Therefore Being Justified
Romans 4 ended at the empty tomb: Jesus was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification (Romans 4:25). Romans 5 opens with Therefore. Paul has shown how a sinner is justified. Now he shows what justification brings.
The chapter is a hinge in the letter. It looks back on everything Paul has said about justification, and it looks ahead to the new life of chapters 6 through 8. It has two halves. In verses 1-11 Paul lists what the justified have now and what they can count on later. In verses 12-21 he steps back to the beginning of human history and explains how one Man's work can reach so many: Christ stands at the head of a new humanity, as Adam stood at the head of the old.
Listen for two phrases as you read. One is much more, which Paul uses again and again (5:9, 10, 15, 17), and once in a stronger form: grace did much more abound (5:20). The other is one man. One man brought ruin. One Man brings rescue. And the rescue is greater than the ruin.
The end of hostility between God and the sinner. It is not first a calm feeling, but a settled relationship: the war is over, because Christ made peace through the blood of his cross (Colossians 1:20). Every believer has it from the moment he is justified (Romans 5:1).
Romans moves from Guilty (1:18-3:20) to Justified (3:21-5:21) to Free (6:1-8:39). Chapter 5 closes the Justified section. For the doctrine behind it, see Justification and The Fall and Its Effects.
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For Deeper Study
- Lectures on the Epistle to the RomansAmazon H. A. IronsideDispensational. Plain, warm lectures by the Bible teacher who pastored Moody Church in Chicago.
- RomansAmazon Thomas R. SchreinerReformed Baptist. A thorough commentary on the Greek text in the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament.
- The Spiritual Condition of Infants: A Biblical-Historical Survey and Systematic ProposalAmazon Adam HarwoodNon-Calvinistic Southern Baptist. A survey of Scripture and of sixteen theologians, arguing that infants inherit a sinful nature from Adam but are not guilty until they sin. Read it beside Murray to hear both sides of 5:12.
- The Imputation of Adam's SinAmazon John MurrayReformed Presbyterian. The classic case that Adam's guilt is imputed to his descendants; read it to understand the view this study answers.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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Romans 4: Abraham Believed God
Paul proves from Abraham and David that God has always counted righteousness to those who believe, apart from works and apart from circumcision, and that the same righteousness is counted to everyone who believes on the God who raised Jesus from the dead.
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