Vs. 1- We are presently justified by faith. We have literally been declared righteous by God, simply through faith in Jesus Christ. It is for this reason, and for this only, that we can rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. We can even rejoice in tribulation, because we know that tribulation will only make us stronger and give us even more reason to have joyful hope.
Vs. 6- There was a time we had no strength, and no hope to be right with God, so God in His mercy sent Jesus to die for us.
God clearly shows to what extent His love for us goes, when He sent His Son to die for those who were His enemies. This love is so amazing, we would do well to try to apprehend it with all our heart, in all faith, letting the revelation of such an over-board love consume us always.
Vs. 9-10: We need not fear that His sacrifice was good enough to reconcile us only initially with the Father. It's not as if, once payment was made, we were now left to fend for ourselves to remain saved. The fact that Jesus is alive, seated at the right hand of the Father, daily making intercession for us, is continuing proof that Jesus is going to see us through to the end, because He not only made the payment for our sin, but He guarantees that we will have life with Him forever because of His ongoing mediation between us and the Father, as the Father Himself has placed Jesus in just such a position for just that function on our behalf.
Vs. 16-19: We find that, through Adam, even though we may not have committed the same sin or sort of sin that Adam committed, we still fell under his condemnation, under his death sentence, as we were all of one race. As hopeless and unfair as this might seem to the natural mind, God also was unfair in his pardoning of our sin; in fact He was downright gracious to us in that pardoning. We, like Adam, have sinned, and sin is our very nature before Christ. For God to just let us go un-punished, and even to declare us righteous, is not fair. It's better than fair. Fair would be to give people what they deserve. And in Adam, we deserved judgment and condemnation. But even though we were too late to be made righteous by our obedience, Jesus obeyed God, and now all who belong to Him through faith get the credit of His perfect obedience to their account. I am ever-glad that I will not get what I deserved! What amazing grace this is indeed! That's why it is said, that where sin abounded, grace much more abounded. That's why Jesus says that he who is forgiven much will love much, but he who is forgiven for little will love only a little. Do we really see how much we have been forgiven for? Do we continue to see how He even still forgives us daily?
