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.

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

The Apostle Paul wrote the letter to the Romans to inform the Christians in Rome of his intentions to come to them to preach “his” gospel.  This precious epistle presents a complete and detailed exposition of the gospel message Paul would present and no study of theology can be complete without knowledge of his towering letter to the Romans.

Chapter 5 begins with the word Therefore – Paul is reaching back to preceding chapters where he has shown that man – all men – are sinful and guilty before God.  Only by grace, through faith in the redemptive works of Christ Jesus, is man justified and made right with God.  Man cannot in any way justify himself.  In our verses today Paul is showing us the blessings and benefits that flow from justification.  Paul has shown the sinner his needs and now is introducing the truths of the gospel.

Because of the sacrificial death of Jesus we now have access to God.  Through and in faith, all believing Christians enjoy God’s blessings immediately, permanently and continuously.  The acceptance of Christ as Saviour has nothing to do with what man has done – good works, etc – but has all to do with what Christ has done.  Divine favor is given to every believer the moment he/she believes.  Paul’s message tells the faithful to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God – hope is the desire for future good with expectation of obtaining that future good.  Glory is a manifestation of God’s true nature and presence into which He will admit the faithful.  This was man’s true destiny, lost through sin and now restored through Christ.   Paul is saying that we are pilgrims on earth but biblical hope is the certainty of future good – this hope is God’s word which He cannot break as God is faithful and cannot disappoint.

God has demonstrated His love for us – He sent His Son to die for us when we were unloveable.  Christ’s action is God’s action.  Such a quality of love is distinct, unexpected and unheard of in human relations.  The redemptive work of Christ was irrespective of merit on the part of man and thus totally unlike natural love.

The gift of the Holy Spirit is to let us understand this gift of certain hope.  The eyes of the faithful have been opened – they see through their eyes, not by them.

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, (9) who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, (10) but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel

The Apostle Paul wrote this second letter to Timothy while he (Paul) was a prisoner for his faith in Rome.  Paul knew he was about to die and this letter is essentially his last will and testament.

Under Nero, those who followed and believed in Christ Jesus were subject to criticism, ostracism, persecution, imprisonment and even death.  Paul is writing to Timothy asking him to not be ashamed of the gospel – not to suffer a lack of courage or fear humiliation or be kept by any circumstance from preaching the gospel Paul has taught him.  Paul reminds Timothy that salvation has been revealed to the human race by the historical appearance and completed works of our savior, Christ Jesus.  Christ has destroyed spiritual death through His death and resurrection.  Through faith in Christ we have inherited eternal life so Paul tells Timothy – and us – that we have nothing to fear, not even death.

Paul is saying that Timothy and by extension all believers – through faith in Jesus will have a better life – peace, joy, life eternal – but our problems may be much worse in this temporal life.  So Paul exhorts Timothy to embrace suffering for the gospel.  Paul use his own suffering as an example of one who has run the good race.  Remember, Paul is fully aware that his death for Christ is immanent.

I would like to end with a quote from Malcolm Muggeridge who said in a sermon at the University of Edinborough, 1968,

“So I come back to where I began to that other king, one Jesus, to the Christian notion that man’s efforts to make himself personally and collectively happy in earthly terms are doomed to failure  He must indeed, as Christ said, be born again, be a new man, or he’s nothing.  So at least I have concluded, having failed to find in past experiences, present dilemmas, and future expectations any alternative proposition.  As far as I am concerned, it is Christ or nothing.”

Amen.

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

(18) Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.  (19) For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

The Apostle Paul was hoping to visit the Christian community in Rome and wrote this letter in advance of his arrival.  In the first part of the letter Paul has established how God has provided (and now revealed)  how man has been made right with God throu the sacrificial death of Christ Jesus and His resurrection and victory over death.  In the verses we study today, Paul draws a contrast and parallel between the redemptive work of Christ Jesus and the work of another man, Adam.  Through the disobedience of one man, Adam, sin entered the world.  As a result of sin,  both physical and spiritual death entered in accordance with God’s warning.  All men sinned through Adam.

In these verses Paul pretty much touches on the foundational doctrine of Christianity:  the imputation or the placing something on another’s account – of Adam’s sin and God’s judgment on his posterity.  Man did evil thereafter because man was evil.  Man was under condemnation and death because of Adam’s sin.  Sin entering through the one act of Adam made a constitutional change in a man’s nature.  Man now possessed the nature or propensity to sin from the sin of Adam.  Mankind is considered a single entity – the entire human race is descended from Adam.  Therefore when Adam sinned all mankind sinned.

In contrast to this thought, Paul write that God’s grace, the gift of righteousness, came to the entire human race by the one man, Jesus Christ, and abounded to many.  By this Paul means that the gift of God’s grace is available to all people but not necessarily appropriated by all.  Jesus Christ became sin and bore sin’s penalty on the cross as the perfect sacrifice.  The new man was bought at a price.  But man has to say yes to the gospel.  At that moment man’s responsibility as a child of Adam under the judgment of God is over – but also at that moment, man’s responsibility as a child of God begins.  Justified man has a new nature that craves the divine – he is part of the new creation of which Christ is the head.

Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.  (2) Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.  (3) But with me it is a very small that I should be judged by you or by a human court.  In fact, I do not even judge myself.   (4) For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord.  (5) Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts.  Then each one’s praise will come from God.

This first letter to the Corinthians was written by the Apostle Paul to the church he founded at Corinth.   In today’s lesson Paul moves to the futility of judgment of teachers by the Corinthians and warns that the question should be:  are the teachers faithful to what they were sent by Christ to teach?  Not, were they eloquent?

Paul writes that a teacher must expect to be misjudged by those who have a different point of view.  A preacher must faithfully deliver what has been made known to him – he needs only the approval of Christ.  Paul shows that he had a just concern for his own reputation but what mattered to him was to please Christ, not men.  Fidelity to duty implies having to answer to someone – Paul is saying he is not to be judged by men but that he is the steward of God’s word and will be judged by Christ.

Paul feels that he is obedient to Christ’s call but maintains in verse 3 and 4,  that even he may be self deceived and that only God can see the inner man – “In fact, I do not even judge myself.  For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord”.   The Spirit only can search the heart.  So Paul can feel he is a faithful steward of Christ but still awaits the judgment of the Lord who can see “the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the heart.”

It is not by man’s judgment that we stand or fall.