Romans 5 Bible Study Questions (CC, obviously!)

[tntgoodwin]

I am part of a men's Bible Study group that meets weekly, and this week I am in charge of leading the study. We are studying through Romans, at a chapter per week. Every week we are emailed 4-6 questions to answer when we read through that week's questions. I have written my questions, and am curious as to the various answers I would get from other people. This is my first time ever leading a group Bible study, so I am frankly a little nervous (I will be teaching it on Monday night, if you want to offer a special prayer for me ;)). But please, I am very interested in any constructive criticism you have to offer (it is nearly impossible to offend me, so be blunt if they are terrible questions!)

Anyway, I thought I would share the questions I came up with here, and see if anyone was interested in reading through Romans 5 a couple times and answering them. I had a lot more questions I wanted to go more in depth on, especially the latter part of the chapter.

 

 

Romans Chapter 5

1. What is the main point or reason for chapter 5?

 

 

2. According to verses 1 and 2, what is the result of our justification by faith?

 

 

3. What is the benefit of the tribulations we face as believers?

 

 

4. What is it we are saved from? Why is this salvation necessary? (Verses 9-10)

 

 

5. Romans 5:14 refers to: “…Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come†(ESV), “…Adam’s transgression. He is a prototype of the Coming One.†(HCSB), “…Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come†(NLT), “…Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come†(NIV), “…Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come†(NASB).

 

What is the significance of referring to the coming Messiah this way (as opposed to referring to Christ by name)? What does Paul mean when he says Adam is a type, symbol, or pattern?

 

 

 

6. What is the parallel that is drawn between Adam and Christ in verses 12, 18-19?

[tntgoodwin]

Oh, I meant to say, you can either pm me your answers or post them in this thread. :)

[Blueridge]

:lurk5: I hope you get some help. It's late here but tomorrow my dh will ponder your questions and offer a bit of assistance if he can.

[MindyD]

My first thoughts were "This is your first time leading a Bible study and you start with Romans?! Brave soul!" :lol:

[tntgoodwin]

Lol! We are going through Romans as a group, and I was asked to lead a week, so... Yeah, it was a doozy of a chapter!

 

Thanks for having your husband look at it. Just to be clear, these aren't gender specific questions, even though I came up with them for a men's Bible study. All the ladies of the Hive are encouraged to answer as well. :)

[Celia]

I'm game! Kids just went to bed and I'd love something Scriptural to focus my thoughts on. I'll read, think, and post something in 20mins or so.

[acurtis75]

These are some quick first thoughts. I will warn you that I just spent 5 days at Disney so my brain isn't working at full capacity right now:lol:

 

1. Main point: Sin entered the world through Adam and separated mankind from God resulting in our need for a Savior which was provided as a free gift if grace in the form of Jesus Christ.

 

2. Peace with God

 

3. Tribulations produce perseverance which results in proven character and proven character leads to a hope which does not disappoint.

 

4. We are saved from the wrath of God. More specifically we are saved from death or separation from God which was a result of the curse of sin.

 

5. No answer popped in my head for this one so I did a logos software search and here is a good commentary on the topic:

 

of him that was to come—Christ. “This clause is inserted on the first mention of the name “Adam,†the one man of whom he is speaking, to recall the purpose for which he is treating of him, as the figure of Christ†[Alford]. The point of analogy intended here is plainly the public character which both sustained, neither of the two being regarded in the divine procedure towards men as mere individual men, but both alike as representative men. (Some take the proper supplement here to be “Him [that is] to comeâ€; understanding the apostle to speak from his own time, and to refer to Christ’s second coming [Fritzsche, De Wette, Alford]. But this is unnatural, since the analogy of the second Adam to the first has been in full development ever since “God exalted Him to be a Prince and a Saviour,†and it will only remain to be consummated at His second coming. The simple meaning is, as nearly all interpreters agree, that Adam is a type of Him who was to come after him in the same public character, and so to be “the second Adamâ€).

 

This comes from a book called Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible.

 

6. By one man, Adam, death entered the world and by one man, Christ, righteousness entered the world.

[Celia]

Romans Chapter 5

1. What is the main point or reason for chapter 5?

 

Chapter 5 focusses on the benefits of justification through faith in Christ (vv 1-11) and that this privilege is available for all mankind (vv.12-21). If we look at the structure of Romans, we can see that it concludes the section on justification which runs from 3:21-5:21, so this is a fitting end for that.

A (very) rough outline of Romans to this point…

Chapter 1 – The gospel is the power of God to salvation

Chapter 2 – Justification can’t come by the Law

Chapter 3 – Jews and Gentiles have all sin. None are righteous

Chapter 4 – Examples of men justified through faith, not law

Chapter 5 – God’s love shown in providing reconciliation for both Jew and Gentile

I can give you a more detailed outline if it would be helpful to you.

 

2. According to verses 1 and 2, what is the result of our justification by faith?

 

Peace with God through Christ. The word ‘peace’ means to bind together that which has been separated. Through faith, Christ brings us into unity with God. We now are standing in a position of grace (unmerited favor) and “rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (the wonderful vision before us that will help us to embrace our current tribulations). A couple cross references would be Numbers 14:21; Hab. 2:14)

 

3. What is the benefit of the tribulations we face as believers?

 

Rejoicing in tribulations isn’t in the tribulation itself, but it what it can produce in us. Some of the words used in verses 3 and 4 are good to look up. I don’t know what version you’re using, but I’ve got the KJV handy.

3And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

4And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

Patience – literally means to endure, under great weight.

Experience – full proof by trial. It has the idea of putting something to proof under trial, and is used in the refining of metal. High heat is applied, and it removes the dross and purifies the metal.

A trial is then an opportunity. It gives us a chance to show our loyalty to God, and is an opportunity (and entirely needed) to better our character. (see also Hebrew 12:6-11 and James 1:2-4)

From all this, we have hope. Our convictions are strengthened, as our experiences have proved that the one who has sustained us through our trials will continue to do so in the future. Our character which has been strengthened through our tribulations gives us a stronger hope than we otherwise would have.

The phrase “hope maketh not ashamed” is taken from Is. 28:16. There are some good links there, but it lies outside of the scope of question 3 J

 

4. What is it we are saved from? Why is this salvation necessary? (Verses 9-10)

 

We’re saved from “wrath”. Paul is referring back to Romans 1:18. He’s already shown that all are without excuse in rejecting God (1:21; 2:1), and they will be judged accordingly.

Romans 2:

5But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

6Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

7To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:

8But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,

9Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

 

5. Romans 5:14 refers to: “…Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come” (ESV), “…Adam’s transgression. He is a prototype of the Coming One.” (HCSB), “…Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come” (NLT), “…Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come” (NIV), “…Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come” (NASB).

 

What is the significance of referring to the coming Messiah this way (as opposed to referring to Christ by name)? What does Paul mean when he says Adam is a type, symbol, or pattern?

 

 

There is a resemblance between the results of Adam’s conduct and the result of the Messiah’s conduct.

 

 

6. What is the parallel that is drawn between Adam and Christ in verses 12, 18-19?

In Adam, all die, bearing the consequences of his sin (mortality). In Christ, all can be made alive through righteousness by faith.

The both stand as a head of creation, with Christ as the head of the new creation (Col 1:18)

Compare Genesis 1:26-29 with Hebrews 2 6-9

Edited February 11, 2012 by Celia

[tntgoodwin]

Good stuff, I hope you were all blessed a little digging into it!

[tntgoodwin]

Anyone else?

[MamaSheep]

Romans Chapter 5

1. What is the main point or reason for chapter 5?

Chapter 5 explains that we are justified through the blood of Christ, and shows the symmetry of the Fall and the Atonement in God’s plan.

 

2. According to verses 1 and 2, what is the result of our justification by faith?

 

Peace with God, access by faith to grace, joy in the hope of the glory of God.

 

It occurs to me these verses show the past, present, and future results of justification. In the past we were at odds with God because of sin, but because of justification through Christ the past sin and enmity have been done away with and we have peace with God. In the present (“wherein we stand”), we have access to God’s grace. We also have “hope of the glory of God”. One doesn’t hope for things one already has, but for that which is possible in the future. Justification through Christ gives us hope, or expectation, for a state of exalted glory with God in the future. He’s kind of saying we have been justified, we are being justified, and we will be justified in the future. Justification through faith in Christ extends through all time.

 

3. What is the benefit of the tribulations we face as believers?

 

 

Tribulation is educative. The trials we face teach us patience. As we pass through trials patiently we gain the experience to see the trials from a larger perspective. The change in perspective wrought by experience gives us hope, and this hope in Christ is vindicated (not made ashamed) because of the love of God, which we feel through the channel of the Holy Ghost, which is given to Christ’s people.

 

4. What is it we are saved from? Why is this salvation necessary? (Verses 9-10)

 

 

We are saved from “wrath”—the just consequences attached to sin and rebellion against God (Romans 2:8-9). It is necessary because, as Paul has already pointed out earlier in his letter (3:23) “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God". Our sin has placed us in opposition to God—made us his “enemies”, so to speak—making a reconciliation necessary if we want to return to God’s service.

As a side note, I’ve read Romans lots of times, but it only just now struck me that in verse 10 Paul says we “were” (past tense) reconciled to God by the DEATH of his Son, and that now that we are reconciled we “shall be” (future tense) saved by his LIFE. I’m not ready to draw any particular conclusions, but I find this interesting and will have to give it some thought. The concordance/lexicon I looked in quickly doesn’t give the verb tenses, so I’ll have to go find one that does, but I find the juxtaposition of past reconciliation and future salvation interesting, as well as justification through Christ’s death versus salvation through Christ’s life (resurrection? Teachings and example during mortal ministry? both?), especially since salvation is generally thought of as being linked to Christ’s death. Anyhow, as I say I have no conclusions, but I find this food for thought and thought I’d toss it out there.

 

(To be continued...I have to go make lunch, but I'll post what I've got so far so it doesn't disappear into the virtual abyss while my back is turned. :) )

Edited February 11, 2012 by MamaSheep
fixing a formatting error

[tntgoodwin]

Wow, I will have to look into those tenses.

[MamaSheep]

Whew! Well that took longer than intended. Here are my thoughts on the other two questions.

 

 

 

5. Romans 5:14 refers to: “…Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come” (ESV), “…Adam’s transgression. He is a prototype of the Coming One.” (HCSB), “…Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come” (NLT), “…Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come” (NIV), “…Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come” (NASB).

 

What is the significance of referring to the coming Messiah this way (as opposed to referring to Christ by name)? What does Paul mean when he says Adam is a type, symbol, or pattern?

 

Referring to the coming Messiah this way demonstrates that both the Fall and the Atonement were part of God’s plan from the beginning. They are two parts of the same overall design and resemble each other in some significant ways. The Fall was not a thwarting of, or deviation from God’s plan. It was an intended, planned event, and (among other things) functions as a type, symbol, representation, or pattern (or “figure” in the KJV I’m looking at) that resembles and points to the coming Messiah. Likewise, the Atonement is not a last-minute stop-gap scrambling effort by God to “fix” what went “wrong” in the beginning. Rather, it is also a part of the plan from the beginning—Christ is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8), not a secondary plan slapped together to salvage some remnants of good from a first plan that Adam “ruined”. The Fall and the Atonement stand as two great pillars of God’s plan for mankind, bookended by Creation and Resurrection (a re-creation on a grander scale).

 

6. What is the parallel that is drawn between Adam and Christ in verses 12, 18-19?

Both men function as proxy for all mankind. Through Adam’s act of transgression, all of mankind gained access to knowledge of good and evil and with it the ability to sin, coming under judgment, and condemnation (and since we all sin, we are all under condemnation and in need of justification, which is only available through Christ). Through Christ’s act of obedience, all of mankind gained access to grace, and with it the ability to repent in faith and become justified. Both men stood as proxy for us, and the results of their actions extended through them to all of us. The parallel is that they are both proxies for us. But it’s also important to recognize that in addition to being parallel in that way, in other ways they are also mirror images of each other. If we look at surrounding verses, we see that through Adam we become subject to death, whereas in Christ we receive life (see also 1 Corinthians 15:22). In both ways, Adam does serve as a “type” of Christ, and I see the imprint of God’s hand on the whole pattern.

Edited February 11, 2012 by MamaSheep

[tntgoodwin]

Upon studying the tenses you referred to, I came up with this : reconciled is past tense because Paul is writing to believers, referring to their individual reconciliation, which had already occurred (while they were enemies of God).

[MamaSheep]

Upon studying the tenses you referred to, I came up with this : reconciled is past tense because Paul is writing to believers, referring to their individual reconciliation, which had already occurred (while they were enemies of God).

 

 

Thanks. :) Actually that was the part I already understood, though. I guess I didn't explain myself very well. The two things I most felt in need of mulling over (for me) were these:

 

1) Since the people being referred to had ALREADY been "reconciled" (in the past tense) through Christ's death, why was their being "saved" referred to as something that was yet to happen in the future? In what way(s) are reconciliation and salvation two separate things that happen at different times?

 

and

 

2) What does it mean to be "saved" by Christ's "life"? Usually we think of being saved through Christ's having died for our sins.

 

 

Here's the verse from several different translations, for reference:

 

For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. (KJV)

 

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. (ESV)

 

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved *by His life. (NASB)

 

For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! (NIV)

 

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. (RSV)

 

The tenses seem to be arranged the same way in all the translations; past tense reconciliation being coupled with future tense salvation. Also the death/life thing is consistent. One item of interest is that the asterisk (*) in that NASB translation leads to a footnote that says, "Or, in". I was curious, so I looked up that "by" in a concordance/lexicon, which the word there is "en", the entry for which says this:

 

A primary preposition denoting (fixed) position (in place, time or state), and (by implication) instrumentality (medially or constructively), i.e. a relation of rest (intermediate between εἰς (G1519) and ἐκ (G1537))

In the KJV it's translated as "in" (1902 times), "by" (163), "with" (140), "among" (117), "among" (113), "on" (62), "through" (39), and in miscellaneous other ways another 264 times.

 

It occurs to me that if it were translated as "in" here instead of "by", then the verse might say that our reconciliation was accomplished (past tense) "in" his death--the reconciliation was accomplished with his sacrifice on the cross--and that now that we are reconciled we are looking forward to salvation "in" his life--we will become participants in the kind of life He has, which he offers to us. Reconciliation has already happened, but the full effects of "salvation" are not accomplished until after the resurrection.

 

Anyway...still chewing on it in my head a little...

[MamaSheep]

I am part of a men's Bible Study group that meets weekly, and this week I am in charge of leading the study. We are studying through Romans, at a chapter per week. Every week we are emailed 4-6 questions to answer when we read through that week's questions. I have written my questions, and am curious as to the various answers I would get from other people. This is my first time ever leading a group Bible study, so I am frankly a little nervous (I will be teaching it on Monday night, if you want to offer a special prayer for me ;)). But please, I am very interested in any constructive criticism you have to offer (it is nearly impossible to offend me, so be blunt if they are terrible questions!)

Anyway, I thought I would share the questions I came up with here, and see if anyone was interested in reading through Romans 5 a couple times and answering them. I had a lot more questions I wanted to go more in depth on, especially the latter part of the chapter.

 

Be sure to let us know how it went. :)

[acurtis75]

I read the future tense of saved to refer to avoiding the future wrath of God in eternity and therefore a reference to our future glorification with Jesus in Heaven. Justification was a one time event therefore the reconciliation in the past tense makes sense when talking to believers and really refers to what we call "salvation". Those are quick first thoughts without doing any study so I may revise them tomorrow after some more reading.

[tntgoodwin]

Thanks everyone (including all those who pm'd me).

It seemed to go well last night. It is definitely a different perspective being in the driver's seat, so to speak. I have been forewarned that I will probably be leading sometime later this spring for our full group (men and women, and it is more of a sermon than a guided discussion...). Yikes!

Edited February 14, 2012 by tntgoodwin

[MamaSheep]

Thanks everyone (including all those who pm'd me.

It seemed to go well last night. It is definitely a different perspective being in the driver's seat, so to speak. I have been forewarned that I will probably be leading sometime later this spring for our full group (men and women, and it is more of a sermon than a guided discussion...). Yikes!

 

Well done! :)