Romans 5: peace with God, and the two men, Adam and Christ

Romans was written by Paul, most likely from Corinth, about AD 56 or 57, to Christians in Rome, both Jewish and Gentile (see the class on Romans 3). Chapters 1 to 4 argued that all people are under sin and that God justifies by faith in Christ, as Abraham's case showed (chapter 4). Chapter 5 opens with 'Therefore, since we have been justified through faith', and it moves from proof to consequence. Scholars disagree about whether chapter 5 closes the first section of the letter or opens the second (chapters 5 to 8, on the new life and its security). Many treat it as a bridge, and the question does not change how it is read.

The readers had some familiarity with Jewish teaching about Adam. Jewish writers of the period discussed the effects of Adam's sin on his descendants, and the rabbis later spoke of an impulse to evil. Paul does not argue from these sources. He argues from Genesis 3 and from the pattern of one man acting for many. The Roman Christians lived in an empire that knew about corporate fates: a ruler's victory or defeat decided the lot of all under him. Paul uses that sort of thinking about two men.

One textual point appears in 5:1. Ancient manuscripts differ by a single vowel here: some read 'we have peace' and others 'let us have peace'. The second has strong support, but most translations and commentators prefer the first, because the whole passage describes what is already true of the justified. The sense is that peace is a possession, not a goal to be attained.

Romans 5 is part of a letter whose argument is carried by small words. The 'therefore' of verse 1, 'how much more' in verses 9, 10, 15 and 17, and the 'just as ... so also' of verses 12 and 18-19 are the keys. The 'how much more' argument is one that reasons from the harder case to the easier: if God did the greater thing, he will do the lesser. In verses 9-10 the greater was reconciling enemies by Christ's death; the lesser is saving the reconciled by his life.

The second half is a comparison by typology and contrast. Paul calls Adam a 'type' (typos, 5:14) of the one to come. In biblical typology an earlier person or event is a pattern pointing to a later one. But Paul at once says the pattern is lopsided: 'the gift is not like the trespass'. The reader must therefore hold both the likeness (one man acts for many) and the contrast (the gift far outweighs the damage).

Verse 12 begins a sentence that is never finished in the form it starts: 'just as sin entered through one man ... ' lacks its 'so also' until verse 18. Verses 13-17 form a parenthesis that explains and qualifies. Readers should keep this broken structure in view. Verse 12 ends with a phrase whose meaning has been much discussed: 'because all sinned' (eph' ho pantes hemarton). The phrase can mean 'because' or 'in whom' (the Latin Vulgate read 'in whom', and Augustine used it), and the Greek more likely means 'because' or 'on the ground that'. The question is then in what sense all sinned. Paul assumes that Adam was a real person, the first man; his argument depends on one man at the head of the human family.

Verses 1–2

Being justified through faith, believers have peace (eirene) with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The Hebrew background is shalom, wholeness in right relationship, and the emphasis is on the end of hostility between God and sinners. Through Christ they have also gained access (prosagoge) into the grace in which they stand. The word is used of an introduction to a king's presence. They rejoice (kauchaometha, 'boast') in the hope of the glory of God, the future share in God's splendour that Adam lost (3:23).

Verses 3–5

Paul extends the boasting to sufferings, which produce endurance, endurance proven character, and proven character hope. The chain does not praise suffering. It says what God does with it. Hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. This is the letter's first full statement that the Spirit is given to believers, and it prepares for chapter 8. The Father's love, the Son's death and the Spirit's gift are in one sentence.

Verses 6–8

Christ died 'at the right time', for the powerless, the ungodly. Paul remarks that rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though perhaps for a good man someone might dare. But God demonstrates his own love in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The descriptions grow darker: powerless (asthenon), ungodly (asebon), sinners (hamartolon), and in verse 10, enemies (echthroi).

Verses 9–11

Since we are now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath through him. If enemies were reconciled (katallasso) by the death of the Son, much more shall the reconciled be saved by his life. Reconciliation is the ending of enmity, and it is God who acts: he reconciles us to himself. 'His life' is the risen and living Christ who intercedes (8:34).

Verses 12–14

Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all, because all sinned. Sin was in the world before the law of Moses, though sin is not charged where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam's transgression. Many take this to mean people in the long period before Moses, who had no explicit commandment to break. The conclusion is that death's reign does not depend on each person's breaking a commandment as Adam did. Adam is a type of the one who was to come.

Verses 15–17

Paul sets three contrasts. The free gift (charisma) is not like the trespass: if many died through one man's trespass, much more has the grace of God and the gift in the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to many. The judgment from one sin brought condemnation, but the gift out of many trespasses brought justification. If death reigned through one, much more shall those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through Jesus Christ. Note 'those who receive'.

Verses 18–19

The sentence from verse 12 is completed. One trespass led to condemnation for all people, so one act of righteousness leads to justification of life for all people. Through one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so through one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. 'All' and 'many' match the group in each case. Paul's own words in verse 17 limit the scope to those who receive the gift.

Verses 20–21

The law came in alongside (pareiselthen) so that the trespass would increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more (hyperperisseusen). The purpose is that as sin reigned in death, so grace might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 5 holds together several truths. The justified have peace with God and access to his grace now, and the hope of glory later. God's love is demonstrated in the death of Christ for the ungodly, and the Spirit pours it into the heart. The doctrine of reconciliation says that enmity between God and humanity is ended by God's action. The comparison with Adam is Paul's fullest teaching on how sin and death spread through the human race. It is not an isolated idea: Genesis 3 describes the fall, and Genesis 5 repeats the refrain 'and he died'. Paul sets the whole of human history under two heads, Adam and Christ, as in 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 and 45-49.

How Adam's sin affects others is a question the chapter raises but does not answer in a single formula. Paul affirms that sin and death came through one man, that death spread to all, and that all sinned. He affirms that condemnation came through the one trespass. Beyond this, readings differ (see below). On the other side, the gift is not limited by the damage: righteousness and life come through Christ to all who receive. Grace is greater than sin at every point.

The chapter also shows the Trinity at work in salvation: the Father who loves, the Son who dies and lives, and the Spirit who pours out love. And it prepares the next chapters. Having said that grace increased where sin increased, Paul will face the objection in 6:1: shall we sin that grace may abound?

Christ is the center in two ways. First, his death is the act by which God justifies and reconciles (5:8-10), and his life, the risen life, secures the final salvation of those reconciled. The death is for the ungodly, enemies and sinners; the one who died is called 'His Son'. The scope of what he does is stated in the largest terms: peace, access, reconciliation, justification, life.

Second, Adam is explicitly a type of Christ (5:14). This is typology that the New Testament itself states. As Adam's act determined the fate of those he represented, so Christ's act determines the fate of those who are his. Paul develops it in 1 Corinthians 15:45, where Christ is the last Adam. The parallel has limits that Paul marks: Adam's one trespass brought condemnation, but Christ's gift answers many trespasses and brings justification. Adam disobeyed; Christ's obedience (5:19) reverses it. Elsewhere Scripture describes that obedience as 'to the point of death' (Philippians 2:8), and Isaiah 53:11 speaks of the servant making many righteous, an echo that readers have often heard.

Christ is therefore both the way back from the fall and something more: he gives righteousness and eternal life, and not merely a return to Eden. The gift overflows. 'Through Jesus Christ our Lord' (5:21) closes the chapter, as 'through our Lord Jesus Christ' opened it (5:1).