Listen to Romans 5:1-11 Podcast
Romans 5 Podcast Commentary: Saved by His Life
In our Romans 5 podcast and commentary, we explore the profound theological truth that while “we have been reconciled through His death, we are saved through His life.” This powerful statement encapsulates the heart of the gospel: Jesus’ death on the cross was crucial for our reconciliation with God, but it is His victorious life—embodied in His resurrection—that brings ultimate salvation. This passage from Romans reveals the depth of God’s redemptive plan, showing how Christ’s resurrection is the key to overcoming sin and death.
Exploring the Romans 5
Romans 5:1-11 compares the effects of Adam’s sin with the redemptive work of Christ. Through Adam’s disobedience, sin entered the world, bringing death to all humanity. But through Jesus Christ’s act of righteousness, we are offered life—eternal life through His resurrection. Paul writes, “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). While Adam’s sin brought condemnation, Jesus’ obedience brings justification and life.
One of the key themes in Romans 5:1-11 is the contrast between death brought by sin and life brought by grace. Paul emphasizes that while sin reigns in death, God’s grace reigns through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. This pivotal truth challenges our understanding of salvation, making it clear that Christ’s life—symbolized by His resurrection—is what saves us, not merely His death.
Commentary Insights
Engaging with Romans 5:1-11 through study guides, sermons, and theological commentaries provides valuable insights into the nature of salvation. These resources help believers grasp the magnitude of Christ’s work: His death reconciles us to God, but His life empowers us to live victoriously over sin and death. This chapter encourages believers to reflect on the fullness of salvation, which is not just about Christ’s death but also His risen life that guarantees our salvation and eternal peace with God.
Website and Books We Like
- BobGeorge.net
- Classic Christianity Book by Bob George
- Simple Gospel – Simple Grace by Bob Christopher
Live Bible Coaching
Podcast Transcript
Transcript of Romans 5:1-11 Podcast
Wanna discover your freedom in Christ? Then listen in as Mike Stone and Kevin Smith talk about it today on Grace Coach. Welcome to Grace Coach. This is Kevin Smith with our cohost, Mike Stone. What's up, Mike?
Oh, another beautiful day here in the Midwest. Good to be with you. Great to be with you too, man. We're gonna jump into, Romans chapter 5 today, which is a huge kind of transition in the book of Romans. We've been talking about sin and consequences and being dead in Adam and just really painting a really pretty bad picture of, the human condition here in in Romans.
But in chapter 5 here, we're gonna see we're turning a corner, and praise God for that. We're gonna back up and just read a little bit out of chapter 4 just to give us a little bit of a review. Okay. So we're gonna read Romans chapter four eighteen through 25, basically, the the tail end of the chapter. Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping, believing that he would become the father of many nations.
For God had said to him, that's how many descendants you will have. And Abraham's faith did not weaken even though at about a hundred years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead, and so was Sarah's womb. Abraham never wavered in believing God's promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this, he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.
And because of Abraham's faith, God counted him as righteous. And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn't just for Abraham's benefit. It was recorded for our benefit too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the 1 who raised Jesus, our lord, from the dead. He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God. Yeah.
It's unbelievable, Kevin, how God uses with Abraham the event of having children, you know, and how important that is in in our lives. You know? I mean, not everybody wants to have children, but a lot of people do. And as you and I know, then the children grow up and take over your life. Yeah.
But Sarah and Abraham were parentless. They, just hung in there and believed God. And because of that event that Sarah's womb was alive with their first child, God used that event to credit Abraham as right with him. Yeah. It's funny you mentioned that taking over our lives.
But when you look at the in biblical times, it was a huge thing to have kids. And if you didn't have kids, you were almost like an outcast because you had no one to pass down your lineage or your namesake was gonna be forgotten, so on and so forth. And, I mean, there's a lot of stories people have done about, you know, keeping their namesake alive. And this was he I mean, they he was a hundred years old. He knew Sarah's womb was up in age also, and wasn't looking good, but he did not waver in that promise that God made to him.
Yeah. And so the last 2 verses there or really, the last verse, Romans four twenty five, is so important, and we don't wanna miss the meaning here, that there's 2 separate distinct events that happened in verse 25. It says that Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins. That's where he took away the sins of the entire world. Well, that's 1 event.
And then three days later, he was raised to life for our justification or our righteousness or our new life. The problem in Christianity teaching today is this emphasis on the death of Christ. And we've said so many times on our podcast that if you ask most people what their understanding of salvation is, they'll say that Jesus died for my sins. And that's true, but salvation is much more than what Jesus did on the cross taking away our sins. He was raised to life for our justification and for our life.
So salvation is crossing over from death to life, and we're gonna see later here in Romans how Paul even makes it more clear that there's a huge difference between what Jesus did on the cross and through his resurrection. Absolutely. As we jump into chapter 5, I wanna just do some comparison here. So for instance, sin versus righteousness. That's righteousness in verse 18 and then sin in verse twelve, fifteen, and 21.
This is a huge 1 that you just talked about, death versus eternal life. Death is, twelve, sixteen, and 21. Eternal life is verses seventeen and twenty one. This is another comparison. Separation from god and relationship with god.
That's verses 18 compared to relationship with God versus 19. This is a big 1, disobedience versus obedience. You'll see this probably next week when we get into Adam and Christ, but Adam disobeyed and Christ obeyed. And then judgment and deliverance. Judgment's in verse, verse 18, and deliverance is verses ten and eleven.
And then this is the last 1 that is law and grace, and those are both seen in verse 20. And so those are just some overarching comparing and contrasting that Paul does in Romans chapter 5. So let's jump in here and or, Mike, do you wanna read those? Sure. I'll read, Romans chapter 5 verse one and two.
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 boast in the hope of the glory of God. So we have to ask the question when we're reading this, you know, how are we justified, or how are we made righteous, or how do we receive eternal life? And it says through faith, not through the law, not through obedience. Just like Abraham, he believed in God, and he was credited to him as righteousness. Yes.
When we believe in God and put our faith in Jesus, we too have been credited with righteousness and and been justified who we are and what we have done our whole life. And you know what? I just wanna camp out on that fact, Mike, just for a second, because we often will blow by verses like this and just go on to the next verse. But this verse is saying, we have peace with God, The creator of the universe, we have peace with God. He is no longer pissed off at us.
And that is for those who have put their faith in Christ, who have believed in his death, and resurrection, just like we read it at the end of chapter 4. That is a huge, huge thing. Now is God's wrath going to be seen? Yes. But is it going to be against those in Christ?
No. Is the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient and don't believe. That is just huge and just it is worthy of a few minutes of our time just to highlight that fact. That's good, Kevin. I I myself, and I know you probably are have the same backstory that I didn't know about peace with God or have peace with God until I knew I was completely forgiven 1 time at the cross.
I was going to a church. We were focusing on sins quite a bit. Much of the sermons were about sins. And the teaching was that when you sin, you ask God to forgive you, And then you're forgiven, and then you sin again if you can remember how many you know, which sins you've just committed. And then you need to ask God to forgive you over and over.
So I didn't have peace with God until I knew it my sins were taken away 1 time at the cross. And at the same time, I was also being taught that I could lose my salvation, and there was a sin that could lead to that. So in both cases, I didn't have peace with God until I also knew that I couldn't lose my salvation Mhmm. Because I was forgiven. You know what?
Let me read this verse because this this is something that I know you and I have taught bible studies on God's grace for years, and we've even taught 1 with the title of this verse that says, grow in grace. We'll highlight again Bob George. We've kind of cut our teeth on a lot of his books, classic Christianity, and, you know, growing grace. But second Peter three eighteen let me read this real quick. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our lord and savior Jesus Christ.
To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. It's not how we enter into relationship with God by grace, but it's something we can grow in in our understanding of his love and his forgiveness. It's not it doesn't just all he doesn't just dump it all in us in our understanding, but it's as we go through life and understanding how much we're forgiven on a day to day basis, then we can grow in that understanding and in god's love. And I have to add to that, Kevin.
Yes. We have to grow it, the grace and knowledge that we are forgiven. But if we don't move to the resurrection, if we don't move on to Christ living in us, renewing our minds, teaching us truth, setting us free, giving us hope in the rapture 1 day, we're just in God's forgiveness only. It it's gotta be a full picture. It's gotta be the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
That is God's grace, and that's where I found peace with God knowing that not only I was forgiven, but that Christ lives in me, and he'll never leave me. Amen to that. So let's read on, three, four, and 5. Not only so, we but we also glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, character hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who he has given us.
Christ himself is living in us. He's he's been given to us, and he's living in us. Yes. Before we move on to verse 5, as I read that verse 3, we can rejoice too when we run into problems, that is a very, very challenging thing to do to re I mean, do we really rejoice when we are in the midst of tribulation? Yeah.
I would say no. Okay? But, certainly, looking back, we could see that God worked it all together for my good. I'll give you a great example of my son who's at, a university right now and had a few years of really struggling. And he knows that it was because his heart was hurting and and he was suffering so much that it opened him up to wanting to read the scriptures, to talk about it with us, to go to church.
That all happened as a result of the suffering. So that's something I don't think he realized while he was going through the suffering. But certainly looking back now, and we all have our own stories that this is true, but it's probably gonna be us looking back at these events in our lives that open the door for the grace of God. Yeah. I can definitely attest, like your son have having gone through trials and tribulations.
When we are able to, in the midst of our suffering, rejoice, it takes a lot of power away from Satan in order to get us depressed and discouraged and going off the tracks in our lives. But if we can remember as this says, you know, this there's a development, there's a transition, you know, in these couple of verses. Let me just read them again. We can rejoice when we run into problems and trials. We know that they help us develop endurance.
So there's 1 transition. And then the endurance develops strength, second transition. Strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment for we know how dearly God loves us because he has given us the holy spirit to fill our hearts with his love. And so These are go to verses.
You know, if you just Google or go on a Bible gateway, put in sufferings when you're going through, you know, when you are suffering and you read this. It would be my prayer to say, lord, I'm struggling right now. I'm suffering right now. I'm gonna persevere through your word. You're gonna build my character.
You're gonna give me hope, and that hope is not gonna disappoint me. And that's really a great promise to stand on when you're going through tough times. Absolutely. It is. Absolutely.
And I love the the conclusion of verse 5, like you had mentioned earlier, because he has given us the holy spirit to fill our hearts with his love. And we've talked about this a lot on our podcast also that that we do have a new heart. You know, that God has changed our heart, and we're not we do not have hearts of stone like, Ezekiel says, but he's given us a new heart of flesh. And in Jeremiah thirty thirty one thirty three, it says, but this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days, says the lord. I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts.
I will be their god, and they will be my people. So it's just a great, great understanding to have that we do have new hearts, and we should live out of those new hearts, not out of the hearts we've had, the hearts of stone in the past. Yeah. Amen. Well, let's go on to six through eight.
Do you wanna read that, Kevin? When we were utterly helpless, Christ came just at the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an unright person, though some might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. Yeah.
It says when we were still powerless, and I look at that as not having the Holy Spirit living in us. We were out without the power of God. We were ungodly, it says in my version, that Christ died for the ungodly who are also the powerless. Acts one eight, Kevin, says this, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth. And that's just before the spirit of God came on the disciples at Pentecost.
He says, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. He's saying here, Paul, just at the right time when we were still powerless, Christ died for us, for the ungodly. Yes. We were not believers before we were believers, and very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person. Though for a good person, someone might possibly dare die, but God demonstrates his own love for us while we were yet sinners, ungodly, and powerless.
Christ died for us, and he took away our sins at the cross. Beautiful thing. Yeah. So, let's go on to these key verses. I just love 9 through 11.
I I almost think that they might be the most important verses in the scriptures, but they're all important. Right? Because they're all word of God. And it's all it's all about Jesus Christ. Yeah.
Like yeah. And these verses just mean a lot to me because this is where I felt that I crossed over from death to life when I understood this. It says in 9 that since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him? So what are we saved from? And you mentioned this earlier.
We're saved from God's wrath Mhmm. That will come on the world in the tribulation, whether they're you're dead or alive, that without Christ, you will suffer God's wrath. But that wrath of God went through Jesus Christ. For if while we are yet 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? So what this is saying to me, Kevin, and I wanna hear what you have to say, that when we were god's enemies, we were unsaved, we were ungodly, that we were reconciled to him through the death of his son on the cross, taking away our sins.
He reconciled himself to the whole world. But here in 10, it says, how much more having been reconciled, having been forgiven, are we saved by his life? So we're not saved by the death of Christ on the cross, which, again, so much Christian teach teaching today is focused on the death of Jesus on the cross, but we're saved by his life and his resurrection. That, you know, dead man Jesus is now alive, and the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead will raise us from the dead when we put our faith in Christ. And it's so important to make a distinction, again, between the cross and the resurrection.
Yes. I I totally agree with that. And the the crux of the matter is that even though Jesus died for the whole world, each individual person has to put their faith in Christ through grace. You have to believe combine your belief and your faith together and enter into relationship with god through Christ in that sense. So it's it's not even though the world he reconciled the world to himself, each person has to combine their belief in faith.
Yeah. And grace. Right. And so Romans ten nine kinda amplifies this even further about the resurrection. It says, if you declare with your mouth Mhmm.
Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. It doesn't say that you when you believe in your heart that Jesus took away your sins, as important as that is. But he's specifically talking about the resurrection, that God raised him from the dead. When you believe in that, you will be saved. So there's really there there's something to that.
Right? There's Yes. Something to the resurrection and the new life of Jesus and which is the full gospel. It's the full message that I believe must be taught and people must understand in order to be saved. Wanna discover your freedom in Christ?
Then listen in as Mike Stone and Kevin Smith talk about it today on Grace Coach.