Romans 5:1. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with, God
It is a matter of present possession, and present enjoyment. Whatever tribulation there may be in the world, «we have peace with God.» Blessed be God for that glorious fact! We may not have peace with all men, though we would seek to have that; but «we have peace with God.»
Romans 5:1-2. Through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
So we ascend this golden ladder, from faith to peace, from peace to access with God, and from this to joy by the way of hope. Happy people, who know this blessed way of climbing out of the sorrows of the present into the glory that shall be revealed!
Romans 5:3. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also:
Present trials even become subjects for thanksgiving. Surely, they have lost their sting when patience accepts them, and faith rejoices in them.
Romans 5:3-45. Knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, and experience, hope: and hope maketh, not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Like a sweet perfume, which enters every room, and fills every nook and cranny in the house, so does the delightful love of God fill the entire soul when, by the Holy Ghost, it is shed abroad in the heart. Beloved, may you feel that blessed influence this evening! This next verse may help us to love God, and to feel the love of God shed abroad in our hearts.
Romans 5:6. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
He did not regard us as saints, but as actually ungodly, when he died for our redemption. It was not man's righteousness that brought Christ from heaven; but man's sin, and the infinite pity of God.
Romans 5:7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die:
Though he were as just as Aristides, though be were renowned for justice, nobody would die for him. There is no such attraction in the virtue as would win anyone's love, so as to die for the man who displays it.
Romans 5:7. Yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
For a benevolent, large-hearted, kindly-disposed man some might dare to die. Such a thing is not likely; but it is possible.
Romans 5:8. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
We were without any attraction, without any righteousness, without any goodness, yet Christ loved us. Out of the graciousness of his own heart he loved us, according to that text, «I will love them freely.»
Romans 5:9. Much more then,
See how the apostle, when he had uttered a great truth, proceeds to say, something greater still. Just before, he had written, «And not only so,» and now he says, «Much more then,»
Romans 5:9. Being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
If Christ died for us when we were sinners, will he not save us now that he has made us saints? If, when we were condemned, he redeemed us, will be not preserve us now that we are justified? This is a strong plea for the final perseverance and ultimate salvation of all believers
Romans 5:10-11. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so,
The apostle is again up on the wing; he cannot fly high enough to describe all Christ's work. «And not only so,»
Romans 5:11. But we also joy in God
That is a delightful experience, joying in God himself, in the very character and person of God. So perfectly reconciled are we that, not only do we rejoice in God's gifts, and in his mercy; but we swim in a sea of delight in God himself: «We also joy in God»
Romans 5:11. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
Now comes an admonition.
Romans 5:12. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Sinned, that is, in the first man.
Romans 5:13-14. (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
I suppose that Paul refers even to little children, who «had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression,» and yet died as the result of Adam's sin.
Romans 5:15-20. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one: much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon, all men, unto Justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound.
Just as, sometimes, a physician may give a medicine which causes the disease to be more fully developed in order to its ultimate cure, so does the law make a discovery of our sin to us, and it also excites us to greater sin, by reason of the enmity of our nature, which is opposed to the law of God, and becomes the more active the more clearly the law is known, even as Paul says, further on in this Epistle, «I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.»
Romans 5:20-21. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessed be his holy name! Amen.