Romans Chapter 5
Romans Chapter 5
Ron Thomas, Highway Church of Christ, Sullivan, IL
As you look at the first word of chapter 5 you will note that it is a conclusion word to what has been previously said. Paul said “Therefore…” With what he has said Paul does to his next point. The next point is that when one is justified by faith, the justified one has peace between himself and God.
A Summary of Justification (Romans 5:1-11)
The Believer Has Peace with God (Rom. 5:1). Because of what our Lord has done, and because of our faith in that which He has done, we have peace with God. When Paul uses the word “peace” in the way he does, he is not speaking of living a peaceful life, but that there is peace between himself and God. In other words, God will not bring His wrath upon the person that trusts in Him. Because there is peace, the Believer Has Access to God (Rom. 5:2). There is only one way to have this peace with God; that is through Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). Paul says we have access into this realm of peace by faith.
Faith
The peace between God and the one He has justified is the result of obedience to God’s will as revealed in Scripture. This brings joy to the Christian’s life. He will not judge one guilty of sin, no matter one’s station in life.
The Believer has Assurance from God (Rom. 5:3-4). The experiences of life have a way of discouraging Christians. It does not need to be that way. It is this way because, often times, Christians have only made the Lord a part of their life when convenient. This kind of life is the result of little time given to reading, contemplating, obeying, and praying to the Lord. Consequently, there is little assurance. If we will take time to understand the teachings of Scripture, we will know why things are happening to us (more times than not). If we are faithful to the Lord, then we know that the Lord is on our side. Whatever the reason for our troubles, if we are faithful to the Lord (perfection is not under consideration), He has given us the assurance that He will never leave us. So allow the troubles of life to encourage you to “dig your heels in” for the Lord. All the good that is to be enjoyed, in spite of our daily troubles, is because of God love.
The Believer is indwelt by God (Rom. 5:5). God’s love has been poured out on us through the Holy Spirit which has been given us. The love of God has been abundantly given to us through the Holy Spirit. The origin is noted, the manner in which we come to understand (know) this is through the Word of God. “The Spirit dwells in one just as does the Christ – that is, through, by means of, the word (Eph. 3:17). When we listen to, believe, and obey the teachings of God’s word we are being governed by the Spirit” (Deaver, p. 158). Anything more than this, in the immediate context, Scripture does not say.
The Believer is preserved by God (Rom. 5:6-11). This section is an illustration of God magnanimous love. At just the right time (in God’s plan of redemption), Christ died for mankind (cf. Galatians 4:4; Luke 19:10). In verses 7 and 8, Paul contrasts the love that God has for man with man’s love for man. Paul says it is possible that one man would die for another man he considered righteous or good. God, on the other hand, died for all men even those who were (are) sinners. In a much greater way, since we have been justified by the blood (death) of Christ (Rom. 5:9), and saved from His wrath, and since the Lord lives we too shall live because of Him (Rom. 5:10). This is our assurance.
A Summary of Condemnation (Rom. 5:12-21)
In this section Paul develops the why of one’s joy in Christ. Sin came into the world because of one man’s act. The consequence to that one man’s act was (is) death (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:21-22; Hebrews 9:27). Therefore death passed to all people because of their own sin (man is born into the realm of death). It is important to note that Paul does not say that sin passed to all men. Those who teach that sin passed to all men teach what’s known as total heredity depravity; this means there is no innocence/purity in man (even at birth) because he has Adam’s sin. To remedy this original sin, man must be “touched” by God in some extraordinary way; this is done when the Holy Spirit works separate and apart from the Word of God in order to give man faith, and this is justified based on a misreading of Ephesians 2:8-9. Some other denominations teach not that the Holy Spirit must work in this extraordinary way, but that the Holy Spirit sanctions the doctrine of infant baptism (which takes away original sin; this is “baptismal regeneration”). Nether of these are New Testament doctrines.
In one respect Adam is a type of Christ; one man (Adam) came into the world and brought about something, another man (the Son of Man) came into the world and also brought something (Rom. 5:14). Adam brought death to man because of his sin, and man is now born into the realm of death, into a world of sin. The Work of Christ changed all this. Adam brought sin into the world because of his disobedience (Rom. 5:14). Our Lord brought life into the world because of His obedience. As one partook of Adam’s way of life (a life of disobedience), he suffered the same consequence of Adam— death. As one partakes of our Lord’s way of life (a life of obedience), he enjoys the same consequence of Jesus—life. In Rom. 5:15-17, Paul contrasts results. In Adam, man dies; in Christ, man lives. With Adam, one is born into the realm of death. With Christ one can be born again. The reason our joy exists is because of our relationship to the Father. This relationship with the Father exists because of Jesus Christ. We are now no longer in that realm of death (Adam), but in the realm of life (Christ). This is what Paul means in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Without Jesus there would be no joy. With Jesus there is joy!
Doctrinal Consideration
Many of our religious friends teach a doctrine known as Calvinism. This is an ideology based on the well-known reformation preacher John Calvin. John Calvin lived in the sixteenth century. He was a man who strongly opposed the errors of Roman Catholicism. In the course of his studies and opposition, he formulated what is known as Calvinism. A well-used acronym of Calvinism is T.U.L.I.P. Each letter of this word stands for a particular doctrine believed. I will briefly identify what each letter represents. “T” represents Total Heredity Depravity. This is a teaching that says as soon as man is born, he is lost and bound for hell. He is totally deprived of any good qualities for God to save. “U” is Unconditional Election. This is a teaching that insists there are no conditions given to man before he can be saved. “L” is Limited Atonement. While the Scriptures teach that Jesus died for all men, Calvinism (in its purest form) teaches the Jesus died only for some people, not all. “I” represents Irresistible Grace. This means that once God makes a choice to save man, that (chosen) man CANNOT refuse God’s call. This implicitly teaches that man has no free will. And finally, “P”, stands for Perseverance of the Saints. This is the well-known (and false) teaching of impossibility of apostasy. Putting all this together, it amounts to the following: Man is so depraved because of Adam’s sin that the power of sin can only be overcome by an extraordinary act of God, and when God acts He does so without giving man any condition to obey. He does this because in man there is nothing good and since there is nothing good, whatever man does will be insufficient to please God. God does not do this for all men, but only for the selected few (otherwise known as the elected of God), and when this occurs, man cannot resist God, but is compelled to believe in the Christ. Once he does, it would be impossible for him to be lost eternally.
Calvinism is false all the way through. Most denominational churches have begun to recognize this and have been abandoning the teaching little by little over the years. Today there are not nearly as many churches who accept it as there once was. One particular aspect of that teaching that needs to be addressed, as per our study in Romans 5, is the false belief of Adam’s sin having passed unto all men. The basic teaching of total depravity goes like this, when Adam sinned in the garden, his sin passed to all people after him (this affected his and all other’s relationship to God). The Scriptures do not teach that Adam’s sin passed to all men and, thus, this teaching needs to be rejected. Consider: if Adam’s sin passed to all men (including the female), how did our Lord escape Adam’s sin at His birth? To escape this difficulty, the proponents of Calvinism formulated a new teaching. Catholics call it “Immaculate Conception.” “Immaculate Conception” is “the idea that the Mother of God [Mary] did not have original sin at her conception nor did she acquire elements of original sin in the development of her life…” (Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, p. 550). Note that this is not a doctrine of the New Testament; rather, it is a doctrine of man (cf. Matthew 15:8-9). The Scriptures teach that He had no sin (Hebrews 4:15), but all others had committed sin (including Mary). Calvinism is so rampant in “Christendom” that there are some translations that teach it and many people are unaware of it. One such translation is the New International Version (NIV, and some other “lesser” translations). I would recommend, if you insist upon using it, that you exercise care. More acceptable translations, in modern English, would be the English Standard Version, New American Standard Version, and the New King James Version.