Romans 5

¹ Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;

² through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

³ Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance;

⁴ and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;

⁵ and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

⁶ For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

⁷ For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a good person someone would even dare to die.

⁸ But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹ Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him.

¹⁰ For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.

¹¹ Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

¹² Therefore, as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin, so death passed to all men because all sinned.

¹³ For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law.

¹⁴ Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.

¹⁵ But the free gift isn’t like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

¹⁶ The gift is not as through one who sinned; for the judgment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift followed many trespasses to justification.

¹⁷ For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.

¹⁸ So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life.

¹⁹ For as through the one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous.

²⁰ The law came in that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly,

²¹ that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Around Romans 5

Book context

RomansEditorial draft

Paul writes to believers “in Rome” (1:1, 1:7), a church he had often planned to visit but had not yet reached (1:13), as he prepares to go to Jerusalem to serve the saints (15:25). The letter presents the Good News as “the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek” (1:16 to 17), then turns to how believers live in response to God’s mercy (12:1). Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897) outlines it as an introduction (1:1 to 15), the gospel of righteousness by faith (1:16 to 11:36), practical instruction (12:1 to 15:13) and a conclusion with many personal greetings (15:14 to the end). Easton places it in Corinth in AD 58; Phoebe, commended in 16:1, may have carried it.

Why we say this

HisFullGlory editorial · common interpretation · not yet reviewed by a theological reader

From the text itself

Sources

Notes summarise their sources in our own words. Where Christians or scholars disagree, the note says so. Notes are not original-language evidence and do not replace the text.

AI explanation

Romans 5 · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this chapter says

Being justified by faith, Paul says, “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”. They stand in grace and rejoice in hope, even in suffering, because suffering produces perseverance, then proven character, then hope, and hope does not disappoint, since God's love has been poured into their hearts. Hardly anyone would die for a righteous person, but “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Then he steps back to look at the whole human story. Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and death reigned from Adam to Moses. But the free gift is not like the trespass. If by one man's trespass the many died, much more did grace abound through the one man Jesus Christ. He sets one act of disobedience beside one act of obedience, and ends: “where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly”, so that grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life.

Background

Paul moves from the argument about faith in chapters 3 and 4 to what faith brings: peace, hope and reconciliation. The Adam passage in verses 12 to 21 has been read in different ways. Western churches, following Augustine, have often spoken of inherited sin and guilt, Eastern Orthodox readers stress inherited death, and others stress that all share in sin. Christians also differ on whether the many and all in verses 18 and 19 mean everyone or those who receive the gift, as verse 17 puts it.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 15 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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