After the apostle has presented the great principles of truth in reference to justification and life, he commences to apply them to man, i.e., the condition of the soul. He shows their effect, when they have been received through faith by the power of the Holy Ghost. The work of redemption is finished, and in the power of this work, Christ is for us with God. The believer has full part of the blessings of this work, and is justified. “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God.” (Verse 1.) Justification is our true condition before God, in power of the work of Christ, in power of His death and His resurrection. We also see from the holy Scriptures, quite clearly, that God never separates justification from faith, because as this justification is alone the blessed result of the work of Christ, so we cannot have it otherwise than through this, that our souls have been brought into living, communion with God through faith.
There are now three exceedingly blessed advantages which follow upon the justification by faith:—
1. We have peace with God. (Verse 1.)
2. We have access into the grace in which we stand, i.e., we rejoice in the favor of God, and
3. We glory in hope of the glory of God. (Verse 2.)
“We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” There exists no partition, no separation any more between us and God. Sin is blotted out; every question about it is perfectly answered; the offering of Christ has fully satisfied every claim of God upon us. All that lies behind us, all that is connected with the old man—not only our real sins, but all that anyhow could be reached by judgment—is done away with, and therefore we have a perfect peace. But this peace is not upon anything in us, our doings or not doings, our feelings or experiences, but based alone upon the work of Christ. Faith always finds it without us in the finished work, and this as a result of our justification through this work. This peace also is not an object of our hope, but we have peace. It is not a peace with ourselves, but with God. Our relieved conscience acknowledges God Himself as the only Redeemer. Every thought whether He has any wrath against us has completely disappeared. He Himself it is who has freed us from all, through which His just anger rested upon us. The God with whom we have peace is a God that has loved us—a God who, in that He executed His power in love and righteousness, raised up Him who bore all our sins, who altogether blotted out these sins, and whose work did fully glorify Him, has brought Him in His presence. Likewise now are we also brought into the presence of God—into the presence of God who is love, as it was in the work of Christ because of us.
But we have not only peace with God, but we also rejoice in the favor of God; “Through Christ we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.” (Verse 2.) Grace characterizes all our true communion with God. We stand forever in this grace, and in all the present circumstances we can reckon upon His love and faithfulness. We are in and with Christ, always an object of the grace and well-pleasing of God.
But our blessings go still further. Brought in spirit through the power of the resurrection of Christ in the presence of God, we also boast in hope of His glory. We shall be brought there through Christ, where He Himself is gone before; and to enter there where He is, means to enter into His glory, and of this glory we boast in hope even now a hope which has a sure and steadfast ground in the resurrection of Christ. It may be remarked here, that God Himself is the source of all, that He Himself has manifested and ordained all. The glad tidings, through which that accomplished salvation by Him is made known, is the gospel of God; the power, which still now works through the gospel, is the power of God unto salvation; the righteousness, which is revealed therein, is the righteousness of God; the favor which we enjoy, is the favor of God; and the glory, to which we already now are introduced in hope, is the glory of God. All stands in connection with His might revealed in the resurrection, and in a particular manner in the resurrection of Christ.
We therefore have peace as regards the past; with respect to the present, we stand in the favor of God; and concerning the future, we await the glory. In certain consideration the whole blessed position of a Christian is expressed in these three terms:—peace, grace, or favor, and hope. Yet there is still more, became twice more we hear the expression: “And not only so.” (Verses 3, 11.) Here God discloses fresh graces, new spiritual enjoyments.
There is nothing left behind to be feared by the one justified by faith, but to boast. He rejoices in the favor of God, and from thence all circumstances below, even tribulation, shall be turned into blessings to him— “We glory in tribulations.” (Verse 3.) They exercise the heart, they liberate us from the world, they reveal the movements of the flesh, and give us to know that, in whatever way the temptations of Satan may come, nothing can separate us from the love of God. All these temptations rather serve to keep down the own will, and the own activity of the heart, and to make us more ready to surrender all to God; then, in truth, all things are led by Him. Through tribulation., therefore, God meets our flesh, causes a deeper apprehension of our dependence, and brings us ever nearer to Himself. In the same, we also experience the sympathy and the providence of His love in so rich a measure, as to which even the glory shall offer us no opportunity. In all circumstances is His blessing—giving and mighty hand active for us, in all temptations we can count upon His faithfulness and care. He permits nothing to disturb us, but to bless us, and therefore have we every reason to glory in tribulation. Just that which causes the unbeliever to want of courage and despair, effects courage, confidence, and endurance in the believer:— “Tribulation worked, endurance.” Instead of weakening it, it will be strengthened, because God through tribulation meets that in us and keeps down what would hinder us in endurance. He purifieth the faith from everything unclean, of all, that is of ourselves, and through this enables us to endure; because only that will stand which is of God. “Endurance worketh experience.” (Verse 4.) Experience in the ways of God—experience of our weakness and His love and faithfulness. “Experience worketh hope,” so that we do not appear as those who sometimes hope, sometimes fear, but as those who in all circumstances look up to God in confidence, who are quite sure of the fulfillment of all His promises and assurances. And so the words:— “The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear,” will be grounded and settled in the soul.
But this hope is founded only upon the work of Christ and His position in heaven, and the power of it is the Holy Ghost. “Hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.” (Verse 5.) God not only has given His Son for us, but He who is love also is in us. His own love will be enjoyed in our souls, because it is shed abroad into our hearts by the Holy Ghost. This gives us the full assurance that we are the people of God, and that a bond is knitted between us and Him, which can never be severed; yea, His love in us to a power in hope, which nothing is able to shake. Resting, therefore, in Christ, and bearing in our hearts the witness of the Holy Ghost, of the love of God to us, we go sure and comforted through all the manifold temptations.
Although now the enjoyment of the love of God is in us, the proof of it is without us, and thither the apostle now at once again directs our thoughts. Faith can never rest in what is in us, but only in that which is outside us in Christ. From thence proceed all our blessings. But is not our utter inability, our utter ungodliness, a hindrance of sharing those blessings, and of being objects of the love of God? Certainly not; for the love of God has just thought of such. “For when we were yet without strength, according to the time Christ died for the ungodly.” (Verse 6). It was just the time, when man was manifested as an ungodly one, and when he was without strength to separate from his ungodliness, even then, not when God showed him a way under the law. God loves not as man loves. Whereas man must have a motive for his actions of love, the love of God on the contrary springs from Himself (verse 7); for how could God find a motive for love in us, when we were “hateful and hating one another?” (Titus 3:33For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. (Titus 3:3).) “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Verse 8.) The Holy Ghost does not ask first what man is, to know what God will be; He simply places the love of God before us. And to give us full security, He lets us see the consequences of the finished work of Christ for the believer. And if Christ has died for us, when we were yet sinners, how much more shall we be saved being justified by His blood from the wrath, i.e., the coming judgment upon the world, through Him? (Verse 9.) The living Christ will not certainly destroy us, when the dying Christ has saved us. God reconciled us by the death of His Son, when we were yet enemies, how much more, being reconciled, will He save us by His life—through the power of an endless life, in which He lives Himself eternally? (Verse 10.)
A living Christ will certainly save a friend, when a dying Christ has saved an enemy. Oh, how comforting and encouraging are the simple conclusions which the Holy Ghost unfolds to our eyes in these verses! But our salvation is not only fully secured, and we boast not only in the received blessings, but “we boast in God” (verse 11) who has given us all these blessings, which is far more. We rejoice in the gifts, but our rest and greatest joy can be in the Giver only. We enter on the infinite and blessed ocean of the knowledge of God, and His holiness is now our joy, which, otherwise, must have terrified us. He is our God, and what He is, is our delight.
The apostle has now declared the foundation and source of salvation, as well as the confidence and enjoyment that flow from this salvation, he has established everything upon God, who has but to deal with lost and impotent sinners, and, therefore, the floor is throughly cleared—all demands of the Jews are annihilated. Every privilege of the Jews in contrast to the nations is at an end, whenever it is a question of sin, of grace, or the sinner; they have nothing to boast of. The Jew could not say sin came by him or by the law, but man, as man bears the guilt.
The apostle now treats this important subject, and at the same time reveals the God of all grace, acting in respect to sin. “Through one man sin came into the world, and death through sin.” (Verse 12.) Therefore, the question with regard to sin must not be retraced to the law but to Adam, the head of the human race; for sin came not by the law—though sin abounded through the law, and could be imputed only since then—but by one man, Adam. “And by sin came death; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” (Verse 12.)
But the meaning of these verses is not this, that one is condemned solely through the imputation of sin to Adam. Still, it is true that his sin is imputed to his race; but besides this, there is present the individual condition of every one who condemns him, because of his own sins. We have been born at a distance from God, and inherited a nature which is enmity against Him. The son has the nature of his father, a nature which is inclined unto all evil. While we, therefore, have been born under sin, we are well able to sin, but not guilty because of it. This we become in that we sin in reality. But the apostle does not separate our fall in Adam, our conditions under this fall from the individual condition of our heart before God. We are guilty because we sin, and we sin because we are sinners born in sin. Through sin Adam died, and we with him, and in consequence of it we sin, and we are dead also in sins and trespasses. We are, therefore, under the consequences of the sin of Adam in a twofold aspect; first, we are sinners, and have a corrupt nature, and then we are guilty before God because we have sinned, in consequence of this natural condition. Man, therefore, is not only a sinner, but also a debtor; and, therefore, can be judged justly. This is of importance; for as soon as we make Adam’s sin the only reason of our condemnation, there remains nothing more to guide the conscience.
In verse 12, Paul mentions sin in the world as a present fact. He denotes the presence of death as the clearest proof that sin has entered. Death is the mark of sin, for which man is condemned, with or without law. “Until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.” (Verse 13.) As a general principle, it is said here, that sin has been declared through the law, and that, though anything may be bad in itself, yet it is not imputed as transgression, so long as there is no knowledge through the law that it is bad. “Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression” (verse 14), i.e., over them which were in a different position to that of Adam, as well as that of the Jews, who had sinned without the law. The apostle here puts the Jew upon one and the same ground with Adam, as did the prophet Hosea when he testified of them in chapter 6:7, “They, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant.” Both had a precise commandment which they transgressed. But it was not so with those who were in the world in the interval. They must die, because they had sinned; but it was not in the similitude of Adam’s transgression.
The apostle here insists so much upon this truth, that Adam was the head of the first creation, and his sin therefore imputed to all his descendants, because through the proof of it he will arrive at the introduction of Christ as Head of the new creation, in which all are justified.
Adam is a type of Him who was to come—of Christ. Just as the disobedience of Adam, so also the obedience or the work of Christ produced an effect upon a large number of individuals. Even so as death came upon all men who had sinned like Adam by transgression of certain commandments, or in any other way, so also the remedy against sin, brought by the Lord Jesus, had no less a general effect. The worth of His work through His death is altogether suitable to the condition of man, whatever the nature of sin may be. The Jew died under the curse of the law; Christ has borne this curse. The Gentile, without law, dies under sin; Christ delivers him by His death.
In the following verses Adam and Christ are put in contrast to each other. This parallel not only enables us to judge rightly of sin and of grace, but also shows us the bearing and excellency of the work of Christ. In the first Adam we have the offense; in the second, that is Christ, the gift by grace. Death came through the offense of the first Adam; abounding grace, that is eternal life, through Jesus Christ (verse 15). In verse 16, then, the apostle shows that the free gift does not stand in an equal proportion to all that was caused by the sin of one; for the judgment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification. This grace is sufficient for the forgiveness of a multitude of transgressions of the law.
In the first Adam death reigned over us; in the second the delivered ones reign in life. What a blessed contrast. “If by the offense of one death reigned by the one, much more they which receive the abundance of grace and of the free gift of righteousness shall reign in life by the one, Jesus Christ” (verse 17). They shall not be reigned over by life, but rather reign themselves in life by the one, Jesus Christ. They have not only forgiveness of their sins, but also the gift of righteousness, and therefore they reign in life. Therefore not only the one sin of Adam, but all sins committed afterward, are forgiven us through faith in Jesus, so that the free gift has been more abounding than the guilt. But not only, for we shall also be made righteous ones, and this in the new creation. Before the fall Adam was innocent but not holy and perfect; but the Christian, cleansed by the blood of Christ, is holy and is perfect, so that he is not carried back to the condition of Adam, but that he is before God in Christ, one with Him, as a new creature. The Christian, moreover, is in another far more glorious condition than the first man in his purity. He needs not to take care of the life by his obedience, nor can he lose it through disobedience; he reigns in life.
Verse 17 closes a parenthesis, commenced in verse 13. In verse 18 the general argument is resumed, though still a parallel between Adam and Christ. Here we have to observe the words, “towards all,” in particular. Therefore as by one offense condemnation towards all men, even so by one righteousness justification of life towards all men (verse 18). “Condemnation towards all men” is accomplished not in the result, but in its own and natural effect. Grace comes in to deliver. Even so justification of life towards all men came—not upon all, but towards all men—not as application, but as direction. Just as Adam’s sin rested not only upon him, but abounded unto many, even so the one righteousness ended not in Christ, but abounded unto many. In verse 19, where it is a question of application, we find the word “many” used, and not “all,” as in the previous verse. I therefore can preach the gospel to every creature, and can say to the sinner, “The blood is upon the mercy-seat, come to God!” but to the believer I can say, “Thou art justified in Christ.”
To what purpose, then, the law? It came “that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that as sin has reigned in death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (verses 20, 21). If righteousness were to reign, as sin reigned in death, we should stand under eternal punishment; but grace does reign, and that through righteousness. Grace has become abounding, not righteousness. God uses His sovereign right in grace unto eternal life. Besides a faint glimpse of eternal life, the Jew expected but life this side death; but God justifies in His grace by Jesus, and gives eternal life beyond death to him.