Justification through faith in Jesus Christ takes away guilt and so makes way for peace, and gives access into the wondrous grace of God. Through Jesus Christ alone the believer comes into fullness of joy, being saved from wrath, solaced in His love, not only going to heaven, but going triumphantly.
Romans 5
1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and 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:
5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10 For 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.
11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
17 For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 5 Intro – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 5:1 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 5:2 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 5:3-5 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 5:6-8 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 5:9-11 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 5:12 Intro – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 5:12 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 5:13-14 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 5:15-21 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 5:1-11 – Great Blessings through Christ
We stand in grace; we look for glory. Our standing is sure, although apart from our feelings or deserts. It is ours forever, through union with the living Christ. It is our admission to the home of God’s elect. We have passed the threshold and have received, in the antechamber, the new white robe. But being in the house we find several stories or tiers of ascent. They are marked by the phrases, not only so and much more.
Starting from faith, the staircase mounts from peace to hope, Romans 5:2; from hope to love, Romans 5:5; from reconciliation to salvation and life and joy in God, Romans 5:9-11, so that whatever He does, as well as whatever He is, awakens in our hearts responsive admiration and glad consent. Stand on these successive terraces in the mountain climb to take your breath and behold the far-spread landscape. Let us not be content with the ladder foot when all these rounds of light invite us. Especially ponder Romans 5:10, where the Apostle distinguishes between reconciliation and salvation. What music there is in that wonderful phrase, saved by His life! By His life for us in heaven and in us by His Spirit. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Romans 5:12-21 – Death through Adam, Life through Christ
This is the profoundest and most fundamental section of the whole Epistle. It contains an insight into the deep things of God, I Corinthians 2:10. We must read it slowly and thoughtfully many times in order to catch its drift. In these comments we can only skim in the most superficial manner across the surface.
We are here taught the unity of the race, not only in Adam, but in Christ. Adam’s sin has affected the standing of every man; but the grace and the obedience of the “One Man,” Jesus Christ, have secured for all men the offer of the free gift. The guilt that lay upon the race by the sin of Adam has been removed from the race by the obedience of the Son of man to the Cross. None, therefore, are condemned, on account of that first transgression, or doomed for that primal fall. In a sense, all are made righteous; that is, all stand before God on the basis of their individual, rather than their racial, responsibility. We are not condemned with Adam, but may be condemned, if we refuse to avail ourselves of the grace of Jesus Christ. All that sin forfeited is put within our reach. Nay, we may reach higher heights than Adam, if we will only receive the abundance of the grace of Christ. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Romans 5:17—They which receive abundance of grace… shall reign in life.
All God’s dealings with us are on the same principle. As we received Christ Jesus the Lord, so we must walk in Him. Whether it be justification or sanctification; whether reconciliation or reigning in life that is under consideration—the same mighty principles underlie and control the Divine gifts and our participation in them. We receive reconciliation as a gift at the beginning of our Christian life, and we have to receive all else by the same medium to the end. For ever and for ever we have just to wait till God fill us, as the flower-cups that are now filled with sunshine and now with dew or rain.
You have already received the reconciliation (Romans 5:11).—Unable to earn it by your own endeavors, you were at last content to receive it as a free gift placed into your open hand; now you have to maintain the same position with respect to all the spiritual gifts that you need for the maintenance of a godly life, and to enable you to reign. Faith—simple, open-handed, heaven-regarding faith—is the one unchanging law of the holy life.
“Trusting Jesus, that is all.”
This reigning in life is not to be relegated to the unseen and future.—It is meant to be our present experience. He hath made us kings to God, even the Father. We are called to the royalty of men, the abundance, the freedom, the consciousness of power and victory, which we are wont to associate with those who reign. To reign in the ordinary life of the home, the shop, the counting-house—such is our high calling in Christ Jesus. And it may be ours if we receive “abundance of grace” of the one Man, Jesus Christ. —Our Daily Homily