Rom 8:1-39, Despite our frail sinful nature, God's Spirit gives us life, peace, and hope

1. Introduction 1:1-17 (includes purpose, 8-15; and theme, 16-17)
2. The Need for God's Righteousness 1:18-3:20
3. The Imputation of God's Righteousness 3:21-5:21 (description, defense, proof, benefits, and restorative effects)
4. The impartation of God's righteousness 6:1-8:39
1. The believer's relationship to sin 6:1-23
2. The believer's relationship to the law 7:1-25
3. The believer's relationship to God 8:1-39
1. Our deliverance from the flesh by the power of the Spirit 8:1-11
2. Our new relationship to God 8:12-17
3. Our present sufferings and future glory 8:18-25
4. Our place in God's sovereign plan 8:26-30
5. Our eternal security 8:31-39


3. The believer's relationship to God 8:1-39
1. Our deliverance from the flesh by the power of the Spirit 8:1-11
Rom 8:1-11 (ESV) There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.


9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.


• We just finished up this struggle with sin caused by the flesh.  My mind is being renewed and now I am a slave to God's righteousness while I still retain my sinful flesh.  The law was good in revealing sin to me, but bad in that it gave my sinful flesh more reasons to rebel against God.  So what does Paul conclude from this mess?
• We might be failures, but we are not condemned
• The righteous requirements of the law have been met
• The big change is in our mind.  What does Paul say that implies?
• We need to set our mind on what the Spirit desires (we need to submit our mind not to the flesh)
• A mind controlled by the Spirit offers life and peace
• A mind submitted to God is what will please God
• This is the struggle of those who want to be under the law. They want to know what pleases God and so they use the OT law as their guide
• We do have a new guide, 2 new guides
• The spirit within our mind
• The law of the spirit of life that conveys Jesus' commands
1 Cor 9:20-21 (ESV) To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.
Gal 6:1 (ESV) Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
• A life controlled by the Spirit is evidence of  that God's Spirit lives within us
• And what does the promise mean, to give life to your mortal bodies (vs 11)?
• It is a quality of life evidence by peace, not condemnation
• The struggle still exists, but there is also a peace that only maturity in Christ can bring about (In Hebrews, the author uses a metaphor of the Sabbath rest to bring about the same idea)


2. Our new relationship to God 8:12-17
Rom 8:12-17 (ESV) So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" 16  The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.


• How can a Christian "die" by living according to the sinful nature?
• Could die physically as was the case in Hebrews with the upcoming destruction of Jerusalem
• Can shows signs of spiritual dying exhibited by a lack of joy and peace
• A life lived in contradiction will always seem defeating
• Our new position is as God's children.  What are the implications?
• We are heirs
• We may have to suffer prior to fully comprehending God's glory.  Why?
• Because this was never the life God promised when Adam rebelled in the garden
• We also have rebelled, in our sinful flesh, in every possible way.  Adam rebelled against one law.  We have rebelled against many more
• Consequently, this world is not as God intended it to be


3. Our present sufferings and future glory 8:18-25
Rom 8:18-25 (ESV) For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.


• What does our rebellion reveal to us about its effect on creation?
• The creation is frustrated
• The creation is subjugated
• The creation is in bondage (a reference previously to sin)
• The creation is decaying
• The creation is groaning for liberation from decay
• How do we see this?
• Plagues, diseases, viruses, famine, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, birth defects, chemical imbalances, etc
• This is not the world God intended.  But it does not show God as evil, but rather us as in rebellion
• God offered us a wonderful creation, we can see the hints of its beauty
• Adam rebelled, but we are just as guilty, because while Adam rebelled against one rule, the law has shown us that we rebel against many laws of God
• APPLICATION: One of the arguments of Atheists is that the existence of so much evil in the world is proof that God does not exist.  Paul's argument is the opposite.  The existence of evil is the proof of our rebellion.  Jesus is the proof of God's love and existence
• And so what do the adopted children do?
• We live in hope
• We wait patiently
• Someday, there will be a new heaven and a new earth, just as God had originally intended


4. Our place in God's sovereign plan 8:26-30
Rom 8:26-30 (ESV) Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.


• Actually, "our weakness," Greek word astheneia, means feebleness (of mind or body)
• So it could be referring back to our struggle with the flesh or the weakness could be in our mind
• NT:769, the state of being ill and thus incapacitated in some manner - 'illness, disability, weakness. (from Greek-English Lexicon Based on Semantic Domain. Copyright © 1988 United Bible Societies, New York. Used by permission.)
• In other words, our weak flesh (or even strong flesh, weak mind) probably fights against us praying, and may even tempt us to pray for things that are not according to the Spirit
• The Spirit helps us in other ways as well
• The NASB suggests we don't know how to pray, the NIV / ESV suggests we don't what we should pray for
• Probably both are true.  The Greek is ambiguous as well, although Constable believes it favors the NIV
• Jesus teaching on prayer suggests both how and what as well
• Part of the problem is that the best prayers are those aligned with the will of God.  The Spirit knows God's will, and the Spirit reveals the will of God to us--at least to the extent we listen
• It would be wrong to assume that verse 26 is speaking in tongues, since the scriptures never connect tongues with intercessory prayer (Constable, Fruchtenbaum)
• "Groans that words cannot express" literally would be interpreted as an emotion and not as a special prayer language
• Also see use of "groan" in previous section regarding creation where clearly a spiritual tongue is not implied
• In this case, taking into account all the information, the Spirit prays through us not for us


5. Our eternal security 8:31-39
Rom 8:31-39 (ESV) What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32  He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34  Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.  35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,


 "For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."


37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.


• So, we are left with a sinful flesh.  We are not condemned, but we do struggle.  We are children of God, heirs, but we need to live according to the Spirit (in our mind) while on earth, because the rebellion ruins everything around us.  We don't even do a good job praying, but the Spirit helps us in that as well.  It expresses through us God's desire.  It works to renew our thinking.  It fights against the sinful nature.  So what she we say?
• God is on our side
• Look at the evidence
• No one can charge us
• God has already positionally justified us
• No one can condemn us
• Jesus died for us, paid our price
• Who can separate us from the love of God now?
• Trouble? No.  Hardship? No. Persecution? No. Famine? No.  Nakedness? No. Danger? No.  The Sword? No.
• We are more than conquerors (which means: we already won)
• There is nothing in creation that separate us from the love of God
• This is one of the great arguments for eternal security.  Because if there is something that can separate us, then Paul's words are not true

Rom 7:1-25, The flesh uses the knowledge of sin to increase sin

1. Introduction 1:1-17 (includes purpose, 8-15; and theme, 16-17)
2. The Need for God's Righteousness 1:18-3:20
3. The Imputation of God's Righteousness 3:21-5:21 (description, defense, proof, benefits, and restorative effects)
4. The impartation of God's righteousness 6:1-8:39
1. The believer's relationship to sin 6:1-23
1. Freedom from sin 6:1-14
2. Slavery to righteousness 6:15-23
2. The believer's relationship to the law 7:1-25
1. The law's authority 7:1-6
2. The law's activity 7:7-12
3. The law's inability 7:13-25
3. The believer's relationship to God 8:1-39
1. Our deliverance from the flesh by the power of the Spirit 8:1-11
2. Our new relationship to God 8:12-17
3. Our present sufferings and future glory 8:18-25
4. Our place in God's sovereign plan 8:26-30
5. Our eternal security 8:31-39




2. The believer's relationship to the law 7:1-25
1. The law's authority 7:1-6
Rom 7:1-6 (ESV) Or do you not know, brothers —for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 Thus a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.  3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.


4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.


• Paul uses personal pronoun "I" almost 30 times in Rom 7
• In discussing the believer's relationship to the law, Paul starts with an example from natural law regarding marriage.  What is Paul's argument?
• If the husband dies, the wife is not bound to the law of marriage.  She marries another without any consequences
• If she marries another while her husband is alive (not divorced), she is called adulteress
• What is the difference? Death cancels all claims
• How does it apply to the OT law?
• Paul says that we died to the law through the body of Christ, therefore we are not lawbreakers
• We are released from the law
• We serve God in a new way of the spirit and not in the old way
• So we still do serve God
• But it is not the same
• The term "written code" is a very clear description of the OT law
• Additionally, there is some linkage between our sinful passions and the law.  In same way, the law increased our passions (aroused) and controlled us, but not in a good way.  So release from the law is a good thing for us spiritually, although is hard to understand or even explain
• DEATH BREAKS THE LAW's AUTHORITY


2. The law's activity 7:1-12
Rom 7:7-12 (ESV) What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.


• The immediate thought then is that the law is sin since it increased our sinful passions, and we appear better off with it dead.  But that is not entirely Paul's point. What is Paul saying?
• The law made us aware of things that were not sin (LAW REVEALS)
• Covetous is an example.  It wasn't really a sin until the law told me it was a sin (that's the good thing).  But somehow that knowledge produced even more covetous behavior (the bad thing)
• Sin used the laws to actually deceive me.  Again the knowledge of my sin is good, but the result is that our sinful flesh used it to make our lives worse
• The law is not at fault for revealing sin to us
• Which opens us a curious question, why?
• Our flesh, which rebelled against God, rebelled even more when it understood what other areas were sin
• Our flesh is still in rebellion to God. It is as if, any opportunity to rebel even more against God encourages it to do so more (FLESH REBELS)


3. The law's inability 7:13-25
Rom 7:13-25 (ESV) Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.


21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.


• So, did a good thing (originally) become death to me?
• No, death is caused by sin
• The commandment reveals sin (and also by that knowledge increased sin), but the commandments did not cause death
• The commandments helped me to see how utterly sinful I am
• I already was sinful
• To an extent, my flesh, seizing the opportunity afforded by the knowledge from the law, became more sinful (the bad)
• But I also became more aware of my sin (the good thing)
• Verses 14-20 reveal the real problem which was not the law but what?
• It is our sinful nature, our flesh
• It causes us to do what is wrong
• Even when I know something is wrong (through the law) I still sin, because of my sinful flesh
• So there is a principle (not law) at work in my body, what is it?
• I want to do what is right (I was created to do what is right)
• My flesh wants to do what is wrong
• My mind and my flesh battle (wage war)
• What is the answer?
• Jesus has rescued our mind, now we are a slave to righteousness
• Our body of flesh (sinful nature) remains a slave to sin
• IMPLICATION: previously, both were slaves to sin, but my mind has been released.  I will always struggle to wage war against my sinful flesh.  By the Spirit's power, I can have increasing victory, but I will never be perfect until I have a new body (occurs at glorification)

Rom 6:1-23, Obedience is the pathway to a full life, slavery to sin is a painful way to live

1. Introduction 1:1-17 (includes purpose, 8-15; and theme, 16-17)
2. The Need for God's Righteousness 1:18-3:20
3. The Imputation of God's Righteousness 3:21-5:21
1. The description of justification 3:21-26
2. The defense of justification by faith alone 3:27-31
3. The proof of justification by faith from the law 4:1-25
4. The benefits of justification 5:1-11
5. The restorative effects of justification 5:12-21
4. The impartation of God's righteousness 6:1-8:39
1. The believer's relationship to sin 6:1-23
1. Freedom from sin 6:1-14
2. Slavery to righteousness 6:15-23
2. The believer's relationship to the law 7:1-25
3. The believer's relationship to God 8:1-39


Review: Use chart of justification, sanctification, and glorification
Chapter 3-5 has described our positional justification, now Paul focuses on our progressive sanctification, chp 6-8 how to become more holy (godly, righteous)


4. The Impartation of God's Righteousness
1. The believer's relationship to sin
1. Freedom from Sin
Rom 6:1-7 (ESV) What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.


5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.


• Why does Paul ask a so-obvious question in verse 1? (There are some 70+ rhetorical questions in Romans)
• In 5:20-21, he argued that the law was a good thing because it showed us our sin by increasing our definition of sin
• Our recognition of sin shows us our need for grace, that is, we are completely undeserving
• It is a stupid argument, but one that others were making against Paul.  Recognizing our sinfulness is a good thing; being sinful is not a good thing
• When did we die to sin?
• At our conversion, at the point of our rebirth
• Constable (2010) writes, "Paul did not say that it is impossible to live in sin or that sin is dead to the Christian (i.e., that it no longer appeals to us). He meant it is unnecessary and undesirable to live in sin, to habitually practice it."
• Paul has already made the argument that we are justified by faith alone.  He now uses baptism to describe what happens to our life
• Note that other passages clearly show that baptism does not save or that one is not saved if they are not baptized
• Also, there is no evidence in scriptural on the significance of the ritual but …
• Clearly, Paul assumes that all the believers have been baptized
• Our baptism
• Identifies us with Christ' death (sin is paid)
• Identifies us with his resurrection (we are given a new life)
• Identifies us with our future life (we will be given a new body)
• Baptism shows
• Sin was crucified (our old self was crucified)
• Positional-ly, we are no longer slaves to sin
• We are free from sin
• What does it mean to be freed from sin?
• The "old man" is the person you were before you came to Christ
• That person is dead
• One can choose to adopt his characteristics, but you can never be that old man again
• The old man is not the same as the old nature
• The old nature remains with us until we die
• The old nature is the same as the flesh
• Constable (2010) writes, "I prefer not to use the term "new nature." It does not appear in Scripture. The New Testament presents the Christian not as a person with two natures warring within him or her. It presents the Christian as a person with one sinful nature (the flesh) that is in conflict with the indwelling Holy Spirit (cf. Gal. 5:16-23). It also speaks of the Christian as struggling with the decision to live as the new man that he or she now is. Our alternative is to live as the old man who we were but are no longer (cf. Rom. 7:13-24).
• But it is "new" (see BLB, only two uses in NT)
• Constable (2010) writes, "Death ends all claims."
• Two problems
• The unbeliever may not see himself as a slave to sin, but he is
• The Christian may not see himself as free from sin, but he is
• The chain has been broken -- we are free of sin's domination.  Its enticement will remain our struggle until glorification


Rom 6:8-14 (ESV) Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.


12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. 13  Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.


• What does Paul say about Christ and his death?
• Christ died to sin.  He cannot die again.  It is a once for all death
• Differs with some denominations which suggest a perpetual sacrifice
• Jesus cannot die again.  Death's rulership is gone.  Death's mastery is gone
• In plain words, "Jesus will never die again"
• How does the implication of Christ's death apply to us? ("in the same way")
• His death means that we will never have to come "under the enslaving, spiritual death-dealing power of sin (Constable, 2010)"
• "Since God has united us with Christ we should "consider," "count," or "reckon" ourselves as those who are not under the dominating influence of sin any longer. The verb is a present imperative in the Greek text indicating that we should definitely and constantly view ourselves this way. We must realize that we are free to enjoy our new relationship with God forever (Constable 2010)."
• Paul concludes that this knowledge should affect us how?
• Don't give into sin (you do not have to sin, sin is not your master)
• Don't give into lusts (you do not have to lust, sin is not your master)
• Offer the parts of our body to God as an instrument of righteousness (List from Constable, 2010)
• Eyes -- what we look at
• Ears -- what we listen to
• Mouth -- what we say
• Hands -- what we do
• Feet -- where we go
• Hearts -- what we love
• Minds -- what we think about
• Will -- decisions we make


Figure (Constable, 2010)
• Interesting, Paul almost seems to blame the law.  What does he say in verse 14?
• When we were under the law, sin held a certain mastery over us
• When we are under grace, sin has no mastery
• Constable (2010) writes, "Sin will no longer master the believer. The basic reason for this is that we are not under the Mosaic Law as the authority under which we live but under grace. Satan can no longer use the Law to hinder the believer's progress (cf. 3:23). God has redeemed us, not by the Law but by grace. We now live under that authority. Paul [will deal] with the tension this situation creates for the believer in chapter 7."


2. Slavery to righteousness
Rom 6:15-23 (ESV) What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19  I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.


20  When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21  But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.


• Well if the law is not over us anymore, should we just go ahead and sin? 
• Obviously not (By no means!)
• We do have an obligation, but what is different?
• We are not obligated to the law
• We are obligated to righteousness.  SO, righteousness is not the same as the law
• What is the benefit of living in sin?  What do people reap from sin?
• Shame
• Death
• The contrast to living in righteousness is what?
• Holiness
• Eternal life (which is often describes as a quality of life)
• "If our life sucks, maybe the problem is that we are living for the flesh and not for God"
• APPLICATION: Constable (2010) writes, "Verses 15-23 teach truth by way of contrasts. Obedience to sin yields unfruitfulness, shame, and death. Obedience to righteousness results in progressive sanctification and the fullness of eternal life."

Rom 5:1-21, Faith is a better foundation than performance-based religion

1. Introduction 1:1-17 (includes purpose, 8-15; and theme, 16-17)
2. The Need for God's Righteousness 1:18-3:20
1. The Need for All People 1:18-32
2. The Need of Good People 2:1-3:8
3. The Guilt of All Humanity 3:9-20
3. The Imputation of God's Righteousness 3:21-5:21
1. The description of justification 3:21-26
2. The defense of justification by faith alone 3:27-31
3. The proof of justification by faith from the law 4:1-25
4. The benefits of justification 5:1-11
5. The restorative effects of justification 5:12-21


REVIEW: We conclude chapter 4 with Abraham's example of hope and faith.  Abraham was justified by faith and not by what he did.  Paul now goes into the evidence for the results of justification by faith.


4. The benefits of justification 5:1-11
Rom 5:1-11 (ESV) Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.


6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.


• Note that the phrase "have been justified through faith" is in the past tense and looks back on an event that has happened, and not on something in the future that might happen.  Our position becomes a historical fact
• What are the results of justification through faith?
• Peace.  Why?  Justification by works would leave us wondering if we have ever done enough
• Access to God.  Why?  Our present position is the result of grace.  Paul says we stand in this grace.  It is an unmerited position, because quite frankly, we could never gain access to God if it depended on us
• Hope of Glory
• Why? Jesus did all the work for us.  Our hope is based upon him and not upon us
• Greek for hope is a different idea than in English. It is to anticipate or to have an expectation (see BLB, G1680)
• A different view of suffering
• Suffering has a positive impact.  Suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope
• Why? Because if we suffer, it is not because we are cursed (OT Law: failure resulted in curses), but because we are loved.  It is the result of a Father who loves his adopted children and wants to see their best
• Verse 6-8 describe those for who Christ died
• Powerless, NIV, Weak ESV.  There was nothing we could do to change our situation
• Ungodly.  We lived in rebellion to God (this is everybody).  We violated his rules of life. It started at the garden, but everyone of us has rebelled from God in some way
• Not good enough to die for.  We weren't even good enough to die for
• Very interesting thought. Listening to a Christian Human Rights advocate. He says that HR is based on dignity or worth, and yet it is very hard to define in secular terms. He says that our worth is defined, not by being made in the image of God, but rather by the relationship--Jesus' willingness to die for us. That is what gives us dignity and worth
• Sinners.  We were opposed to God.  We were wicked
• Next group of verses adds the term "enemies"
• Paul continues the benefits of justification (verses 9-11)
• We are saved from God's wrath to come.  I think this is eschatological and refers to the tribulation period when God's wrath is poured out on the world first and then Israel specifically.  This seems to be an allusion, in my opinion, to a pre-tribulation rapture
• Also, we were enemies, but we are now reconciled
• But reconciliation was the hard part according to verse 10-11.  What does it mean we shall be saved?
• This refers to sanctification (the process of becoming more like Christ) and to our final glorification (when we will have our new body like Christ)


5. The restorative effects of justification 5:12-21
Rom 5:12-14 (ESV) Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet 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.


• Now Paul comes back to the fall, which is where all this started, and also shows how justification by faith redeems us from its effects
• Many commentators see the usage of Adam and Christ (vs 14) as federal heads of two groups of people
• A federal head acts as a representative of the people
• Examples might be a king or president, or even a parent
• Interestingly, Adam is the federal head, not Eve. Why?
• The scriptures say that Eve was deceived but Adam deliberately sinned (2 Cor 11:3)
• Where does death come from?
• It is a result of Adam's sin
• Gen 3:19c . . . for dust you are and to dust you will return
• People die because of Adam's sin
• People are judged because of their own sin
• But how can there be sin, since sin is not taken into account when there is no law
• Since there was sin, there was some knowledge of God's law
• Rom 2:14-15 (NIV) (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)
• Gen 6:5-6 (NIV)  The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.
• You do not need the OT law to be guilty of sin


Rom 5:15-19 (ESV) But 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. 16 And 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. 17 If, 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.


18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For 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.


• [No longer fits context] Rob Bell has made a lot of new adherents lately with his book "Love Wins." I believe Bell makes two major mistakes
• He preaches a false doctrine of "universalism"
• He has created an idol of what he thinks God should be like
• Twice the author make a the statement "the gift is not like the trespass."  So how is the gift not like and how are the same (see BLB, Bibles -- NLT, KJV)
• One man in both cases
• Sin brought both death and ultimately God's grace
• One resulted in judgment and condemnation, and the other results in grace and the gift of righteousness
• So, is the difference only in the results?
• No, because in one case, the results are earned
• In the other case, the results are a gift
• Verses 18-19 would seem to suggest through parallelism, that just as everyone was condemned to death, now everyone is justified to life, but that violates quite a few of Paul's arguments, including the statement repeated twice, "the gift is not like the trespass"
• What does the trespass do? The trespass earns death
• Rom 6:23 (NIV) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• How is a gift different? A gift is not earned nor is forced upon the individual, a gift must be received.  Only then is it fully the person's right
• John 1:12 (NIV) Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God


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


• So why add the law, if the purpose of the law was to increase the number of sins?
• Our sin reveals our need for a savior (so those who had the law would have more recognition of the sin problem)
• Since the wages of sin is death, and the gift is eternal life, the more wages earned would seem to make a person more aware of their need
• The law reveals to us things we might not even think our sin.  What are some examples?
• Lust
• Covetous
• Filthy language
• Gluttony
• Sexual sins (today's culture bears this out--"what's wrong with sex before marriage?" or "what's wrong with homosexuality?")
• Certain sins are wrong because God says they are wrong
• APPLICATION:
• Not everyone will be saved
• Sin brings death, but sin also shows us how desperately we need a savior
• Faith changes our relationship with God from performance-based to a family-based love relationship