Justification-Ro5

Romans 5 – Justification

(Most of the base of this article and quotes are from J. MacArthur Commentary on the book of Romans.)

Romans 5:1–11 (NASB95) Results of Justification

         1      Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

         2      through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

         3      And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;

         4      and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;

         5      and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

         6      For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

         7      For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.

         8      But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

         9      Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

         10      For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

         11      And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

 

Satan’s joy against brothers is to make them doubt that their salvation is secure forever or it is real in their personal case.

Frequently one replaced faith with a system of works-righteousness based partly on the OT Law.  False religions today create man-made religions which are built on the principle of man’s pleasing God.  These are about appeasing deity on the basis of human goodness and accomplishment. 

We fall into this trap because of our spiritual blindness and pride.  We find ourselves using human reasoning (logic) to resolve Spiritual issues instead of letting God’s Word speak the truth it contains.

We are to have ‘eyes of the heart’ to see the truth.  Eph. 1:18-20says:
Ephesians 1:18-20(ESV)
¹⁸having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 
¹⁹and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 
²⁰that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 

 

Ro. 5:1 – we have Peace with God because of having been justified by faith. 

A consequence of justification is reconciliation (pacification), which is the theme of Romans 5.

Here it is speaking about “objective peace” of being reconciled to God, yet the believer receives a deep and wonderful ‘subjective peace’ too.

Ro. 5:2 – Standing in Grace

After the Tabernacle was built, and later the Temple, strict boundaries were set. A Gentile could only go into the outer confines and no farther. Jewish women could go beyond the Gentile limit but not much farther. And so it was with the men and the regular priests. Each group could go nearer the Holy of Holies, where God’s divine presence was manifested, but none could actually enter there. Only the high priest could enter, and that only once a year and very briefly And even he could lose his life if he entered unworthily. Bells were sewn on the special garments he wore on the Day of Atonement, and if the sound of the bells stopped while he was ministering in the Holy of Holies, they knew he had been struck dead by God (Ex. 28:35).

The veil of the temple was torn in two at Jesus death.  His death removed the barrier to God’s holy presence.  On the faith in Jesus Christ He bring believers into this grace in which we stand.  A permanent stand, not to be taken away.

Bible expositor Arthur Pink wrote graphically, “It is utterly and absolutely impossible that the sentence of the divine Judge should ever be revoked or reversed. Sooner shall the lightnings of omnipotence shiver the Rock of Ages than those sheltering in Him again be brought under condemnation” (The Doctrines of Election and Justification [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1974], pp. 247–48).

 

Romans 5:2b-5a – Believer’s Hope of Glory

Romans 5:2–5 (NASB95)

         2      through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

         3      And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;

         4      and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;

         5      and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 

Our citizenship is in heaven…  –  with our human understanding being so imperfect we can not comprehend the wonder and magnitude of the Glory of God.

A Christians outward living will testify to his inward spiritual life.

Hebrews 3:6 (NASB95)

         6      but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.,

Hebrews 3:14 (NASB95)

         14      For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,

These verses are not saying that our spiritual security rests in our own ability to hold fast to Christ but that our God-given ability to hold fast is evidence that we belong to Christ.  God is holding us fast and enables it to occur in us. 

Tribulations – “…ye we exult in our tribulations”  – learn from them – lean on God to go through them….

“…but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;

         4      and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; “  (Ro. 5:3-4)

 

 

Ro. 5:5-8 – The Believer’s Possession of Divine Love

Romans 5:5–8 (NASB95)

         5      and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

         6      For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

         7      For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.

         8      But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

 

We are eternally bound to Christ in the possession of the divinelove of God. 

We are given subjective evidence of permanent salvation by the evidence that God Himself implants within our deepest being, in that we love the One who first loved us.  (1 John 4:7-10)

 

“With the longing to  love, even the genuine desire to be godly is produced by the Holy Spirit. Whenever we sincerely aspire to righteous living, whenever we have an earnest desire to pray, whenever we yearn to study God’s Word, whenever we long to worship the Lord Jesus Christ with all our hearts, we know we are being led by the Holy Spirit. Whenever we experience the awesome awareness that God is indeed our heavenly Father, it is “the Spirit Himself [who] bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:16–17). The natural man has no such desires or experiences, and even Christians would not have them apart from being indwelt and led by the Holy Spirit.”

 

Romans 5:9–10 (NASB95) – The Certainty of Deliverance

         9      Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

         10      For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

 

The EXCHANGE….

 

Believer’s Joy in God – Romans 5:11 (NASB95)

         11      And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

The abundant joy that God gives His children through the Lord Jesus Christ includes grateful joy in their salvation and simply in who God is. 

 

Romans 5:12-14(ESV)
¹²Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
¹³for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 
¹⁴Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

Death is universal to the human race…  Adam’s sin and the rain of death were brought to all mankind.

God’s plan of redemption – do we know or understand all its parts?  – 

It is not that any of God’s truths are unexplainable but that the explanations of many of them are beyond human comprehension.  Our responsibility is to accept in faith both what is clear and what is not, what is comprehensible and what can remain a mystery to us.

Sin originated with Satan and was present when Adam was created.  Sin came to the human family because of Adam’s decision to disobey God’s command to not eat of the tree.   ADAM was NOT created ‘mortal’ – he was to live forever and rule the earth.  Eve was deceived and got her to ‘doubt’ and then she induced Adam to disobey.  Adam was responsible to obey God and not allow her to lead him into disobedience .

Death entered the world through sin.

1.       Death of separation (Adam was separated from God from that time forward.)

2.       Death of physical (he died 900+yrs.)

3.       Death choice befalls mankind of ‘asleep in death’ or ‘eternal’

Sin has caused the ‘spiritual depravity’ that has been transmitted from generation to generation. 

Adam was more accountable for his disobedience because he was not deceived for he was fully aware of what he was doing as he deliberately disobeyed God.  –  Thus all are now born in sin.

Habakkuk had difficulty understanding the Lord…

Habakkuk 1:2 (NASB95)           2      How long, O LORD, will I call for help,    And You will not hear?

      I cry out to You, “Violence!”    Yet You do not save.

Habakkuk 1:13 (NASB95)         13      Your eyes are too pure to approve evil,   And You can not look on wickedness with favor.    Why do You look with favor  On those who deal treacherously?   Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up  Those more righteous than they?

He had a hard time understanding why God would punish His people with a nation that was more sinful (violent) than Israel.

Yet, God created man to be procreative…

 

Ro. 5:13-14  –  History proves that death reigns over all men.

Romans 5:13–14 (NASB95)

         for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.  14   Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

The law was not yet there between Adam and the start of Moses life.  So it wasn’t the breaking of the law that brought them into ‘death’.  Instead it was because of their ‘sinful nature’ that all men from Adam until Moses were subject to death. 

Note two different translations of the passage.  It is good to read a couple different Bible translations in order to get the meaning of the Greek words translated differently by different translations.

Romans 5:15–21 (NASB95)

         15      But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

         16      The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.

         17      For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

         18      So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.

         19      For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.

         20      The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

         21      so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 5:15-21(ESV)
¹⁵But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 
¹⁶And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 
¹⁷If, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
¹⁸Therefore, as one trespass^£ led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness^£ leads to justification and life for all men. 
¹⁹For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 
²⁰Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 
²¹so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Ro.5:15 – Contrast in Effectiveness

Transgression (paraptoma)  =  “deviating from a path” 

“By eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, Adam departed from God’s standard and entered a divinely-forbidden realm.    THUS,  instead of becoming more like God, as Satan had promised, man became more unlike His Creator and separated from Him.  Instead of bringing man into the province of God, Adam’s transgression delivered him and all his posterity to the province of Satan.”

“It might be said that Adam’s sinful act, devastating as it was, had but a one-dimensional effect-it brought death to everyone.  But the effect of Christ’s redemptive act has facets beyond measure, because He not only restores man to spiritual life but gives him the very life of God.  Death by nature is static and empty, whereas life by nature is active and full.  Only life can abound.”

 

Ro. 5:16 

John Murray offers a helpful observation: “The one trespass demanded nothing less than the condemnation of all. But the free gift unto justification is of such a character that it must take the many trespasses into its reckoning; it could not be the free gift of justification unless it blotted out the many trespasses. Consequently, the free gift is conditioned as to its nature and effect by the many trespasses just as the judgment was conditioned as to its nature and effect by the one trespass alone” (The Epistle to the Romans [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965], p. 196).

Greater even than God’s hatred of sin is His love for the sinner.  Note Sunday’s message about God’s forgiveness of David’s and Bathsheba’s Sins.  They had a son – Solomon – and he was in the line of Jesus – the next kind.

2 Samuel 12:24-25 – Solomon’s Birth

²⁴ Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And the Lord loved him ²⁵ and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord.

 

 

God is the great transformer and fulfiller of life!

V.18-19 – Jesus sole purpose on earth was to do His father’s will…  (John 4:24; 5:30; 6:38)

 

Romans 5:20-21(ESV)
²⁰Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 
²¹so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

“The fifth and last contrast between the one act of Adam and the one act of Christ is in regard to energy.  … Nevertheless, God’s own Law had the effect of causing man’s transgression to increase.

It should be noted here that God’s law-ceremonial, moral, or spiritual-has never been a means of salvation during any age or dispensation. …

The Lawwas a corollary element in God’s plan of redemption, serving a temporary purpose that was never in itself redemptive. Disobedience to the law has never damned a soul to hell, and obedience to the law has never brought a soul to God. Sin and its condemnation were in the world long before the law, and so was the way of escape from sin and condemnation.

God gave the Law through Moses as a pattern for righteousness but not as a means of righteousness. The law has no power to produce righteousness, but for the person who belongs to God and sincerely desires to do His will, it is a guide to righteous living.

The law identifies particular transgressions, so that those acts can more easily be seen as sinful and thereby cause men to see themselves more easily as sinners. For that reason the Law also has power to incite men to unrighteousness, not because the Law is evil but because men are evil.

The person who reads a sign in the park that forbids the picking of flowers and then proceeds to pick one demonstrates his natural, reflexive rebellion against authority. There is nothing wrong with the sign; its message is perfectly legitimate and good. But because it places a restriction on people’s freedom to do as they please, it causes resentment and has the effect of leading some people to do what they otherwise might not even think of doing.

The Lawis therefore a corollary both to righteousness and to unrighteousness. For the lawless person it stimulates him to the disobedience and unrighteousness he already is inclined to do. For the person who trusts in God, the law stimulates obedience anti righteousness.

Again focusing on the truth that Christ’s one act of redemption is far greater than Adam’s one act of condemnation, Paul exults, But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. God’s grace not only surpasses Adam’s one sin but all the sins of mankind.

Like a master weaver, Paul pulls all the threads together in his tapestry of redemptive truth, declaring: As sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.^[1]”

 

The following are quotes from “Bible Application Commentary” 

 

DON’T JUDGE TRIBULATION BY ITS OUTWARD APPEARANCE

We rejoice in suffering not because we like pain or deny its tragedy, but because we know God is using life’s difficulties and Satan’s attacks to build our character. That is one of God’s loving purposes. Our problems will develop perseverance which, in turn, will strengthen our character, deepen our trust in God, and give us greater confidence about the future. It is likely that our patience will be tested in some way every day. Rejoicing begins by thanking God for these opportunities to grow and then facing them, relying on his strength.^[2]

 

BASICS OF CHRISTIAN CHARACTER

As Paul states clearly in 1 Corinthians 13:13, faith, hope, and love are at the heart of the Christian life. Our relationship with God begins with faith, helping us realize that we are delivered from our past by Christ’s death. Hope grows as we learn all that God has in mind for us; it gives us the promise of the future. And God’s love fills our lives and gives us the ability to reach out to others.

Since faith, hope, and love are essential characteristics of the Christian life, their opposites (doubt, despair, and hatred) can devastate any relationship with God. We must guard against them and help those who struggle with those devastating feelings. We must not avoid or fear those experiences that will cultivate in us a godly character.

 

OPEN ARMS

As sinners, separated from God, we see his law from below. Sometimes it seems like a ladder to be climbed to get to God. Perhaps we have repeatedly tried to climb it, only to fall to the ground every time we have advanced one or two rungs. Or perhaps the sheer height of the ladder is so overwhelming that we have never even started up. In either case, what relief we should feel to see Jesus with open arms, offering to lift us above the ladder of the law, to take us directly to God. Once Jesus lifts us into God’s presence, we are free to obey—out of love, not necessity, and through God’s power, not our own. Then we know that if we stumble, we will not fall back to the ground. Instead, we will be caught and held in Jesus’ loving arms.