A thoughtful guide for your walk of faith Read with context, practice with grace.
Pauline Letters · WORLD ENGLISH BIBLE

Romans 5

Paul unfolds the gospel, justification, new life, Israel, community, and transformed practice.

New Testament

Romans 5

1Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;

2through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

3Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance;

4and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;

5and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

6For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

7For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a good person someone would even dare to die.

8But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him.

10For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.

11Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

12Therefore, as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin, so death passed to all men because all sinned.

13For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law.

14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.

15But the free gift isn’t like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

16The gift is not as through one who sinned; for the judgment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift followed many trespasses to justification.

17For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.

18So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life.

19For as through the one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous.

20The law came in that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly,

21that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

READ IN CONTEXT

Before applying this chapter

Paul unfolds the gospel, justification, new life, Israel, community, and transformed practice. Read Romans 5 within the complete Romans overview, and use the contextual Bible reading guide before forming a personal application. Chapter divisions aid navigation, but the literary unit may begin earlier or continue into the next chapter.

Observe first

Mark repeated words, changes of speaker, commands, promises, contrasts, questions, and the relationship between paragraphs.

Apply responsibly

Distinguish description from command and immediate audience from later readers before forming a personal application.

TEXT-DERIVED READING NOTES

What to notice in Romans 5

Romans 5 contains 21 verses and about 465 words in this translation. These observations come from the chapter itself; they are prompts for close reading, not claims about its only possible meaning.

The opening movement

Verse 1 begins: “Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;” Ask what situation, voice, image, or argument this opening establishes for everything that follows.

The closing movement

Verse 21 closes: “that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Compare the ending with the opening and note what changed, resolved, intensified, or remained open.

Vocabulary worth tracing

Recurring or prominent content words include christ, grace, death, will, gift, trespass. Follow where each word appears and whether its meaning shifts with the speaker or setting.

COMMON QUESTIONS

About Romans 5

Which Bible translation is shown here?+

This page reproduces the World English Bible Protestant edition (WEBP), a modern-English translation dedicated to the public domain.

How should I cite a specific verse?+

Use the book, chapter, and verse—for example, Romans 5:1—and name the World English Bible if the wording matters. Each verse number above is a direct anchor link.

Does the chapter number define the complete literary unit?+

Not always. Chapter and verse numbers were added for navigation. Check the paragraphs, scenes, poetic stanzas, or argument before and after this chapter.

A SMALL NEXT STEP

You do not have to have everything figured out.

Begin with one honest question, one passage read carefully, and one faithful next step.

Start with prayer