Romans 5 – Shortcode

Peace with God

• 1 Therefore, having been made righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord, Jesus the Anointed.
• 2 Through whom we also *have access by faith into this grace in which we *stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
• 3 And not only that, but we also rejoice in tribulations, *knowing that tribulation produces endurance,
• 4 and endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.
• 5 And hope doesn’t make us ashamed because the ^love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, the One who was given to us. ^CFParallel teachings: James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:6-7
• 6 For with us still being weak, the Anointed died for the sake of the ungodly at the opportune time.
• 7 For rarely will someone die for the sake of a righteous man, though for the sake of a good man perhaps someone might even dare to die.
• 8 But God is proving His own ^love for us, because with us still being sinners, the Anointed died for our sake.
• 9 Therefore, having now been made righteous by His blood, much more will we be saved from wrath through Him!
• 10 For if we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son while being enemies, then having been reconciled, much more will we be saved by His life!
• 11 And not only this, but we’re also rejoicing in God through our Lord, Jesus the Anointed, through whom we now received reconciliation.

Death through Adam’s sin, life through Jesus’ righteousness

(Parallel teachings: 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, 45-49)

• 12 Because of this, just as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin, so also, death spread to all men, because^fn“because” is two words in Greek and isn’t a usual way to say “because”. Thus, its meaning has been hotly debated by scholars.  The phrase is “ἐφ’ ᾧ” (eph hō), with “hō” being a relative pronoun (who, which) that is either masculine or neuter in form. (They are identical in this particular form.) The three major understandings are: (1) “hō” is masculine and refers to Adam, making it: “death spread to all men, in whom (Adam) all sinned.”  This understanding is favored by scholars who believe that all mankind became guilty when Adam sinned, and that we are guilty at conception because of Adam’s sin. (Compare with Ezekiel 18, especially v20.)  This view has difficulty because there are three other options for the antecedent between “hō” and “one man” (Adam); specifically, “world” once and “death” twice.  (2) “hō” is masculine and refers to death, making it: “death spread to all men, on account of which, all sinned”.  This understands “death” to mean corruption inherited from Adam, with the meaning that we all sin because we inherited death/corruption from Adam.  (3) “hō” is neuter and refers to the preceding clause (“death spread to all men”) with causative force, making it: “death spread to all men, because all sinned”.  This would mean that the reason men die is that we sin. (Compare with James 1:15) all sinned.
• 13 For sin was in the world until the law, but sin isn’t charged to an account when there isn’t a law.
• 14 But regardless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over the men who didn’t sin in the likeness of the deliberate sin^fn“deliberate sin” is one word in Greek. It denotes an intentional stepping over a known boundary, not an accidental violation of that boundary. In this context, it’s deliberately violating God’s commands in the Law; see also Numbers 15:30-31 of Adam, who is a type of the One about to come.
• 15 But the gift of grace isn’t like the misstep.^fn“misstep”. The Greek word used here doesn’t quite mean “sin”. It’s the word “παράπτωμα” (paraptóma) and carries the connotation of a “slip-up” or a “false step” with the implication – but not certainty – that it was unintentional.  For if the many died by one man’s misstep, so also the grace of God and the gift by the grace of One man – Jesus the Anointed – overflowed much more to the many.
• 16 And the gift isn’t like what came through the one who sinned. For indeed, the judgement from one led to a guilty verdict,^fn“guilty verdict” could also be translated “condemnation” in the sense of someone accused of a crime being condemned as guilty of the crime. but the gift of grace from many missteps led to us being made righteous.
• 17 For if death reigned through the one misstep of the one, much more will the men receiving the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the One, Jesus the Anointed!
• 18 So therefore, just as a guilty verdict^fn“guilty verdict” could also be translated “condemnation” in the sense of someone accused of a crime being condemned as guilty of the crime. came to all men through one misstep, so also, life from being made righteous came to all men through one righteous deed.
• 19 For just as the many were caused to be sinners^fn“sinners” this Greek word refers to: “one who violates God’s will or law” (Mounce). In this specific context, it means that because of Adam’s sin, the many will “violate God’s will or law”. through the disobedience of one man, so also, the many will be caused to be righteous^fn“righteous” this Greek word is defined by various lexicons as: (1) “a person in accord with God’s standards, in proper relationship with God” (Mounce), (2) “conforming to the laws of God and man; applied to model citizens in the Graeco-Roman world” (BDAG), and (3) “observing divine and human laws; one who is such as he ought to be” (Thayer’s). Generally, the core idea is that of being in a proper relationship with God, man, and the law, which is how a man ought to be. In this context, and much of the Bible, the focus is vertical on being in proper relationship with God and approved by Him. through the obedience of One man.
• 20 And the law entered so that the misstep might abound.  But where sin abounded, grace super-abounded,
• 21 so just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to the life of ages^fn“life of ages” is literal, and captures the duration as well as the quality of the life, which the traditional interpretation of “eternal life” doesn’t.  The word translated “ages” (αἰώνιον) is the adjective form of the Greek word “αἰών” (aion), which is used – for example – in Matthew 24:3 “what are the signs of your coming and the end of the age?” through Jesus the Anointed our Lord.