Romans 5:1-21

We Are Assured Of Reigning In Life And Enjoying Future Glory And The Basis Of This Is What Christ Has Accomplished For Us (5:1-21).

Having been reckoned as righteous through faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and are called on to ‘rejoice in hope of the glory of God' (Romans 5:1), and this because ‘as sin has reigned unto death, even so will grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, through Jesus Christ our LORD' (Romans 5:21). Seen as future ‘eternal life' includes in it the experience of His glory. (The Pauline conception of ‘eternal life' is in contrast with that of Jesus and John, who speak of it as both present and future. Paul speaks of the present experiences as ‘life') In this lies our certainty with regard to the glory that is to come, the glory of which we are now constantly coming short (Romans 3:23).

But that glory comes at a cost, a cost for us in that God begins His perfect work in us shaping us for the future by His Holy Spirit (Romans 5:3), and a cost for Him in that He died for us, a death crowned by His resurrection (Romans 5:6). For although all mankind lay under the penalty of sin (Romans 5:12; compare Romans 1:18 to Romans 3:23), Christ has delivered us from that through His gift of righteousness (Romans 5:15; compare Romans 1:17) obtained for us through His own righteousness and obedience (Romans 5:18). Sin abounded through the power of the Law (Romans 5:20), but where sin abounded grace did much more abound, a grace which reigns through righteousness, with its consequence eternal life through Jesus Christ our LORD (Romans 5:20).

The passage splits neatly into two subsections, Romans 5:1 and Romans 5:12, of which we will now consider the first.