Romans Chapter 5
Showing all 21 verses for Romans Chapter 5.
The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: "
"Because we've been put right with God through trusting him, we now have peace with God, made possible through Jesus."
I'm not asking you to prove yourself to me before you can be at peace. Trust that the ground beneath you is solid, and let that peace steady you before you try to fix anything else about your life.
"By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. "
"Through Jesus we've been given entry into this place of undeserved favour we now stand in, and we're glad, looking forward with hope to sharing in God's glory."
The door isn't guarded against you. Come as you are, stand there without fear of being turned away, and let that give you something to look forward to rather than something to dread.
"And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; "
"And not just that - we can even take a strange kind of pride in hard times, because we know difficulty produces endurance."
I won't pretend hardship doesn't hurt, but I promise it isn't wasted. Every hard season you get through honestly is building something in you that ease never could - so don't just endure it, let it shape you.
"And patience, experience; and experience, hope: "
"Endurance builds proven character, and proven character produces hope."
Every time you get back up, you're gathering proof that you can. Let your own history of surviving hard things become the evidence that lets you trust what's coming next.
"And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. "
"And this hope doesn't let us down or leave us humiliated, because God's love has been poured generously into our hearts through the Spirit he has given us."
This isn't a hope you're pinning on chance. It's backed by love you can already feel in you now - so when doubt creeps in, come back to that felt experience of being loved rather than trying to reason your way to certainty.
"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. "
"While we were still helpless, at exactly the right time, Christ died for people who didn't even honour God."
I didn't wait for you to clean yourself up first. I came for you precisely because you couldn't manage on your own - so stop believing you need to be impressive before you're worth loving.
"For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. "
"It's rare for anyone to die for a merely upright person, though for someone truly good, someone might actually go that far."
Human love has limits, even at its best - people will die for someone truly good, rarely for someone merely correct. What I'm about to show you goes further than either.
"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. "
"But God proves his own love for us by this: while we were still doing wrong, Christ died for us."
You don't have to earn my love by fixing yourself first - I already showed how far it goes, at the point you least deserved it. That's not a one-time historical fact; it's the pattern for how I feel about you right now, today, as you are.
"Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. "
"So if that's true, now that we've been put right with God through his sacrifice, we're even more certainly going to be saved from judgement through him."
If I already did the hard part when you had nothing to offer me, do you really think I'd abandon you now that we're on good terms? Trust that what's already begun in you will be carried through to the end.
"For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. "
"For if, while we were God's enemies, we were brought back into relationship with him through his Son's death, then now that we're reconciled, we're even more certainly going to be kept safe through his life."
Even at your most hostile or resistant to me, I moved towards you. Now that the relationship is mended, rest in the fact that an ongoing, living relationship is even less likely to fail than that first costly rescue was.
"And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. "
"And more than that, we're full of joy in God himself, made possible through Jesus, through whom we've now received this restored relationship."
This isn't just about being let off the hook - it's an invitation into genuine delight in relationship. Don't settle for relief when real joy is on offer.
"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: "
"So then, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, death spread to everyone, because everyone sinned."
You didn't invent the brokenness you were born into - it's bigger than you, older than you, and not entirely your personal failure. But I'm about to show you that the solution is just as far-reaching as the problem.
"(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. "
"Sin was in the world even before the law of Moses existed, though sin isn't formally counted against people where there's no law to break."
Right and wrong existed long before anyone wrote rules down - a system of law doesn't create morality, it just makes it explicit and undeniable.
"Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. "
"Even so, death ruled over everyone from Adam to Moses - even over those who hadn't broken a specific command the way Adam did. Adam himself is a preview of the one who was still to come."
The problem runs deeper than a list of things you've personally done wrong - and so does the solution. Don't think small about what's broken, and don't think small about what I can fix.
"But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. "
"But the free gift doesn't work the same way as the wrongdoing did. If many people died because of one man's failure, then God's grace - the free gift that comes through one man, Jesus Christ - overflows to many people even more."
I'm not just here to undo the damage and leave you back at square one - I'm here to overflow you with more good than the harm ever cost you. Expect abundance, not just a patch-up.
"And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. "
"And the gift doesn't work like the sin of that one man did either: the judgement that followed one sin brought condemnation, but the free gift deals with many offences and brings people into right standing."
However long your list of failures runs, it was never going to be too long. One gift covers the whole pile, not just the first item on it.
"For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) "
"For if death came to rule through the failure of one man, then people who receive the overflowing grace and the gift of being made right with God will rule in life even more certainly, through the one man Jesus Christ."
I'm not just removing a tyrant from your life and leaving you standing there - I'm putting you on your feet to actually reign, to live with dignity and authority over what used to control you.
"Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. "
"So then, just as one man's wrongdoing brought condemnation on everyone, in the same way one man's righteous act brings the free gift of life to everyone who receives it."
Whatever category of person you think you don't belong in, this offer was made with you in mind - its reach is as wide as the problem it solves.
"For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. "
"For just as many people were made sinners through one man's disobedience, so many will be made righteous through the obedience of one man."
Someone else's faithfulness can count for you, just as someone else's failure once counted against you. That's not unfair - it's mercy working exactly the way the problem itself worked.
"Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: "
"The law was added so that wrongdoing would be seen clearly for what it is. But wherever sin increased, grace increased even more."
Rules can show you where you're falling short, but rules were never going to fix you - only grace goes further than the problem does. Don't mistake the diagnosis for the cure.
"That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. "
"So that just as sin ruled and led to death, grace now rules through putting people right with God, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
You're not stuck living under sin's old rule anymore - a new, better power has taken over, and it's leading somewhere completely different: real life, not death. Let that change how you see your future, starting today.