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The fruits of justification are peace and blessedness (1–11). The harm caused by Adam to humanity is healed by Christ (12–21). Rom.5:1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Justification gives us a twofold nature of good - present and future. The first is reconciliation with God, which is based on the forgiveness of our sins, the second is eternal bliss. The latter, although now only the subject of our hope, is nevertheless a true hope, because the guarantee of this is the love of God for man, redeemed and sanctified in Christ Jesus. Thanks to this love, the most difficult thing happened - we became children of God, and what we should expect further, namely our glorification, is already a natural consequence of this adoption of ours to God. After our justification, our relationship with God became completely peaceful. We can expect not anger, but mercy of all kinds from Him! But what kind of peace is this (είρηνη) or, as the Apostle puts it in verse 11, reconciliation (καταλλαγή)? Many see in these terms a designation of a change that has taken place in God’s attitude towards man: God ceased to be hostile to man and became merciful to him (this is how, for example, Richter interprets from new commentators). But we cannot agree with this opinion. Only among the Greeks was God the object of reconciliation, and man the subject, that is, man propitiated God and, because of this, God reconciled Himself with man. In Apostle Paul, on the contrary, it is not man who reconciles God with himself, but God with man; peace is established in the soul of man, and not of God, because God could not be at enmity with man. “God is not at enmity against us, but we are against Him. God never quarrels" (Chrysostom to 2 Cor 5:20). This interpretation is also supported by the use of the expression reconcile (καταλλάσσειν) in 2 Cor 5:20: “be reconciled to God.” If reconciliation (καταλλαγή) were a purely objective act, accomplished only in God, then this admonition of the Apostle would not make sense (Myshtsyn in 2 Cor. p. 132). Rom.5:2. through whom by faith we have gained access to that grace in which we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. "Access" (προσαγωγή). The Apostle is not talking about the access that we always have to God in prayer. This indicates a one-time, completed act, i.e. our conversion to Christ - the moment when the heavenly door opened before us. – “Grace” is the state of Christians, the peace that is spoken of in Art. 1. – “The Glory of God” is the highest good that has not yet reached us. The Apostle speaks more about this good in Chapter VIII. and III-V chapters. Rom.5:3. And not only this, but we boast in our sorrows, knowing that from sorrow comes patience, Rom.5:4. Patience brings experience, experience gives hope, Rom.5:5. but hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us. Even the sorrows that occur so often in life cannot weaken the strength of our faith and hope for future glorification. On the contrary, they even serve to nourish and revive this hope, which becomes firm in those who have patience and experience. For an explanation of the last two expressions, see Ap. James (James 1:3) and in Ap. Peter (1 Pet. 1:7; 2 Pet. 1:6). However, at Ap. James and Peter use the term δοκίμιον to denote experience, and Paul uses the term δοκιμή, so we can say that James is talking about grief as a means of testing a person; Peter, just like Paul, in the word δοκιμή understands by δοκίμων the result that a Christian obtains from the struggle with temptations, or the state of a person tested by sorrows - a state of strength, courage, which emerged victoriously from the struggle with temptations. The hope of a Christian is not shameful. And earlier, at the very moment of turning to Christ, a person already had hope, but that hope was still, one might say, in its infancy. Only for a person who has endured many sorrows and did not fall in this struggle, hope becomes a powerful force. But it is not only sorrows that strengthen our hope. It is even more confirmed by the love of God poured into our hearts. The outpouring of this love took place at a certain specific moment, and we continue to feel the results of this fact, they are in us! (This is why the Greek text says: έν καρδίαις ημών - poured out in our hearts). - “By the Holy Spirit.” The apostle indicates the means of communicating this love to you. The Holy Spirit destroys all barriers that stand in the way between the heart of God and the heart of man, and because of this, living communication begins between God and man (cf. John 14:19–20). Rom.5:6. For Christ, while we were still weak, at the appointed time died for the ungodly. "For..." . The apostle here continues to convince believers that their hope of future glory (v. 2) is well founded. Until the end of verse 11, the Apostle proves that the hope of future glorification has its support in the justification that we have already received through the sacrifice of the Son of God, and even more in the fact that the Son of God now intercedes for this glorification of ours not by His death, but by His life. Since life is higher than death, it means that the glorification that we expect is even stronger and more certain than our justification that has already been accomplished. – “Weak” – the same thing that is further indicated by the words: wicked, sinful. This was not at all such a state as to attract to us the love of the Most Holy Being. – “At a certain time” – from Greek. κατα καιρόν) in accordance with the circumstances of the time. This word is better attributed, therefore, to the expression weak. It will indicate the cause of weakness: the time was such that there could not yet be people who were healthy in spirit, righteous! Rom.5:7. For hardly anyone will die for the righteous; maybe someone will decide to die for a benefactor. Rom.5:8. But God proves His love for us by the fact that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. Explaining the importance of Christ’s death for sinful people, the Apostle says that God sent His Son to die when people were sinners. Who would die in order to provide a service even to a righteous, virtuous person? Perhaps someone will volunteer to lay down his life for his benefactor (τού αγαθού - masculine, in accordance with the expression δίκαιος - righteous person - ο αγαθός is also a righteous, virtuous person, like δίκαιος, but, in addition, he is especially dear to another person due to his personal properties cf. 1 Samuel 1:8). God, however, at the present time, after the death of Christ, especially exposes His love to everyone, gives, so to speak, the opportunity to evaluate (according to the Russian text inaccurately: proves - σινίστησιν), sending us the Holy Spirit into our hearts (Gal. 4:6) - that very love that was once manifested in the death of Christ. God - the Apostle wants to say in clarification of the words of the 5th art. about the libation of God's love into our hearts - God does not cease to constantly remind us in the most merciful way of His love for us - speaking to us in our hearts (love for us - more correctly: in us - εις ημας). Rom.5:9. Much more therefore now, having been justified by His blood, we will be saved from wrath by Him. Rom.5:10. For if, being enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life. The idea in both these verses is the same. We, having been justified or reconciled to God by the death of His Son, can be confident of future salvation. Only in the 10th Art. It is added that the guarantee of this salvation is given to us by the fact that now Christ intercedes for us not with death, but with life. Since life is higher than death, it means that the life or glorification of Christ is a greater guarantee than His humiliation or death. - “Being enemies.” The apostle undoubtedly attributes enmity not to God, but to people. It is not God who is the enemy of man, but man, by his deeds, who is the enemy of God, subverting His laws (cf. Rom 8:7; Col 1:21). Rom.5:11. And not only this, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. “And this is not enough,” that is, not only are we reconciled with God and do not have to tremble in anticipation of punishment from Him, but we now even consider God to be our God. Can there be any fear in our hearts at the thought of His great judgment upon the world? No, rather we should rejoice at the coming of the time of this judgment - this is the thought of the Apostle. And all these benefits - justification, reconciliation, complete peace of mind - we, the Apostle adds, owe to our Lord Jesus Christ. With this mention the Apostle wants to teach Christians humility. Rom.5:12. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, so death spread to all men, because all sinned. In order to further confirm believers in the idea that final salvation will be granted to them, the Apostle now compares the founder of ancient, pre-Christian humanity, Adam, with the founder of the new, Christ. Just as Adam gave birth to sinful offspring who lived under the wrath of God and died without reconciliation with God, so from Christ, through faith in Him, a new humanity is born, which lives in communion with God and, after death, enters into the inheritance of eternal blissful life. And besides, the grace brought to people by Christ is much greater than the harm caused to people by Adam, insofar as the former stands higher than the latter. “Therefore,” i.e., in view of what was said above about the justification of people through Christ. Since - the Apostle wants to say - we have all found justification for ourselves in Christ, there is a similarity between our attitude towards Christ and the attitude towards our bodily ancestor. From Adam came destruction for all mankind, from Christ - salvation! - “Like one person.” Depicting the entry of death into the world, the Apostle attributes the guilt of this to one person, Adam. He does not mention Eve, because, in fact, Adam at the moment of the Fall was the representative of all that came from him, humanity. – “Sin” (αμαρτία). This word always means in Ap. Paul's anti-divine disposition of the will, as an active principle, as a force that is revealed in all individual sins (cf. v. 21; Rom. 3:9, 6:12, 7:8, 9, 17). – “Entered” (εισήλθε) – “entered the world” as something new, and entered instantly, immediately (aorist). - "Into the world." By world (κόσμος) here, as in other places (eg John 3:16), we must mean the human world, all of humanity. Outside of humanity, sin obviously existed, according to the teachings of the Apostle, and earlier - of course, among evil spirits. But how can we reconcile with Divine perfection the appearance of a whole series of generations burdened by human sin? Of course, God could destroy a race corrupted by sin and create a new one. But this would be a recognition of the victory of Satan, and God left humanity to exist in sin, having already chosen in advance a means to cure it. "And death by sin". As can be seen from verses 13 and 14, the Apostle understands death as bodily destruction. The Apostle says this, of course, recalling the story of the book of Genesis about the giving of the commandment to Adam. The latter had to die if he ate of the forbidden fruit (Gen. 2:17). Of course, the human body was created from the same elements as the animal body, and, therefore, was essentially destructible. But it could gradually reach the level of glorification that will be awarded to people who live to see the second coming of the Lord (1 Cor 15:51-52). To do this, the first man needed to rise above those aspirations that he had in common with the animal world: if he, through the action of free will, had risen above the animal, then he would not have shared the inevitable lot of animals - death. “So death spread to all men.” The Russian translation here is inaccurate. In Greek In the text, the expression corresponds to the expression: και ούτος, which is quite correctly translated in the Slavic translation with the words: “and tako” - and thus, in this way. “Moved over” – more precisely: dispersed, spread (διήλθεν). Just as a small dose of poison gradually poisons the blood throughout the entire body, so death spread throughout all individual members of the human race: each person was born already poisoned by the poison of Adam’s sin and death. Adam opened the door to death, and from that moment on death was firmly established in the human family. “For in him all have sinned.” Here the Apostle explains the circumstance why sin and death, which entered through one, became the cause of the death of all. But the expression ἐφ᾿ ᾧ that begins this phrase in the Greek text is not understood in the same way by all interpreters, where the disagreement comes from in the transmission of the Apostle’s thought. Some see the masculine gender here. pronouns, others – middle. In the first case, this ἐφ᾿ ᾧ would refer to the word ανθρώπου (by man) and should be translated as: “in whom are all things.” In the second case, the expression ἐφ᾿ ᾧ takes on the meaning of a conjunction of cause and receives the following meaning: “because all...” Although philological considerations speak against the first and in favor of the second interpretation, it is nevertheless undoubtedly true that in the second case, to the expression: “because all have sinned” it is necessary to add the expression: “in him” (in Adam). In fact, if we were talking here not about Adam’s sin, but about personal, conscious sins, for which all the descendants of Adam are guilty, then this would contradict the following statement of the Apostle that sin is not imputed when there is no law, and, therefore, people could not die for their sins: they were not imputed to them as mortals. Moreover, the Apostle used the aorist (ημαρτον) in the word “sinned,” which denotes the fall that occurred at one known historical moment - precisely at the moment of the Fall of Adam. – What was the participation of Adam’s descendants in his sin? It was not conscious and free - the descendants of Adam at that time did not yet exist as individuals. But since, according to the Apostle, all humanity is an inseparable and single organism and each individual person has a previous existence in his ancestors and a subsequent existence in his descendants, then, obviously, all people, according to the Apostle, already existed in Adam in the form of a universal human nature. Man, by his very nature, participated in Adam's crime. Sin, which entered the nature of the first man, planted the beginning of death in it, and it remained with this beginning and passed on to the descendants of Adam (Myshtsyn, pp. 140–144). But if the participation of all people in Adam's sin was weak-willed and unconscious, then is it possible to allow the eternal destiny of a free and rational individual to depend on this act? Of course not - that would be unfair. However, the Apostle does not speak here about the eternal fate of individuals, but only about bodily death. As for the spiritual, eternal existence of a person, it depends on the individual himself, on his personal attitude towards sin. It should be noted that the 12th verse, which is all just subordinate clauses, does not have an ending corresponding to it (this image of expression is called ananthopodoton). The Apostle, having abstracted from the comparison begun in art. 12, to the explanations contained in art. 13-14, no longer considered it possible to return to the first term of the comparison. He resumes the thought of v. 12. already in verse 18. Rom.5:13. For even before the law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Rom.5:14. However, death reigned from Adam to Moses and over those who did not sin, like the crime of Adam, who is the image of the future. The apostle could be objected to his teaching about the origin of death from one person that the descendants of Adam themselves sinned and that this was the reason that they died. The Apostle responds to this supposed objection: sin is imputed as a crime entailing death only by the law establishing the death penalty. This was the law of Moses. But this law was given at a relatively late time - under Moses, three thousand years after the Fall. However, all the people died as criminals who deserved death. They did not break any specific commandment like the one given to Adam, and yet death struck everyone (even infants). From here it is clear that the reason for the death of people lies not in their own sins, but in the sin of Adam, in which they participated weakly and unconsciously. Against such evidence, Paul’s opponents could, of course, point out that people, even before the law of Moses, had a law of conscience, for violation of which God punished humanity (the flood, the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah). But the law of conscience did not definitely threaten death for its violation, and then the punishments that God sometimes brought down on people’s heads were not strictly legal, carried out on a certain legal scale. These were rather special pedagogical events caused by the development of lawlessness between people that crossed all limits. "Image of the future" (τύπος του μέλλοντος). From everything said about Adam, the Apostle draws the conclusion that Adam is the image of the future Adam, that is, Christ. Instead of the word “image,” however, it would be more correct to use the expression “prototype,” because the word τύπος always means something historical (person or thing), which, according to the divine plan, has as its purpose to prefigure or foretell something corresponding to the ancient, Old Testament, future, New Testament. The Apostle considers the past as a preparatory moment of development, containing in embryo what is to appear in the New Testament. But if we compare both Adams - the Old Testament and the New Testament - in relation to their dignity, then we must say that Christ (the second Adam) is the prototype, the original, and Adam (the first Adam) is a reflection, this is His image 21. Rom.5:15. But the gift of grace is not like a crime. For if through the crime of one many were put to death, much more will the grace of God and the gift by the grace of one Man, Jesus Christ, abound for many. From the fact that Christ is the prototype of Adam, it necessarily follows that His action on humanity corresponds to the action exerted by Adam. But still, there is a difference between these actions and the difference is pleasant for a person. The salvation that Christ gives us is something incomparably more reliable than the condemnation that Adam brought upon all his offspring. Why is it more reliable? Because grace is stronger than sin: Adam’s work will be destroyed, Christ’s work will continue to exist forever! - “But a gift.” In this way it limits the parallel it began between Adam and Christ. – “The gift of grace” (χάρισμα) is a gift of grace that Christ gave us, who, out of love for us, sacrificed His life for us. – “Crime” is the sin of Adam, which had such a disastrous effect on the entire human race. – “Many” – all the descendants of Adam. The apostle used this expression, obviously, in order to match the second half of the comparison. The grace of Christ is received not by everyone, but by many (believers); So also it is said about those who inherit the sin of Adam, as about many. - “The grace of God and the gift of grace.” This mode of expression is called gendiadis (one signified by two expressions) and can be rendered as follows: “the grace of God, which consists in the salvation given to us in Christ.” “Gift by grace” - more precisely it should be translated: gift of grace (δωρεά έν χάριτι). - “Abundant.” Chrysostom says. “Christ not only corrected all that was damaged by Adam, but restored all this to a greater extent and to the highest degree.” Rom.5:16. And the gift is not like judgment for one sinner; for judgment for one crime leads to condemnation; and the gift of grace leads to justification from many crimes. The difference between the work of Christ and the work of Adam is that the grace of Christ provides deliverance not only from Adam’s sin - the sin of nature, hereditary sin, but also from all sins that were subsequently committed by the descendants of Adam, from crimes committed by them freely and consciously. Instead of the Russian translation found in the Synodal edition of the Bible, Prof. Nekrasov, and after him Myshtsyn, offer the following translation of verse 16, consistent with the context of the speech: “and this gift is not like a gift for someone who has sinned in one crime, because judgment leads to condemnation for one crime, and the gift of grace leads to justification from many crimes,” i.e. there, after the Fall of Adam, condemnation was received as a gift by humanity, but here, in Christ, we receive a new, better gift - justification and, moreover, from many crimes. By justification (δικαίωμα), as a result of the gift of grace, here we mean the restoration of truth, a real change in human nature for the better. Rom.5:17. For if through the crime of one death reigned through one, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. It might seem strange that the crime - in one case, precisely in the fall of Adam, led to condemnation, in another - with the deviation to sin of all Adam's descendants, when it seemed that the wrath of God should have manifested itself in greater force - to justification, to the extraordinary revelation of God's love. The Apostle explains the different attitudes of God towards the same phenomenon as follows. There, in Adam, we succumbed to the dominion of sin and death; here, in Christ, we ourselves become masters. We consciously and freely accept the gift that God’s love offers us. The fall of Adam affected his descendants from afar - they, in most cases, did not even realize why they were suffering, but the righteousness that God gives them in Christ is joyfully accepted by them. The gift of righteousness is the gift of righteousness. - “Through one Jesus Christ.” This expression corresponds to the expression of the 12th article: “by one man sin entered into the world.” Rom.5:18. Therefore, just as by one crime there is condemnation for all men, so by one righteousness there is justification for life for all men. Here the Apostle draws a conclusion from everything previous, which is said from the 12th verse: there, in Adam, through the fall of one, universal condemnation appeared; here, in Christ, through the justification of one, the justification of all was achieved, leading to true and full life. – “The truth of one” (δικαίωμα). – Here, according to the context of the speech, we need to understand the work of justification accomplished by Christ, which is the opposite of what is called crime in this verse (the work of Adam). This work of justification, of course, embraces the death and resurrection of Christ. – “Justification unto life” (δικαίωσις) is the state of justified believers. Rom.5:19. For just as through one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so through one man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Here the Apostle not only repeats the thought of verse 18, but at the same time indicates the moral, hidden reasons for both the crimes of Adam and the self-sacrifice of Christ. Adam revealed his frivolity, not listening to the definitely and clearly sounded words of God’s commandment - it was as if he had not even heard it! Christ, on the contrary, showed complete obedience to the will of His heavenly Father - this continued throughout His life and was most clearly reflected in His death (Philippians 2:8). Rom.5:20. The law came after, and thus the crime increased. And when sin increased, grace began to abound, Rom.5:21. that as sin reigned unto death, so grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The Apostle hitherto, starting from Chapter III. Verse 21, outlined the plan of salvation for all people. At the same time, the Law of Moses seemed to be completely unnecessary. The Apostle now explains that the law also had a role in the economy of our salvation. Although he did not cause sinfulness and did not destroy it, he joined (παρεισήλθεν, according to the Russian translation is not accurate: came), began to help implement the house-building plan. How? He began to multiply, i.e., both increase in number and intensify human sins (Russian translation: “and thus multiplied...” - not exact. In Greek, there is an expression here: ίνα πλεονασή, i.e., to multiply. Here is an indication of the purpose of the appearance of the law, and not of the consequence. People thus began to deliberately sin, which without the law was impossible, and sin itself acquired special active force through the law (cf. Rom 7:7 et seq.) This was necessary so that grace could manifest itself in all its fullness. If sin had not been so enormous and palpable, then the need for salvation would never have been awakened in people, and as a result, people would not have recognized the riches of God’s grace and would not have accepted it. - “Sin reigned unto death” - that is, it revealed its dominance in death (εν θανατψ), precisely in the fact that all people died. – “Grace... to eternal life” (είς ζωήν αιώνιον). Grace is not yet revealed in life (not the preposition έν, as above, but the preposition είς is placed here), but in life or for eternal life, since in fact, eternal life in the full sense of the word has not yet been revealed to people. “It remains the goal of their aspirations for now.” This eternal life is the glory that the Apostle spoke about above (Rom. 3:23), combined with holiness. "Jesus Christ our Lord". The last words of the comparison begun in v. 12 point to the immeasurable importance of Christ to us. Now - as if the Apostle wants to say in conclusion of the comparison of Adam with Christ - Adam has moved away from us and Christ remains with us Alone! We assimilate to ourselves the work of salvation accomplished by Him through the fact that we actually and really live in Christ, as we once lived in Adam. There we existed in the form of a non-individualized nature and were drawn into sin unconsciously and not freely; here we are already defined personalities, existing outside of Christ and independently of Him. Our participation in His work, therefore, is reasonable and conscious. And how this participation is carried out, how we reunite our personality with Christ, the Apostle speaks about this in the next, 6th chapter. The Apostle, according to Tsang, calls Christ “future” not in relation to the present time, when the Apostle wrote his message, but from the point of view of a person who lived before the coming of Christ. You might be interested in: