This, God the Judge has done Himself. He has justified Christ, who was delivered to death for our offenses. That act is reckoned to those that believe and we are justified by faith. Justification divides itself into this chapter into two parts; first, justification in the power of His blood (Rom. 5:9), the fruit of which is, I have peace with and am reconciled to God (Rom. 5:6-11). Secondly, justification of life, which is in the Person of Christ (Rom. 5:18), the fruit of which is, we stand in grace before God in a new position, and as justified from the evil principle of sin itself. The final result is the resurrection of the body. This second part is seen from Romans 5:12 through Romans 8. We have now got to the resurrection side of the cross, and Christ risen says to us, as it were (as He did to the disciples in John 20) “peace unto you; behold My hands and My feet!” Christ made pence by the blood of His cross, and He now preaches it, as the risen and glorified one, and says, peace unto you. Moreover, He Himself is our peace (Eph. 2), and therefore we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ! Thus, He is our peace, as well as our righteousness, and proclaiming it to us we are introduced into the state which is the opposite of enmity and trouble (see John 14:27; Col. 1:20; 2. Cor. 5:18-21).
I would say here, to help souls, that there are five aspects of peace, as far as I know, in the Scriptures. Three connected with the believer’s standing, and therefore unconditional, and which cannot be lost. Two connected with his practical condition of soul, and which, therefore, can be lost.
First, “Peace with God,” as is mentioned in Romans 5 is founded on the fact, that Christ was delivered for our offenses, and raised for our justification. Thus, I find that God who I thought was against me, is the very one who delivered up Christ for my sins, and has now justified me through Him whom He has raised from the dead. My whole mind is changed as to God, I thought He was my enemy, I now find He is love, whilst I find that was His enemy; I receive what He has done and, given, and am reconciled and brought nigh to God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and have peace towards Him. I repeat, it is a settled state of peace towards Him through believing in His love and righteousness, as having settled the whole question of my sins, and in having accepted Christ for me. I no longer hate God as an enemy, I am reconciled to Him, have peace towards Him through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Secondly, “My peace I give unto you.” This connects itself with the possession and mind of the Spirit, which is life and peace (Rom. 8:6). After pronouncing peace to His disciples the second time in John 20:21-22, Christ breathed into His disciples His own Spirit of Life, delivering them from their Adam state, and putting them into the state of sons before the Father; peace being the character of the new life communicated! But still it is Christ’s peace!
Thirdly, Christ Himself is our peace. This is connected with our complete bringing nigh to God who were far off, Gentile as well as Jew, all enmity being removed through the middle wall of partition being broken down, (that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances) by the cross; and believing Jews and Gentiles united into one, in Him who is the Head of the body, the peace. These three aspects are connected with three parts of our standing.
Fourthly, in Philippians 4:6-7, we have the peace of God keeping our hearts. But this is dependent on the way we conduct ourselves in passing through the various circumstances of this life. If we take all our trials and difficulties to God in prayer, like any little child does to its father and mother, and leave them there, God’s peace garrisons our hearts. This is in regard to the circumstances of this life, not to our salvation for eternity.
Fifthly, Philippians 5:8-9, The God of peace shall be with you. When we are divested from the cares, we can be occupied with the good. And if we carry out what we have received and heard and learned of the Apostle Paul in his writings, then the God of peace shall be with us. This is also to be enjoyed practically, and is dependent on our following the directions of Romans 5:8-9. In Romans 5:1 however, we have only the first aspect of peace, peace towards God through our Lord Jesus Christ!
But not only have we peace towards Him as to the past, but we have also access through Christ, the risen Saviour, into a new place entirely. We stand in the free favor of God as manifested in Christ raised from the dead. When Christ was raised, He stood with death and judgment behind Him, and glory in front of Him. Such is the grace in which we stand, blessed be His name, and we boast in hope of the glory of God. This truth is developed in its fullness from Romans 5:12 through Romans 8. It is the grace of God, or God’s free favor, as seen in Christ, wherein we stand as our present, and unalterable place, and His glory is our hope. It is God’s glory, as it is God’s righteousness and God’s love further on. In Romans 8:18, where we get more the result of our getting our place with Christ in that glory, it is the glory that shall be revealed unto us. This is, however, our hope in the future; but now we boast in tribulation because we are in Christ’s path here; and this gives us confidence, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope; and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.
This is somewhat like the tree put into the bitter waters of Marah, after the Israelites had passed triumphantly through the Red Sea with Moses their leader. They then sung the song of salvation, looking back and seeing all their enemies dead on the sea shore; but three days afterward they tasted of the reality of the wilderness path, in the waters of Marah.
But as the tree cut down and cast into the waters made them sweet, so the cross of Christ brought into our circumstances, where we find the sentence of death now written, enables the believer to find refreshment and healing out of those very trials which were bitter to him He boasts in tribulation; the death of Jesus brought in, the life of Jesus manifests itself in His mortal body (see Ex. 15, compare with 2 Cor. 4:10-11). Thus though we have redemption in Christ, of which the passover lamb (Ex. 12), and the Red Sea (Ex. 14) are beautiful types, and can sing, boasting in hope of the glory of God, we have to learn in the meanwhile, whilst left down here, the trials of the wilderness journey. But then we have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.
Thus the presence of the Holy Spirit in our bodies is the power by which the Christian boasts in hope of the glory of God. This is more than justification, peace, standing in the favor of God, in and boasting hope of His glory. Not only have we these blessings through Christ given us outside of ourselves, but the Holy Spirit makes good in our souls the love of God that has given us all these things in Christ. Here is another gift of God! Christ is the gift of God; but He is outside of us! He came down from heaven, died, and was raised again, and we have justification, peace, the favor of God, and the hope of glory through Him. But He having gone back to heaven, the Holy Spirit came down and He also is given to us. He sheds abroad God’s love in our hearts, and is the earnest to us of the glory. Hence, hope makes not ashamed!
But the apostle cannot have done with this love of God! He must go back to its source, and let us know all about it! When we were yet without strength, he says, Christ died for the ungodly; for scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps, for a good man some would even dare to die, but God commendeth His love towards us, in that whilst we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Here we get two things, God’s love as the source of our reconciliation, and Christ’s death the channel and way of it. And it is a manner of love not seen in man. Scarcely for a righteous man will one die, but here is a love that in Christ dies for one without strength, yea, for the ungodly, yea, for sinners! And is this after the manner of men, O Lord God? Oh my reader, think of this; it is the nature of God to love His very enemies!
I ask you, do you believe this? After God had put His creature through a four-thousand year test to see if there were any that would understand, and seek after God, God came down in the Person of His Son to reconcile the world to Himself! And forasmuch as only death could make the peace, and lay the ground of the reconciliation, for those without strength to do it, who were moreover ungodly, sinners and enemies, so Christ died for us.
How then can He ever give up the objects of his love? The apostle argues down from God to the sinner; he argues in fact, if God gave Christ to die for us whilst we were yet sinners, much more then being now justified in the power of His blood, shall we not be saved from wrath through Him? For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved in the power of His life. Oh, my reader, consider this! Never argue as men do from your side up to God; that is, if I am in such a state, God will be in such a state to me; but argue as the apostle does, from what God is down to yourself. Think, if God loved me so much, when I was without strength, when I was ungodly, when I was a sinner, yea, when I was an enemy, and by faith I took hold of His love and Christ’s death for me when I was in that state, and became justified and reconciled; how can He ever cease to love me, after I am justified and reconciled? Nay, much more, says the apostle, we shall be saved from wrath, saved in the power of His life through Him.
But what is the life in which we shall be saved? For salvation is here looked at in its final result in glory! It is the life of the risen, glorified Saviour, whom a God of righteousness and love has raised from the dead, which is in the glory already and beyond the power of wrath! It is eternal life in the Son of God which is given us by the love of this Saviour God. Thus we do not rest on experiences going on inside ourselves, though they be all the Holy Spirit’s work, and we may glory in them all, but we rest for peace on God’s love towards us in giving His Son to die for us, a gift entirely outside of ourselves, and in a life which has been raised out of the dead, which is ours by God’s gift forever! But, besides this, we boast in God Himself! He is fully revealed in His nature! It is the righteousness of God. It is the love of God; all for us instead of being against us. Through Christ whom He has given to die, and whom He has raised from the dead, we have now received the reconciliation. He made peace by the blood of His cross. The God of peace has brought Him again from the dead! We by grace have received this one, and are thus brought nigh to God in perfect peace! We have received the reconciliation. (“Atonement” should be here translated “reconciliation.”) We boast in hope of the glory (Rom. 5:2); we boast in present tribulation; we boast in God Himself. Oh I what a God we know! May the reader find his rest in Him.
I would mark here, first, as to the difference between justification, and reconciliation. We are first justified by faith, and the first fruit is we are reconciled to God, have peace towards God through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a guilty criminal that is justified. It is an enemy that is reconciled. We are not only guilty criminals under sentence of death, but enemies of God as well, hating His perfect love as seen in the gift of His Son, and displaying the height of that enmity in rejecting Him. But, blessed be God, His love has mounted above the enmity; the very spear, mark of enmity, brought forth the blood and water by which we are reconciled and justified, made fit for His presence Second, the word boast translated “rejoice” (Rom. 5:2), “glory” (Rom. 5:3), and “joy” (in Rom. 5:11) signifies the unalterable state a soul is in that has accepted Christ. It is a different word from that mentioned in Philippians 4:4, rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say rejoice. Unfortunately our translators, good as they were for the time when the Bible was translated in that day, did not mark the difference between the two words! We do not always enjoy the Lord! But every Christian boasts in hope of the glory of God Every Christian boasts in what God is for him in Christ (Rom. 5:11). It is the normal state of the Christian! It characterizes his whole condition! We are the circumcision, says the apostle (Phil. 3:3), who worship God in the Spirit and boast in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh! But joy and rejoicing is dependent on many things, (see Phil. 3:1; 4:11). It is our privilege to rejoice in the Lord always, but then we have to be above circumstances, as realizing that we are in the Lord who is above them! So in John 15:11; 1 John 1:1-4, joy is the consequence of obedience and unbroken fellowship with the Father and His Son But here, Romans 5:1-11, “boasting” depends on nothing but the possession of the Holy Spirit and knowledge of our standing and hope. We boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have received the reconciliation!
Up to this point in the epistle from Romans 3:21, we have had two great points brought out in regard to our salvation! First, we have been justified from all our sins and their consequences! Second, we have peace, and are reconciled to God from our enmity. In the former case His relation towards us is that of justifier, in the second that of reconciler. The Holy Spirit seals this double condition, new birth may have taken place before, but the knowledge of redemption, and of God’s acceptance of it brings the seal of the Holy Spirit! (comp. Acts 10:43, 44; Eph. 1:13).
From Romans 5:12 to the end of Romans 8. we have full justification of life in Christ from sin, as a principle (not sins), as well as deliverance from its power, giving us a new place in Christ before God which connects itself with a new state in spirit through the Holy Spirit being given, first applied to the soul now, and finally to the body at the return of the Lord!
From Romans 5:12-21 the heads of the two races are compared. Adam and Christ! If God is love, it must flow out to the whole Adam race, not merely to those under law as the Jewish nation was. And so the whole question of man’s state universally is raised, and the apostle has to go back to the beginning, before the law came in, to show that condition. As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned! We inherit sin and death by virtue of our personal connection with Adam by birth. But we also inherit death by virtue of our personal sins. Now from Adam to Moses sin was in the world, but sin, as a principle and in the form of transgression, was not put to the account of persons, when there was no law. Man was under the power of sin, but unconscious of its presence, as a distinct principle in him, till the law came in. By the law is the knowledge of sin, not sins, except in the form of transgression in the act. The apostle is speaking all through this part of Romans of our natural state as connected with Adam. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, proving sin’s presence, even over them that had not sinned after the manner of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of Him that was to come. The character of sin was not transgression before the law. Adam transgressed a given law, not to eat of the tree; the children of Israel likewise transgressed the ten commandments after they were given, but between that time there was no transgression; still there was sin, and death reigned in the case of those who sinned, even over those who died in infancy, and had not committed personal sins. All this proves that man was born in sin, and under its consequence, death, independently of law and transgression. Adam being in Romans 5:14 introduced as the figure of Him that was to come, the two Heads of the two races of men are now compared (Rom. 5:15-19). Then the law came in by-the-bye, that the offense might abound (Rom. 5:20), and the excess of grace to meet all the consequences of Adam’s transgression is shown.
Romans 5:15. Not as the offense so is the act of favor! For if by the offense of the one man the many have died, much more the grace of God, and the free gift in grace, which is of the one Man Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto the many. Romans 5:16, And not as through one that sinned, so is the gift. For the act of judgment was of one offense to condemnation, but the act of favor was of many offenses unto justification. Romans 5:17. For if by the offense of the one man death reigned by the one, much more they that receive the abundance of grace, and of the free gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. The persons, their acts and the results in death and life are compared, and the excess of grace over the results of Adam’s sin is beautifully shown.
Here we have a threefold comparing of the results of Adam’s transgression, and of God’s grace in Christ—
1st, through the offense of the one man, the many have died;
2nd, the judgment was of one offense to condemnation;
3rd, death reigned over all his descendants.
In regard to Christ, 1st, the grace of God and the gift in grace, which is of one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto the many; 2nd, the free gift is of many offenses unto justification; 3rd, they that receive the excess of grace, and of the free gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:18-19 are the summing-up. Therefore as by one offense the consequences of that offense went out toward all men to condemnation, so by one act of righteousness, that is, Christ’s death, the consequences of that act went out towards all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience the many were constituted sinners, so by the obedience of One shall the many be constituted righteous! Romans 5:18 is the bearing towards all, of the fruit of each act. Romans 5:19 is the application to those connected with each Head. Adam’s act brought sin, death, and condemnation, as the consequences to all his descendants. Christ’s death meeting the threefold consequences of Adam’s sin, brings grace, righteousness and eternal life to all connected with Him The first result on the one side was condemnation; the first result in the other, justification of life and reigning in life by one, Jesus Christ. This is not merely being cleared from all our sins by Christ’s death, but it is in a life that has died to sin and is alive to God, even the life of Christ raised from the dead and in glory. It is by virtue of this that the many connected with Christ are constituted righteous, and finally will be in glory.
Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
At the beginning of the chapter, then, we had justification in the power of Christ’s blood clearing us from all the sins of our first Adam condition; here at the end of it we have justification of life in the risen, glorified Christ, the Head of a new race; Christ’s act of righteousness on the cross being that which glorified God, and in which sin in the flesh was condemned. It is looked at here as a positive act of obedience, which is the ground of our deliverance from the Adam condition, and our full justification. What a marvelous summary of the history of man from the beginning we have in these verses Adam falls, and brings sin and death into the world. These two principles are personified in these verses, and are said to reign over man (Rom. 5:14-21). Until the law sin was in the world, man was lawless (comp. 1 John 3:4; Rom. 2:12), doing his own will, but sin was not imputed, either as a principle nor in the form of transgression, nevertheless death reigned over him. In Moses’ time the law entered, giving the knowledge of sin, and that the offense might abound. The law now became as a husband to the Jew, and exercised dominion over him But this marriage, instead of checking the dominion of sin, caused the offense to abound, as is said in Romans 5:20; Romans 7:1-5,8. But now the conscientious Jew was in a miserable plight. Sin exercising dominion one way, the law the other, by forbidding even the first motions of sin in the heart. Hence the spirit of bondage and fear. But thanks be to God, grace has come into the world by Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:15; John 1:17); has met the power of sin reigning in the power of death at the cross; through righteousness has condemned it and put it away, and has reigned victorious unto eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. All that accept this grace are not only forgiven, and justified from their sins, but they stand as justified in the life of Christ risen and glorified, and are delivered from the dominion and power of sin, through having died to sin, and being alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord. This is, however, anticipating the doctrine of Romans 6.
The death of Christ in Romans 5:18 is rather looked at as the burnt-offering, the peculiarity of which was, that the whole animal underwent the judgment of God, but it was for the offerers acceptance, not for the pardon of his sins (comp. Lev. 1:1-9). At the cross of Christ not only was the justice of God satisfied, as to the sins committed by man, but God was glorified in His nature in the very place where sin was condemned. His love and righteousness were fully manifested and glorified by an obedient man, so that God gave Him glory in answer to it, and we are accepted in the Beloved! This explains the term “abundance of grace” (Rom. 5:17). Adam and Christ are here looked at as the Heads of two races, but not so till after their acts of disobedience or obedience. Adam became Head of a fallen race after his disobedience (See Gen. 4:1). Christ became Head of a new race after His obedience unto death. We are attached to one or the other. Reader, which are you? In Romans 6 two masters, sin and righteousness, attach themselves to the Heads of these two families, and of those that belong to them. In Romans 7 two husbands, law and Christ, that apply themselves to descendants of each in these two conditions. If I am in Adam, sin is my master, and the law was the Jew’s husband in that condition. But if Christ’s, righteousness is my master, and Christ is my husband, and the new rule of my life!