HOW FIRM A FOUNDATION

Since Romans is a book of logic, it is a book of "therefore."

We have the "therefore" of condemnation in Romans 3:20,

justification in Romans 5:1,

no condemnation in Romans 8:1,

and dedication in Romans 12:1.

In presenting his case, Paul has proved that the whole world is guilty before God and that no one can be saved by religious deeds such as keeping the law. He explained that God's way of salvation has always been "by grace, through faith" (Eph. 2:8-9), and he used Abraham as an illustration. If a reader of the letter stopped at this point, he would know that he needed to and could be saved.

But there is much more the sinner needs to know about justification by faith. Can he be sure that it will last? How is it possible for God to save a sinner through the death of Christ on the cross?

Romans 5 is Paul's explanation of the last two words in Romans 4: "our justification."

He explained two fundamental truths:

the Fruit of our justification (Rom. 5:1-11)

and the Foundation or our justification (Rom. 5:12-21).

1. THE FRUIT OF OUR JUSTIFICATION (5:1-11)

In listing these blessings, Paul accomplished two purposes. First, he told how wonderful it is to be a Christian.

Our justification is not simply a guarantee of heaven, as thrilling as that is, but it is also the source of tremendous blessings we enjoy here and now.

His second purpose was to assure his readers that justification is a lasting thing.

His Jewish readers in particular, would ask,

"Can this spiritual experience last if it does not require obedience to the law?

What about the trials and sufferings of life?

What about the coming judgment?"

When God declared us righteous in Jesus Christ, He gave to us seven spiritual blessings that assure us that we cannot be lost.

(1) Peace with God (v. 1).

The unsaved person is at enmity with God (Rom. 5:10; 8:7) because he cannot obey God's law or fulfill God's will.

Two verses from Isaiah make the matter clear:

"There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked" (Isa. 48:22);

"And the work of righteousness shall be peace" (Isa. 32:17).

Condemnation means that God declares us sinners, which is a declaration of war.

Justification means that God declares us righteous, a statement of peace made possible by Christ's death on the cross.

"Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other" (Ps. 85:10).

"Because the law worketh wrath" (Rom. 4:15); nobody condemned by the law can enjoy peace with God.

But when you are justified by faith, you are declared righteous, and the law cannot condemn you or declare war!

(2) Access to God (v. 2a).

The Jew was kept from God's presence by the veil in the temple, and the Gentile was kept out by all in the temple with a warning on it that any Gentle who went beyond would be killed.

But when Jesus died, He tore the veil (Luke 23:45)

and broke down the wall Eph. 2:14).

In Christ, believing Jews and Gentiles have access to God (Eph. 2:18; Heb. 10:19-25), and they can draw on the inexhaustible riches of the grace of God (Eph. 1:7; 2:4; 3:8).

We stand in grace and not in law.

Justification concerns our sanding; sanctification concerns our state.

A king’s child can enter his father's presence no matter how he looks. Access here means "entrance to the king through the favor of another."

(3) Glorious hope (v. 2b).

"Peace with God" takes care of the past: He will no longer hold our sins against us.

"Access to God" takes care of the present: We can come to Him anytime for the help we need.

"Hope of the glory of God" takes care of the future: One day we shall share in His glory!

The word rejoice can be translated as "boast," not only in Romans 5:2 but also in Romans 5:3 and 11 ("joy").

When we were sinners, there was nothing to boast about (Rom. 3:27), because we fell short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). But in Christ, we boast in His righteousness and glory!

Paul will amplify this in Romans 8:18-30.

(4) Christian character (vv. 3-4).

Justification is no escape from the trials of life. "In the world, ye shall have tribulation" John 16:33).

But for the believer, trials work for him and not against him. No amount of suffering can separate us from the Lord (Rom. 8:35-39); instead, trials bring us closer to the Lord and make us more like the Lord.

Suffering builds Christian character. Experience in Romans 5:4 means "character that has been proved." The sequence is tribulation-patience-proven character-hope. Our English word tribulation comes from the Latin word tribulum.

In Paul's day, a tribulum was a heavy piece of timber with spikes used to threshing grain.

The tribulum was drawn over the grain, separating the wheat from the chaff. As we go through tribulations and depend on God's grace, the trials only purify us and help us get rid of the chaff.

(5) God's love within (vv. 5- 8).

"Hope deferred maketh the heart sick" (Prov. 13:12). But as we wait for this hope to be fulfilled, the love of God is "poured out into our hearts" (literal translation).

Note how the first three of the "fruit of the Spirit” are experienced: love (Rom. 5:5), joy (Rom. 5:2), and peace (Rom. 5:1).

Before we were saved, God proved His love by sending Christ to die for us. Now that we are His children, surely He will love us more.

The inner experience of this love through the Spirit sustains us as we go through tribulations.

For many months I visited a young man in a hospital who had almost burned to death. I do not know how many operations and skin grafts he had during those months or how many specialists visited him. But the thing that sustained him during those difficult months was not the explanations of the doctors but the promises they gave him that he would recover. That was his hope. And what sustained his hope was his family’s and many friends’ love as they stood by him. The love of God was channeled through them to him. He did recover, and today, he gives glory to God.

Faith (Rom. 5:1), hope (Rom. 5:2), and love (Rom. 5:5) all combine to give the believer patience in the trials of life.

And patience makes it possible for the believer to grow in character and become a mature child of God James 1:1-4).

(6) Salvation from future wrath (vv. 9-10).

Paul argued from the lesser to the greater.

If God saved us when we were enemies, surely He will keep saving us now that we are His children.

There is a wrath to come, but no true believer will experience it (1 Thess. 1:9-10; 5:8-10).

Paul further argued that if Christ's death accomplished so much for us, how much more will He do for us in His life as He intercedes for us in heaven? "Saved by his life" refers to Romans 4:25: "raised again for the account of our justification." Because He lives, we are eternally saved (Heb. 7:23-25).

A will is of no effect until the death of the one who wrote it. Then, an executor takes over and sees that the will is obeyed and the inheritance distributed. But suppose the executor is unscrupulous and wants to get the inheritance for himself? He may devise many ways to circumvent the law and steal the inheritance.

Jesus Christ wrote us into His will, and He wrote the will with His blood. "This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you" (Luke 22:20). He died so that the will would be in force, but then He arose from the dead and returned to heaven that He might enforce the will Himself and distribute the inheritance. Thus, we are "saved by his life."

(7) Reconciliation with God (v. 11).

The word atonement means "reconciliation; brought back into fellowship with God." The term is also mentioned in Romans 5:10. In Romans 1:18-32, Paul explained how people declared war on God and deserved to be condemned eternally because of this. But God did not declare war on humankind.

Instead, He sent His Son as the Peacemaker (Eph. 2:11-18) so that people might be reconciled to God.

Reviewing these seven blessings of justification shows how sure our salvation is in Christ. Apart from law and purely by grace, we have a salvation that takes care of the past, the present, and the future. Christ died for us, Christ lives for us, and Christ is coming for us! Hallelujah, what a Savior!

2. THE FOUNDATION OF OUR JUSTIFICATION (5:12-21)

How is it possible for God to save sinners in the person of Jesus Christ? We understand that somehow Christ took our place on the cross, but how was such a substitution possible?

Paul answered the question in this section, and these verses are the very heart of the letter. A few general truths about this section need to be understood to understand these verses.

First, note the repetition of the little word one. It is used eleven times. The key idea here is our identification with Adam and with Christ.

Second, note the repetition of the word reign, which is used five times.

Paul saw two men —Adam and Christ- each reigning over a kingdom.

Finally, note that the phrase is repeated five times. This means that in Jesus Christ, we have gained much more than we ever lost in Adam!

In short, this section contrasts Adam and Christ. Adam was given dominion over the old creation; he sinned and lost his kingdom.

Because of Adam's sin, all mankind is under condemnation and death.

Christ came as the King over a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).

His obedience on the cross brought righteousness and justification. Christ not only undid all the damage that Adam's sin effected, but He accomplished "much more" by making us the very sons of God. Paul has already explained some of this "much more" in Romans 5:1-11.

Skeptics sometimes ask, "Was it fair for God to condemn the whole world just because of one man's disobedience?" The answer, of course, is that it was not only fair but also wise and gracious. To begin with, if God had tested each human being individually, the result would have been the same: disobedience. But even more critically, by condemning the human race through one man (Adam), God could save the human race through one Man (Jesus Christ)!

Each of us is racially united to Adam, so his deed affects us. (See Heb. 7:9-10 for an example of this racial headship.) The fallen angels cannot be saved because they are not a race. They sinned individually and were judged separately. No representative can take their judgment for them and save them. But because you and I were lost in Adam, our racial head, we can be saved in Christ, the Head of the new creation. God's plan was both gracious and wise.

Our final question must be answered: How do we know we are racially united to Adam?

The answer is in Romans 5:12-14, and the argument runs like this:

We know that all men die. But death is the result of disobeying the law. There was no law from Adam to Moses, but men still died.

A general result demands a general cause. What is that cause? It can be only one thing: Adam’s disobedience. When Adam sinned, he ultimately died. All of his descendants died (Gen. 5), yet the law had not yet been given. Conclusion: They died because of Adam's sin. "For that all have sinned" (Rom. 5:12) means "all have sinned in Adam's sin." Men do not die because of their acts of sin; otherwise, babies would not die (Rom. 9:11). Men die because they are united racially to Adam, and "in Adam, all die" (1 Cor. 15:22).

Having understood these general truths about the passage, we may now examine the contrasts Paul gives between Adam and Christ and between Adam's sin and Christ's obedience on the cross.

Adam's offense is contrasted with Christ's gift (v. 15).

Many died because of Adam's trespass; because of Christ's obedience, the grace of God abounds, bringing life to many.

The word many (literally "the many") means the same as "all men" in Romans 5:12 and 18.

Note the "much more," for the grace of Christ brings physical, spiritual, and abundant life. Christ did conquer death and one day will raise the bodies of all who have died in Christ. If He stopped there, He would only reverse the effects of Adam's sin, but He went on to do "much more." He gives eternal life abundantly to all who trust Him John 10:10).

The effect of Adam's sin is contrasted with the impact of Christ's obedience (v.16).

Adam's sin brought judgment and condemnation, but Christ’s work on the cross brings justification. When Adam sinned, he was declared unrighteous and condemned. When a sinner trusts Christ, he is justified and declared righteous in Christ.

The two "reigns" are contrasted (v. 17).

Because of Adam's disobedience, death reigned. Read the "book of the generations of Adam" in Genesis 5, and note the solemn repetition of the phrase "and he died."

In Romans 5:14, Paul argued that men did not die "from Adam In contrast to "the offense of one" is "the righteousness of one," meaning the righteous work of Christ on the cross. In Romans 5:19, Paul calls it "the obedience of one" (see Phil. 2:5-12).

Christ's sacrifice on the cross not only made possible "justification" but also "justification of life (italics mine). Justification is not merely a legal term that describes our position before God ("just as if I'd never sinned"), but it results in a certain kind of life. "Justification of life" in Romans 5:18 parallels "be made righteous" in Romans 5:19.

In other words, our justification is justified by a living union with Christ. And this union ought to result in a new kind of life, a righteous life of obedience to God. Our union with Adam made us sinners; our union with Christ enables us to "reign in life."

Law and grace are contrasted (vv. 20-21).

"Then law crept in" (ws); or, "Then the law came in beside" (literal translation).

Grace was not an addition to God's plan; it was a part of God's plan from the beginning. God dealt with Adam and Eve in grace, the patriarchs in grace, and the nation of Israel in grace. He gave the law through Moses not to replace His grace but to reveal man's need for grace.

The law was temporary, but grace is eternal.

But God’s grace abounded even more as the law increased man's sins.

God's grace was more than adequate to deal with man's sins. Even though sin and death still reign in this world, God's grace is also reigning through the righteousness of Christ. The Christian's body is subject to death, and his old nature tempts him to sin, but in Jesus Christ, he can reign in life" because he is a part of the gracious kingdom of Christ.

An Old Testament story helps us understand the conflict between these two "reigns" today. God rejected Saul as the king of Israel and anointed David. Those who trusted David eventually shared his kingdom of peace and joy, while those who trusted Saul ended in shame and defeat.

Like David, Jesus Christ is God's anointed King. Like Saul, Satan is still free to work in this world and seek to win people's allegiance.

Sin and death reign in the "old creation" over which Adam was the head, but grace and righteousness reign in "the new creation" over which Christ is the Head. And as we yield to Him, we "reign in life." In Romans 5:14, Adam is called "the figure of him that was to come."

Adam was a type, or picture, of Jesus Christ.

Adam came from the earth, but Jesus is the Lord from heaven (1 Cor. 15.47).

Adam was tested in a garden, surrounded by beauty and love; Jesus was tempted in a wilderness, and He died on a cruel cross surrounded by hatred and ugliness.

Adam was a thief cast out of Paradise, but Jesus Christ turned to a thief and said, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43).

The Old Testament is "the book of the generations of Adam" (Gen. 5:1), and it ends with "a curse" (Mal. 4:6).

The New Testament is "the book of the generation of Jesus Christ" (Matt. 1:1), and it ends with "no more curse" (Rev. 22:3).

You cannot help being "in Adam," for this came by your first birth, over which you had no control. But you can help to stay "in Adam," for you can experience a second birth—a new birth from above-that will put you "in Christ." This is why Jesus said, "Ye must be born again" John 3:7.