Introduction: Would you like to have more peace in your life? Worry,
dread, anxiety, and apprehension are major factors in the lives of
many people. The gospel promises peace. But, why is that? One main
reason is that God loves us. The Ruler of the Universe loves you! How
did that happen? Let’s plunge into our study of Romans to learn more!
- Peace
- Read Romans 5:1-2. What gives us peace with God? (Grace –
being justified through faith.) - Romans 5:2 says “we have gained access.” Gained
access to what or whom? (Access to grace, access to
God! If there is anyone you should fear, it is God.
Paul writes that grace gives us peace about
approaching God.) - Romans 5:2 also says that we “rejoice in the hope of
the glory of God.” I like peace. But, I prefer
rejoicing. What do you think is hope in the glory of
God? (I think this is our promise of heaven and an
earth made new. If you take the “long view” of your
current troubles, you can have peace, but more than
that you can rejoice in the ultimate conclusion of
things.) - Read Romans 5:3-4. Paul writes about rejoicing in
suffering. That is a difficult concept to understand. How
doe Paul tell us this is possible? (Paul tells us that
suffering leads to a series of attitude improvements that
lead up to “hope.”) - I see a problem that we need to sort out. Romans 5:1-2 tells us that accepting grace leads to rejoicing
“in the hope of glory.” Why not take that path to
hope instead of the suffering, perseverance, and
character path to hope? - Is there both a hard path and an easy path to hope?
Why not take the easy path? (Paul did not tell us
that righteousness by faith made us free from
suffering. He said that it leads to peace and hope.
When we suffer, we can rejoice because we know that
it does not destroy our hope, rather it leads to
hope.) - Read Romans 5:5. Have you ever accomplished a goal and
found it was less satisfying than you thought it would be?
Will we be disappointed when we reach the stage of hope?
(No.) - Why not? (“God has poured out His love into our
hearts by the Holy Spirit.” I’m not sure how this
connects to hope, but let’s see what we can learn as
Paul continues to address this issue.) - Love
- Read Romans 5:6-8. What makes Jesus’ act of giving up His
life for us so unusual? (Paul suggests that this is often
a rational decision – we give up our life for someone who
will make the sacrifice worthwhile. But, Jesus died for
sinners. He died for those destined to die anyway.) - Notice that Romans 5:6 points out that Jesus died for
us “when we were still powerless.” How does that add
to the unusual nature of Jesus’ sacrifice on our
behalf? - Now let’s go back to that phrase in Romans 5:5 about how
hope will not disappoint because God “poured out His love
into our hearts.” In light of Romans 5:6-8, does this now
seem easier to understand? (God loved and died for us when
we did not deserve it, when His decision seemed
irrational. This gets us excited because we do not have to
“earn” the basis for our hope in heaven. Like salvation,
it is a free gift. Thus, we can rejoice because we are
certain of it!) - We don’t want to miss the Holy Spirit component of
the promise in Romans 5:5. What is the role of the
Holy Spirit? - Read Romans 5:9-11. Verse 11 tells us that we have
“received reconciliation.” What is “reconciliation?” (It
is the restoration of a friendship. Causing two people to
become friendly again.) - I see a God of love and generosity even in the Old
Testament. Why would God ever be unfriendly to us?
( Romans 5:9 says that we are “saved from God’s
wrath.” That must mean God’s anger over the sin
arising in our world. It must mean that a perfect and
holy God is incompatible with sin. Thus, when we were
sinners not covered by the sacrifice of Jesus, we
were incompatible with God.) - Read Romans 5:12. Who is the source of our sin problem?
(That “one man” must be Adam.) - Does that seem unfair to you? Should Adam’s sin cause
you to lose eternal life? (Verse 12 also adds
“because all sinned.” You deserve eternal death
because of your sin.) - Read Romans 5:13-14. Has there been a time since Adam’s
sin that we did not have sin in the world? (No. Before the
law was given, sin was in the world.) - What does Paul mean when he says that “sin is not
taken into account when there is no law?” - If Paul means that sin was not punished, how
can we explain Cain and the Flood? Cain was
punished for murder and those who refused to
enter into the ark were punished. How can this
be explained? (To “account” for something is to
record it and put it in an orderly arrangement.
I think Paul is merely saying that we did not
have an orderly statement of sin prior to the
Ten Commandments. However, sin still existed
and humans still died as a result of the
entrance of sin into our world.) - Read Romans 5:15 and re-read the end of Romans 5:14. Who
is the “One to come” who is patterned after Adam? (Jesus!) - How is this true? (Adam’s one sin plunged us all into
sin. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection took us out
of sin – if we accept it.) - Read Romans 5:16. Romans 5:15 tells us “the gift is not
like the trespass,” and Romans 5:16 repeats that the “gift
of God” is not like “the result of the one man’s sin.” How
are they different? (On a very basic level, one brings
death and the other brings life. If this was about the
quality of paper towels, or the efficiency of a sponge,
Adam’s one sin created a nightmare. But, Jesus’ actions on
our behalf sponged up all of our sins. It is the one sin
versus negating the many.) - Let’s look at the last part of Romans 5:16. What did
Jesus’ actions bring into our lives? (Justification.) - I recently read a statement that Jesus simply
took away our sins. Thus, we need to do
something additional to be in a correct
relationship with God. What does this text say
about that idea? (Jesus brings justification.
Trying to add our works is like pinning some
cheap jewelry to the perfect robe of
righteousness given to us by Jesus.) - Read Romans 5:17. What do we receive from Jesus’ gift?
(Life!) - What does this verse add to our discussion of Jesus’
death simply “zeroing out” (negating) our sins? (It
says Jesus brings to us “the gift of righteousness.”
Jesus did not simply negate our sins. He brings us
the positive gift of righteousness.) - Read Romans 5:18-19. On first reading this seems to say
that Adam automatically made all of us sinners, and Jesus
automatically saved all of us. Is it true that everyone is
saved? - Notice that the NIV translation refers to
“condemnation for all men,” and later, “the many will
be made righteous.” This sounds like not all are
saved, rather “many” are saved. The problem is that
the Greek word used for “all” is the same used for
“many.” How does that affect your view of this?
(Read Romans 3:22. Paul is simply saying that
salvation by faith is available to all. He is not
saying that salvation comes to those who do not
accept the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.) - Read Romans 5:20-21. Why would God want to have sin
(“trespass”) increase? (I think this means that our
understanding of sin increased. We understood better how
God wants us to live.) - Is it a bad thing that sin increased? (No, because
grace increased even more.) - What is the outcome for those who believe that Jesus
is God and accept what He has done for us? (We have
eternal life!) - Friend, eternal life is the hope in which we rejoice. That
is what gives us peace in life. Sin can bring excitement,
but obedience, trust in God, belief in grace, brings us
peace. Why not choose peace today? - Next week: Overcoming Sin.
