ELEVENTH PASSAGE (5:1-11). THE CERTAINTY OF FINAL SALVATION FOR BELIEVERS. The title which we have just given to this piece suffices to indicate the difference between the idea which we form of its scope and aim, and that which prevails on the subject in the commentaries. Commentators, except Meyer... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have obtained access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and triumph in the hope of the glory of God._ ” The meaning of Romans 5:1 is as follows: “Since, then, we have obtained by me... [ Continue Reading ]
Paul here reminds us that the Jesus who henceforth makes our salvation sure (_by his life_), is no other Mediator than the Jesus who has already purchased our justification (_by his death_). Thus is explained the δἰ οὖ καί, “by whom _also._ ” The blessing of reconciliation by His death, explained ab... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _And not only so, but we triumph on account of tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh constancy; and approval; and hope._ ” This passage being, strictly speaking, the answer to an unexpressed objection, it is natural that it should recur (end of Romans 5:4-5) to the idea of _hope._ Th... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Now hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which was given unto us._ ” This verse is the central saying of the entire passage. On the one hand, it is directly connected with the two first verses: “We no longer feel any fear; nay, rather, w... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _For when we were yet weak in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For hardly for a righteous man will one die:for peradventure for goodness some would even dare to die. But God establisheth His own love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us._ ” The _for_ might be ren... [ Continue Reading ]
The δέ, _but_, indicates this contrast. What man hardly does for what is most worthy of admiration and love, God has done for that which merited only His indignation and abhorrence. On the verb συνιστάναι, see on Romans 3:5; here it is the act whereby God _establishes_ beyond question the reality of... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Much rather then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much rather, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life._ ” The οὖν, _then_, concludes from the proof of love alread... [ Continue Reading ]
VV. 10 is, strictly speaking, only a stronger repetition of the argument of Romans 5:9. Paul makes the reasoning more evident 1. By adding the term _enemies_, which renders the _a fortiori_ character of the proof more striking; 2. By substituting for _justified_ (Romans 5:9) the term _reconciled_, w... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _And not only [so]_, _but even glorying in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation._ ” The general gradation from Romans 5:10 to Romans 5:11 is well explained by Philippi: “Salvation is not merely negative: deliverance from wrath; we hope for better: par... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Wherefore, even 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;_ ” The logical connection between this piece and the preceding is expressed by διὰ τοῦτο, _wherefore._ Some, like Meyer, make this expression refer solely to the... [ Continue Reading ]
THIRD SECTION. Twelfth Passage (5:12-21). The Universality of Salvation in Christ proved by the Universality of Death in Adam. Justification by faith had just been expounded; the historical foundation on which it rested, its harmony with the Israelitish revelation, the certainty of its enduring to... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed if there is no law; and nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the resemblance of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of Him that was to come._ ” According to the first two interpre... [ Continue Reading ]
᾿Αλλά : _and nevertheless;_ a strongly emphasized contrast to the idea of non-imputation (Romans 5:13). The word _reign_ denotes a power firmly established, resting on the immovable foundation of the divine sentence pronounced over the whole race. _Death_ cannot denote more here than the loss of lif... [ Continue Reading ]
A certain superiority of action is ascribed to Christ's work as compared with Adam's, in these three verses. What object does the apostle propose to gain by this demonstration? Why interrupt in this way the statement of the _parity_ between the two works begun Romans 5:12 ? It has been thought that... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _So then as by one offence there was condemnation for all men; so also by one act of justification there was for all men justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience the many were constituted sinners; so by the obedience of one shall the many be constituted righteous._ ” The result on... [ Continue Reading ]
At the first glance this verse seems to be a mere useless repetition of the foregoing. Looking at it closely, we see that, as the γάρ, _for_, indicates, it is meant to state the moral cause which gives rise to the two facts put parallel to one another in Romans 5:18. In fact, Romans 5:19 a serves to... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Now the law was added, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace superabounded more: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord._ ” Νόμος (the) _law_, undoubtedly denotes the Mosaic law; but as... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse declares the _universal_ end of this divine dispensation which seemed at first to concern only Israel. Paul thus returns to the general idea of the entire passage. The _that_, as well as perhaps the ὑπέρ in the verb of the preceding sentence, implies that what was passing in Israel contem... [ Continue Reading ]