Romans 5:1–11 is a victorious passage. “In the whole Bible there is hardly another chapter which can equal this triumphant text,” said Luther (Epistle to the Romans, p. 72). It is like a mountain pass from which one revels in scenery after having labored through the inclines and switchbacks of argumentation in the earlier chapters. The view cannot be fully appreciated without the effort it took to get there.

Commentators are divided whether the passage is the conclusion of Paul’s argument so far or the beginning of a new section. On the one hand, the passage concludes much of what has been said before. Previous themes, in particular those of righteousness, boasting, wrath, grace, hope, glory, and blood, culminate here. But, on the other hand, new terms are introduced, most notably that of…