Romans 5

[image by Lawrence OP]

(1) Faith in Jesus Reconciled Us to God

Confidence in our master, Jesus, has pronounced us righteous—so now we’re at peace with God! We stand in that grace right now, and the way we gained access to it was through Jesus. Now we take great pleasure in looking forward to God’s splendor!

(3) Afflictions Force Us to Expect More from the Holy Spirit

Not only do we take pleasure in looking forward to God’s splendor, but we also take pleasure in our afflictions, since they force us to endure… and enduring tests us… and being tested forces us to look forward expectantly… and looking forward with expectation doesn’t disappoint, because God’s love has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit that was given to us. 

(6) We Can Enjoy God through Jesus

The Chosen One died for us while we were still weak and godless, which was absolutely perfect timing. It’d be hard to find someone who’d volunteer to die for a good person (although some people might be courageous enough to do that)… but the Chosen One died for us while we were still corrupted, which proves just how much God loves us! Now that we’ve been pronounced righteous by Jesus’s blood, we’ll also be saved from God’s anger because of Jesus. Even though we were God’s enemies, we became His allies through His Son’s DEATH… so now that we’re His allies, we’ll be saved even more through His Son’s LIFE! But not only will we be saved—we’ll also get to savor God through our master, Jesus, since He reconciled us!

(12) Death reigned after Adam unleashed corruption upon humanity

Corruption entered the world through one man—then death entered through that corruption and spread to every single human being, since we all fail to operate within God’s parameters. The universe became corrupted before humanity even received the law. Corruption doesn’t get charged to people’s accounts when they don’t have the law, yet death still reigned throughout the time period from Adam to Moses. Death reigned over those generations even though they hadn’t defied God as explicitly as Adam did. That’s because Adam was just a prototype of He-Who-Was-Yet-To-Come. 

(15) Believers will reign now that Jesus unlocked life for humanity

But Jesus’s free gift didn’t operate like Adam’s act of defiance. Even though countless people died because of one man’s act of defiance, God’s grace abounded to countless more—and that also came through just One Man. Jesus’s gift isn’t like all the stuff that resulted from Adam’s crime. Adam’s curse came as the result of his ONE mistake, but the free gift came because of MANY mistakes—and it resulted in righteousness. If a single mistake enabled DEATH to reign through one man, then receiving Jesus’s excessive grace and free righteousness will enable us to reign even more supremely in LIFE through the one man of Jesus the Chosen One. 

(18) Grace & justice now reign, offering infinite life through Jesus

Adam’s single act of defiance resulted in a curse for all of humanity, but Jesus’s single act of righteousness resulted in a declaration-of-innocence that brought about life for all of humanity. Countless people were corrupted through one man’s disobedience, but now countless more will be purified through One Man’s obedience. The law came so that the corruption would be magnified, but when corruption abounded, God’s kindness abounded even more. Corruption first reigned in DEATH, but that allowed kindness to now reign through righteousness which results in infinite LIFE. This new reign came through Jesus, the Chosen One, who is our master.