Romans 5 juridical and substantial

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Text size:
Romans
Chapter 5
Juridical and substantial
Reading key · not a replacement chapter
Legend
J — juridical transformation: changes standing before God
S — substantial transformation: changes the person, the life, or the body
J+S — both together

Romans 5 opens in court and ends with two heads. Peace is the fruit of a verdict. The death that passes to all is the fruit of the same kind of bond: one man’s act binds the many.

Peace with God · J

1–2 Justified by faith, we have peace with God. Access into grace. We stand. That is position, not yet a new body. J.

5 The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Spirit given to us. Here the inward reality appears. It does not erase the verdict of vv. 1–2. It seals it from inside. That is why this verse touches J+S.

6–11 Christ died for the ungodly. Already justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath. We were enemies; we were reconciled by his death; we shall be saved by his life. Reconciliation and justification are court words. His death and life are facts. What the sinner receives now is the change of relation: no longer an enemy. J.

Adam and Christ · J+S

12 Through one man sin entered; through sin, death; death passed to all. There is a head’s verdict and there is real mortality. No one chooses to be born under Adam. The decree drags the flesh. J+S.

13 “Sin is not counted where there is no law.” λογίζομαι again. Sin can be present; it is not always posted as specified transgression. Pure J.

16–19 Judgment to condemnation. Gift to justification. By one man’s disobedience the many were constituted sinners; by one man’s obedience the many will be constituted righteous. To constitute is to place in a class. It is the same move as Romans 2: count one thing as another. The death that reigns and the life that will reign are the substantial effect of those two sentences. J+S.

21 Sin reigned in death. Grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life. The throne is juridical. The reign produces death or life. They are not split.

How not to mix them. Justified and at peace does not mean the body has already left Adam in the flesh. It means the class has changed. Romans 6 will say: reckon yourselves dead to sin. Romans 8 will say: the body will be made alive. This chapter sets belonging: whose head are you under?

← Back to Romans 5

Reading Key — Romans as a legal case

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