Romans 5:11

And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

And not only so, but we also joy, [ kauchoomenoi (G2744), scil., esmen (G2070). So most good interpreters. Alford and Green retain the participial idea, as continuing katallagentes (G2644) of Romans 5:10; but this is unnatural].

In God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement, [ teen (G3588) katallageen (G2643)] - more strictly (as in the margin), 'the reconciliation.' So the same word, as a verb, is properly rendered in Romans 5:10, and the noun itself is so rendered in 2 Corinthians 5:18. In fact, the earlier meaning of the English word "atonement" (as Trench shows) was 'the reconciliation of two estranged parties'-that is, bringing them to be again 'at-one;' whereas now, "atonement" means that which constitute the procuring cause of reconciliation. The three preceding fruits of justification were all of kindred nature-benefits to ourselves, calling for gratitude; this fourth and last one may be termed a purely disinterested one. Our first feeling toward God, after we have obtained peace with Him, is that of clinging gratitude for so costly a salvation; but no sooner have we learned to cry, Abba, Father, under the sweet sense of reconciliation, than 'gloriation' in Him takes the place of dread of Him, and now He appears to us "altogether lovely!"

Remarks:

(1) How gloriously does the Gospel evince its divine origin, by its laying the foundations of the Christian life in the restoration of the sinner to a righteous standing, and consequent peace with God, gratuitously bestowed on him through faith in the Lord Jesus, instead of leaving him vainly to strive after and struggle into it by his own efforts at obedience. (2) As only believers possess the true secret of patience under trials, so when trials divinely sent afford them the opportunity of evidencing the reality and strength of their faith by the grace of patience under them, though in themselves "not joyous, but grievous" (Hebrews 12:17), they may well "count it all joy when they fall into them, knowing that the trying of their faith worketh patience" (James 1:2).

(3) Hope, in the New Testament sense of the term, is not a lower degree of faith or assurance (as many now say, 'I hope for heaven, but am not sure of it'), but invariably means 'the confident expectation of future good.' It presupposes faith; and what faith assures us will be ours, hope accordingly expects. In the nourishment of this hope, the soul's look outward to Christ for the ground of it, and inward upon ourselves for evidence of its reality, must act and re-act upon each other.

(4) It is the proper office of the Holy Spirit to beget in the soul the full conviction and joyful sense of the love of God in Christ Jesus to sinners of mankind, and to ourselves in particular; and where this exists, it carries with it such an assurance of final salvation as cannot deceive.

(5) The death of Christ for sinners and enemies, as an act of self-sacrificing love for others, stands out absolutely unique and alone. It admits of illustration, indeed, from the annals of self-sacrifice for country, kindred, friend, among men; but every such comparison is at the same time a contrast, and acts only as a foil to set off the peerless character of the love of God to men in the death of His Son.

(6) Though the justification of believers is sometimes ascribed to the "blood" of Christ (as in Romans 5:9), and sometimes to His "obedience" (as in Romans 5:19), or-combining both into one-to His "righteousness" (as in Romans 5:18); the same thing is everywhere meant-namely, the vicarious mediatorial work of Christ, considered as one whole. It is true that the expiatory element of that work lay in His blood-His death. But still, when any one feature of that work is specified, it will always be found that this is owing merely to some point in the argument suggesting the mention of that feature, and not to any intrinsic efficacy toward justification in that, to the exclusion of the other parts of Christ's mediatorial work.

Thus, in Romans 5:9, the apostle having occasion to dwell on what Christ did for men in the light of an incomparable self-sacrifice, naturally speaks of His "blood" as that which "justifies" us-His "death," as "reconciling" us to God. Whereas in Romans 5:18, his object being to contrast with the effects of Adam's transgression, in placing his seed in the condition of sinners, what Christ has done for us, he naturally fastens on the obediential character of Christ's work, saying, "even so by the obedience of One shall the many be made righteous." By overlooking this, some German divines of the Reformation-period attached undue importance to the passive sufferings and death of Christ, as constituting the whole meritorious ground of the believer's justification, while others were disposed to assign the same place to His active obedience. And we have in our own day, schools of theology of nearly the same character as these. The true corrective for all such narrow views of the work of Christ is to regard it in its entireness as God's gracious provision for our complete recovery out of our fallen condition, and only to dwell, as our apostle does, on its several features or stages, as the exigencies of our argument or discourse may call for it.

(7) Gratitude to God for redeeming love, if it could exist without delight in God Himself, would be a selfish and worthless feeling; but when the one rises into the other-the transporting sense of eternal "reconciliation" passing into 'gloriation in God' Himself-then the lower is sanctified and sustained by the higher, and each feeling is perfective of the other.

This profound and most weighty section has occasioned an immense deal of critical and theological discussion, in which every point, every clause, almost every word, has been contested. It will require, therefore, a pretty minute examination; and it may conduce to clearness of apprehension to state, in the form of a heading at the outset, the scope and import of each successive division of it. But before proceeding to the exposition in detail, the reader should observe the terms employed in this great section to express that deed of Adam, on the one hand, which has involved all his posterity in its penal consequences; and on the other hand, what we receive through Christ, the Second Adam. Four different terms are employed to express the one, and three to denote the other. The four terms, with reference to the Fall, are, First, "The sin" [ hamartia (G266)] - Romans 5:12; Romans 5:20; Second, "The transgression" [ parabasis (G3847)] - Romans 5:14; Third, "The offence," or rather 'trespass' [ paraptooma (G3900)] - Romans 5:15 (twice), 16,18,20; Fourth, "The disobedience" [ parakoee (G3876)] - Romans 5:19. The first word, "sin" - from the verb [ hamartanein (G264)] 'to miss the mark,' and hence, 'to err,' or 'deviate'-is the most general, in Bible usage, and of far the most frequent occurrence; being used nearly 200 times, and in the Septuagint more than double that number.

Hence, as the most comprehensive term, it is both the first and the last used in this section; being selected (in Romans 5:12) to start the comparison, and again (in Romans 5:21) to wind it up. The second term, "transgression" (literally, 'going over' or 'beyond' the proper point, place, or path), and the third term, 'trespass'-from the verb [ parapiptein (G3895)], 'to fall beside' or 'aside,' and hence, to 'deviate'-scarcely differ at all, as will be seen, in their shades of meaning; and here they are both obviously used for mere variety, to denote that one first 'deflection' or 'deviation' from rectitude in which all mankind have become involved. The fourth and only remaining term, "disobedience," needs no explanation-expressing clearly enough that feature of Adam's sin in the light of which the obediential character of Christ's righteousness is most brightly seen. The three equally expressive terms employed to denote what we owe to Christ are, First, What is here rendered "the free gift" [ charisma (G5486)], or rather, 'the gift of grace' - Romans 5:15; Second, What is rendered 'the gift' [ hee (G3588) doorea (G1431)], but better rendered, 'the free gift' - Romans 5:15; Romans 5:17; and, Third, What is also rendered "the gift" [ to (G3588) dooreema (G1434)] - but better, 'the bestowal' or 'the boon' - Romans 5:16. These words speak for themselves, expressing the absolutely gratuitous character of the whole fruits of redemption by the Second Adam. We are now prepared to take the verses of this section in detail.

First: Adam's first sin was the sin, and procuring cause of the death, of all mankind (Romans 5:12)