Chapter 5

¹So as we have been made upright by faith, let us live in peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²by whom we have been introduced through faith to the favor of God that we now enjoy, and let us glory in our hope of sharing the glory of God. ³More than that, we ought to glory in our troubles, for we know that trouble produces endurance, ⁴and endurance, character, and character, hope, ⁵and hope will not disappoint us. For, through the holy Spirit that has been given us, God’s love has flooded our hearts. ⁶For when we were still helpless, at the decisive moment Christ died for us godless men. ⁷Why, a man will hardly give his life for an upright person, though perhaps for a really good man some may be brave enough to die. ⁸But God proves his love for us by the fact that Christ died for us when we were still sinners. ⁹So if we have already been made upright by his death, it is far more certain that through him we shall be saved from God’s anger! ¹⁰If, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, it is far more certain that now that we are reconciled we shall be saved through sharing in his life! ¹¹More than that, we actually glory in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom we owe our reconciliation.

¹²It is just like the way in which through one man sin came into the world, and death followed sin, and so death spread to all men, because all men sinned. ¹³It is true sin was in the world before the Law was given, and men are not charged with sin where there is no law. ¹⁴Still death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned as Adam had, in the face of an express command. So Adam foreshadowed the one who was to come. ¹⁵But there is no comparison between God’s gift and that offense. For if one man’s offense made the mass of mankind die, God’s mercy and his gift given through the favor of the one man Jesus Christ have far more powerfully affected mankind. ¹⁶Nor is there any comparison between the gift and the effects of that one man’s sin. That sentence arose from the act of one man, and was for condemnation; but God’s gift arose out of many offenses and results in acquittal. ¹⁷For if that one man’s offense made death reign through that one man, all the more will those who receive God’s overflowing mercy and his gift of uprightness live and reign through the one individual Jesus Christ.

¹⁸So as one offense meant condemnation for all men, just so one righteous act means acquittal and life for all men. ¹⁹For just as that one man’s disobedience made the mass of mankind sinners, so this one’s obedience will make the mass of them upright. ²⁰Then law slipped in, and multiplied the offense. But greatly as sin multiplied, God’s mercy has far surpassed it, ²¹so that just as sin had reigned through death, mercy might reign through uprightness and bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.