Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
"Another benefit of justification is peace with God. This is not the peace of God spoken of in other places (such as Phil 4:7). This is peace with God; the battle between God and us is finished - and He won, winning us. Some never knew they were out of peace with God, but they were like drivers ignoring the red lights of a police car in their rear-view mirror - they are in trouble even if they don’t know it, and it will soon catch up to them…. This peace can only come through our Lord Jesus Christ. He and His work is our entire ground for peace. In fact, Jesus is our peace. (Eph 2:14)” (David Guzik)
“The basic feature of the Greek concept of ‘eirene’ [‘peace’] is that the word does not primarily denote a relationship between several people, or an attitude, but a state, i.e. ‘time of peace’ or ’state of peace’ originally conceived of purely as an interlude in the everlasting state of war.” (Foerster)
“through Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand....Jesus told the disciples: “Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.” (John 16:24-27) When you have been justified by faith in Jesus, you begin to commune with God in His name.
We learned previously that we have become heirs of the world. Paul adds now that we “rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” This is the final, future stage of our salvation— glorification. “In our day ‘hope’ is a weak word. We speak of ‘hoping against hope’ or ‘hoping for the best,’ which means that we are not very hopeful. This is not what ‘hope’ means in the Bible. In the Bible, it is a certainty, and the only reason that it is called ‘hope’ rather than ‘certainty’ is that we do not possess the thing that is hoped for yet, although we will. See Acts 2:26-27; 1 Cor 13:13; Titus 1:2; 2:13; Heb 6:19-20; 1 Pet 1:3.” [Bible Study Fellowship Intl]
Jesus speaks to me through His Word. I am sure of it. This brings great peace and joy to me. He justified me by faith. And He now leads my thinking, into sometimes nontraditional paths. I feel called to defend His name. As a result, I am an embarrassment to some and not relevant to others. "You are a misguided soul," is the dominant message that I hear in the silent response, even among fellow believers. That my Master speaks to me and directs me is enough! He bids me to speak. so, I cannot remain silent.
Rom 5:3-5 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
And not only that, …. “This… conveys the idea but that's not all! Not only do we now experience peace with the holy, righteous, justly wrathful God. Not only do we stand forever in His grace with full access to His throne of grace. Not only do we rejoice in the hope of future glory. But we also rejoice in our tribulations, the believer's present classroom of what one might call ‘Spiritual Maturity 101’.
Note that peace with God does not necessarily bring peace with man. The actual conditions of life, especially for believers in the midst of a hostile society, are not necessarily easy or pleasant, yet we have cause to rejoice in these hostile conditions as explained below…. Paul says he exults, rejoices, even boasts in them, instead of murmuring and complaining about them.” http://preceptaustin.org/romans_53-5.htm
but we also glory in tribulations, … “The ‘tribulation’ that Paul exults or glories in is… major and traumatic trial involving pain, ostracism, and deprivation…However it is not intrinsic rejoicing in suffering, in some masochistic sense, but rather delight in the fruit of suffering in much the same way that a mother rejoices in the midst of suffering because a child has been born to her (John 16:20-22). So in I Peter 1:6, to ‘greatly rejoice’ is not with regard to ‘various trials’ in themselves, but rather the anticipated ‘inheritance which is imperishable’ and the ‘salvation ready to be revealed in the last time,’ vs. 4-5… Thus there is a benefit in ‘tribulation’ in that it ‘brings about perseverence,’ or alternatively, ‘works/produces, with effort/toil’… cf. 4:15; 7:8], endurance. Thus persecution is a profitable teacher; it is fruitful in the true child of God.” (Barry Horner) http://www.bunyanministries.org/?page_id=339
We find that this resultant “endurance” is also a teacher, so that it produces “character.” BUT “Our word ‘character’ hardly does justice to the Greek word used here—‘dokime’—which incorporates the idea of approvedness that comes from passing through a trial.” (D Stuart Briscoe)
And this approvedness, this state of acceptance in the aftermath of testing, produces “hope.” “The sequence continues so that ‘proven character’ works/produces... ‘hope,’… that is a favorable and confident expectation. … ‘Hope’ then strengthens by means of its antecedent stimulants. So Moo illustrates: Hope, like a muscle, will not be strong if it goes unused. It is in suffering [for the faith] that we must exercise with deliberation and fortitude our hope, and the constant reaffirmation of hope in the midst of apparently ‘hopeless’ circumstances [like Abraham in 4:18-19] will bring ever-deeper conviction of the reality and certainty of that for which we hope….Hence, the question is raised as to what is the object of that hope?” (Barry Horner) http://www.bunyanministries.org/?page_id=339
Those who have come through trials for their faith build assurance in the object of their faith— the Lord Jesus. And this hope “does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
“The Divine process is as follows: God brings us into tribulations, and that of all sorts; graciously supplying therewith a rejoicing expectation of deliverance in due time; and the knowledge that, as the winds buffeting some great oak on a hillside cause the tree to thrust its roots deeper into the ground, so these tribulations will result in steadfastness, in faith and patient endurance; and our consciousness of steadfastness—of having been brought ‘by grace through the trials,—gives us a sense of Divine approval, or approvedness, we did not before have; and which is only found in those who have been brought through trials, by God’s all-sufficient grace. This sense of God’s approval arouses within us abounding ‘hope’—we might almost say, hopefulness, a hopeful, happy state of soul.” (William Newell)
Romans 5:6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
“After the anxious heart has accepted the doctrine of atonement, and learned the great truth that salvation is by faith in the Lord Jesus, it is often sore troubled with a sense of inability toward that which is good. Many are groaning, ‘I can do nothing.’ They are not making this into an excuse, but they feel it as a daily burden. They would if they could. They can each one honestly say, ‘To will is present with me, but how to perform that which I would I find not.’
This feeling seems to make all the gospel null and void; for what is the use of food to a hungry man if he cannot get at it? Of what avail is the river of the water of life if one cannot drink?… Now, it sometimes seems to the troubled heart that the simple gospel of ‘Believe and live,’ is not, after all, so very simple; for it asks the poor sinner to do what he cannot do. To the really awakened, but half instructed, there appears to be a missing link; yonder is the salvation of Jesus, but how is it to be reached? The soul is without strength, and knows not what to do. It lies within sight of the city of refuge, and cannot enter its gate.
Is this want of strength provided for in the plan of salvation? It is. The work of the Lord is perfect. It begins where we are, and asks nothing of us in order to its completion. When the good Samaritan saw the traveler lying wounded and half dead, he did not bid him rise and come to him, and mount the ass and ride off to the inn. No, ‘he came where he was,’ and ministered to him, and lifted him upon the beast and bore him to the inn. Thus doth the Lord Jesus deal with us in our low and wretched estate.
….
Here we see conscious helplessness succored—succored by the interposition of the Lord Jesus. Our helplessness is extreme. It is not written, ‘When we were comparatively weak Christ died for us’; or, ‘When we had only a little strength’; but the description is absolute and unrestricted; ‘When we were yet without strength.’ We had no strength whatever which could aid in our salvation; our Lord's words were emphatically true, ‘Without me ye can do nothing.’ …
The one thing that the poor strengthless sinner has to fix his mind upon, and firmly retain, as his one ground of hope, is the divine assurance that ‘in due time Christ died for the ungodly.’ Believe this, and all inability will disappear. As it is fabled of Midas that he turned everything into gold by his touch, so it is true of faith that it turns everything it touches into good. Our very needs and weaknesses become blessings when faith deals with them. (All of Grace by C. H. Spurgeon, Ch 11 ALAS! I CAN DO NOTHING!)
Romans 5:7- 8 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us
“… The Bible makes a distinction between a good man and a righteous man. What's the difference? A good man is being right with humanity; whereas, a righteous man is being right with God. It's that simple.” (David J. Stewart) The good man is revered more in the world, but fret not. Christ uniquely died for all. We who have been recipients of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ need to remember this. We need to demonstrate our unconditional love for others, contrary to the way the world responds in kind. We need to pour out our lives as a drink offering—to even be willing to be martyred for the faith, as Paul was willing.
Romans 5:9-11 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
“The apostle’s arguing is cogent, for it is more to justify and reconcile sinners, than to save them being justified; Christ therefore having done the former, he will much more do the latter.” (Matthew Poole)
So live your life with eternity in mind. "He who has the Son has life and he who has not the Son has not life."(1 John 5:12) Spread the Message of "the reconciliation" by both word and deed.
Paul has been engaged from the beginning of the Epistle in inculcating one main idea, viz., that the ground of the sinner's acceptance with God is not in himself, but the merit of Christ. And in the preceding verses he had said, ‘we are justified by his blood,’ ver 9; by his death we are restored to the divine favor, ver. 10; and through him, i.e., by one man, we have received reconciliation, that is, are pardoned and justified, ver. 11. As this idea of men's being regarded and treated, not according to their own merit, but the merit of another, is contrary to the common mode of thinking among men, and especially contrary to their self-righteous efforts to obtain the divine favor, the apostle illustrates and enforces it by an appeal to the great analogous fact in the history of the world.” http://www.reformed.org/master/index.html?mainframe=%2Fbooks%2Fromans%2From_5b_hodge.html
Romans 5:12-17 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)
Death reaches every individual of the human family, as the penalty due them, under the headship of Adam by ratification of their own sins. But Mankind existed for 2500 years, before Yahweh God wrote Mitzvah with His own finger on tablets of stone… and before He gave Moses Pentateuch for generations to come. Were these pre-Torah generations who are innocent souls? Paul says: “sin is not imputed where there is no Torah.” This by itself could lead to a wrong conclusion. But he qualifies the statement: "Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses," So, even though they didn’t have written Torah, those generations were still held accountable for sin. They had the oral Torah passed by faith to faith from generation to generation.
Moreover, the Ten Commandments have always existed. Alan Cairns speaks of the them, saying: "The fact that God gave them in written form on Mount Sinai does not mean that no one else ever had the Law." John Wesley affirmed: "Now this is not, as some may have possibly imagined, of so late an institution as the time of Moses." He claims: "Noah declared it to men long before that time and Enoch before him. But we may trace its origin higher still, even beyond the foundation of the world: to that period, unknown indeed to men, but doubtless enrolled in the annals of eternity, when 'the morning stars' first 'sang together,' being newly called into existence." From the beginning of Torah until the end of it in the Gospels and Epistles, men are taught: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the Law, to do them." (Gal 3:10; Deut 27:26)
Even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of Adam's transgression… “The meaning then must be, that ‘death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those that had not, like Adam, transgressed against a positive commandment, threatening death to the disobedient.’" http://www.ccel.org/study/Romans_5
Rom 5:18-19 Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.
“Through one man, Adam, death came. Yet, through one Man, Jesus Christ, grace and the gift of eternal life, was given. much more. The works of the two men— Adam and Jesus— are not merely antithetical. Christ’s work is greater, for it brings God’s grace to those stuck in the sinfulness which originated in Adam.” [Nelson Study Bible.] What is more, if Christ does a work in you, no man can reverse it. (Isa 43:13)
Rom 5:20-21 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus our Lord.
"By Christ and his righteousness, we have more and greater privileges than we lost by the offence of Adam. The moral law showed that many thoughts, tempers, words, and actions, were sinful, thus transgressions were multiplied. Not making sin to abound the more, but discovering the sinfulness of it, even as the letting in a clearer light into a room, discovers the dust and filth which were there before, but were not seen. The sin of Adam, and the effect of corruption in us, are the abounding of that offence which appeared on the entrance of the law. And the terrors of the law make gospel comforts the more sweet. Thus God the Holy Spirit has, by the blessed apostle, delivered to us a most important truth, full of consolation, suited to our need as sinners. Whatever one may have above another, every man is a sinner against God, stands condemned by the law, and needs pardon. A righteousness that is to justify cannot be made up of a mixture of sin and holiness. There can be no title to an eternal reward without a pure and spotless righteousness: let us look for it, even to the righteousness of Christ." (Matthew Henry)