Romans 5

Romans 5 is the fifth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It is authored by Paul the Apostle, while he was in Corinth in the mid 50s CE,[1] with the help of an amanuensis (secretary), Tertius, who adds his own greeting in Romans 16:22.[2]

Romans 5
Fragment c to h containing parts of the Epistle to the Romans in Papyrus 40, written about AD 250.
BookEpistle to the Romans
CategoryPauline epistles
Christian Bible partNew Testament
Order in the Christian part6

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 21 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:

Old Testament references
  • Romans 5:1: Habakkuk 2:4: But the just shall live by his faith

Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (5:1–11)

Romans 5:1 opens a new section in Paul's letter. Scottish Free Church minister William Robertson Nicoll imagines "that a pause comes ... in [Paul's dictation of] his work; that he is silent, and Tertius puts down the pen, and they spend their hearts awhile on worshipping, recollection and realisation. The Lord delivered up; His people justified; the Lord risen again, alive for evermore – here was matter for love, joy, and wonder".[3]

Paul resumes with "a description of the serene and blissful state which the sense of justification brings":[4]

We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ

The Textus Receptus reads Greek: εἰρήνην ἔχομεν, (eirēnēn echomen, we have peace) but some manuscripts read Greek: εἰρήνην ἔχωμεν, (eirēnēn echōmen, let us maintain peace with God) and similarly the Vulgate reads pacem habeamus, let us have peace. Theologian Heinrich Meyer argues that this variant "is here utterly unsuitable; because the writer now enters on a new and important doctrinal topic, and an exhortation at the very outset, especially regarding a subject not yet expressly spoken of, would at this stage be out of place".[5] The New Living Translation speaks of "peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us".[6]

Verse 8
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.[7]

Cross references: John 3:16; John 15:13; 1 Peter 3:18; 1 John 3:16; 1 John 4:10

Adam and Christ (5:12–21)

In chapter 4 the story of Abraham provides the prototype for the doctrine of justification by faith, and in the first part of chapter 5, the justification won by Christ's death is characterized as reconciliation with God.[8] This section deals with the reason that Christ's work alone can save others, because originally it was the action of one individual that affected the standing of all other person, and that individual was Adam.[8] Thus, Paul points out Adam as" precedent" (in form of "counterexample") for "the universality of Christ's atonement".[8]

Verse 12
Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, so death has spread to all men, because all have sinned.[9]

On the basis of Genesis 3 Paul argues that 'sin came into the world through one man', who is Adam (not Eve), and the ubiquity of sin is proved by 'the universality of its consequence, which is "death" (cf. Genesis 3:3).[8]

Verse 14
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.[10]

The law given through Moses actually increases human's culpability, as all humans could transgress the way Adam had transgresssed, which is the 'disobedience of an explicit commandment' (verses 13–14; cf. Romans 4:15).[8]

See also

References
  1. Hill 2007, p. 1084.
  2. Donaldson, Terence L. (2007). "63. Introduction to the Pauline Corpus". In Barton, John; Muddiman, John (eds.). The Oxford Bible Commentary (first (paperback) ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 1077. ISBN 978-0199277186.
  3. Expositor's Bible Commentary on Romans 5, accessed 11 September 2016
  4. Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers on Romans 5, accessed 11 September 2016
  5. Meyer's NT Commentary on Romans 5, accessed 11 September 2016
  6. New Living Translation, Romans 5:1
  7. Romans 5:8 NKJV
  8. Hill 2007, p. 1094.
  9. Romans 5:12 MEV
  10. Romans 5:14 NKJV

Bibliography
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