Romans Chapter 5 "General Application, Atonement, Sin: The Old Nature." This Bible
Study is written by Roger Christopherson, and it's
transcription/ location is provided by http://www.theseason.org Paul had been accused many times of teaching that the more you sin, the better it is, because that gives God all the more opportunity to show grace. It takes a foolish person to accuse anyone of this, but it was said, so lets be forewarned of those that would teach such. Romans 5:1 "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:" Remember in a prior chapter we learned that "the Law brings wrath from God." If God zeros in on you, rest assured you will know it. When it comes, it is called correction from the Father, and just thank Him for it and go about your business. There is no other way to have peace except by our Lord Jesus Christ. This is to say, if you have the faith, then you will have peace with God through our lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:2 "By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." The important word here is the word "access". Remember when Jesus hung on the cross, and as the sixth hour of the day approached, our Lord hung His head and gave up the Ghost. When He died, at that instant certain things happened, and lets go to Luke 23:44-45. Luke 23:44 "And it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour [3pm]." Luke 23:45; "And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the Temple was rent in the midst." When the veil was rent in two and the Holy of Holies was opened from the top, those present knew where the wrath at that hour came from. When that veil was rent, or torn, then you or I or anyone that has faith in Jesus Christ could enter beyond the veil to approach and have the grace of God, and we from that moment on have access directly to our Heavenly Father. That is what the entire plan of God is all about, planned from before the foundations of this world age were laid down. God's love for each soul prepared the way, to where each soul could now approach the Father in the condition that they are now in. Each person in the flesh can by faith repent of all the sin in your life, and can go direct to the Father in Jesus name. You immediately have hope [confidence] in the glory of God. Romans 5:3 "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;" Christians should glory in what ever "tribulations" you find yourself in. When you suffer a little for the glory of God then rejoice, we saw in the last chapter that God pays His debts. That is what works are all about. Romans 4:4; "Now to him that worketh, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt." No, works have nothing to do with salvation, but when you are saved and do the work of the Lord, there is a debt that God will richly bless you for. In the phrase, "Knowing that tribulation worketh patience", it should read "tribulation worketh endurance." Romans 5:4 "And patience, experience; and experience, hope:" That "endurance" brings on character [experience]. Tribulation builds your character through endurance, and from your strong character comes your hope that we have in Jesus Christ. This word "hope" in the Greek text would be better translated today as "confidence." The veil into the Holy of Holies was rent and is gone, and now you have direct access to the almighty Father Himself through our Lord Jesus Christ, and if that doesn't build your character, then you are not studing His Word. When we think of our spiritual inheritance in the eternal life before us, how can a little tribulation bother any Christian with his or her eyes focused on their standing before God. As the years go by, you will actually find joy in that tribulation, and problems shed very easy when we find out that we don't have to put up with it. Romans 5:5 "And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." "Hope" in the Greek is better translated "confidence", or even "expectation". Confidence will never make you ashamed, or disappointed, because the more you come to know and trust God, the more God's love will flow through you. That love comes from God Himself, and comes into our hearts through His Spirit, the Holy Spirit. God's Spirit was given to us from the moment that the veil in the temple was rent in two. That confidence started moment of Jesus Christ's death on the cross, and that is the moment that our need for all the rituals of blood sacrifice ended, and Jesus Christ's blood became the blood sacrifice for one and all time. Romans 5:6 "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." When we are in our weakness, in the depths of our sins and hopelessly lost, that is the season, or appointed time that Christ died for us. Jesus did not die for the self-righteous, because those self-righteous souls are looking to themselves and their good works for their salvation. Jesus Christ died for the sinner, who sees his fallen state and calls out to the Lord in repentance. Jesus died for all those that believe on His name, that repent and accept the grace that God is offering to them. When those sinners repent they hear the words from the eternal judge, our heavenly Father, say those words, "Not guilty". Romans 5:7 "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die." There are many times a family members gave up their lives for another member of their family, or even a close friend. But for someone to die for the ungodly person, the drunk on the street, the person strung out on drugs, or the harlot on the streets, it is just unthinkable. However, my friend, Jesus did that and He does care for them, and for you. He cared for them and you so much that He went gladly to the cross, and laid down His life for that drunk, that druggie, that harlot, and for your soul. Romans 5:8 "But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." This is love, my friend, Jesus did not just die for the good people, but He died for every soul that would have the faith in Jesus Christ, repent and ask our heavenly Father for the forgiveness of our sins. Romans 5:9 "Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him." When we become "justified" by Jesus' blood, the Father finds us not guilty of all sin and removes all record of our sins from the books that all men will be judged out of. When that happens, we are spared from the wrath of God, and that includes the wrath that comes at the sounding of the seventh and last trumpet, when Jesus comes back to earth to set up His Millennium kingdom. We can handle the trouble that comes from Satan the Antichrist when he comes to earth for his five months of deception, when he comes to earth to deceive the entire earth. Revelation 9:5 "And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months,..." The "torment" that these people living in the flesh shall have when they committed themselves to the Antichrist can simply cannot be compared to the wrath that our Father will bring upon the earth at the sounding of the seventh trumpet. This nineth verse tells you how to avoid the wrath of God during any period of time. We are saved from wrath through Jesus Christ, and our belief and repentance in His name. Romans 5:10 "For 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." We are enemies of God, when we are sinners. Then when we became reconciled, we were brought back to God through the death of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. When Jesus came out of that tomb, and ascended to the right hand of the Father, that closeness became even more binding, for now Jesus Christ is our advocate before the throne of God pleading our case, when we fall back into sin. "Being reconciled" back to God, in Jesus' name also saves your soul and gives you eternal life. Jesus life then comes into each of us, through the Holy Spirit. Romans 5:11 "And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom we have now received the atonement." "Atonement" is "a covering", and it is a oneness that each of us have with Christ. His Holy Spirit is in us individually become part of His body, the body of Christ. With "atonement" being the covering, don't ever forget that the covering was the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross. Romans 5:12 "Wherefore, 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:" The sin that entered into the world came through Adam. All men and women in this world have sinned and fell short of the glory of God. Because all sin entered into the world by Adam, God's plan said that it would be through Adam's seed that the Redeemer would come, that would destroy Satan and bring us back to God. Genesis 3:15; "And I [God] will put enmity between thee [Satan] and the woman [Eve], and between thy [Satan's] seed [the Kenites] and her [Eve's] Seed [Jesus Christ]; It [Christ] shall bruise thy [Satan's] head, and thou [Satan] shalt bruise His [Christ's] heel." Eve's seed is our Lord Jesus Christ. While Satan's seed are the children, to the last generation, called the "Kenites". Those offspring were born from the sexual union between Eve and Satan [in the role as the deceiving Serpent], who is also called [the tree of good and evil]. God is telling us that He will put trouble between Eve's children [through Adam and Seth], And Satan's offspring through Cain, called the Kenites. It is Jesus Christ that shall bruise the head of Satan, and this will happen at the seventh trumpet when Christ shall return for our Lord's second advent. It is important that you remember that it was the offspring of Cain, called the Kenites [not brother Judah] that bruised the heel of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. This brusing of Christ was done when the spikes were driven through Jesus' heel, as He hung on the cross to pay the full price of our sins, once and for all. Most "men of God" acknowledge that Genesis 3:15 is talking about the death of Jesus Christ, when He was nailed to the cross for our sins. They recognize that "seed" is referring to the children of the woman "Eve", yet somehow they just want to spiritualize everything else that happened in the Garden of Eden between Eve and these two men, Satan and Adam. The "seed" in the Hebrew is called "zimah", and in the Greek it is called "sperma". In English we call it "sperm", and in Strongs Hebrew Dictionary #2233; "Posterity, carnally, child, fruitful". Friend, it can't be any clearer. The seed of Satan's "posterity" are the Kenites, while Adam's posterity is in Christ, are of the pure bloodline through Seth. That was the reason for the flood of Noah's day, and the only reason that Noah and his family were saved from the flood. Genesis 6:9; "These are THE GENERATIONS OF NOAH; Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." The term, "and perfect in his generations," is referring only to his ancestry. It does not mean there was no sin in those generations from Adam to Noah, for we know sin came into this world through his ancestor Adam. The Bible clearly tells us of the sins of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, and of Enos' generation in Genesis 4:26. Both Noah and his wife came from families which are recorded in the Scriptures, as not mixing with the fallen angels, those "sons of God that came to earth to take the daughters of men for their wives". Neither of them had a drop of the fallen angels lineage in their vains. The word "generations" comes from the Hebrew prime, "toledoth", and in the Hebrew text it is # 8735 in Strong's Hebrew Dictionary. "Toledoth", or "generations" is the "family history" that is called "perfect", and in the Hebrew text "perfect" is called "Tamin", or "pedigree". So we see this verse should read; "without blemish as to breed, or pedigree". This verse does not speak of Noah's moral perfection, but tells us that Noah and his family had preserved their pedigree, and kept it pure, inspite of the prevailing corruption brought about by the fallen angels [the children called the "Nephilim"], nor Satan's offspring through Cain, [the Kenites]. So we see that sin came into the world by the sin that took place between Adam, Eve and Satan in the Garden of Eden, and from that sin it was passed on to all children. Today the so-called religious leaders like to mix sin up with eating of apples, of morals, and whatever else they happen to think up, and they miss the most important lesson. For Christ to be born of man, there had to be a pure blood line, or pedigree of man, without the mixture of the fallen angels, nor of Satan's offspring the Kenites, and in Noah and his family was the only pure pedigree of the Adamic bloodline remaining on earth. All mankind became polluted in mixture, and this corruption before God is called violence in Genesis 6:11; "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.". This pedigree is what was protected by God through the flood. Genesis 10 gives us the generations from Noah, through Shem to the parentage of Abraham, and we studied Abraham's righteousness in the fourth chapter of Romans. Satan has tried to destroy the blood line whereby the Christ child, Jesus would be born in many ways, but Satan and his angles did not get their job done. Even today Satan is trying to destroy you. If you stay in God's Word you will not be destroyed by Satans deceit and violence. Romans 5:13 "(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law." It has been said that "if one sins in ignorance there really is no sin". This verse is saying that you simply can not be charged with an action against a law that has not been made yet. Once that law is established then the violation against it can be charged. "Imputed" means "there was a violation against the law, or sin is placed on your account, or "reckoned to you". Romans 5:14 "Nevertheless 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." This is to say that the first Adam was to be a likeness figure of the second Adam. The first Adam was created in the Garden of Eden from the dust of the earth, while the second Adam is Jesus Christ Himself also born of a woman. Paul teaches more on this in I Corinthians 15. I Corinthians 15:21 "For since by man [Adam] came death, by man [Christ] came also the resurrection of the dead." I Corinthians 15:22 "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." I Corinthians 15:23 "But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's, at His coming." I Corinthians 15:24 "Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power." This time when Christ "shall have put down all rule and all authority of power" is the time of His return at the seventh trumpet, the end of the flesh age, and the starting of Christ's Millennium kingdom age. Romans 5:15 "But 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." "The offence of one [Adam] many be dead," states that through the sin, or spiritual death of Adam, sin entered the world into all mankind. Just as sin came upon you through the sin of Adam, so also can the forgiveness of the sin be given to all, also through one man, Jesus Christ, who paid the pice for all sins of those that will ask for forgiveness. Friend, this is the basics of Christianity. Do not confuse faith, works, salvation, experience, endurence and your character, for they are all formed by our hope in Jesus Christ, which builds your confidence and expectation from God's Word. God stated it in His Word, and you can claim these things of God, and expect each of them to come to pass because God keeps His Word. If you are a servant of God, you can expect all the promises to come to pass that He has given you in His Word. When we please our Heavenly Father the wrath of God will not be upon you. There is another type of tribulation that can come into your life, and that is when you allow Satan to cause confusion and sickness in your life and your family. You don't have to put up with it, for God gives us the power and the authority to order Satan and his evil spirits out of our lives. Satan loves nothing more than to get you and your family to argue and fight with each other. Then he sits back and watches the confusion that he started, and in ignorance you let it happen to you, as you play Satan's games that make you and those around you miserable. When Jesus went to the cross, and paid the price for all our sins, and the salvation that Christ gives in your peace of mind comes immediately upon repentance. John 15:7 "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." Don't overlook the two conditions stated here. The first is that; "If ye abide in Me", and the second being that; "and My words abide in you". Have you studied God's Word to where those Words abide in you? When those Words are part of your life, then you can do the asking, and expect that "it shall be done unto you". John 15:8 "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. It pleases our heavenly Father to fill your wishes, because in filling your wish will glorifies the Father. You are His servant, and when His servant is pleased, so is He. God gave you power and authorities over all your enemies, and don't forget to use it properly, "in Jesus name". Jesus is our only credientials that we must uses when we approach the throne of God, always. In the world today of over five billion people, there are very few that really know how to approach the throne of God. Most of them are like as sworm of bees that are to busy serving their queen bee, to know what is going on around them, and take the time to study and know His Word. This is why it is important that we spent the time to enjoy His Word, and take the authority that He has given to us. Romans 5:16 "And 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." Keep in mind that the one that sinned was Adam, in the Garden of Eden. Adam also brought about the execution of condemnation, when God set the first law, in Genesis 2:16, 17, and then Adam and Eve broke that very first law. Genesis 2:16, 17; "And the Lord God commanded the man [Adam], saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Satan was that "tree of good and evil", and the taking of that tree was through the seduction of Eve, to which Adam also took part, and sin entered into mankind. The free "gift" is God's forgiveness of your sins. Upon repentance for your sin "in Jesus' name" brings about that free gift to you. Our heavenly Father is a loving, forgiving God, but first you have to take the first step of asking Him for forgiveness in Jesus name, and continue in your belief and faith that God will keep His promise to you. Our Heavenly Father counts on your asking and your faith in His Word merits forgiveness on His part. Romans 5:17 "For 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.) Why is this? Because Jesus paid the price for all sin. Romans 5:18 "Therefore 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." "The offence of one judgment", is to say Adam's sin brought spiritual death upon all men; and through Christ came righteousness to all men. When we approach the throne of God, we do not approach Him with our righteousness, but each of us must approach the throne of God with the righteousness of Christ, the One who paid the price. The sin was paid for at the cross of Christ, and forgiven is offered because of Jesus' righteousness. We receive that righteousness only because we have asked for that free gift. "Justification of life", means "eternal life is given" because all the charges of sin against us by the law were taken from us, and we can now stand before the throne of God, "not guilty". The Word "free gift" is only free in the sense that each of us do not have to pay for the sins we committed. The price had to be paid and it was a dear price paid with Christ death on the cross. God required the blood of the pure and innocent as the payment, and that price could only be met by Jesus, the "only begotten Son of the Father", and by the virgin birth of Jesus through Mary. Jesus paid an awsome price, and remember that when you say it is a free gift, don't say those words lightly. With the free gift on the cross, we are to respect the dignity of Christ's death on the cross. To understand what is meant by "Jesus Christ crucified", it requires that you know who did the crucifying, why it was done, and what is then required of those that except Him. Then you will be able to appreciate that free gift that God has given so freely to you. The lack of the knowledge of "Christ crucified" is like the valuable item that a person has and never use, because they don't know it's true value or how to use it. Romans 5:19 "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made rightous." When Adam sinned, sin entered into all men, Why? Because God spoke the law [commandment] and His Words made it happen. In turn, by the obedience of Christ when He gladly went to the cross, shall many men also be made righteous, when the ask for it through repentance in Jesus name. Why? Also because God spoke the Word, and it is in the promises of God. The choice is yours, and no one can force it upon you. You have to ask for Jesus Christ's righteousness to be placed on you, and that is exactly what happens when you repent of you sins. Romans 5:20 "Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:" This is to say that the law, or the commandments of God were given so that sin could be recognized [offences might abound]. So where sin did exist and was recognized, so also could the grace of God be seen also. Grace is the unmerited favor that we have before God, and this brings us to the point whereby we can see the sin, repent, and this brings out our love of God. The grace of God is sufficient to cover all sin. Romans 5:21 "That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." This is a continuation of verse (20). Jesus Christ paid that price, and by understanding the commandments [the law] we can see the sin present in our lives and remove ourselves from that sin.
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