RSV ~ Romans 5 Notes

Rom 5:1-5 | ISB Notes

The justified are endowed with theological virtues. By faith, they live in peace with God and have access to his grace; in hope, they long for the glory of God that awaits them; and through love, they show that the charity of the Spirit dwells in their hearts (CCC 1813). Equipped in this way, believers can become more like Christ through endurance and suffering (CCC 618). See note on 1 Cor 13:13.

Rom 5:8 | ISB Notes

God shows his love: The dying of Christ shows us the depths of God’s unconditional love for the world (1 Jn 3:16). This is all the more remarkable since the world, being “ungodly” (5:6) and “enemies” (5:10), did not deserve it (CCC 603-4).

Rom 5:10 | ISB Notes

shall we be saved: Salvation can be described in terms of the past, present, and future. It is past with reference to Baptism, which saves us from the filth of our sins (1 Pet 3:21). It is a present reality when we allow grace to make us steadily more virtuous and holy (1 Cor 1:18). It is a future hope that we will for ever live with the Lord in glory (Heb 9:28) (CCC 169, 1026).

Rom 5:12-21 | ISB Notes

Paul compares and contrasts Adam and Christ. They are similar because their actions have had a great impact on the world, but dissimilar because Adam filled the world with misery and Christ redeemed the world from slavery to sin. Paul is stressing that the grace of Christ more than compensates for the damage done by Adam’s rebellion (CCC 385, 388).

Rom 5:12 | ISB Notes

through one man: Sin invaded the world through Adam, who allowed the temptations of his wife and the devil to overpower his commitment to God (Gen 3:1-7; Wis 2:24).

death through sin: God warned Adam that death was the penalty for disobedience (Gen 2:17). His willful defiance in the face of this threat brought about the immediate death of his soul and the eventual death of his body (Gen 3:19).

all men sinned: As the father of the human family, Adam turned away from God on our behalf. His rebellion was thus a representative act that not only injured himself, but dragged the entire family of man into suffering and separation from God (CCC 402-5).

• The Council of Trent appealed to Rom 5:12 when it defined the doctrine of Original Sin in 1546 (Sess. 5). The doctrine holds that all descendants of Adam are born into the world in a state of spiritual death and in desperate need of salvation. The condition spreads, not by imitation (making the same mistake as Adam), but by propagation (by virtue of our genealogical link with Adam).

Rom 5:14 | ISB Notes

Yet death reigned: Death was the covenant curse set before Adam (Gen 2:17) and Moses (Deut 30:19). Although no positive law threatening death was issued during the centuries that intervened, men and women continued to suffer and die. This shows that the sin of Adam had a lasting and devastating effect on the world quite apart from the behavior of his first descendants (CCC 396).

• Just as all who descend from Adam inherit death, though they do not eat from the tree themselves, so all who are joined to Christ inherit righteousness, though they do nothing to produce it themselves (St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Romans 10).

Rom 5:19 | ISB Notes

made righteous: The essence of justification, which takes effect when God imparts the gift of righteousness to the believer (5:17; Phil 3:9).

See word study: Justified at 2:13.

Rom 5:20 | ISB Notes

to increase the trespass: The Torah aggravated the problem of sin because it defined the boundaries of wrongdoing (7:7) but could not restrain Israel from crossing them (7:12-24). The purpose was to induce Israel to acknowledge its weakness and cry out for divine help.

• The Law was given that grace might be sought; grace was given that the Law might be kept (St. Augustine, On the Spirit and the Letter 34).