans . Standard Bible Studies. Cincinnati: Standard Publishing, 1988.

Smith, Sherwood. Thirteen Lessons on Romans . Vol. 1 (1979); and Thirteen Lessons on Romans . Vol. 2 (1981). Joplin, MO: College Press.

Stedman, Ray C. From Guilt to Glory, Volume I: Romans 1-8 . Waco: Word Books, 1978.

Stott, John. Romans: God's Good News for the World . Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1994.

Williams, William G. An Exposition of the Epistle of Paul to the Romans . Cincinnati: Jennings and Pye, 1902.

Wuest, Kenneth S. Romans in the Greek New Testament for the English Reader . Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1955.

II. MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS AND ARTICLES

Arndt, William F., and F. Wilbur Gingrich. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature . 4th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957.

Augustine, The Confessions of St. Augustine . Vol. XIV in The Works of Aurelius Augustine. Ed. by Marcus Dods. Tr. by J.G. Pilkington. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1876.

Balz, Horst. "ajpokaradokiva." Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament . Ed. by Horst Balz and Gerhard Schneider. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990. I:132-133.

Bartchy, S. Scott. MALLON CHRESAI: First Century Slavery and the Interpretation of 1 Corinthians 7:21 . Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series, #11. Missoula: Scholars Press, 1973.

Beker, J.C. "The Faithfulness of God and the Priority of Israel in Paul's Letter to the Romans." RomDeb , 327-332.

Boers, Hendrikus. The Justification of the Gentiles: Paul's Letters to the Galatians and Romans . Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994.

Bornkamm, Günther. "The Letter to the Romans as Paul's Last Will and Testament." RomDeb , 16-28.

Boswell, John. Christianity , Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980.

Bruce, F.F. "The Romans Debate -Continued." RomDeb , 177-194.

Campbell, William S. "Romans III as a Key to the Structure and Thought of the Letter." RomDeb , 251-264.

Carson, D.A. Exegetical Fallacies . Grand Rapids: Baker, 1984.

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. The Table Talk and Omniana of Samuel Taylor Coleridge . London: Oxford University Press, 1917.

Cooper, John W. Body , Soul, and Life Everlasting: Biblical Anthropology and the Monism-Dualism Debate . Grand Rapids: Baker, 1989.

Corson, John. " Faith Alone Involves Obedience, Too!" Christian Standard . (10/2/77), pp. 5-6.

Cottrell, Jack. Baptism : A Biblical Study . Joplin, MO: College Press, 1989.

. "Baptism According to the Reformed Tradition ." In Baptism and the Remission of Sins . Ed. by David W. Fletcher. Joplin, MO: College Press, 1990. Pp. 39-81.

. "The Biblical Consensus : Historical Backgrounds to Reformed Theology." In Baptism and the Remission of Sins . Ed. by David W. Fletcher. Joplin, MO: College Press, 1990. Pp. 17-38.

. " Covenant and Baptism in the Theology of Huldreich Zwingli." Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Theological Seminary, 1971.

. " Faith , History, and the Resurrection Body of Jesus," The Seminary Review (Dec. 1982): 28:143-160.

. Faith's Fundamentals : Seven Essentials of Christian Belief . Cincinnati: Standard Publishing, 1995.

. Gender Roles and the Bible: Creation, the Fall, and Redemption . Joplin, MO: College Press, 1994.

. His Truth . 2nd ed. Joplin, MO: College Press, 1989.

. Thirteen Lessons on Grace . Joplin, MO: College Press, 1988.

. What the Bible Says about God the Creator . Joplin, MO: College Press, 1984.

. What the Bible Says about God the Redeemer . Joplin, MO: College Press, 1987.

. What the Bible Says about God the Ruler . Joplin, MO: College Press, 1984.

Delling, G. "lambavnw, etc." TDNT, IV:5-15.

DeYoung, James B. "The Meaning of 'Nature' in Romans 1." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society , 31 (December 1988): 429-441.

Donfried, Karl P. "False Presuppositions in the Study of Romans." RomDeb , 102-125.

, ed. The Romans Debate . Revised & expanded edition. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1991.

. "A Short Note on Romans 16." RomDeb , 44-52.

Erickson, Millard J. The Evangelical Mind and Heart . Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993.

Fiensy, David A. New Testament Introduction . The College Press NIV Commentary. Joplin, MO: College Press, 1994.

Foerster, Werner. "swvzw, etc." TDNT, VII:965-1024.

Friedrich, Gerhard. "eujaggelivzomai, etc." TDNT, II:707-737.

Fuller, Daniel P. The Unity of the Bible: Unfolding God's Plan for Humanity . Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992.

Gaertner, Dennis. "Romans: Gospel of God's Fairness ." Christian Standard , part 1 (12/20/87), pp. 14-16; and part 2 (12/27/87), pp. 4-6.

Graber, Friedrich. "All, Many." The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology . Ed. by Colin Brown. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975. I:94-97.

Gromacki, Robert. The Virgin Birth : Doctrine of Deity . Nashville: Nelson, 1974.

Gundry, Robert H. Sôma in Biblical Theology: With Emphasis on Pauline Anthropology . Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987.

Harris, M.J. " Prepositions and Theology in the Greek New Testament." Appendix. The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology . Ed. by Colin Brown. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978. III:1171-1213.

Hobbs, A. I. " Conversion : What Is It, and How Produced?" In The Old Faith Restated . Ed. by J.H. Garrison. St. Louis: Christian Publishing Company, 1891. Pp. 254-274.

Hodges, Zane C. Absolutely Free . Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989.

Jervell, Jacob. "The Letter to Jerusalem." RomDeb , 53-64.

Jeremias, Joachim. The Central Message of the New Testament . London: SCM Press, 1965.

Jewett, Robert. "Following the Argument of Romans." RomDeb , 265-277.

Kittel, Gerhard, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament . Tr. & ed. by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. 10 vols. Grand Rapid: Eerdmans, 1964-1976.

Klein, Günter. "Paul's Purpose in Writing the Epistle to the Romans." RomDeb , 29-43.

Lamar, J.S. "The Ground of Man's Need of Salvation." In The Old Faith Restated . Ed. by J.H. Garrison. St. Louis: Christian Publishing Company, 1891. Pp. 98-119.

Lewis, C.S. The Abolition of Man . New York: Macmillan, 1947.

Luther, Martin. "Preface to the Complete Edition of Luther's Latin Writings ." In Vol. 34: Career of the Reformer IV . Luther's Works (American Edition). Ed. by Lewis W. Spitz and Helmut T. Lehmann. Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1960. Pp. 327-338.

. " Preface to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans." In Vol. 35: Word and Sacrament I . Luther's Works (American Edition). Ed. by E. Theodore Bachmann and Helmut T. Lehmann. Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1960. Pp. 365-380.

MacArthur, John F., Jr. The Gospel According to Jesus: What Does Jesus Mean When He Says, "Follow Me"? Revised ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994.

Maurer, Christian. " ." TDNT, VIII:557-558.

. "pravssw, etc." TDNT, VI:632-644.

Milligan, Robert. Exposition and Defense of the Scheme of Redemption . St. Louis: Bethany Press, n.d.

Moreland, J.P., and David Ciocchi, eds. Christian Perspectives on Being Human: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Integration . Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993.

Morris, Leon. The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross . 3 ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965.

Murray, John. The Imputation of Adam's Sin . Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959.

Nash, Donald A. "A Critique of the New International Version of the New Testament." Cincinnati: Christian Restoration Association, n.d.

Oepke, Albrecht. "kaqivsthmi, etc." TDNT, III:444-447.

Reese, Gareth L. New Testament History: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Acts . 2nd ed. Joplin, MO: College Press, 1976.

Rengstorf, Karl Heinrich. "dou'lo", etc." TDNT, II:261-280.

Ridderbos, Herman. Paul : An Outline of His Theology . Tr. by John R. de Witt. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975.

Rueda, Enrique. The Homosexual Network : Private Lives and Public Policy . Old Greenwich, CT: Devin Adair, 1982.

Ryrie, Charles C. So Great Salvation : What It Means to Believe in Jesus Christ . Wheaton: Scripture Press/Victor Books, 1989.

Sanders, E.P. Paul and Palestinian Judaism . London: SCM, 1977.

Schaff, Philip. " Preface ." In John Peter Lange, Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Romans . Tr. by Philip Schaff. Grand Rapids: Zondervan reprint, n.d.

Schneider, Johannes. "parabaivnw, paravbasi", etc." TDNT, V:736-744.

Schrenk, Gottlob. "iJerov", etc." TDNT, III:221-283.

Spicq, Ceslas. Theological Lexicon of the New Testament . Tr. by James D. Ernest. 3 volumes. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994.

Stendahl, Krister. Paul Among Jews and Gentiles and Other Essays . Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1976.

Stuhlmacher, Peter. "The Purpose of Romans." RomDeb , 231-242.

. "The Theme of Romans." RomDeb , 333-345.

Thielman, Frank. Paul and the Law: A Contextual Approach . Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1994.

Thiessen, Henry. Introduction to the New Testament . 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1944.

Trench, Richard Chenevix. Synonyms of the New Testament . Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1958.

Tyndale, William. "A Prologe to the Epistle of Paule to the Romayns." In The New Testament, Translated by William Tyndale, 1534 . Ed. by N. Hardy Wallis. Cambridge: University Press, 1938. Pp. 293-318.

Unger, Merrill F. Unger's Bible Dictionary . 3rd ed. Chicago: Moody Press, 1966.

Vincent, Marvin R. The Epistles of Paul . Vol. III in Word Studies in the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973 reprint of 1887 edition.

Watson, Francis. "The Two Roman Congregations : Romans 14:1-15:13." RomDeb , 203-215.

Wesley, John. Journal from October 14, 1735, to November 29, 1745 . Vol. I in The Works of John Wesley. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, reprint of 1872 ed.

Wedderburn, A.J.M. "The Purpose and Occasion of Romans Again," RomDeb , 195-202.

Wiefel, Wolfgang. "The Jewish Community in Ancient Rome and the Origins of Roman Christianity." RomDeb , 85-101.

Wiens, Delbert. "An Exegesis of Romans 5:12-21." Journal of Church and Society (Fall 1969): 5:42-54.

Williams, Philip R. "Paul's Purpose in Writing Romans." Bibliotheca Sacra (January-March 1971): 128:62-67.

Young, Richard. Intermediate N.T. Greek : A Linguistic and Exegetical Approach . Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1994.

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

BIBLIOGRAPHY TO VOLUME 2

The following bibliography includes commentaries, books, and articles cited in the text and footnotes of this work. Citations include a minimum of information; the reader must use this list for full titles and bibliographical data.

When commentaries are cited, only the author's name and page number are given. When other sources are cited, usually just the author's name and an abbreviated title (in bold print below) are given. Some sources are cited with an even more abbreviated reference (see list of abbreviations).

I. COMMENTARIES

Achtemeier, Paul J. Romans . Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1985.

Barrett, C.K. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans . Harper's New Testament Commentaries. New York: Harper & Row, 1957; reprint, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1987.

Black, Matthew. Romans . 2nd ed. New Century Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989.

Bruce, F.F. The Epistle of Paul to the Romans . Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1963.

Brunner, Emil. The Letter to the Romans: A Commentary . Trans. H.A. Kennedy. London: Lutterworth Press, 1959.

Calvin, John. Commentaries on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans . Trans. John Owen. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1947 reprint.

Cottrell, Jack. Romans , Vol. 1. The College Press NIV Commentary. Joplin, MO: College Press, 1996.

Cranfield, C.E.B. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans . 2 vols. The International Critical Commentary, n.s. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1975 (1990 corrected printing).

Denney, James. "St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans." In The Expositor's Greek Testament , ed. W. Robertson Nicoll, II:555-725. New York: George H. Doran, n.d.

DeWelt, Don. Romans Realized . Joplin, MO: College Press, 1959.

Dodd, C.H. The Epistle of Paul to the Romans . New York: Harper & Brothers, 1932.

Dunn, James D.G. Romans . 2 vols. Word Biblical Commentary. Dallas: Word Books, 1988.

Earle, Ralph. Romans . Vol. 3 of Word Meanings in the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1974.

Edwards, James R. Romans . New International Biblical Commentary. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1992.

Fitzmyer, Joseph A. Romans: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary . The Anchor Bible. New York: Doubleday, 1993.

Godet, Frederic L. Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans . Trans. A. Cusin. Ed. Talbot W. Chambers. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1956 reprint of 1883 ed.

Griffith Thomas, W.H. Romans: A Devotional Commentary . 3 vols. London: Religious Tract Society, n.d.

Haldane, Robert. An Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans . MacDill AFB: MacDonald Publishing, 1958.

Harrison, Everett F. "Romans." In The Expositor's Bible Commentary , Volume 10, pp. 1-171. Ed. Frank E. Gaebelein. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976.

Hendriksen, William. New Testament Commentary: Exposition of Paul's Epistle to the Romans . 2 vols. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980-1981.

Hughes, R. Kent. Romans: Righteousness from Heaven . Preaching the Word. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1991.

Käsemann, Ernst. Commentary on Romans . Trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980.

Lard, Moses E. Commentary on Paul's Letter to Romans . Cincinnati: Standard Publishing, n.d.

Lenski, R.C.H. The Interpretation of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans . Columbus, OH: Wartburg Press, 1945.

Lloyd-Jones, D.M. Romans: An Exposition of Chapter 9 - God's Sovereign Purpose . Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1991.

Luther, Martin. Luther: Lectures on Romans . Ed. & Trans. Wilhelm Pauck. Vol. XV of The Library of Christian Classics. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1961.

MacArthur, John, Jr. Romans . 2 vols. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary. Chicago: Moody, 1991, 1994.

McGarvey, J.W., and Philip Y. Pendleton. Thessalonians, Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans . Cincinnati: Standard Publishing, n.d.

McGuiggan, Jim. The Book of Romans . Lubbock, TX: Montex Publishing Company, 1982.

Moo, Douglas. The Epistle to the Romans . The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996.

Morris, Leon. The Epistle to the Romans . Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988.

Moule, H.C.G. The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans . The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. Cambridge: The University Press, 1918.

Mounce, Robert H. Romans . Vol. 27 of The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1995.

Murray, John. The Epistle to the Romans . 2 vols. New International Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959, 1965.

Newman, Barclay M., and Eugene A. Nida. A Translator's Handbook on Paul's Letter to the Romans . London: United Bible Societies, 1973.

Nygren, Anders. Commentary on Romans . Trans. Carl C. Rasmussen. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1949.

Sanday, William, and Arthur C. Headlam. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans . 2nd ed. The International Critical Commentary, o.s. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, n.d.

Shedd, William G.T. A Critical and Doctrinal Commentary on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans . Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1967 reprint of 1879 edition.

Smith, Sherwood. Thirteen Lessons on Romans . Vol. 1 (1979). Thirteen Lessons on Romans . Vol. 2 (1981). Joplin, MO: College Press.

Stott, John. Romans: God's Good News for the World . Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1994.

Vanderlip, George. Paul and Romans . Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1967.

Wuest, Kenneth S. Romans in the Greek New Testament for the English Reader . Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1955.

II. MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS AND ARTICLES

Arndt, William F., and F. Wilbur Gingrich. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature . 4th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957.

Bilezikian, Gilbert. Beyond Sex Roles . 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990.

Büchsel, Friedrich. "krivnw [etc.]." TDNT . III:921-954.

Cottrell, Jack. Baptism : A Biblical Study . Joplin, MO: College Press, 1989.

. "Baptism According to the Reformed Tradition ." In Baptism and the Remission of Sins , ed. David W. Fletcher, pp. 39-81. Joplin, MO: College Press, 1990.

. "The Biblical Consensus : Historical Backgrounds to Reformed Theology." In Baptism and the Remission of Sins , ed. David W. Fletcher, pp. 17-38. Joplin, MO: College Press, 1990.

. Faith's Fundamentals : Seven Essentials of Christian Belief . Cincinnati: Standard Publishing, 1995.

. Feminism and the Bible: An Introduction to Feminism for Christians . Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992.

. " 1 Timothy 2:12 and the Role of Women." Four parts. Christian Standard , January 10, 1993, pp. 4-6; January 17, 1993, pp. 4-6; January 24, 1993, pp. 4-6; January 31, 1993, pp. 4-6.

. " Priscilla , Phoebe, and Company." Christian Standard , December 12, 1993, pp. 4-5.

. " Response to My Critics." Three parts. Christian Standard , November 21, 1993, pp. 5-6; November 28, 1993, pp. 4-6; December 5, 1993, pp. 4-6.

. Tough Questions , Biblical Answers. Part Two. Joplin, MO: College Press, 1986.

. What the Bible Says about God the Creator . Joplin, MO: College Press, 1983.

. What the Bible Says about God the Redeemer . Joplin, MO: College Press, 1987.

. What the Bible Says about God the Ruler . Joplin, MO: College Press, 1984.

Delling, Gerhard. " , ." TDNT . VIII:523-524.

. "tavssw [etc.]." TDNT . VIII:27-32.

Donfried, Karl P., ed. The Romans Debate , revised & expanded edition. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1991.

. "A Short Note on Romans 16." RomDeb , 44-52.

Forster, Roger T., and V. Paul Marston. God's Strategy in Human History . Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1974.

Fürst, Dieter. " Confess ." In The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology , ed. Colin Brown, I:344-348. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975.

Gaertner, Dennis. Acts . The College Press NIV Commentary. Joplin, MO: College Press, 1993.

Hoekema, Anthony A. The Bible and the Future . Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979.

Hübner, Hans. "a[timo"." In Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testamen t, ed. Horst Balz & Gerhard Schneider, I:177. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990.

Keil, C.F. and F. Delitzsch. The Pentateuch . Trans. by James Martin. Vol. 1 of Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981.

Kittel, Gerhard, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament . Trans. & ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley. 10 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964-1976.

Köster, Helmut. "tevmnw [etc.]." TDNT . VIII:106-112.

Lampe, Peter. "The Roman Christians of Romans 16 ." RomDeb , 216-230.

Lewis, C.S. The Four Loves . London: Geoffrey Bles, 1960.

Michaelis, W. "mavcaira." TDNT . IV:524-527.

Nash, Donald A. "A Critique of the New International Version of the New Testament." Cincinnati: Christian Restoration Association, n.d.

Oepke, Albrecht. "zevw, zestov"." TDNT . II:875-877.

Pentecost, J. Dwight. Things To Come . Findlay, OH: Dunham, 1958.

Pinnock, Clark H. "From Augustine to Arminius: A Pilgrimage in Theology." In The Grace of God, the Will of Man: A Case for Arminianism , ed. Clark H. Pinnock, pp. 15-30. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989.

Piper, John. The Justification of God: An Exegetical and Theological Study of Romans 9:1-23 . 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993.

Reicke, Bo. "proi?sthmi." TDNT . VI:700-703.

Schreiner, Thomas R. "Does Romans 9 Teach Individual Election unto Salvation?" In vol. 1 of The Grace of God, the Bondage of the Will , ed. Thomas R. Schreiner and Bruce A. Ware, pp. 89-106. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1995.

Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth. In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins . New York: Crossroad, 1987.

Shank, Robert. Elect in the Son: A Study of the Doctrine of Election . Springfield, MO: Westcott Publishers, 1970.

Sherlock, William. A Discourse Concerning the Divine Providence . Pittsburgh: J.L. Read, 1848.

Spencer, Aida B. Beyond the Curse : Women Called to Ministry . Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1985.

Spicq, Ceslas. Theological Lexicon of the New Testament . 3 vol. Trans. James D. Ernest. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994.

Stählin, Gustav. " [etc.]." TDNT . IX:113-171.

. "skavndalon, skandalivzw." TDNT . VII:339-358.

Stendahl, Krister. Paul Among Jews and Gentiles and Other Essays . Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1976.

Trench, Richard Chenevix. Synonyms of the New Testament . Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1958.

Walters, James. "' Phoebe ' and 'Junia(s)' - Rom. 16:1-2, 7." In Vol. 1 of Essays on Women in Earliest Christianity , ed. Carroll D. Osburn, pp. 167-190. Joplin, MO: College Press, 1993.

Weiss, K. "fevrw [etc.]." TDNT . IX:56-87.

Wright, N.T. The Climax of the Covenant: Christ and the Law in Pauline Theology . Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993.

. "The Messiah and the People of God." Oxford University: D.Phil. dissertation, 1980.

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

ABBREVIATIONS

AG Arndt and Gingrich, Greek lexicon

ASV American Standard Version

GC God the Creator, by Jack Cottrell

GRe God the Redeemer, by Jack Cottrell

GRu God the Ruler, by Jack Cottrell

KJV King James Version

LB Living Bible

LXX Septuagint (Greek translation of the OT)

MP McGarvey-Pendleton Romans commentary

NAB New American Bible

NASB New American Standard Bible

NEB New English Bible

NIV New International Version

NRSV New Revised Standard Version

NT New Testament

OT Old Testament

RomDeb The Romans Debate, by Karl Donfried

RSV Revised Standard Version

TDNT Theological Dictionary of the NT, ed. Kittel

TEV Today's English Version

For fuller titles and publishing information on books, see the Bibliography.

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

College: Romans (Outline)

VIII. OUTLINE

PROLOGUE - 1:1-17

I. EPISTOLARY GREETING - 1:1-7

A. The Author Introduces Himself - 1:1

1. A Slave of Christ Jesus

2. Called to Be an Apostle

3. Set Apart for the Gospel of God

B. The Gospel and the Old Testament - 1:2

C. The Subject of the Gospel Is Jesus - 1:3-4

1. The Two Natures of Jesus

2. The Incarnation

3. Messiahship

4. The Two States of Jesus

5. The Resurrection of Jesus

6. The Son's Full Identity

D. Paul's Apostleship - 1:5

1. The Origin of Paul's Apostleship

2. The Character of Paul's Apostleship

3. The Focus of Paul's Apostleship

4. The Purpose of Paul's Apostleship

5. The Goal of Paul's Apostleship

E. The Recipients of Paul's Letter - 1:6-7a

F. The Blessing - 1:7b

II. PERSONAL REMARKS - 1:8-15

A. Paul's Prayers for the Romans - 1:8-10

B. Paul's Desires Regarding Rome - 1:11-13

C. Paul's Debt to the Romans - 1:14-15

III. TRANSITIONAL STATEMENT - 1:16-17

A. The Glory of the Gospel - 1:16a

B. The Power of the Gospel - 1:16b

C. The Scope of the Gospel - 1:16c

D. Faith and the Gospel - 1:16c

1. Faith Is a Condition for Salvation

2. Faith Is Not the Only Condition

E. The Heart of the Gospel - 1:17a

F. The Golden Text of the Gospel - 1:17b

PART ONE:

THE IMPOTENCE OF LAW AS A WAY OF SALVATION - 1:18-3:20

I. THE SINFULNESS OF THE GENTILES - 1:18-32

A. Universal Knowledge of God and His Law - 1:18-20

B. Universal Rejection of the True God - 1:21-25

C. The Utter Depths of Gentile Depravity - 1:26-32

II. THE SINFULNESS OF THE JEWS - 2:1-3:8

A. Jews Are Under the Wrath of God, No Less Than the Gentiles - 2:1-5

B. God Will Be Partial to No One in the Judgment - 2:6-11

C. Under Law, the Criterion of Judgment Is Obedience Alone- 2:12-16

D. Jews Who Look to the Law for Salvation Are Condemned by Their Own Disobedience - 2:17-24

E. True Jewishness Is Identified Not by Circumcision but by the Inward State of the Heart - 2:25-29

F. Such Equal Treatment of Jews and Gentiles Does Not Nullify But Rather Magnifies God's Righteousness - 3:1-8

III. UNIVERSAL SINFULNESS AND HOPELESSNESS UNDER LAW - 3:9-20

PART TWO:

THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF GRACE AS A WAY OF SALVATION - 3:21-5:21

I. GRACE AS JUSTIFICATION BY CHRIST'S BLOOD THROUGH FAITH - 3:21-31

A. Righteousness Through Faith Is Now Fully Revealed - 3:21-23

B. Sinners Are Justified by the Blood of Christ - 3:24-26

C. Sinners Are Justified by Faith Apart from Works of Law - 3:27-28

D. The Way of Grace Is Available to All - 3:29-30

E. Grace Lets Law Do Its Proper Work - 3:31

II. ABRAHAM: PARADIGM OF GRACE - 4:1-25

A. Abraham Was Justified by Faith Apart from Works - 4:1-5

B. David Explains and Confirms Justification by Faith Apart from Works - 4:6-8

C. Membership in Abraham's Family Is by Faith, Not by Circumcision - 4:9-12

D. The Inheritance Promised to Abraham Comes by Faith, Not by Law - 4:13-17a

E. Faith Means Giving Glory to God and Believing His Promises - 4:17b-22

F. Those Who Believe Like Abraham Are Justified Like Abraham - 4:23-25

III. GRACE AND ASSURANCE - 5:1-21

A. Assurance of Personal Salvation - 5:1-11

1. Justification by Faith Is the Key to Assurance - 5:1-2

2. Tribulations of Believers Do Not Nullify Assurance - 5:3-5

3. Christ Died for Us While We Were Still Sinners - 5:6-8

4. Our Hope Is Even More Secure Now That We Are His Friends - 5:9-11

B. The All-Sufficiency of the Death of Christ - 5:12-21

1. One Sin of One Man (Adam) Brought Sin and Death to All - 5:12-14

2. Christ and His Sacrifice Are Greater Than Adam and His Sin - 5:15-17

3. Christ's Cross Completely Cancels the Results of Adam's Sin - 5:18-19

4. Grace Triumphs over Sin and Death - 5:20-21

PART THREE:

THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF GRACE GIVES VICTORY OVER SIN - 6:1-8:39

I. OBJECTIONS TO GRACE BASED ON A FEAR OF ANTINOMIANISM - 6:1-7:13

A. Does Grace Make Sin Irrelevant? NO! - 6:1-14

B. Does Freedom from Law Mean We Are Free to Sin? NO!- 6:15-7:6

1. We Are Slaves to God - 6:15-23

2. We Obey God from Our Hearts - 7:1-6

C. Does Grace Mean That Law Is Bad? NO! - 7:7-13

II. GRACE GIVES VICTORY OVER SIN - 7:14-8:13

A. The Christian Continues to Struggle Against Sin - 7:14-25

1. The Nature of the Struggle - 7:14-20

2. The Source of the Struggle - 7:21-25

B. Victory over Sin Comes Through the Holy Spirit - 8:1-13

1. God Frees Us from Sin's Penalty and Power - 8:1-4

2. Sin and Death Are Defeated in Us Through the Holy Spirit - 8:5-13

III. THE ASSURANCE OF FINAL AND TOTAL VICTORY OVER THE FALLEN WORLD - 8:14-39

A. The Holy Spirit Marks Us as Sons and Heirs - 8:14-17

B. The Redeemed Cosmos Is Our Inheritance - 8:18-25

C. God Promises to Bring His Family Through Earthly Trials - 8:26-30

D. God's Gracious Love Gives Us Unshakable Assurance - 8:31-39

PART FOUR:

THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD

IN HIS DEALINGS WITH THE JEWS - 9:1-11:36

I. THE PROBLEM OF ISRAEL: THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF THE JEWISH NATION - 9:1-5

A. Israel's Agony: They Are Accursed - 9:1-3

B. Israel's Ecstasy: They Are Recipients of Unspeakably Glorious Privileges - 9:4-5

II. THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN ETHNIC AND SPIRITUAL ISRAEL - 9:6-29

A. Israel's Situation and God's Faithfulness - 9:6-13

1. God's Word Concerning Israel Has Not Failed - 9:6a

2. The Key to the Puzzle: the Existence of Two Israels - 9:6b

3. Ethnic Israel Exists by God's Sovereign Choice - 9:7-13

a. The Choice of Isaac - 9:7-9

b. The Choice of Jacob - 9:10-13

B. God's Right to Choose and Use People without Saving Them - 9:14-18

1. God's Righteousness Is Challenged - 9:14

2. God's Sovereignty in Election for Service - 9:15-16

3. God's Purposes Can Be Served by the Unsaved - 9:17-18

C. God Used Ethnic Israel to Produce Spiritual Israel - 9:19-29

1. The Objection - 9:19

2. Paul's Initial Rebuke of the Objector's Attitude - 9:20-21

3. Beyond Ethnic Israel to Spiritual Israel - 9:22-24

a. The Calvinist View

b. Seeing Paul Through Non-Calvinist Eyes

4. Prophetic Confirmation of God's Purpose - 9:25-29

III. ISRAEL'S CHOICE OF LAW RATHER THAN GRACE 9:30-10:21

A. Personal Righteousness Versus the Righteousness of God- 9:30-10:3

1. The Reason for the Gentiles' Acceptance - 9:30

2. The Reason for the Jews' Lostness - 9:31-33

3. The Jews' Rejection of God's Righteousness - 10:1-3

B. Christ Alone Is the Source of Saving Righteousness - 10:4-13

1. An Either-Or Choice: Works-Righteousness, or Faith in Christ - 10:4

2. The Futility of Law-Righteousness - 10:5

3. Saving Righteousness Comes through Trusting Christ's Works, Not Our Own - 10:6-10

4. God's Righteousness Is Available Equally to Jews and Gentiles - 10:11-13

C. The Jews Have Not Believed in Christ, and Their Unbelief Is Inexcusable - 10:14-21

1. The Necessary Prerequisites to Saving Faith - 10:14-15

2. Most Jews Have Not Believed the Gospel Message - 10:16

3. The Jews' Problem Is Not Ignorance but Stubbornness of Will - 10:17-21

IV. THE SALVATION OF GOD'S TRUE ISRAEL - 11:1-32

A. God's True Israel Is the Remnant Chosen by Grace - 11:1-6

1. God Has Not Rejected His People - 11:1-2a

2. God Had a Remnant of Believers in the OT - 11:2b-4

3. Those under Grace Are God's New Covenant Israel - 11:5-6

B. Unbelieving Israel Has Been Hardened - 11:7-10

C. The Hardening of Unbelieving Israel Becomes a Blessing

for Both the Gentiles and the Jews - 11:11-16

D. The Olive Tree: A Metaphor of Judgment and Hope - 11:17-24

1. Words of Warning to Gentile Christians - 11:17-22

2. Words of Hope for Hardened Jews - 11:23-24

E. God's Plan for Israel's Salvation - 11:25-32

1. The Mystery of Israel's Salvation - 11:25-27

2. God's Continuing Love for Israel - 11:28-29

3. God's Ultimate Purpose Is Mercy - 11:30-32

V. DOXOLOGY: GOD'S WAY IS RIGHT - 11:33-36

PART FIVE:

LIVING THE SANCTIFIED LIFE - 12:1-15:13

I. A CATALOGUE OF VIRTUES - 12:1-13:14

A. Grace Demands a Transformed Life - 12:1-2

B. Using the Gifts of Grace for Unselfish Service - 12:3-8

C. Miscellaneous Moral Teaching - 12:9-16

D. Personal Vengeance Is Forbidden - 12:17-21

E. The Relation between Citizens and Government - 13:1-7

F. The Relation between Love and Law - 13:8-10

G. Walking in the Light - 13:11-14

II. CHRISTIAN LIBERTY IN MATTERS OF OPINION - 14:1-15:13

A. Do Not Judge Others in Matters of Opinion - 14:1-12

1. We Should Accept All Whom God Has Accepted - 14:1-3

2. We Answer to Our Lord and Not to Each Other - 14:4-9

3. Each of Us Will Be Judged by God - 14:10-12

B. The Stewardship of Christian Liberty 14:13-23

1. We Must Sacrifice Our Liberty for the Sake of the Weak - 14:13-15

2. Do Not Allow What You Consider Good to Be Spoken of as Evil - 14:16-18

3. We Must Do Only Those Things Which Build Others Up - 14:19-21

4. Each Christian Must Be True to His Own Convictions - 14:22-23

C. Living in Unity and Hope - 15:1-13

1. Selfless Service Produces a Unified Witness - 15:1-6

2. Through Christ's Selfless Service, Jews and Gentiles Glorify God Together - 15:7-12

3. A Prayer That All Believers May Abound in Hope - 15:13

PART SIX:

PERSONAL MESSAGES FROM PAUL - 15:14-16:27

I. PAUL'S MINISTRY AS THE APOSTLE TO THE GENTILES - 15:14-33

A. Reflections on His Past Service - 15:14-22

B. His Plans for the Future - 15:23-29

C. His Request for Prayer - 15:30-33

II. PAUL AND HIS FELLOW WORKERS - 16:1-24

A. Commendation of Phoebe - 16:1-2

B. Greetings to Individual Acquaintances - 16:3-16

C. Warnings against False Teachers - 16:17-20

D. Greetings from Paul's Companions - 16:21-24

III. CONCLUDING DOXOLOGY - 16:25-27

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV