Romans 5:12-19
This text is used for the Lectionary Year A on March 5th, 2017.
In Paul’s Letter to the Romans he both invites and opens the door for all to know Christ in a personal way. The invitation comes through these words, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile” (Romans 1:16-17, NIV). The open door arrives by means of additional words in Romans 5, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1-2, NIV).
It is interesting to note that Paul uses the word “peace” ten times in Romans, at the outset of his letter (Romans 1:7; 2:10: 3:17), in the middle (Romans 5:1; 8:6), and near the end (Romans 12:18; 14:17; 14:19; 15:13; 15:33; 16:20). Christ opens the door to peace (“access,” Romans 5:1-2). Paul urges Christian to “live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18). To follow Christ in the way of peace includes an emphasis upon the way “of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17, NIV). If the Romans in their world called for Roman peace, known as the pax Romana, and for a Roman kingdom of glory, honor and peace, and they did; then Paul called for a new kind of peace, Christ’s peace in human hearts, and a new way of the Spirit, God’s kingdom and his people seeking glory, honor, and peace through Christ. Genuine peace comes through Christ.
Romans 5:12-19 hinges on Romans 5:1-2, Christ as the door and because of Christ we have an open door to God by faith through grace (John 10:9 where Jesus said, “I am the door…” and Romans 5:1-2, literally, “a door of access” leads to the peace of Christ).
Paul communicates that Christ opened the door to peace using his love. Paul declares four pivotal truths about God’s love: First, his love is poured out. “And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit…” (Romans 5:5, NIV).
Second, God’s love came at the right time, benefitted the helpless, and died for the ungodly. “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6-7, NIV).
Third, Christ showed his love on the cross and by his shed blood. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” (Romans 5:8-9, NIV).
Fourth, God’s love reconciles us to God. “For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (Romans 5:10-11, NIV).
In Romans 5:12-19 Paul contrasts the Adam and Christ. In speaking of Adam, Paul states why we needed Christ, reconciliation, peace, and God’s love: because through one man, Adam, sin and death entered the world (Romans 5:12). Paul’s repeats an earlier emphasis in Romans, all have sinned (Romans 3:23; 5:12-13).
Death reigned in the world because of Adam and sin left its mark (Romans 5:14). Paul uses the word “type,” tupos in Greek, meaning “a mark.” Adam supplies a “mark” on the world of history, the one through whom sin entered the world and the one through him sin became an identifiable mark. Note Paul completes his phrase, Adam “a type [mark] of the One intending to come” (Romans 5:14, emphasis mine). Adam’s mark on history involved sin. Christ’s mark, literally, a mark on his body on the cross, made a mark on history because Christ took care of humankind’s sin. Adam’s mark signaled sin and imperfection. Jesus’s mark signaled perfection, forgiveness for sin, and reconciliation to God. Another way to look at it is this: Adam’s mark affected all people in the world by introducing sin or by means of sin. Christ’s mark affected all people in the world by introducing peace with God through forgiveness through Christ’s shed blood on the cross or by means of his reconciling work in the cross-resurrection event.
Paul addresses his arguments from the lesser to the greater: from the lesser, Adam, to the greater, Jesus; from the lesser transgression or trespass as sin, to the greater, God’s free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ (see also Romans 6:23); from the lesser, through the sin of one man (Adam) many died, to the greater, by grace through the death of one man, Christ, many overflowed or abounded (with life in Christ); from the lesser, by transgression as sin of one man (Adam) death reigned, to the greater, through Christ’s act of grace and his gift of righteousness on the cross life reigned; from the lesser, through one transgression as sin condemnation resulted (Adam), to the greater, through one act of righteousness on the cross, Jesus justified all persons, and provided both a door and an opportunity for all persons to find peace and reconciliation; from the lesser, through one man’s disobedience all are made sinners, to the greater, through one man’s (Christ’s) obedience all can be made righteous by means of Christ (Romans 5:15-19).
Do not overlook the fact that Paul in his Letter to the Romans emphasizes faith (Romans1:17), the obedience of faith (Romans 1:5), a righteousness that comes through faith in Christ (Romans 3:22), and faith in Jesus (Romans 3:22-30).
Paul never strays far from the cross, the heart of the gospel, peace through Christ, and the new way of the Spirit that reconciles people to God and to each other. Therefore, Christ opens a door of peace. People can live at peace with others by means of Christ’s Spirit. The result remains: a life “of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Paul introduces Christ as the door of peace, altogether a greater peace than that of Rome, cemented by Christ’s love as it joins hands with God’s reconciliation in the celebration and praise of hands raised to the grace and glory of God.
John Duncan
Writer and Preacher
41jduncan@gmail.com
Tags: love, peace, gospel, mark of grace