Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Romans 5:16

"And not as through one that sinned, [so] is the gift: for the judgment [came] of one unto condemnation, but the free gift [came] of many trespasses unto justification." — Romans 5:16 (ASV)

In this section Christ’s effect on the human race is seen as totally different from that of Adam—and vastly superior. Any hint of parallelism suggested by “pattern” is replaced by the element of contrast. True, there is one similarity: the work of Adam and that of Christ relate to “the many.” It will readily be seen by comparing v.15 with v.12 that “the many” is the same as “all men” (compare “death came to all men” with “the many died”). This use of “the many” (cf. Isaiah 53:11–12; Mark 10:45) underscores the importance of Adam and Christ respectively. What one did, in each case, affected not one but many.

The contrast between Adam and Christ is particularly noted in the expression “how much more” (vv.15, 17). The force of this seems to be bound up with the recurring use of “grace” (GK 5921) and “gift” (GK 5922), suggesting that the work of Christ not merely canceled the effects of Adam’s transgression so as to put human beings back into a state of innocence under a probation such as their progenitor faced, but in fact gives them far more than they lost in Adam, more indeed than Adam ever had. The gift, prompted by grace, includes righteousness (v.17) and life (v.18), which is later defined as eternal life (v.21). Paul further observes that in Adam’s case, a single sin was involved, one that was sufficient to bring universal condemnation, but in the work of Christ a provision is found for the many acts of sin that have resulted in the lives of his descendants (v.16).

Whereas up to this point Paul’s train of thought has been concerned with developing the concept of sin taken over from v.12, now it turns to its companion factor, death (v.17), also mentioned in v.12. The point of this “much more” appears to be that in Christ not only is the hold of death, established by Adam’s sin, effectively broken, but because of Christ’s redeeming work the believer is able to look forward to reigning in life through Christ. This, of course, implies participation in the resurrection (cf. ch. 6). Believers will have a share in the Lord’s kingdom and glory.