Welcome back to our overview of Romans. So, far in the first 2 chapters, after his initial greeting, Paul spells out why everyone, without exception is falling under God’s wrath—his righteous anger against sin. Then in Chapter 3 he explains the faithfulness of God, that he doesn’t write people off, and that in Jesus Christ, be made a way for people to be cleansed of their sin. Key verses in Rom 3 are 23 and 24:
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.
Paul introduces the idea of God’s grace, is free, undeserved favour.
In Chapter 4 he talks about Abraham being made right—justified—with God by his faith, and that that is the same for everyone. Living well before God is only ever achieved by faith.
In Chapter 5, Paul clearly spells out how God’s grace and our faith work to bring salvation.
We said at the beginning of this study that the key verse in the whole of Paul’s letter to the Romans is Romans 1: 16
For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.
Having talked at length about God’s righteous anger against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness (1: 18), and the importance of Faith as opposed to Law. He now gets to the central message of the letter.
So far, Paul has talked about how we respond to God. Now he speaks of what God has done. The key verse in Chapter 5 is verse 2:
Romans 5: 2
Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.
Verses 1, 2 (NKJV)
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
The New King James uses four key teaching words in verses 1 and 2:
- justified,
- faith,
- grace, and
- hope.
While the NLT puts it in simpler English.
- Put these verses into your own words, as if you were explaining it to a non-Christian friend.
You might have something like this:
"Because our sinfulness cut us off, God has reunited us with himself by believing in Jesus Christ. So, now we live in the generous kindness of God, and are filled with hope for the future."
Verses 3-5
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
Paul gives an immediate practical application. We can rejoice when we run into problems and trials… (v.3). The truth of verses 1 and 2 gives us a framework for facing life’s difficulties.
Let’s think about this for a moment.
Mostly, we want an easy life—but, as we’ve already seen, Paul isn’t about this. He wants us to live holy lives that are effective in serving God. That is our goal.
So, in that case, when we face difficulties, which we always do, these provide an opportunity to test our faith and to prove God’s faithfulness. So:
- Problems and trials, he says, help us develop endurance
- endurance develops strength of character, and
- character strengthens our hope of salvation
That’s our part, becoming stronger through the hardship, but also:
- hope will not disappoint us, because it reminds us, once again, of how much God loves us because we have his Holy Spirit, empowering us.
So:
- Why should we ‘rejoice’ when we have problems?
- Do you do this?
Verses 6-11
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
More good stuff. These are among the most important verses in the Christian faith!
God came to where we were and saved us.
We were utterly helpless (v.6)… We were lost in our sin and separated from God, and in the middle of our mess, when we least deserved it, Jesus came and saved us (we are reminded of this continually in our ‘hardships’) … but now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God (v.11).
Some things to think about here:
- When we were utterly helpless, Christ came…
- He will certainly save us from condemnation. He has already paid the highest possible price—so nothing and no-one is unreachable to God.
- We are made right with God through Jesus’ blood.
- So… rejoice!
Some things to discuss:
- How do we know that this is true?
- So, who can be saved?
Verses 12-17
When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. 13 Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break. 14 Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come. 15 But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. 16 And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.
As we’ve said, Adam sinned by choosing the knowledge of good and evil instead of life in the presence of God. It turns out that what he was actually choosing was a system of ‘law’, and to be constantly judging and testing (“I know I’ll never be good enough”).
(vv.13, 14) Before the law was actually written down by Moses, it was hard to tell what was ‘sin’ and what it wasn’t; people mostly got away with things until they died. And everyone—all the ‘sons of Adam—die, condemned for sins they don’t really understand.
In this way, everyone falls under condemnation and death because they all fall short. This is a terrible situation, but Jesus reverses it.
Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins (v.16).
But (vv.15-17) Jesus Christ is greater than Adam. Adam brought death, condemnation and separation from God, but Jesus brings God’s free gift of forgiveness and righteousness, and all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.
Adam was a kind of prototype of Christ. In effect, Jesus’ cross is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It represents:
- Jewish Law (which is also the knowledge of good and evil);
- Roman (or non-Jewish) law – and the natural sense of right and wrong that we all have, and
- The way both these systems became corrupted.
In dying there, without sin, Jesus breaks the power of the Law to condemn us and gives us access to the righteousness of God.
- Think about that for a moment.
Verses 18, 19
The next short section clarifies this: Adam’s sin brought condemnation; Jesus’ obedience brings salvation.
Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. 19 Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.
That doesn’t need any explanation; Paul is summarising what he’s already said.
Verses 20, 21
God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. 21 So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In verse 20 Paul seems to say something a bit controversial. As people’s sin increased, God’s grace also increased.
- How is this true?
- What have you found helpful or significant in the study of Romans so far?
No comments:
Post a Comment