9
Rejoicing in Life and Hope
Romans 5:1–21
Outline
- The Hope of Glory (5:1–11)
- Eternal Life in Christ, the Second Adam (5:12–21)
Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
- Describe the similarities and differences in the salvation-historical work of Adam and Christ.
- Appreciate the results of our justification in Christ.
- Identify and explain at least three different ways that we can understand the teaching of original sin in Romans 5:12–21.
- Rejoice in the assurance that believers can have because of the work of Christ, our second Adam.
We sometimes summarize the message of the New Testament with the renowned triad of faith, hope, and love. Faith enables us to receive and maintain our relationship with God through Christ. Hope focuses our attention on the grand climax of our faith, when all the uncertainties and difficulties of this life give way to the glory of being with our Savior forever. Love reminds us of our obligations to live as God’s people in our present redeemed but not yet glorified state.
Risking considerable oversimplification, we nevertheless might suggest that Paul’s argument in Romans matches this triad. In chapters 1–4, he has emphasized faith as the means by which we experience the righteousness of God. In chapters 12–16, he will focus on our responsibility to live a life of love in the midst of a fallen world. And now, in chapters 5–8, he turns to the subject of hope. To be sure, these chapters at first sight are not so clearly about hope. Paul talks about Adam and Christ (chap. 5), victory over sin (chap. 6), the weakness of the law (chap. 7), and the Holy Spirit (chap. 8). But a closer look reveals that these various topics all revolve around one central pivot: the confidence believers can have that they will one day share in the glory of God. In what we call a “ring composition,” Paul begins and ends Romans 5–8 on this note of hope. Both 5:1–11 and 8:18–39 teach us that God’s work for us in Christ, his love, and the ministry of the Spirit will overcome our present difficulties and bring us safely home to glory in the end. As bookends to Romans 5–8, Paul announces his overall theme. At the next step between these bookends, Paul tells us why we can have such confident hope: Christ, the second Adam, has conquered the sin and death that the first Adam unleashed in the world (5:12–21), and the Holy Spirit is also working to overcome sin and death (8:1–17). And in the middle he tackles two potential hurdles in our attaining of glory: sin (chap. 6) and the law (chap. 7).
Romans 5–8, therefore, is about assurance. Paul wants those of us who have been justified by faith to know that we will be delivered in the end from God’s wrath. He wants us to rejoice in the certainty of a victory already won, though not yet consummated. He wants us to understand that nothing in all creation “will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” as he says in concluding this section (8:39).
The Hope of Glory (5:1–11)
The many different issues that Paul addresses in this paragraph—peace, hope, the Spirit, the cross, salvation—make it difficult to identify the central topic. I think that the topic of hope emerges as the best choice. Rejoicing in “the hope of the glory of God” is the climax of verses 1–2. The final stage in the series of virtues in verses 3–4 also is hope. Verses 5–8 explain why hope will not “put us to shame.” Verses 9–10 reassert hope in a new way, attaching our certainty of salvation in the last day to our present status as people who are justified and reconciled. There is good reason for Paul to move to this topic after finishing his elaboration of justification by faith (3:21–4:25). Jews in Paul’s day generally thought that God’s justification was something that would take place only at the end of one’s life. God would analyze a person’s adherence to the law, as evidence of covenant faithfulness, and determine whether he or she was to be justified or condemned. Jesus reflects this view when he warns the Pharisees, “By your words you will be acquitted [= “justified”], and by your words you will be condemned” (Matt. 12:37). Paul transforms this Jewish view of justification by proclaiming that a person can experience this eschatological verdict in the here and now. The minute a person believes in Christ, he or she is justified. But we have no concrete evidence of this justification. God does not hand us a document attesting our innocence. So people in Paul’s day might well wonder what the verdict of justification that Paul makes so much of will mean in the last day, because Christians, like all other people, still have to face the Judge of all history at the end of life. What will the verdict of the Judge be? Paul encourages us by making it absolutely clear that the verdict of justification that we experience in this life will be confirmed in the life to come. Those who have been justified will be saved (vv. 9–10).
“Since we have been justified through faith” picks up the key theme of chapters 1–4 as a basis for what Paul will next say. He announces that justified believers enjoy three wonderful blessings: “peace with God” (v. 1), “access . . . into this grace in which we now stand” (v. 2a), and “the hope of the glory of God” (v. 2b). The first blessing, we should note, is “peace with God,” not the “peace of God.” The latter refers to the subjective feeling of harmonious well-being that we can have because we are accepted by God (see, e.g., Phil. 4:7). But Paul is referring here to the objective state of peace that comes to the justified believer. The enmity between God and the sinner is removed (cf. v. 10). The Greek word for “access” (prosagōgē), like our English word, was used to refer to one’s approach to an eminent person. We would expect Paul to say, then, that the believer has “access” to God. But he does not. Instead, he claims that we have access to grace. Again we see how important this concept is for Paul. That word, “grace,” can summarize the blessed state enjoyed by the justified believer. And note also that Paul says that we “stand” in this grace. Grace is important not only at the beginning of the Christian life but also for all of Christian experience. The third blessing of the justified believer is the one that is most important to Paul in this context: rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God. What Paul means is that we have the hope of someday experiencing God’s glory, of having a share in his own eternal character. What we lack as sinners, even justified sinners (3:23), we will one day have.
| Chapter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Calvin | Justification by Faith | Sanctification | ||||||
| Nygren | “The one who through faith is righteous . . . | . . . will live” | ||||||
| Word or Concept | Romans 1–4 | Romans 5–8 |
| Faith | 24 |
2 (both refer back to Rom. 1–4) |
| Believe | 9 | 1 |
| Life | 1 | 12 |
| Live | 1 | 12 |
| Justify, righteous, righteousness: attribute or activity of God | 5–7 | 3 |
| Justify, righteous, righteousness: status with God | 18 | 3 |
| Justify, righteous, righteousness: means to further blessing | 1 | 5 |
| Justify, righteous, righteousness: ethical focus | 0 | 5 |
The transition from verse 2 to verse 3 is abrupt and unexpected. We can all understand how we can rejoice in the hope of sharing God’s glory. But rejoicing in our suffering? Paul reveals here that he is no pie-in-the-sky dreamer. He well knows, from personal experience, the problems that believers still have in this life. And so he launches a preemptive attack on those who would accuse him of ignoring the harsh realities of life in this world. Various kinds of sufferings will come to us, but we can rejoice in them when we recognize that they serve a purpose: to develop our Christian character. In verses 3b–4 Paul shows how a godly response to suffering can initiate a series of virtues, culminating, strikingly, in hope. Note, however, that Paul is not saying that we should rejoice because of suffering. Evil things are still just that—evil—and we never should be happy about them. But by looking beyond the suffering to its divinely intended end, we still can rejoice in the midst of them.
In verses 5–8, Paul reassures us about the hope that joy in suffering produces. That hope will not “put us to shame.” Paul wrote Romans in a culture often focused on honor and shame. To be shamed was one of the worst things that could happen to you.1 But “shame” was also one way that Jews sometimes spoke of a negative verdict in the judgment. Paul’s language here picks up Old Testament passages that remind the saints that those who hope in God will not suffer shame (Ps. 25:3; Isa. 54:4; cf. Isa. 28:16 LXX). And why can we believers have this assurance about the outcome of our hope? In a word, love. In sending Christ to die for people who had spurned and rejected their Creator, God demonstrated his unquenchable love for us (vv. 6–8). He therefore reveals a love that is far deeper than we find in human experience, where a person would die only for someone near and dear. God, however, reveals his love not only on the cross but also through his Spirit, making us deeply aware of that love (v. 5b). In an effusion of grace, God pours out his love into our hearts.
Verses 9–10 are the heart of this paragraph; indeed, they are the heart of Romans 5–8. And just in case we miss the point, Paul says basically the same thing twice. Note the parallels between the verses:
| v. 9 | justified by his blood . . . how much more saved from God’s wrath |
| v. 10 | reconciled through God’s Son . . . how much more saved through his life |
In both verses, our present spiritual status is shown to be the guarantee of future eternal life. The verses thus powerfully underscore the theme of hope that Paul is developing in this part of the letter. God, Paul is arguing, has already done the harder thing: taken rebellious sinners and brought them back into relationship with himself. We can, for that reason, be quite confident that he will accomplish the easier thing: vindicate on the last day those whom he has justified and reconciled. As is customary in the New Testament, Paul applies the language of salvation to our ultimate deliverance from sin and the wrath of God in the last day (see, e.g., Rom. 13:11; 1 Cor. 3:15; 5:5; Phil. 2:12). “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Cor. 5:10), but believers know what the verdict at that judgment seat will be.
Paul wraps up this passage by returning to two earlier themes: joy and reconciliation. In verses 2b and 3, Paul reminds us that we can rejoice in hope and in suffering. Now, as a summary of what has come before, he joins us in boasting in God, who provides in Christ “reconciliation.” Paul has used the verb “reconcile” in verse 10, and the idea of “peace with God” in verse 1 refers to the same basic concept. If “justification” (see vv. 1, 9) is taken from the legal realm, “reconciliation” (v. 11) comes from the realm of personal relationships. Through Christ, God both declares us innocent of the sins we have committed and also enters into a new and intimate relationship with us.
Eternal Life in Christ, the Second Adam (5:12–21)
When Christians hear “Romans 5,” many of them immediately think, “original sin.” And, indeed, Romans 5:12–21 furnishes the most important data in the Bible for understanding the nature and effects of Adam’s sin. But what we must grasp if we are to understand this paragraph is that its focus is not on sin, original or otherwise. Rather, it focuses on righteousness and life. Paul compares and contrasts the two “Adams” or “human beings” (remember that the Hebrew word adam means “human being”). The first Adam brought death into the world through sin. The second Adam, Jesus Christ, through his righteous act of obedience to the Father on the cross, has overcome the disastrous results of Adam’s sin. In place of death he has brought eternal life. Paul makes this argument by means of four “just as . . . so also” comparisons:
| v. 12 | just as sin and death came via Adam | ———— |
| v. 18 | just as Adam brought condemnation | so also Christ brought justification and life |
| v. 19 | just as Adam made many sinners | so also Christ made many righteous |
| v. 21 | just as sin reigned in death | so also grace reigns, leading to life |
Two observations about these comparisons are to be noted. First, the first comparison is incomplete. Paul gives us the “just as” side in verse 12 but never completes the sentence with the “so also” side. English versions recognize this break in the syntax by putting a dash at the end of verse 12. Second, the main point in such a “just as . . . so also” comparison comes in the second clause. I might say, for instance, “Just as the Chicago Cubs have been a model of baseball futility for years, so also they will be again this year.” Everyone knows what I have said in the first part of the sentence (unfortunately!). I am assuming that first point to make another one: the Cubs will be bad again this year. So, in Romans 5:12–21, Paul assumes certain things about Adam, sin, and death to make a point about Christ, righteousness, and life.
Once we understand that Paul is making a positive point about the overwhelming power of Christ’s work, we can fit this passage into its context. In the first paragraph of Romans 5, Paul assures believers that they surely will be saved from God’s wrath on the last day. Now, in the second paragraph, Paul explains why believers can be so certain of this final salvation: Christ has more than overcome all the negative effects of Adam’s sin. Those who are in Christ no longer need fear the condemnation that Adam’s sin has brought to all the world. They are destined, through the power of grace, for life.
Paul’s initial statement of the relationship between Adam’s sin and death (v. 12) is one of the most controversial verses in Romans. And yet, taken at face value, Paul actually does not assert anything new here. The verse falls into a chiastic arrangement, with “sin” and “death” as the key elements:
A Sin entered the world through one man
B Death came through sin
B' Death came to all people
A' Because all people sinned
There is some debate about whether “death” is spiritual or physical. But as Paul’s switch to “condemnation” in verse 18 reveals, it is probably mainly the former. Physical death may also, however, be a part of this: physical death becomes the end of spiritual death, death in all its horror. God warned Adam that he would “die” if he ate fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:17; cf. 3:3).
In claiming that Adam brought death into the world and that death spread to all people because of sin, Paul is rehearsing standard biblical and Jewish teaching. But difficulties begin when we probe a bit deeper and ask why, or how, all people sinned. Clearly, at the minimum, Adam’s sin must have introduced a fatal bent into human nature itself, predisposing human beings to turn from rather than toward God (see Rom. 1:18–32). But is Paul teaching more than that? A comparison between verse 12 and verses 18–19 seems to suggest that he is, because in those verses Paul attributes the condemnation and sin of all people to the single sin of Adam. In other words, in verses 12–21, Paul attributes the death of all people to two different causes:
All die because all sinned (v. 12).
All die because Adam sinned (vv. 18, 19).
How do we bring these two together? The best solution is to think that Paul views Adam as a representative figure whose action affects all who “belong” to him.2 Since Adam is the representative of all human beings, Adam’s sin is at the same time the sin of all human beings. When he sinned, we all sinned—and died. If this way of thinking seems strange to us, we must remember that the Bible teaches a closer relationship among humans than we are accustomed to in the modern West. “Corporate solidarity” is the term that scholars use to describe this perspective. It can explain, for instance, how the sin of Achan, when he stole some of the plunder from battle for himself, can be described also as the sin of Israel (Josh. 7:11), and how it could lead to judgment on Israel as a whole (Josh. 7:12). So in Romans 5, Paul can remind us that Adam’s sin brought death to all people, who belong to him through physical birth, while Christ’s righteous act brought life to all who belong to him.
As we saw, verse 12 is the first part of an incomplete sentence. We have the “just as” clause but no “so also” clause. Paul apparently wants to make sure a couple of things are clarified before he finishes his comparison. Thus, in verses 13–14, he touches on the way that the law of Moses has affected the nexus of sin and death introduced by Adam. And then, in verses 15–17, he notes a key contrast between the generally similar roles played by Adam and Christ in salvation history.
Paul knows well that Jews will object strenuously to any rehearsal of salvation history that ignores the law, because Jews believed that God’s gift of the law, and the covenant it represents, significantly altered the dire situation that Adam’s sin had brought about. So Paul takes a short detour from his main line of thought to assert that the coming of the law did not change the situation, and, in fact, it made that situation even worse. Sin existed before the law was given, Paul reminds us, and people during that time, from Adam to Moses, died for their sins. But it was only when the law came that sin was “charged against anyone’s account” (v. 13). The only way to make sense of Paul’s argument is to recognize that “charge against an account” is bookkeeping language. Before the law, people died for sinning against the generally revealed will of God, but the coming of the law enabled God to record sins as infractions of specific commandments. “Sin” was turned into “transgression.” This is a more literal rendering of the Greek word (parabasis) that is translated as “breaking a command” in the NIV of verse 14. And, as I noted in the comments on 4:15, this word in Paul’s writings has the specific sense of “violating a known commandment.” The bottom line, then, is this: the law of Moses did not cancel the effects of Adam’s sin; it made them even worse.
Christ’s obedience was demonstrated in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Central to Paul’s whole argument in verses 12–21 is his brief aside at the end of verse 14: Adam is a “pattern [typos, “type”] of the one to come” (Christ). But before drawing out the exact nature and implications of this typological relationship, Paul pauses in verses 15–17 to note some of the differences between the two. The key phrase in these verses is “how much more” (vv. 15, 17). Although there is an equivalence in the work of Adam and Christ, there is also a power operative in Christ that enables his work on our behalf to more than cancel the tragic effects of Adam’s sin. That sin brought death and condemnation to the “many” (a Semitic way of saying, “a great number of people”), but in Christ, God has given the gift of justification to the “many.” And that gift, a product of God’s grace, came after innumerable sins. Because of that, Paul concludes, the reign of life that Christ inaugurates completely overpowers and sweeps aside the reign of death that Adam’s sin has initiated. Paul’s basic purpose shines through again: to assure those of us who belong to Christ that certainly we will enjoy eternal life.
Paul now finally states the full comparison between Adam and Christ, and he does it twice so that we do not miss the point. Verses 18 and 19 follow the “just as . . . so also” structure that is central to this passage. Adam’s action is the “just as”: his “one trespass,” his one act of disobedience, made “the many” into sinners and brought condemnation to “all people.” The “so also” clauses speak of the effects of Christ’s “one righteous act,” his obedience: “many” are made righteous, life comes to “all people.” These verses bring to a head a pressing issue in the way Paul presents the comparison between Adam and Christ: does Paul think that the scope of their work is equivalent? His language would seem to suggest so. Adam’s sin affects the “many,” and so does Christ’s obedience (vv. 15, 19). Adam’s sin affects “all people,” and so does Christ’s righteous act (v. 18). In other words, one could build a pretty convincing case for universal salvation from Romans 5. Just as all people die in Adam, so all people (in the future if not in this life) find new life in Christ.3 The problem with this view, of course, is that it conflicts with rather clear indications elsewhere in the New Testament that not all people eventually will find life—that hell, sadly, will never be unpopulated.
And so it is preferable to read verse 18 differently. Two possibilities are to be considered. First, Paul might simply mean that Christ’s work has the same potential universality that the death introduced by Adam has had. Christ has died to make salvation for all people a possibility, but to actualize that possibility, people must respond to the gracious offer of God in Christ. Note in this regard an important difference in the way Paul, in verse 17, portrays the work of Adam and of Christ. Through Adam’s trespass, death reigns—death seems to follow as a matter of course. But it is only those who “receive God’s abundant provision of grace” (my emphasis) who will reign in life. A second way we can avoid the idea of universal salvation in verse 18 is to assume that the equivalence between the work of Adam and of Christ lies not in the number of people that they represent but in the certainty that those they represent will be affected by their work. All those who are in Adam die; similarly, all those who are in Christ live. But whereas we are in Adam simply by virtue of being born, we are in Christ only when we receive the gift God offers (v. 17).
Paul again reveals his concern to relativize the importance of the law when it comes to the sin problem by claiming in verse 20 that it has increased the trespass. How has it done so? Paul does not elaborate, but other passages (see esp. 4:15; 5:13–14; 7:7–12) suggest that the law increases the problem of sin introduced by Adam by making people directly responsible for a body of specific commandments and prohibitions. When we know all the better what sin is, our accountability rises. Paul, however, will not let sin have the last word, because the increased seriousness of sin has been matched by an even greater increase in the extent and power of God’s grace. The result, spelled out in verse 21, summarizes the main lines of Paul’s teaching in verses 12–21: “just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”