In this chapter, Paul shows the way faith runs opposite of our natural instinct. He encourages us to rejoice in our hardships and suffering we face because the difficulties produce endurance, which produces character, which produces hope. That hope doesn’t produce shame, but welcomes the love from the Holy Spirit. So, instead of running away from hard things, we go straight through them with the help from God through his spirit. This is refreshing information because life keeps getting harder.

Next, Paul talks about how truly revolutionary Christ’s sacrifice was for us. He says that it’s already rare for someone to die for a really good person, but we weren’t really good people. In fact, Jesus died for us while we were still sinners, because we couldn’t improve ourselves on our own. We can rejoice in our reconciliation with God through Christ. God gave his son to the undeserving, the rebellious hearted and wrong-sided—us. 

His final thought is to compare the initial sinful act of Adam, that breaks the trust of humanity with God to the final graceful act of Jesus that heals it. The one broken act lead to many and the earth is full of sin. God then gave us the law to further highlight the breach. Finally, Jesus came to heal it. His forgiveness allows us to also forgive others. Our sins bring death, but Jesus offers eternal life.