Romans 5:3

The Pulpit Commentary - Romans 5:3-5

Blessed fruit off a bitter tree. The letters of St. Paul abound in strange and striking paradoxes. In another place he speaks of himself "as sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." Here he speaks of the Christian as "glorying in tribulation." He has been speaking of the effects of justification by faith, and ends by saying, "We rejoice in hope of the glory of God" ( Romans 5:2 ). Our joy, however, is not confined... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Romans 5:3-5

The joy of tribulation. Paul has taught us that peace, nay glorying, may be ours, though this be a world of trial. He now teaches that we may glory in the very trials themselves. And this teaching he enforces by a chain of arguments. In other words, he taught in the previous verses that we are conquerors; now he teaches that we are "more than conquerors." I. TRIBULATION WORKETH PATIENCE . NO character can be truly formed without the opportunity of endurance; we must learn to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Romans 5:3-5

Tribulation made subsidiary to hope. Trouble is usually considered antagonistic to joy. A ready objection might occur, therefore, to the apostle's declaration of Christian rejoicing. How was this possible, seeing the many hardships to which the profession of Christianity exposed its votaries? The text refutes such an objection. I. THE CHRISTIAN FACTORY . Tribulation is God's method of disciplining his people. Sin having entered the world, bringing sorrow in its train, the very... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Romans 5:3

And not only so - We not only rejoice in times of prosperity, and of health. Paul proceeds to show that this plan is not less adapted to produce support in trials.But we glory - The word used here is the same that is in Romans 5:2, translated, “we rejoice” καυχώμεθα kauchōmetha. It should have been so rendered here. The meaning is, that we rejoice not only in hope; not only in the direct results of justification, in the immediate effect which religion itself produces; but we carry our joy and... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Romans 5:3-4

Romans 5:3-4. And not only so Not only do we possess the four fore- mentioned inestimable blessings; but we glory in tribulations also Which we are so far from esteeming a mark of God’s displeasure, that we receive them as tokens of his fatherly love, whereby we may be enabled to do him more singular honour, and be prepared for a more exalted happiness. The Jews often objected the persecuted state of the Christians as inconsistent with what they concluded would be the condition of the... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Romans 5:1-11

The believer’s assurance (5:1-11)When God justifies people (declares them to be righteous, or puts them right with him), he brings them into a relationship of peace with himself. In his grace he accepts them into his holy presence, and assures them of one day sharing his glory (5:1-2). Believers’ anticipation of future glory is what the Bible calls hope. Hope in this sense is not a mere wish for something, but the expectation of something that is certain. It is an assured belief that enables... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Romans 5:3

glory . . . also = rejoice (as Romans 5:2 ) also in &c. tribulations = the afflictions. Greek. thlipsis. See Acts 7:10 . knowing . App-132 . worketh . See Romans 1:27 . read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Romans 5:3

And not only so, but we also rejoice in our tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh stedfastness; and stedfastness, approvedness; and approvedness, hope.The basis of the glorying considered in the preceding verse was revealed as the ultimate glory which Christians shall share with God himself in the final day, and therefore, invisible, far removed from the present time, and having nothing to do with the prosaic affairs of everyday living; but, in these verses, the basis of glowing is... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Romans 5:3

3, 4. we glory in tribulation also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience—Patience is the quiet endurance of what we cannot but wish removed, whether it be the withholding of promised good ( :-), or the continued experience of positive ill (as here). There is indeed a patience of unrenewed nature, which has something noble in it, though in many cases the offspring of pride, if not of something lower. Men have been known to endure every form of privation, torture, and death, without a murmur... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Romans 5:1-11

D. The benefits of justification 5:1-11Paul’s original readers would have had another question because of what he had written in chapters 1-4. Is this method of justification safe? Since it is by faith, it seems quite unsure. Paul next gave evidence that this method is reliable by explaining the results of justification by faith.Moo argued that chapter 5 belongs with chapters 6-8 more than with Romans 3:21 to Romans 4:25. [Note: Moo, pp. 290-95.] He noted a chiastic structure in chapters 5-8... read more

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