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Rom.5:1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 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. Here the Apostle discusses life by faith, so that after he has said so much in praise of faith and demeaned deeds, we would not become careless. Since faith has justified us, we will no longer sin, but “have peace with God” through a life pleasing to Him. How will this happen? "Through our Lord Jesus Christ". He who justified us when we were sinners will help us to remain in His righteousness; for through Him “we have gained access to that grace.” If he brought those who were far away, then all the more will he keep those who exist near. He brought us “to that grace.” How? “By faith,” that is, when we brought faith. What kind of grace is this? Receiving all the benefits that are given to us through baptism. “In which we stand”, having firmness and steadfastness. For divine blessings always stand and never fall away. And we not only firmly hold what we have received, but we also hope to receive other things. “We boast,” he says, “in the hope” of the blessings that will be given to us in the future: they, as related to the glory of God, will certainly be given, if not for us, then for the glorification of God Himself. 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, Not only, he says, do we boast about future blessings, but, even more, even about our present sorrows. Do not be embarrassed, he says, by the fact that we are in sorrow: this is praise for a Christian. How? Tribulation produces patience, and patience makes the tempted one experienced, and an experienced person, reassuring himself in a good conscience with the thought that he is subject to sorrows for God, hopes for reward for these sorrows. But such hope is not fruitless, it does not “disgrace” the one who hopes. Human hopes, when they do not come true, disgrace those who hope, but divine hopes are not like that. For the Giver of good is immortal and good, and although we die, we will come to life, and then nothing will prevent our hopes from coming true. because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us. He assures us about the future with the love that God has already shown to us. He says something like this: don’t lose faith; hope in divine blessings is not in vain: for He who loved us so much that he made us children of God, without any of our labor, through the Holy Spirit, how will He not give crowns after labor? “The love of God has been poured out,” he says, “into our hearts,” that is, it is abundant and rich in us, who have in our hearts the very Spirit that God gave us. Rom.5:6. For Christ, while we were still weak, at the appointed time died for the ungodly. 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. Rom.5:9. Much more therefore now, having been justified by His blood, we will be saved from wrath by Him. Having said that the love of God is poured into us through the Spirit, which we have within us as a gift from God, it also shows the greatness of this love from the fact that Christ died for us, the weak, that is, sinners, but, what is even worse, for the wicked, although hardly anyone will die for the righteous. So it is an excess of love to die for sinners and the wicked. The word “in time” means at a decent and predetermined time; for the Lord died when the proper time had come. When He died out of love and justified us by death, much more will He now save us from wrath, whom He has already justified. He gave us more - justification: how can he not save us from anger? And He gives good things to those saved from wrath - out of His great love. 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. Although it would seem that he is saying the same thing here, the conclusions through comparison are different. Above he speaks of our sinfulness and then, adding that we are justified, concludes through comparison: He who justified us sinners by His death will all the more save the justified. And now, mentioning the death and life of Christ, he again comparatively concludes: when we are reconciled by the Blood and death of the Lord, how can we not now be saved in His life? For He who did not spare His Son, but gave Him to die for our reconciliation, will He not much more now save us with His life? 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. Not only, he says, are we saved, but we also boast in God, because we were saved when we were wicked, and saved by the blood of the Only Begotten. Let us boast in the Lord Jesus Christ; for He, the source of our reconciliation, is also the source of our praise. 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. Having said that the Lord Jesus has justified us, he turns to the root of evil, to sin and death, and shows that both, that is, sin and death, entered the world through one man, Adam, and were again eliminated by one man, Christ. What does it mean: “all have sinned in him”? That all sinned in Adam. As soon as he fell, through him those who did not eat from the forbidden tree became mortal, as if they themselves had fallen because he had fallen. 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 wants to prove that those who did not eat from the forbidden tree and did not sin, like Adam, because of his sin, were also considered to have sinned and died. This proves it this way: sin reigned before the publication of the law, that is, before the law. What kind of sin was this? Is it a sin to break the law? But how could there be such a sin when there was no law? Sin is then imputed when there is a law, and people who transgress the law are necessarily called sinners. “However, death reigned from Adam until Moses,” that is, until the publication of the law. This means that there was sin through which death reigned: if there had not been some sin that would have held back death, it would not have reigned. Since it has been proven that there was no sin from breaking the law, it remains that it was the sin of Adam, through which death reigned over those who did not sin directly (for those who did not receive the law and did not transgress it are not called sinners), but sinned in the likeness of Adam’s crime and became involved in his fall as the forefather, who is the image of Christ. For just as ancient Adam made everyone guilty of his fall, although they did not fall, so Christ justified everyone, although they did nothing for which they should be justified. That is why he is the “image of the future,” that is, Christ. 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. 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. Christ, he says, did not bring benefit to the same extent as Adam caused harm. If sin was so strong that as a result of the fall of one, all his descendants are condemned, although they did not fall; then the grace of God the Father, and not only Him, but also His Son, will have a much greater and more abundant effect on many. And the gift of God cannot be equal to condemnation through one sinner. For “transgression”, that is, sin subject to condemnation, flowing from Adam, “to condemnation”, that is, to death, and a multitude of sins always existed in his descendants, so that people were in the power of many sins and death. “And the gift of grace is for justification from many crimes,” that is, grace not only blotted out this one sin, but also other sins that followed it; for she became a justification for us, giving us remission of all crimes committed after the fall. 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. 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. If, because one man ate from the forbidden tree, death began to reign, then much more will we, who have received abundance and excess of grace and have been justified, live and reign “through one Jesus Christ,” with whom we are brethren, with whom we have been united in one body, with whom we have been united as the body is with the head. For we have not received a simple and uniform blessing, so that there is still the possibility for us to doubt about the future: our blessings are the fruit of abundant grace. Imagine that someone owes a lot and is thrown into prison along with his wife and children, and then not only is freed from prison and debt, but also receives ten thousand talents, is brought into the royal palace, is given high honor and becomes the son of the king. This is exactly what happened to us. So,” says the apostle, finishing his thought, “just as through the crime of one (what he above called sin, he now calls crime, meaning the sin of Adam) all people were cursed, so through the justification of the one Christ, grace was poured out on all people, giving them justification instead of sin, and life instead of death. 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. There seems to be a repetition here; but in reality there is none. Above he said (Rom. 5:18): “As by the crime of one there is condemnation for all men, so by the righteousness of one there is justification for all men,” and now he explains what the sin of the one consisted of and says that it was disobedience, through which many became sinners, that is, guilty of punishment and condemned to death; He also explains what the justification of the One, that is, Christ, consists of, and says that it is obedience even to death, and death on the cross, through which obedience death is crushed and we are freed from condemnation to it. Rom.5:20. The law came after, and thus the crime increased. And when sin increased, grace began to abound. After proving that in Adam everyone was condemned, but in Christ they were saved, someone could probably doubt and object: what did the law do for so many years if Christ justified us? “The Law,” he answers, “came,” that is, it was given for a while, and was not the main and most important need. When he “came,” the crime multiplied. For he gave many commandments; but people transgressed all these commandments, which is why the crime increased. The particle "zhe" indicates a consequence. The law was given to reduce and eliminate sin, but the opposite happened, not because of the law, but because of the negligence of people. But while sin increased through the law, through Christ the grace of God appeared in abundance, not only freeing us from sins, but also justifying us and making us heavenly and adopted by God. Therefore, he did not say: abound, but “abound,” thereby showing her great abundance. Rom.5:21. That as sin reigned unto death, so grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Having said that grace appeared in abundance, the apostle, so that we would not be unfaithful, shows that such a manifestation of it corresponds to the goal, and says: sin was the king, and death was the warrior armed with it. If sin reigned over us, having death as some kind of warrior, then much more will grace reign in us, imparting righteousness that destroys sin, and along with the destruction of sin, destroying death, and for the latter, justification. So, justification killed the king, sin, and with it death, and, finally, eternal life was introduced. You might be interested in: