Sermon notes March 9th, 2025

Romans 5

Believing in Jesus means nothing less than trying to live the kind of life He lived. The argument between Paul and James is a good one to have, because they balance each other out. James could have backed his argument up by pointing to the time Jesus Himself said that just because some will call Him Lord Lord we shouldn’t think we’re necessarily headed to Kingdom of Heaven.  Nope, he said, you got to do the will of His Father.  But Paul could have found plenty of things Jesus said to back up his argument, because Jesus’ parables tend to be just full of grace.

• As much as James emphasizes what we’re supposed to do as Christians, grace isn’t altogether missing in what James had to say. In fact, he’s got that wonderfully gracious line that says: “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights…” James 1:17
• Which is to say whenever any act of generosity occurs in this world, God is behind it. Whenever someone, anyone, lives graciously in this world, they are being a sign of God’s presence.

If you think about what James is saying about how every generous act of giving comes from the Father of lights, it’s kind of humbling for us Christians. It means an atheist who is living with kindness and generosity might well be more of a sign of God’s presence than we are when we’re failing to live graciously with those our lives touch.

• I’ve been told a number of times by people, that I have a very hard job – even the hardest job. They say this because I often listen to people as they tell me their troubles. I appreciate the sentiment, but the truth is, I think you all have the harder job.  That is, if you realize that you’re ministers too.  Every Christian is called to ministry.  
• I’m called to a specialized ministry of word and sacrament, which means my primary setting is the Church itself. You guys, though not perfect, are a very loving bunch, in so far as you are trying to follow Jesus. It makes this a pretty nice place to serve, you make my job easy.

I think James would agree with me about this. He has that line in scripture about how when people listen to the word but don’t do it “they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and ongoing away, they immediately forget what they were like.”  We come to Church on Sunday to gaze into the mirror dimly, and in doing so catch a glimpse of who we really are. We’re God’s beloved children, who God has set free that we may be in this world as those who can return good for evil, peace for hostility. My job is to help you have a mirror moment. Your job is then to go out there in the world and remember who you are. I get to spend more time in the mirror (the Word). You’re the ones with the challenge of going far from the mirror and needing to remember what it was you saw there.

• As James would say, rich and poor alike are invited to come on equal footing, and as Paul would say, we’re all sinners saved by grace, so again, we’re all together on the same level. And having received such graciousness as Jesus offers us at this table, we go forth to live lives of generosity and grace.

Romans 5  

Romans 5                                                         New King James Version

1   Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 

2   through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 

3  And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 

4   and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 

5   Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

• The first great benefit enjoyed by those of us who have been justified by faith, is peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The war is over. Hostilities have ceased. Through the work of Christ all causes of enmity between our souls and God have been removed. We have been changed from foes to friends by a miracle of grace.

This grace, or standing in favor, embraces every aspect of our position before God, a position that is as perfect and permanent as Christ’s because we are in Him.

• As if that were not enough, we also rejoice in hope of the glory of God. This means that we joyfully look forward to the time when we will not only gaze on the splendor of God but will ourselves be manifested in glory. We cannot comprehend the full significance of that hope here on earth, nor will we get over the wonder of it through all eternity.

John 17:22

22    And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:

Colossians 3:4

4   When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory

Romens 5:6-7

6    For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 

7   For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 

• This act of divine love is unique and unparalleled by anything in human experience. The average man’s life is precious to him, and he would not think of throwing it away for an unworthy person. For example, he would not die for a murderer, an adulterer, or a mobster. In fact, he would be reluctant to die even for a “righteous” man, one who is honest and dependable but not especially warmhearted. It is possible, in an extreme case, that he would die for a “good” man, meaning one who is kind, friendly, loving, and lovable.

Romens 5:8-10

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

9   Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 

10   For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 

• In verses 6–20, Paul argues from the lesser to the greater. His logic is that if God’s love went out to us when we were His ungodly enemies. Will He not much more preserve us now that we belong to Him? This brings us to the fifth benefit of our justification; we are eternally secure in Christ. In developing this theme, the apostle introduces five “much more’s in chapter 5.

1. The “much more” of deliverance from wrath (5:9).
2. The “much more” of preservation by His resurrected life (5:10).
3. The “much more” of the gift of grace (5:15).
4. The “much more” of the believer’s reign in life (5:17).
5. The “much more” of pure grace (5:20).

In verses 6, 7, and 8 Paul emphasizes what we were (“without strength”, “ungodly, sinners”) when Christ died for us. In verses 9 and 10 he emphasizes what we are now (justified by Christ’s blood, reconciled by His death) and the resulting certainty of what the Savior will do for us (deliver us from wrath, preserve us by His life).

• We are reminded that we were weak, helpless, without strength, and unable to save ourselves. But at the pre-determined time the Lord Jesus Christ visited our planet and died for men. And He did not die for good men, as some might suppose, but for the ungodly. There was no virtue, no excellence in us to commend us to God. We were utterly unworthy, but Christ died for us anyway.

Romans 5:11-12

11   And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

12   Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— 

• The rest of chapter 5 serves as a bridge between the first part of the letter and the next three chapters. It is linked with the first part by picking up the subjects of condemnation through Adam and justification through Christ, and by showing that the work of Christ far outweighs in blessing what the work of Adam did in misery and loss. It is linked with chapters 6–8 by moving from justification to sanctification, and from acts of sin to the sin in human nature. Let me try to make this understandable. If the federal head acts for all those who are under him. For example, when the President of a country signs a bill into law, he is acting for all the citizens of that country.
• That is what happened in Adam’s case. As a result of his sin, human death entered the world. Death became the common lot of all Adam’s descendants because they had all sinned in him. It is true that they all committed individual acts of sin as well, but that is not the thought here. Paul’s point is that Adam’s sin was a representative act, and all his posterity is reckoned as having sinned in him.

First, the Bible does teach that all men are sinners, both by nature and by practice. Everyone born of human parents inherits Adam’s sin and also sins by his own deliberate choice.

Second, we know that the wage of sin is death—both physical death and eternal separation from God.

• But no one has to pay the penalty of sin unless he wants to. This is the important point. At enormous cost, God sent His Son to die as a Substitute for all sinners. Salvation from sin and its wages is offered as a free gift through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
• Man is condemned on three grounds: 

1. He has a sinful nature, Adam’s sin is imputed to him
2. A sinner by practice. (but his crowning guilt is #3) 
3. Man’s rejection of the provision which God has made for his salvation (John 3:18, 19, 36).

John 3:18   “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Romans 5:13-14

13    For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 

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. 

• Yet death did not take a holiday during the age when there was no law. With the single exception of Enoch, death held sway over all mankind. You could not say that these people died because they had transgressed a clear command of God, as Adam did. Why then did they die? The answer is implied: they died because they had sinned in Adam. This seems unfair, I’m born in sin, because of one man’s weakness. YES! Yet all men who put their faith in one man, the Lord Jesus are saved eternally. But they died physically just the same, and the reason they all died was because of the sin of one man, their federal head, Adam. In his role as federal head, Adam was a type (symbol) of Him who was to come—that is, the Lord Jesus Christ. In the succeeding verses Paul will develop the subject of these two federal heads, but more by contrast than by similarities. 

Romans 5:15-16

15   But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 

16   And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 

• Here is another important contrast between Adam’s sin and Christ’s gift. The one offense of Adam brought inevitable judgment, and the verdict was “Condemned.” The free gift of Christ, on the other hand, dealt effectively with many offenses, not just one, and resulted in the verdict “Acquitted.” Paul highlights the differences between Adam’s sin and Christ’s gift, between the terrible havoc wrought by one sin and the tremendous deliverance wrought from many sins, and finally between the verdict of condemnation and the verdict of justification.

Romans 5:17-18

17   For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)

• By the one man’s offense, death reigned as a cruel tyrant. But by the gracious gift of righteousness, a gift of overflowing grace, all believers reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

• What a grace this is! We are not only delivered from death’s reign as a tyrant over us, but we reign as kings, enjoying life now and eternally. Do we really understand and appreciate this? Do we live as the royalty of heaven, or do we grovel among the muckheaps of this world?

18   Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 

• The offense of Adam brought condemnation to all men, but the righteous act of Christ brought justification of life to all. The righteous act was not the Savior’s life or His keeping of the law, but rather His substitutionary death on Calvary. This is what brought justification of life—that is, the justification that results in life—and brought it to all men.

Romans 5:19-21

19   For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

20   Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 

21   so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

John 1:10-12

10   He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 

11   He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 

12   But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

1 Corinthians 15:20-21                                 New King James Version

20   But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 

21   For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.

1 Corinthians 15:45-49                                   New King James Version

45   And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

46   However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. 

47   The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 

48   As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 

49   And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man

1 John 3:2-3                                                    New King James Version

2   Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 

3   And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.