Reconciled to God by the Death of His Son; Adam and Christ (Romans 5:7–12)

Rom 5:7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; for perhaps for a good man someone would dare to die.

How great is the depth of God’s love for mankind shown in the fact that Christ died for us, sinners and ungodly! The Apostle explains this by comparison with what happens among us. Among us, he says, it rarely happens that even for a righteous man anyone would wish to die, yet Christ died for sinners. Marvel at God’s love! The words: “for perhaps for a good man” and so forth – present as it were a caveat: I say: for a righteous man; but for a good man, perhaps, someone might resolve to die. For a good man – that is, for one’s benefactor. I do not affirm that among men no one dies for another; it does happen that someone is moved to die, for instance for his benefactor. By the word “perhaps,” it is shown that even this occurs rarely. A righteous man commands respect; a good man or benefactor awakens gratitude, ready for corresponding sacrifices. Less is given to the righteous because, though he awakens respect, he remains apart from us, stands outside us, at a distance. But a benefactor stands in living connection with us. The heart stands for him and bears readiness to do all for him. Yet even so, to die for him, only one in many would agree, and for a righteous man scarcely anyone at all. – Judge then how great is God’s love for us, when Christ died for us – not righteous men, but sinners – not good men, but enemies!

Rom 5:8. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

“These words mean: if not many would readily agree to die even for a virtuous man, then consider the love of your Lord, when you see Him Himself being crucified not for the virtuous but for sinners and enemies” (holy Chrysostom). “God displays the excess of His love in the fact that Christ’s death was accomplished not for the righteous, but for sinners. For now we are justified by faith in Him; but when He undertook death for us, we were still burdened with every kind of transgression” (blessed Theodoret).

Christ died for us, and through this God shows His love toward us. For Christ the Lord is one with God the Father, and He died by the will of the Triune God. “Thus God loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, so that every one believing in Him might not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16). Therefore now “every one seeing the Son and believing in Him has eternal life” (Jn. 6:40).

Rom 5:9. Much more then, now being justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

Pause now in thought upon this truth: Christ died for us, sinners, and see what consolation flows from it to us through the confirmation of our hope. Christ the Lord died for us, sinners, so that we might obtain through faith in Him justification and deliverance from the coming wrath – that is, from the righteous judgment of God and our condemnation to eternal torments. Behold, we have come to Him, washed in His blood – we are justified and have turned away from ourselves the righteous wrath of God. If, while sinners, we have been deemed worthy of this, how much more should our confidence be strong and unshaken that we shall be saved from wrath, now that we are justified and stand in this justification! Wavering in this is the destruction of faith, ignorance of the price of Christ’s blood and what it pours forth upon the believer. When He died out of love and by His death justified us, how much more now will He save us from wrath – us whom He has already justified! He gave us something greater – justification: how will He not save from wrath? And those saved from wrath He will grant goods according to His great love (blessed Theophylact). “It is evident that, having endured such a shameful death for the ungodly and lawless, He will free those who believe in Him from future torment. For by wrath the Apostle means future torment” (blessed Theodoret).

Rom 5:10. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

“At first glance, these words seem to repeat the former (verses), yet they do not” (holy Chrysostom). The conclusion is the same here as there: “we shall be saved”; but the comparisons from which the conclusion is drawn are different. One and the same work of God’s mercy, saving us in the Lord Jesus Christ, is viewed from different angles. There the comparison was made chiefly between our sinfulness and the death of the Only-begotten Son of God; but here the comparison is made between justification and His life – that is, His resurrection and sitting at the right hand of the Father. Dying, He justified us, sinners; what will He not grant when living – that is, risen and sitting at the right hand of the Father and having all authority “in heaven and on earth”? Blessed Theophylact paraphrases this passage thus: “It appears that the same thing is said, but the comparisons for the conclusions are different. Above he sets our sinfulness and then, adding that we are justified, draws the conclusion by such comparison: He who justified us sinners by His death will much more save the justified. Now, mentioning Christ’s death and life, he reasons again by comparison: when we are reconciled by the blood and death of the Lord, how shall we not be saved by His life? For He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him to death for our reconciliation will He not much more now save us by His life?” Holy Chrysostom draws these inferences: “Thus, see! The Apostle desires Romans to be assured of future goods. (And after many persuasions he above all inspires hope through the death and resurrection of the Son of God.) And that alone would be a very powerful proof: that Christ died for us who deserved it in no way. But when the one who died becomes a giver of gifts (for being alive, He sits at the right hand of the Father and assures us that where He is, there His servant shall be also), and gifts most great, then such a kindness exceeds all measure and leads to faith even the most hardened. He will save us – none other than He who, while we were still sinners, loved us so that He gave Himself up for us. Do you see how powerfully the Apostle here persuades us to hope for the future? Until now there were two obstacles to our salvation: that we were sinners, and that salvation had to come through the death of the Lord. But the latter, before it was accomplished, was incredible and could be accomplished in no other way than through immeasurable love. Now it is accomplished in fact, and therefore the rest has become much easier. We have become friends, and the Lord no longer needs to die. He who spared enemies so much that He did not spare His Son for them – will He not save those who have become friends, and when there is no longer need for Him to give up the Son? One man does not save because he does not wish to, and another because he cannot, though he would wish. – Neither of these can be said of God after He has given up His Son. And that God can save, the Apostle also proved by the fact that God justified us who were sinners. What then remains as an obstacle for us to obtain future goods? None.”

Rom 5:11. And not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

“Not only” – not only shall we receive what was said before – “being reconciled, we shall be saved” – but we shall receive that while boasting about God, alla kai kauchomenoi. – “Not only” – indicates that something greater and higher is to be said after it. In this section (Rom. 5:1–11) the Apostle enumerates the treasures of faith. He has already indicated calling, justification, reconciliation, the pouring out of the Spirit and love by the Spirit, hope of glory. Now he says: not only is all this our portion, but moreover we boast about God. Boasting about God is therefore the summit of the treasures of faith – a good than which nothing greater can be. What then does it mean to boast about God?

Let us explain this by comparison with what happens among us – what is meant when someone boasts of someone else. Boasting of someone, we boast of closeness to him, of being welcomed by him, of being loved by him and assured of his firm benevolence, ready to do all for us and provide us with everything. We usually say in such case: I have such a friend and protector; I fear nothing and no one; I am behind him as behind a rock; I need only speak a word and all will be done. – Applied to this, to boast about God or in God means: to boast of closeness to Him and intimate communion with Him – of the fact that He is ours and we are His, that we love Him and are loved by Him, and have in Him our ready Intercessor and Protector. And indeed this is given to us in Christ Jesus, and is so precious and exalted that everything else cannot compare to this. Justification, reconciliation, inheritance – these are great and lofty goods; but were it not for such communion with God that He is ours and we are His, they would be colorless. Take a servant who has sinned and whom his master has forgiven and taken back into the house. This cannot fail to gladden the pardoned one; but if the master, having forgiven him and taken him in, were to decree that he live in the courtyard and not show himself in his master’s sight, the first joy of forgiveness would soon fade and be replaced by sorrow and distress. Our forgiveness could have been such; God could have forgiven us and appointed us an ample life in eternity, yet at the same time decreed that we remain far from Him. He could have done so; for in our salvation everything depends on Him, and who can impose a law on Him in the distribution of goods? But if it were so, it would certainly be good, and a great good; yet it could not have blessed us in complete fullness, had God not also been pleased to draw near to us in such a way that we might be before His eyes, in living communion with Him. Therefore, when God has actually so arranged our salvation, we cannot but consider this closeness to God the summit of the goods granted to us by faith, and, boasting in all received by grace, to boast above all in God or in Him. Holy Chrysostom says: “Nothing contributes so much to glory and boldness as to be loved by God and to love Him who has loved us. This makes Angels, Principalities, and Powers resplendent. This is more important than the Kingdom itself; therefore the Apostle preferred it to the Kingdom.”

How did we come to boast about God – His closeness and our intimate communion with Him? Through our Lord Jesus Christ, “through whom we have now received reconciliation.” By faith and repentance, drawing near to the Lord, we obtain remission of sins and find reconciliation. But salvation does not stop there – we go further and deeper: in baptism we are clothed in Christ, in holy Communion we are deemed worthy that He dwell in us and we in Him – we become one with the Lord. And He is one with God the Father. And thus has come about a grace-filled chain of unity: we are one with the Lord Jesus Christ, He is one with God the Father, and through Him we too are one with the Father. Therefore we now boast about God – that He is ours and we are His, and we boast through our Lord Jesus Christ. These words of the Apostle bring to mind the words of the Lord Himself, in which He explains the mystery of our communion with God, praying to God the Father: “that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us. The glory which You have given Me I have given them, that they may be one, just as We are one. I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity” (Jn. 17:21–23).

c) The Significance of Christ’s Economy in the History of Mankind (Rom. 5:12–21)

Until now (Rom. 5:1–11) the Apostle has drawn the will and heart toward faith by setting forth the marvelous treasures of faith. Now he wishes to captivate the mind by leading it to contemplate Christ’s economy in the course of human history. He has explained that we are all under wrath and all would perish; but God took pity on us and gave His Son for our salvation. And here we, clinging to the Lord by faith, who died for us and rose for us, receive justification, are reconciled with God, become holy and spotless through the grace of the Holy Spirit, and truly “are” heirs of eternal glory from God. A sharp distinction is drawn between what was before and what begins now with the coming of the Son of God incarnate. All from Adam until now were born in sin, lived under wrath like those condemned to death, and died without reconciliation. But now all who believe in the Lord are born into holy life, live in grace under God’s favor, and die so as to enter into the inheritance of eternal glory from God. A completely new race has begun from Christ Jesus the Lord, in spiritual disposition utterly different from that which comes from Adam. And He is the founder of the race, just as Adam; but the race from Adam was born to sin and death, while the race from Christ the Lord is born to holiness and eternal life. Such is the main thought of the second half of this chapter. The Apostle enters with the economy of salvation into the course of human history and determines what the incarnate, dead, and risen Lord accomplished here and what faith in Him and grace from Him produce in the midst of men – and he determines this through comparing Him, as the new Adam, with the old Adam, and through showing what proceeded from the former and what proceeds from the latter. He does this in order that, by introducing into the minds of believers such an all-encompassing contemplation, to shelter, vivify, and guard from all wavering the awakened feelings flowing from the reception of the fruits of faith – by indicating how the way of salvation ordained for us is captivating even for the contemplations of reason.

Rom 5:12. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.

“Therefore” – why therefore? Because of all that has been said until now (from verse 17 of chapter 1). Consider at once all that has been said, and here is what you will see: you will see that just as “through one man sin entered into the world” and so forth. – “Skilled physicians,” says holy Chrysostom, “always strive to discover the root of diseases, reaching to the very source of evil; so does blessed Paul. Above he said we are justified, and proved this by the example of the patriarch, by the sending of the Spirit, by the death of Christ; for Christ would not have died if He did not wish to justify us. Now he takes up the same subject from the opposite side and confirms what he has proven by different arguments – namely, he examines what death and sin are, investigates how, in what manner, and from where death entered the world and gained dominion. And how did death enter and gain dominion? Through the sin of one.”

Death was originally joined with sin by God’s determination. Having given the commandment, God said: As soon as you sin, violating this commandment, you shall die, or come under the law of death. They sinned and came under the law of death. After this their children, born at a time when they were under sentence of death, were born subject to that same law of death. And thus death entered the world because of the first sin of the ancestors. Blessed Theodoret sets this forth thus: “The Master God, having created Adam and honored him with reason, gave one commandment for the exercise of the reasoning faculty. For one endowed with reason, having the ability to distinguish good from its opposite, could not live without law. He, being deceived, transgressed the given commandment, and the Lawgiver from the very beginning joined the threat of punishment to the commandment. Therefore, when Adam, already under sentence of death, in that condition fathered Cain, Seth, and others – all, as proceeding from one condemned to death, had mortal nature. The divine Apostle now tells that when Adam sinned and became mortal because of sin, this extended to the entire race. For ‘death entered into all men,’ because all sinned.”

The particle “and so” in the words: “and so death entered into all men” – is not the comparative “so also” – corresponding to the earlier particle “as,” as in the words: “just as through one man sin entered into the world”; rather it is a consequential particle, indicating the conclusion from the two preceding statements: “through one man sin entered, and through sin death.” As a consequence of such a joining of death with sin, “death entered into all men”: for in one all sinned. The translation should be: and in this way – not: so also. But in that case, where is the “so also” – which is required by the particle “as”? This particle and the corresponding thought are omitted and should be understood as follows: just as through one man sin entered the world, and through sin death, and in this way death entered into all men, because in him alone all sinned: so (it must be understood) through one man justification now enters the world (righteousness and holiness), and through justification life, and in this way life enters into all men, because in him alone all were justified and became righteous. So do our commentators paraphrase this passage. Blessed Theophylact writes: “The Apostle shows that sin and death entered the world through one man, Adam, and again through one man, Christ, they are removed.” – Oecumenius observes: “Having variously proven from Scripture that we are all justified by the death of the Son of God, now he proves this by the reasoning faculty. And it is fitting,” he says, “that we all, having become sinners and subject to death through one man, should also be saved through one man, having been justified in him and having paid in him the debt of death.” – The same Oecumenius cites the opinion of blessed Photius, in which the reason is set forth why holy Paul did not express the second half of the comparison. Blessed Photius writes: “And this is both possible, fitting, and consistent (namely, salvation in the one Lord). How is this evident? From the opposite, he says. For it is known that through one man both sin entered the world and death itself. If now through one man such evil has come about, then it is both possible and consistent for this evil brought in to be removed through one man, the Lord Jesus Christ, and a higher good to be granted. – And that the Apostle, having set forth what proceeded from Adam, passed over what was accomplished for us by Christ, he did this, letting each one understand it by the opposite. For as soon as he stated the former (what proceeded from Adam), there is no difficulty in thinking out the latter (what is from Christ). Therefore he set down only the former thought, as naturally attracting the latter thought as well. For they call out to each other. Thus the Apostle, through the former presignifying the latter, did not express the latter in words but left it for us to understand ourselves.”

“What does it mean: ‘because all sinned’? That all sinned in Adam. As soon as he fell, through him even those who did not eat of the forbidden tree became subject to death, as if they themselves had also fallen, because he fell” (blessed Theophylact; the same, though more briefly, also in holy Chrysostom). “‘Because all sinned,’ – that is, in Adam, or through that one man, Adam” (Oecumenius).

Other commentators connect different thoughts with this expression, basing themselves on the fact that in Greek there stands not: “because” en ho, – but: ephho, – which should be translated: inasmuch, forasmuch as. But the thought will be the same even with this rendering, that is, that all sinned in him. And it is in vain that some try to take away the force of the proof of original sin from this passage, saying that the exact translation of this place should be: inasmuch as all sinned. And with this it would not be necessary to see here the thought that all sinned in him; for they might have sinned by his example, by his occasion. – It is true that if you take these words: inasmuch as all sinned – outside of their context, they may not convey the thought that all sinned in him; but if you take them in context both with what precedes and what follows, then even with this translation (inasmuch as all sinned), it is necessary to complete the translation with the word: in him – so as to fully preserve the Apostle’s thought. He says: sin through one entered the world, and through sin death, and in this way death entered into all. Sin opens the gates of death. If it entered into all, then in all sin preceded it. But sin could not precede death in all otherwise than by all sinning in him through whom sin entered, that is, in the first man, Adam. Thus reading: death entered into all men, because all sinned – we cannot understand this last part in any other way than: they sinned in him.

But although this “in him” – should naturally have come to mind from the course of speech – nonetheless the holy Apostle dwelt upon it, and used the following two verses to strengthen this thought in the minds of readers, so that in reading: all sinned… they could not understand it otherwise than: sinned in him. So important is this: in him!

To confirm this the Apostle does not engage in deep reasoning but simply presents the progress of death visually. All died after Adam, he says, but did not sin like him. Although they sinned, they did not sin like him because they did not have the Law; and where there is no Law, there is no transgression, sin is not imputed. If not imputed, then it does not bring punishment – that is, death. If so, then from whence comes death to those who died after Adam? – From nowhere else but from Adam’s own sin; from nowhere else but from that calamitous event that all sinned in Adam. Such is the Apostle’s thought in verses 13 and 14. He does not prove profoundly but simply presents the matter visually.