Romans ~ Part 14

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As I’ve stressed in my previous post, our journey to comprehend the profound significance of Sha’ul’s Letter to the Romans is not just a study but a crucial cornerstone of our faith.

Freedom from Condemnation ~ Part 1

In a work setting, we may find yourself feeling overwhelmed by your responsibilities, leading to stress and burnout. Reflecting on Romans 5:1-14, we are reminded of the peace and joy that comes through faith in Yeshua. This week, prioritize carving out time for spiritual renewal amidst your busy schedules. Set boundaries that protect your time; perhaps dedicate a lunch break to prayer or reading Scripture. Share this approach with a colleague, encouraging them to join us in seeking God’s peace. Together, we can combat stress through reliance on His grace.

Justification Brings Peace

Chapter 5 develops the ideas of 4:25. Verses 1–2 speak of the past, present, and future aspects of salvation.

¹ So, since we have come to be considered righteous by God because of our trust, let us continue to have shalom with God through our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah. ² Also through him and on the ground of our trust, we have gained access to this grace in which we stand; so let us boast about the hope of experiencing God’s glory. ³ But not only that, let us also boast in our troubles; because we know that trouble produces endurance, ⁴ endurance produces character, and character produces hope;

Let us continue to have shalom with God. This descriptive statement is true for v. 2 encourages us to boast about the hope of experiencing God’s glory when we are resurrected, and v. 3 encourages us to boast in our present troubles because by a roundabout route (vv. 3–4) they lead to the same hope as in v. 2. Boasting about oneself (1:22, 2:17–21 is excluded (3:27, 4:2); the proper content of boasting is God’s work through Yeshua the Messiah (1 Corinthians 1:31).

⁵ and this hope does not let us down because God’s love for us has already been poured out in our hearts through the Ruach HaKodesh who has been given to us.

This hope does not let us down, literally, “ … make us ashamed,” as we would be if we had a false hope, because God’s love for us (v. 8) has already been poured out in our hearts through the Ruach HaKodesh, who is entirely God (2 Corinthians 3:17–18) and has been given to us in fulfillment of a different promise (Ezekiel 36:27; Yochanan 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7, 13; Acts 1:8, 2:4), and thus guarantees that God will also keep this present promise to resurrect us. For additional assurance that God will keep his promises and not let our hope be disappointed, see Romans 8:31–39 and 9:1–11:36. Chapter 8 discusses the role of the Ruach.

Yeshua’s Blood Saves

⁶ For while we were still helpless, at the right time, the Messiah died on behalf of unGodly people. ⁷ Now, it is a rare event when someone gives up his life even for the sake of somebody righteous, although possibly for a truly good person, one might have the courage to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in that the Messiah died on our behalf while we were still sinners.

 

 

 

We can be sure of God’s love since He did so much for us when we were helpless. We were unGodly, we were still sinners, and we were His enemies (v. 10). Yeshua died for that kind of person in our place. God freely loves us and confers our worth through faith in Him.

⁹ Therefore, since we have now come to be considered righteous by means of his bloody sacrificial death, how much more will we be delivered through him from the anger of God’s judgment! ¹⁰ For if we were reconciled with God through his Son’s death when we were enemies, how much more will we be delivered by his life, now that we are reconciled!

By means of his bloody sacrificial death, the truths of 4:25 are restated in these two verses. If Yeshua’s death accomplishes so much, how much more will his life accomplish? The same argument is used in Romans at four other places: vv. 5:15, 17; 11:12, 24; also see 3:19.

¹¹ And not only will we be delivered in the future, but we are boasting about God right now because he has acted through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, through whom we have already received that reconciliation.

If by the death of Yeshua, we were reconciled to God, how surer must the Good News of salvation be now that He has risen and lives forever!

All Die from Sin

¹² Here is how it works: it was through one individual that sin entered the world, and through sin, death; and in this way, death passed through to the whole human race, inasmuch as everyone sinned.

Here is how it works: gives this verse a loose connection with the previous section. Sin and death are almost personified here. The main comparisons are clear, but some details lead interpreters to different opinions. Sha’ul was thinking of how both the first Adam (Gen 1–3) and the last Adam (Yeshua) have a universal significance for humanity. Interpreters are divided over the phrase since everyone sinned.

The two significant interpretations are (1) all people commit sin and therefore die, and (2) somehow all humans sinned “in Adam.” The second view is more likely and entails either that Adam was the federal head of the race and acted on behalf of us all or that Adam was the seminal head of the race and we were somehow “in him.”

¹³ Sin was indeed present in the world before Torah was given, but sin is not counted as such when there is no Torah. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, death ruled from Adam until Moshe, even over those whose sinning was not exactly like Adam’s violation of a direct command. In this, Adam prefigured the one who was to come. ^[1]

These verses support the second interpretive option for verse 12. Just as sin ruled (v. 21) over humanity before the giving of the law, even though none had sinned in the way Adam sinned. Adam’s sin was a personal, deliberate act that plunged the human race into physical and spiritual death. All humans, including newborn infants and young children who are incapable of judging right and wrong and thus are not deliberate sinners, are under death’s domain. All people now are born spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1–3). Adam’s sin had this broad effect because he was a type or prefiguration of Yeshua, the Coming One, and represented all of humanity just as Yeshua would do on the cross.

Our next post will continue with the theme: Freedom from Condemnation.

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^[1] Romans 5:1–14.