Romans 5

So then, because we have been counted right with God through trust in him, we are at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

Note"Justified" is a law-court word. It does not mean made good or made better; it means declared to be in the right, the verdict a judge hands down in a person's favor. That is what the rendering's "counted right with God" carries. Also, the Greek manuscripts here differ by a single vowel, giving either "we have peace" (a statement) or "let us have peace" (an exhortation). Translators have gone both ways; the King James and most modern versions take it as a statement.

2Through Jesus we have also been let in by faith to this undeserved kindness that we now stand in. And we are glad as we hope for the glory of God.

2By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Note"Access" translates a word used for being brought into the presence of a king by someone with the standing to introduce you. "Grace" is a gift handed freely to someone who has no claim on it, which is why the rendering says "undeserved kindness."

3That is not all. We are also glad in the middle of our troubles, because we know that trouble builds the strength to keep going.

3And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

NoteThe King James uses three different English words, "rejoice" in verse 2, "glory" here, and "joy" in verse 11, for one Greek verb that means to boast or exult openly, not to feel quietly pleased. "Tribulation" means pressure or affliction of any kind, not specifically religious persecution. And "patience" in 1611 English meant staying power under load, the ability to hold up and keep going, not calm waiting.

4Keeping going builds proven character, and proven character builds hope.

4And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

Note"Experience" here translates a word for the tested quality of something that has been put through a trial and come out proved, the way metal is assayed to show it is genuine. The sense is not accumulated life experience.

5And this hope does not let us down, because God has poured his love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom he gave to us.

5And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Note"Maketh not ashamed" does not mean hope avoids embarrassment. Shame here is the public disgrace of having staked yourself on something that then failed you; the claim is that this hope will not be exposed as misplaced. "Holy Ghost" is the same as "Holy Spirit": in 1611 "ghost" simply meant spirit.

6For at just the right time, while we still had no strength of our own, Christ died for people who cared nothing for God.

6For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

Note"Without strength" means helpless, without the power to do anything about one's own situation. "Ungodly" in this vocabulary describes people who give God no regard, not people who are unusually wicked.

7It is rare for anyone to die for a person who does what is right. Someone might possibly be brave enough to die for a truly good person.

7For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

Note"Peradventure" means perhaps. Readers have long disagreed about whether Paul is drawing a real distinction here between two kinds of person, a merely upright one and a generous or admirable one that someone might actually love enough to die for, or simply saying the same thing twice for effect. The Greek allows either.

8But God shows how much he loves us in this way: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

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

Note"Commendeth" in 1611 English meant demonstrates or proves, not praises or recommends.

9So now that we have been counted right with God by his blood, how much more certain it is that we will be saved through him from God's anger.

9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

Note"His blood" is sacrificial shorthand for a death, standard in Jewish usage, where the blood stands for the life given up. "Wrath" in Paul's Greek often stands alone as a term for the settled judgment that falls on wrongdoing, which is why the King James can say simply "wrath" with no possessive.

10For if we were made friends with God through the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, how much more certain it is that we will be saved by his life, now that we are his friends.

10For 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.

Note"Reconciled" translates a word used of ending hostility between estranged parties, whether two people or two nations, and putting the relationship back on friendly terms.

11And that is not all. We are also glad in God himself through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now been made friends with God.

11And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

Note"Atonement" is the only place the King James uses that word in the New Testament, and the Greek behind it is the ordinary word for reconciliation, the same idea as verse 10. In 1611 "atonement" still carried its original sense of at-one-ment, the patching up of a quarrel; the narrower modern sense of a sacrifice that pays for sin developed later, so the word now points readers somewhere the Greek does not.

12So here is the point. Sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin. And in this way death spread to every person, because everyone sinned.

12Wherefore, 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:

NoteThe phrase rendered "for that all have sinned" is one of the most disputed in the letter. The two Greek words behind "for that" can be read as "because all sinned," as "with the result that all sinned," or, as some ancient Latin readers took it, "in whom," meaning in Adam, all sinned. Translators have gone all three ways, and the sentence is left unfinished in the Greek: Paul says "as" and then never supplies the matching "so," breaking off into the parenthesis of verses 13 to 17 before picking the thought up again in verse 18.

13Sin was already in the world before the law was given. But sin is not charged against a person's account when there is no law.

13(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

Note"The law" here means the law given through Moses at Sinai, the specific body of commands Israel received. "Imputed" is a bookkeeping word: entered on someone's account as a debt.

14Even so, death ruled from Adam's time until Moses, even over people who did not sin in the same way Adam broke God's command. Adam is a pattern of the one who was coming later.

14Nevertheless 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.

Note"Similitude" means likeness. Adam broke a direct, spoken command; the people between Adam and Moses had no such command to break, which is the point being made. "Figure" translates the Greek word typos, the impression left by a stamp or a die, hence a pattern or mold that a later thing matches. Note also that from here to verse 21 sin, death and grace are spoken of as though they were kings: they "reign."

15But the free gift is not like the wrongdoing. If many people died because of the wrongdoing of that one man, God's undeserved kindness, and the gift that came by that kindness through one man, Jesus Christ, overflowed to many people far more.

15But 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.

Note"Offence" translates a word meaning a false step or blunder, a trespass. "Many" in this verse and in verse 19 renders a Greek phrase, "the many," which is an idiom for the whole mass of humanity considered together, not "a large number but not all." "Be dead" in 1611 English means died.

16And the gift is not like what came from that one man's sin. The verdict followed one sin and brought a guilty sentence, but the free gift followed many wrongdoings and brought a verdict of "right with God."

16And 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.

NoteThe vocabulary here is a courtroom's: "judgment" is the verdict handed down, "condemnation" the sentence against the accused, "justification" the verdict in the accused's favor. The contrast is arithmetical: the condemning verdict followed from a single offense, while the gift answers a whole accumulation of them.

17For if death ruled through one man because of that one man's wrongdoing, how much more certain it is that those who receive God's overflowing kindness and his gift of being right with him will rule in life through one man, Jesus Christ.

17For 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.)

18So then, just as one act of wrongdoing brought a guilty sentence on everyone, in the same way one act of doing right brought to everyone the free gift that makes people right with God and gives them life.

18Therefore 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.

Note"The righteousness of one" translates a single Greek word that can mean a righteous act, a legal requirement met, or a sentence of acquittal; readers disagree over whether it points to Christ's death in particular or to the whole course of his obedience. Note also that the Greek says "all" in both halves of the sentence, and how far the second "all" reaches, whether as wide as the first, has been argued over for centuries. The rendering leaves the phrasing as open as the Greek does.

19For just as many were made sinners through the disobedience of that one man, so also many will be made right with God through the obedience of the one man.

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

Note"Made sinners" and "made righteous" translate a verb meaning to appoint, install or constitute someone in a position or standing, the word used for putting a person in an office. It is not the language of manufacture or of inward alteration. "Many" again renders "the many," the whole mass of people.

20The law was brought in so that wrongdoing would increase. But where sin increased, God's undeserved kindness increased far more.

20Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

Note"Entered" translates a verb meaning came in alongside, a secondary arrival onto a scene already occupied, which is why the rendering says "was brought in." The Greek word behind "that" can express either purpose (the law came in in order to make wrongdoing increase) or result (the law came in, and the effect was that wrongdoing increased). The sentence is genuinely open between the two.

21The result is this: just as sin ruled and brought death, so also God's kindness rules by making people right with him, and brings life that never ends through Jesus Christ our Lord.

21That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Note"Eternal life" translates a phrase meaning the life of the age to come, the life belonging to God's future world. Endless duration is part of the idea but not the whole of it; the emphasis falls on which age the life belongs to.