Romans 5:1-21

3. THE GOSPEL THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION.

In this third division of the doctrinal part of the Epistle, the Apostle presents the gospel as ‘the power of God unto salvation,' setting forth how God's power becomes efficient in men, as the result of gratuitous justification. Death is shown to be connected with Sin, and Life with Righteousness.

Chap. 5 treats of the immediate result of justification, peace with God (Romans 5:1-11) enforced by the parallel and contrast between the relations to the first and second Adam (Romans 5:12-21). Chaps. 6-7 treat of the moral results of justification; namely, sanctification. Stated more generally: chap. 5 treats of the effect upon the feeling (peace); chaps. 6-8 upon the will (holiness). As, however, the Apostle has shown the need of justification by faith from the guilt of all, so he proves the need of sanctification by the gospel method from the failure of the law to sanctify (chaps, 6, 7), before passing to the positive statements of chap. 8 (There is therefore good ground for the view which regards chaps. Romans 3:21-25. as treating of justification, and chaps. 6-8 of sanctification.) But the course of thought is not that of a formal treatise; the letter follows to a great extent the order of Christian experience, taking up difficulties as they are presented in the Christian life. Even the parallel and contrast between Adam and Christ, in chap. Romans 5:12-21, is not an exception; for thus the connection between sin and death, and righteousness and life is set forth in its most extended form; grace is shown to abound, and the gratuitous nature of justification enforced for the comfort of the believer. Moreover this apparent digression is but a more pronounced example of what occurs in well-nigh every section of the Epistle. Chap. 6 takes up an objection, which constantly recurs: will not this abounding grace allow men to continue in sin? Paul answers, that Christians have a fellowship of life with Christ, are dead to sin and dedicated to God. Moreover, they are thus freed from the law (chap. Romans 7:1-6). This thought suggests another objection (as constantly recurring as the previous one); will not freedom from the law lead to continued sin? The Apostle, in reply, defends the spirituality of the law (chap. Romans 7:7-12), but shows that it is not the power of God unto salvation (chap. Romans 7:13-25). In the experience he portrays, the prominent distinction is between law and grace, not sin and grace. This part of the Epistle, so far from being adapted for Jewish readers only, or for that age alone, is the part which touches our experience most closely. The antithesis between law and grace is one constantly felt; the Christian is in constant danger from legalism; and few have learned to sympathize with the joyous utterances of chap. 8 without having proved in their own case that the law as a means of sanctification leads to wretchedness (chap. Romans 7:24), quite as truly as it fails to justify. Chap. 8 presents the work of the Spirit over against the failure of the law, showing the happy condition of the justified man, in the freedom of the new life, the consciousness of adoption and the assurance of future glory.