Romans 5:5

And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

And hope maketh not ashamed - putteth not to shame, as empty hopes do, or, is not of a character to disappoint those in whose bosoms it springs up as the proper consequence of perceived justification (cf. Romans 9:33; Romans 10:11).

Because the love of God, [ hee (G3588) agapee (G26) tou (G3588) Theou (G2316).] - not our love to God (as Theodoret, Augustine, and of moderns, as Webster and Wilkinson, view it), but God's love to us, as is clear from Romans 5:8, and, indeed, from the whole strain of these six verses. So it is understood by nearly every good interpreter.

Is shed abroad, [ ekkechutai (G1632)] - or 'poured out;' a lively and familiar figure for a 'rich' or 'copious communication' (see the same word in Mark 2:22, of wine; and of the Holy Spirit, in Acts 2:17; Acts 2:33; Acts 10:45; Titus 3:6).

In our hearts - which are, as it were, bedewed with it,

By the Holy Spirit, which is ('was') given unto us - given either at the great Pentecostal effusion, viewed as the formal donation of the Spirit to the Church of God for all time, or on each one's own accession to Christ (John 7:38). It should be observed that here we have the first mention in this Epistle of the Holy Spirit, whose work in believers is so fully treated in chapter 8. The argument of the apostle is to the following effect: 'That assured hope of glory which the perception of our justification begets will never disappoint us; for how can it, when we feel our hearts, by the Holy Spirit given unto us, drenched in sweet, all-subduing sensations of God's wondrous love to us in Christ Jesus!' This leads the apostle to expatiate on the amazing character of that love.