“The Adam Family”

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ . 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope , 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because
God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person —though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die — 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us . 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
11 More than that, we also rejoice in
God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation .

• After laying out the problem and the solution, Paul begins to answer the “so what?”
• Verses 1-11 here provides a glimpse into the rest of the book
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Polemical to
Doxological (Arguing to Worship)
Peace…

• Pax Romana
• 300 years of not being at war
• 90 years into this when
Paul writes Romans
• Military might and governance
• Peace as cessation of hostilities

• Which means “good news”
• Was the news delivered by military messengers about the outcome of the battle
• Shalom vs. peace
• Shalom as wholeness
• The Gospel of Christianity is the good news that the forces that are ripping the world apart have been dealt with and that God is putting it back together

• All the judicial tones of the first 3 chapters are rooted in relationship
• With God?
• With each other?
• With life and death?
• With circumstances?
• “Obtained access” (V. 2)
• Royal imagery (Esther 4-
5)

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• Rejoice in sufferings doesn’t mean to be happy about it (Ps. 23)
God isn’t punishing you!
Martin Luther’s 4 points
It’s knowing that God can bring about good in them like He did at the cross
Greek hope was optimism,
Christian hope is NEWS
“Poured out” like flooding in the rainy season
First mention of God’s love in Romans

• Disappointment, discouragement, unproven character, despair
• The four things mentioned in ch. 5 are the Christian approach to the world
• Character here is related to “testing”
• Proverbs 13:12
• Spurgeon on the snail

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Verse 6-8
Poor Richard’s Almanac said that God helps those that help themselves
If you are a weak sinner, you are an object of God’s love
God’s love is so much greater than human love because it dies for those that hate Him
V. 9-11
Reconciled!
Not two parties meeting in the middle!
Past, present, future
“Rejoice” in V. 11 means boast
God is Alpha and Omega