We Enjoy Peace with God through Jesus

1Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we havea peace with God through our Lord Jesus the Messiah.b 2Through him we have also obtainedc access by faithd into this grace by which we have been established, and we boaste because of our hope in God’s glory. 3Not only that, but we also boastf in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4endurance produces character, and character produces hope. 5Now this hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

6For at just the right time, while we were still powerless,g the Messiahh died for the ungodly. 7For it is rare for anyone to die for a righteous person, though somebody might be brave enough to die for a good person. 8But God demonstrates his love for us by the fact that the Messiahi died for us while we were still sinners.

9Now that we have been justified by his blood, how much more will we be saved from wrath through him! 10For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life! 11Not only that, but we also continue to boast about God through our Lord Jesus the Messiah,j through whom we have now been reconciled.

Death in Adam, Life in the Messiah

12Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death resulted from sin, therefore everyone dies, because everyone has sinned. 13Certainly sin was in the world before the Law was given,k but no record of sin is kept when there is no Law. 14Nevertheless, death ruled from the time ofl Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the same way Adam did when he disobeyed.m He is a foreshadowing of the one who would come.

15But God’s free giftn is not like Adam’s offense.o For if many people died as the result of one man’s offense, how much more have God’s grace and the free gift given through the kindness of one man, Jesus the Messiah,p been showered on many people! 16Nor can the free gift be compared to what came through the man who sinned.q For the sentence that followed one man’s offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift brought justification, even after many offenses. 17For if, through one man, death ruled because of that man’s offense, how much more will those who receive such overflowing grace and the gift of righteousness rule in life because of one man, Jesus the Messiah!r

18Consequently, just as one offense resulted in condemnation for everyone, so one act of righteousness results in justification and life for everyone. 19For just as through one man’s disobedience many people were made sinners, so also through one man’s obedience many people will be made righteous. 20Now the Law crept in so that the offense would increase. But where sin increased, grace increased even more, 21so that, just as sin ruled by bringing death,s so also grace might rule by bringing justificationt that results in eternal life through Jesus the Messiah,u our Lord.