Romans 5

1So now that we have been declared righteous by faith, we are at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2Through him we have also been brought by faith into this grace where we now stand, and we boast in the hope of sharing God’s glory. 3More than that, we boast even in our troubles, because we know that trouble leads to endurance, 4endurance to proven character, and proven character to hope. 5And hope does not leave us ashamed, for God has given us the Holy Spirit, and through the Spirit his love has flooded our hearts.

6While we were still helpless, at the time God had chosen, Christ died for the ungodly. 7It is rare for anyone to give their life even for a righteous person; for a good person, perhaps, someone might find the courage to die. 8But God proves how much he loves us: Christ died for us when we were still sinners. 9Since we have now been declared righteous by his blood, it is all the more certain that we will be saved through him from God’s wrath. 10We were enemies of God when the death of his Son reconciled us to him. Now that we are reconciled, it is all the more certain that we will be saved by the Son’s life. 11More than that, we boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him this reconciliation is now ours.

12Therefore, just as through one man sin came into the world, and death came by sin, and so death reached all people because all sinned— 13for sin was already in the world before the law was given, but where there is no law, sin is not entered in the account. 14Even so, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over people whose sin was not like Adam’s breaking of a command. And Adam is a pattern of the one who was to come.

15But the trespass and the free gift are not alike. If many died because of one man’s trespass, then far more has God’s grace overflowed to the many, together with the gift given by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ. 16Nor is the gift like what came through the one man who sinned. The judgment followed one trespass and brought condemnation, but the free gift followed many trespasses and brought acquittal. 17If death reigned through one man because of that one man’s trespass, it is far more certain that those who receive grace in full measure and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

18So then, as one trespass meant condemnation for all people, so one righteous act means for all people that they are declared righteous and given life. 19For the disobedience of one man made the many sinners, and in the same way the obedience of the one will make the many righteous. 20The law came in alongside, so that the trespass would multiply. But where sin multiplied, grace overflowed far beyond it, 21so that, as sin held its reign through death, grace in turn might reign through righteousness and lead to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.