v1-5: Faith is the key to our inheritance in Christ; our faith is in Him, as we trust ourselves utterly to Him.

v1: Faith brings justification; this is the message of Romans. Without this central truth, much is lost. Justification brings us into a right standing with God; we are reconciled to Him, and enjoy peace with God. The natural enmity is dealt with. That peace comes through the blood of the cross.

v2: By faith we enjoy access to grace; this is daily faith, whilst justification is a single act of God. Here we enjoy and experience our relationship with God through Jesus Christ; we can life for God, standing in His grace.

Therefore we rejoice, because of the certainty of what He has given us; the hope of the glory of God, true for our future, but also true in our present. As we walk in God's grace, He is glorified.

v3: The solid rock of justification, reconciliation, access and hop; these enable us to rejoice in our sufferings. This is not just a 'stiff upper lip,' and not even the reminder that one day we shall be delivered from sufferings, but the knowledge that suffering actually strengthens us. In particular, we grow in perseverance, we keep on; here is the immediate result of our suffering endured with grace.

We note that suffering is a characteristic of this world, and our life in it, John 16.33. We must beware the attitude and lifestyle that is committed to avoiding all suffering and hardship.

v4: Perseverance develops character, even the character of Christ.

Character leads to hope, our total confidence in Christ and His promises, especially for our future. We can live for Him today for He has given us promises about tomorrow.

v5: By the hope of God we are never disappointed, never let down.

The Holy Spirit, who already indwells us, pours out God's love into our hearts; GK, EUCHUNO, meaning 'poured out.' The same word appears in Acts 1.18 (gushed out); 2.17; 10.45 (pour out); Jude 11 (ran riotously, Rv); and is used of Christ's voluntary sacrifice; Matt 26.28; Mark 14.24; Luke 22.20. His blood is poured out, shed for many.

Here is the abundance of God; generous, willing, largesse, unsparingly given to us. This experience is, however, only for those in Christ.

The Holy Spirit is given to us; God's irrevocable gift; by Him, and by His presence, we experience all the good that God has for us.

v6-11: The power of the death of Christ.

v6: The ungodly, that is, all people; this is from the logic of chapter 3; God has condemned all mankind. But equally, salvation is available for all mankind. We are powerless, without strength, unable to save ourselves.

v7: Goodness is better than rightness. The reader has to ask, 'In what circumstances will one man die for another?' and 'Why should anyone die for me?' And then, 'What would such a death achieve for me?' We learn that Christ's death was more than just taking my place, more than just a futile altruism, but something powerful that changes me.

v8: God's love is demonstrated in Christ; He died for us while we were still sinners, and while we still rejected Him and His love.

v9: Justified by His blood – the passover lamb, sacrificed for us, Heb 2.17. Here too is the idea of propitiation; we are saved from God's wrath, Christ Himself having borne that wrath for us. That wrath is both present (1.18-31) and especially future. The descriptions in 1.18-31 are not just the inevitable consequences of sin, but the wrath of God experienced in human lives.

v10: We were enemies of God, but now reconciled to Him, Eph 2.11-16. That reconciliation is achieved at the cross, 2 Cor 5.18.. While Eph 2 applies this to Jew and Gentile, and their relationships, Gal 3.28 applies it to all. Here is the truth that we are all one in Christ Jesus.

Paul here emphasises our reconciliation to God, which is essential for our reconciliation to one another, and this 'vertical' reconciliation is fully accomplished.

There is a present on going salvation from the power of sins in our lives, by the risen life of Christ. In 6.4, we walk in newness of life, the true Christian life, increasingly matching the life cna character of Christ Himself.

v11: Therefore we rejoice, see 14.17; there is righteousness, then peace, and then joy. As we know we are justified, we enjoy our peace with God, and we can truly rejoice in God. Thus, joy is built on certainty and security; and therefore Christ is the basis of that joy. This joy is something which is not just an occasional experience, but something constant; it must be as constant as our peace.

v12-21: Grace and the gift of righteousness; that gift is in and though Jesus Christ. We see that there was nothing that obliged God to do anything for us, apart from Himself.

v12: Sin entered the world through one man, Adam, and thereby spread to all. All sinned, all fall short of God's standards, even before those standards were explained as the Ten Commandments. Sin did not spread by imitation, but by imputation, Ps 51.5. Not only the acts of sins, but the sin nature is communicated to each succeeding generation.

v13: Before the law, there was no condemnation for disobeying the law, but there was still deliberate rebellion against God. Sinful attitudes passed from generation to generation, even though the specific acts of sin may have been different.

v14: Adam is the first type, or pattern, of Christ. This is explained in the following verses. We see that, although the law had not been given, death reigned, because the rebellion of Adam spread to all.

v15: The effects of Adam's trespass; many died; there is sin, death, condemnation.

Paul contrasts the work of Adam with the work of Christ. By the grace of God, who has intervened in human affairs, the gift through Christ is given. This gift has overflowed to many; there is a sufficiency in Christ's death, so that many will be benefited by it.

v16: Adam's act of rebellion brought condemnation.

Christ's act of His obedient life and sacrificial death produces justification. The schemes of man, of Pilate, the Pharisees, etc., are all frustrated, as His death is efficacious to change our lives, and He rose from the dead.

v17: Death came and death reigned; such is the state of natural, adamic, man. All men are subject to, and subjects of, death.

In contrast, in Christ we "reign in life," the life that He gives, the very life of Christ. We receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness; such a life! Elsewhere Paul states that we are "more than conquerors" (8.37), and that God leads us "in triumphal procession in Christ" (2 Cor 2.14). These words describe the normal Christian life, not some unattainable goal for the very few.

Tom Wright says that those who belong to Christ 'are placed in authority over God's new world' (Virtue Reborn, p76-82). We have hope that, in God's time, we shall reign in glory over the whole of creation, previously declared in Gen 1 and Ps 8. Until that day we learn to live in true freedom, enjoying the fruits of the future which Christ has won for us.

v18: The free gift to all kinds of men, resulting in justification. As judgment to all came from one man, so justification is the free gift to all. There is something ironic here; we did nothing to receive the natural rebellious nature from Adam; and we can do nothing to earn our deliverance from the condemnation that is due to us.

v19: Many are made righteous by Christ's life and obedience. Just as the disobedience of Adam makes many disobedient, so the obedience of Christ makes many righteous. We are given strength to be obedient; we become less like Adam and more like Christ. We know that the gospel is the power of God because we witness lives that are different. George Fox (Founder of the Quakers) says; 'There is a perfection in Christ, above Adam and beyond falling, and that it was the work of the ministers of Christ to present every man perfect in Christ.'

v20: The law entered, and made the offence abound; the law shows how bad sin is. It does not promote sin, although often the existence of law results in sin, see 7.7, 10.

v21: In Christ, grace dominates instead of sin. Ultimately, this truth will be seen, as all enmity is stopped. The implication is that the grace of God dominates our lives, to the glory of God.