NEVERTHELESS DEATH REIGNED FROM ADAM UNTIL MOSES: all ebasileusen (3SAAI) o thanatos apo adam mechri moseos: (Ro 5:17,21; Ge 4:8; 5:5-31; 7:22; 19:25; Ex 1:6; Heb 9:27)

Note: Hold mouse pointer over underlined links for pop up of Scripture which stays open and can be copied.

Donald Barnhouse notes that...

About a year before Paul wrote the epistle to the Romans, he wrote his first letter to the Corinthians in which he spoke of the Lord Jesus as “the last Adam,” and “the second man” (1Cor. 15:45, 47). There he presented, in outline, the truth on which he elaborates in Romans. “As in Adam all die; so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1Cor 15:22). He presents death as an enemy to destroy (v. 26); and He presents Christ as reigning, and continuing His reign until all things, including the subversive reign of death, are put under His feet (1Cor 15:24, 25, 27). The first Adam is presented as a living soul; the last Adam as a life giving spirit (1Cor 15:45). Now in Romans, this theme is greatly enlarged and its implications made plain in practical application to the Christian’s daily life and walk. Here, in the argument of this epistle, we are at a turning point (Romans 5:12-21), for it concerns the active Christian life and the life of Christ flowing through us, that we may know constant triumph in Him. (Barnhouse, D. G.. God's Grace: Romans 5:12-21. Grand Rapids, MI.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company)

Hodge writes that...

men were subject to death before the law of Moses was given, and consequently not on account of violating it. Therefore there must be some other reason for their exposure to death.

Nevertheless - a strong adversative. Paul is saying is that far from sin not being credited when there is no law, nevertheless death reigned.

Death (2288) (thanatos) indicates the opposite of life and the absence of life and in the NT is seen as the consequence and punishment of sin. Death speaks of separation, physically of the soul from the body and spiritually of the soul from God. Note that death does not signify either annihilation or extinction.

Here Paul speaks not of death in general but "the death", in a sense personifying it as a "king" over mankind from the Fall of Man until the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai.

Reigned (936) (basileuo from basileús = a king) means to rule as a king, with implication of complete authority and right to control in an absolute manner. It speaks of the dominating quality of death.  This Death reigned as an absolute monarch over all unsaved humanity, exhibiting undisputed, rightful sway. In America, this picture might lose some of its impact. But to those who were raised in a country ruled by monarchy, the picture of a King whose decrees cannot be questioned is very real. So it was with "King Death".

Remember that in the beginning when man was created God looked and

"saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good." (Ge 1:31)

It was very good also for Adam was not a sinner and there was perfect fellowship with God. But when Adam sinned all men became sinners and "the Sin" -- the sin principle or the sin nature -- came into the world through Adam and brought to fruition God's sure promise of death. And since death has indeed reigned in every man after Adam, it is empirical (originating in or based on observation or experience) proof that they were also sinners, having inherited the sin nature from Adam. They were sinners because they were all in Adam when he sinned and were thus made or constituted sinners (see note Romans 5:19).

So death is personified as a king reigning. Just as men could not defeat the rulership of "the Sin", similarly men could not usurp the power of death and thus they all died. Even believers die but there is a difference. Hebrews records..

Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. (Heb 2:14-15)

In other words, yes believers die, but unlike unregenerate mankind, we no longer are in bondage to the fear that we will die and the certainty that death is the final hopeless chapter of their futile life. Not so with the believer for he is safe in the "ark" of Christ and will be delivered from the wrath to come. Paul echoed this triumphant cry for every believer of every age writing...

"O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY?
O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?"
(1Cor 15:55)

Thus even without the Law, death was universal. All men from Adam to Moses were subject to death, not because of their sinful acts against the Mosaic law (which they did not yet have), but because of their own inherited sinful nature and the fact that when Adam sinned, they sinned.

EVEN OVER THOSE WHO HAD NOT SINNED IN THE LIKENESS OF THE OFFENSE OF ADAM: kai epi tous me hamartesantas (AAPMPA) epi to homoiomati tes parabaseos adam os estin (3SPAI) tupos tou mellontos (PAPMSG): (Ro 8:20,22, Ex 1:22, 12:29, 12:30, Jonah 4:11 )

Even - introduces a clause that shows there were no exceptions.

Sinned (264) (hamartano) means to miss the mark (and so not share in the prize) or to act contrary to the will and law of God.

Likeness (3667) (homoíoma from hómoios = similar) means resemblance or similitude (correspondence in kind or quality) so that they might did bread a direct command, written or verbal, but as Paul teachers, death still reigned over them because of Adam’s transgression.

The Amplified Version (I utilize it much like a "mini-commentary" - remember [brackets] signify clarifying words or comments not actually found in the original text and (parentheses) signify additional phrases of meaning reflecting the original words) helps understand this phrase writing...

even over those who did not themselves transgress [a positive command] as Adam did. (Eerdmans) 

This same section in the New Living Translation (NLT) (which I also think can be a useful adjunct to your study if used with discretion realizing it is a paraphrase albeit in my opinion a relatively accurate paraphrase) (NLT - Tyndale House)

they all died anyway—even though they did not disobey an explicit commandment of God

Adam and Eve disobeyed a very explicit commandment. God spoke directly to Adam commanding him that...

from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die." (Ge 2:17)

Because Adam and Eve were evicted from the Garden of Eden after they sinned, and prevented from returning, they had no more opportunity to disobey God’s explicit commandment. Neither they nor their offspring any longer had access to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Consequently, became impossible for any human being to sin in the likeness of the offense of Adam.

Baxter remarks,

It is indeed interesting to compare, on Scripture authority, Adam as the root of sin and death to all, with CHRIST, who is to all true Christians the root of holiness and life.

WHO IS A TYPE OF HIM WHO WAS TO COME: os estin (3SPAI) tupos tou mellontos. (PAPMSG) 

This final clause introduces the reader to the Adam-Christ typology, as a preparation for what is to follow in the next section.

Type (5179) (tupos from túpto = strike, smite with repeated strokes) (Click word study on tupos) means a "model" or "pattern" or "mold" into which clay or wax was pressed, that it might take the figure or exact shape of the mold. Type denotes the visible mark made by a striking some object (cf. "imprint of the nails" John 20:25), an impression made by an object that is in turn used to mould or shape something else (cf. "form" in Ro 6:17 [note]). Thus, Adam is an example of Christ. It is proper to speak of him as the First Adam and of Christ as the Last Adam (cf, 1Co 15:45). It is interesting that the only Old Testament character to be called explicitly a type of Christ is Adam.

Hodge comments that in regard to the "religious meaning" type was...

a designed pre-representation or counterpart — either historically, as the Passover was a type or significant commemoration of the passing over, by the destroying angel, of the houses of the Hebrews in Egypt; or prophetically, as the sacrifices of the Old Testament were types of the great sacrifice of the Lamb of God. A type, therefore, in the religious meaning of the word, is not a mere historical parallel or incidental resemblance between persons or events but a designed resemblance — the one being intended to prefigure or to commemorate the other.

It is in this sense that Adam was the type of Christ. The similarity between them was not accidental. It was predetermined and entered into the whole plan of God. As Adam was the head and representative of his race, whose destiny depended on his conduct, so Christ is the head and representative of his people. As the sin of the one was the reason for our condemnation, so the righteousness of the other is the reason for our justification. This relation between Adam and the Messiah was recognized by the Jews, who called their expected deliverer “the last Adam,” as Paul also calls him in 1 Corinthians 15:45. (Hodge, Charles: Commentary on Romans. Ages Classic Commentaries or Logos)

And so the primary likeness of Adam to Jesus was that each was the head of their offspring. Christ is the head of all believers, even as Adam is the head of the human race. Adam and Christ were similar in that each one's single act affected their offspring. The first Adam affects his posterity for death, while the Last Adam gives eternal life to His offspring (not universalism but only to those who believe in Christ). Both Adam and Christ are one with their people and thus represent two unities, which are further explained in the following verses. This section serves as transition from the apostle’s discussion of the transference of Adam’s sin (Ro 5:12-14a) to the crediting of Christ’s righteousness (Romans 5:15ff).

Paul’s Jewish readers might have argued for their unique descent from Abraham the righteous, but Paul points them instead to their common descent with the Gentiles from the line of Adam the sinner. His argument would have greater force to his Jewish readers than Genesis alone might imply, because their traditions had made Adam much more prominent than he had been in the Old Testament (which is interesting because he is hardly mentioned outside Genesis). For example, Jewish people in this period sometimes spoke of Adam’s immense size (he filled the whole earth!), or more often of his glory, which he lost at the Fall. They believed that his sin introduced sin and thus death into the world, and that all his descendants shared in his guilt. Jewish interpreters generally believed that Adam’s glory would be restored to the righteous in the world to come.

To reiterate, the great truth of Ro 5.12-21 is that a representative acted, involving those connected with Adam and those connected with Christ.

Paul brings in the subject of death to establish the principle that one persons deeds can inexorably affect many other people. Paul’s primary objective in this chapter is to show how one Man’s death provided salvation for many, and to do so the apostle first shows the reasonableness of that truth since one man’s sin produced condemnation and death for many.

Wayne Barber summarizes Romans 5:14 stating that Paul is showing...

"the eternal effect of two people. One is a creation, the other is the Creator, Who became the God Man. That’s what we’ll see in the rest of chapter 5 as he says,

But the free gift - Notice that Paul begins with but, which denotes that he is drawing a clear contrast. What is he contrasting? At the end of Romans 5:14 he stated that Adam was a type of Him Who was to come referring of course to Jesus Christ. Yes, Adam is a type of Christ but there are a number of significant differences. His point therefore is to contrast Adam with Christ and so in Romans 5:15, 16, 17 he explains how Christ is not like Adam.  (See related discussion - Typology - Study of Biblical types)

Note that there are 3 major contrasts in verses Romans 5:15, 16 and 17...

Romans 5:15 - Adam's Transgression versus Christ's Free Gift - what Christ gives contrasts with what Adam did.

Romans 5:16 - Adam's Sin Brought Judgment and the verdict rendered was "Condemned". Christ's Death Brought Justification - the contrast then is condemnation in Adam and justification in Christ. When Adam sinned, he was declared unrighteous and condemned. When a sinner trusts Christ, he is justified—declared righteous in Christ.

Romans 5:17 - Because of Adam's Sin, Death reigned. Those Who Receive Christ Reign in Life.

MacArthur introduces this verse commenting that...

Paul continues his analogy of Adam and Christ, showing how the life that was made possible for all men by Christ’s atoning sacrifice is illustrated antithetically by the death that was made inevitable for all men by Adam’s sin. It is the truth the apostle summarizes in his first letter to Corinth:

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive (1Co 15:22). (MacArthur, J: Romans 1-8. Chicago: Moody Press or Logos)

S Lewis Johnson in light of the deep doctrinal teaching in this section which might "lose" some readers reiterates that...

The master-thought of the section is the unity of the many in the one. In Adam's case it is the unity of the many in a representative who fell. In Christ's case it is the unity of the many in a representative who overcame, including in His victory all who are in Him.

Spurgeon has an intriguing introductory comment to his sermon entitled "Honey from a Lion" on Romans 5:16...

This text affords many openings for controversy. It can be made to bristle with difficulties. For instance, — there might be a long discussion as to the manner in which the fall of Adam can justly be made to affect the condition of his posterity. When this is settled there might arise a question as to the exact way in which Adam’s fault is connected with ourselves — whether by imputation of its sin, or in what other form; and then there might be further dispute as to the limit of the evil resulting from our first parents’ offense, and the full meaning of the fall, original sin, natural depravity, and so forth. There would be another splendid opportunity for a great battle over the question of the extent of the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ; whether it covers, as to persons, the whole area of the rain of the Fall; whether, in fact, full atonement has been made for all mankind or only for the elect. It would be easy in this way to set up a thorn-hedge, and keep the sheep out of the pasture; or, to use another metaphor, to take up so much time in pelting each other with the stones as to leave the fruit untasted.

I have, at this time, neither the inclination nor the mental strength either to suggest or to remove the difficulties, which are so often the amusement of unpractical minds. I feel more inclined to chime in with that ancient father of the church who declined controversy in a wise and explicit manner. He had been speaking concerning the things of God and found himself at length confounded by a certain clamorous disputant, who shouted again and again, “Hear me! Hear me!” “No,” said the father, “I will not hear you, nor shall you hear me; but we will both be quiet and hear what our Lord Jesus Christ has to say.”

So we will not at this time listen to this side nor to that; but we will bow our ear to hear what the Scripture itself hath to say apart from all the noise of sect and party. My object shall be to find out in the text that which is practically of use to us, that which may save the unconverted, that which may comfort and build up those of us who are brought into a state of reconciliation with God; for I have of late been so often shut up in my sick chamber that when I do come forth I must be more than ever eager for fruit to the glory of God. We shall not, therefore, dive into the deeps with the hope of finding pearls, for these could not feed hungry men; but we will navigate the surface of the sea, and hope that some favoring wind will bear us to the desired haven with a freight of corn wherewith to supply the famishing. May the Holy Spirit bless the teaching of this hour to the creation and nourishment of saving faith.

At this point what had been a parallel comparison, now begins a contrast of the work of Christ with that of Adam.

Sanday and Headlam add that

In both cases there is a transmission of effects: but there the resemblance ends. In all else the false step (or Fall, as we call it) of Adam and the free gift of God’s bounty are most unlike. The fall of that one representative man entailed death upon the many members of the race to which he belonged. Can we then be surprised if an act of such different quality—the free unearned favour of God, and the gift of righteousness bestowed through the kindness of that other Representative Man, Jesus Messiah—should have not only cancelled the effect of the Fall, but also brought further blessings to the whole race? (Sanday, W., & Headlam, A. C.. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle of the Romans. Originally published 1897. T. & T. Clark Publishers. 1980)

Cranfield explains that...

The purpose of Romans 5:15, 16, 17 is to drive home the vast dissimilarity between Christ and Adam, before the formal comparison between them is made in v. 18f, and so to preclude possible misunderstanding of that comparison. (Cranfield, C. E. B Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. Vol 1: Ro 1-8.; Volume 2: Romans 9-16)

Hendriksen agrees writing that...

In these verses Paul shows that the parallel Adam-Christ is mainly one of contrast, in the sense that Christ’s influence for good far outweighs Adam’s effectiveness for evil: the free gift is “not like the trespass,” that is, is far more effective than the trespass. (Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. NT Commentary Set. Baker Book or Logos)

Free gift (grace gift) (5486) (charisma [see word study] from charis [see word study on charis] = grace + the ending --ma which indicates the result of something, in this case the result of grace) is a gift of grace or an undeserved benefit. It refers something given by God completely apart from human merit.

Note that in 16 of the 17 uses in the NT charisma is connected to God as the Giver and is always the word used to describe the gifts of the Spirit.

In Romans, Paul uses charisma in reference to the gift of salvation (Romans 5:15, 16; Ro 6:23-note), the blessings of God (Ro 1:1-note, Ro 11:29-note), and divine enablements for ministry (Ro 12:6-note). Every other use of the word by Paul, and the one by Peter (1Pe 4:10, 11, 12, 13-note), relates it to the divine enablements for believers to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Denny remarks that charisma is...

The gift which is freely provided for sinners in the Gospel, i.e., a Divine righteousness and life. (Nicoll, W Robertson, Editor: Expositors Greek Testament: 5 Volumes. Out of print. Search Google)

If by the transgression of the one -  If (could be rendered "since" or "if as is the case") introduces a conditional statement that is assumed fulfilled (Adam did have one transgression = the first one in Genesis 3). The one is clearly Adam, who is not mentioned by name after Romans 5:14. Note not it is not transgressions plural but the (specific) transgression, the one sin referred to earlier.

The dictionary definition of the English word transgression is "an act of “going beyond” or violating a duty, command, or law."

The many died - In context the phrase the many identifies the totality of mankind.

Through the offense of Adam the many (all of Adam’s descendants = all mankind) incurred the penalty of death. Similarly, the many (i.e., all the redeemed) have incurred the free gift of eternal life through the Last Adam, Jesus Christ. The dissimilarity is seen in the phrase, much more...the grace of God. The grace of God, which is the ground of our justification, is contrasted with the sin of Adam, because it is greater in quality and greater in degree than Adam’s sin. In Adam we got what we deserved, condemnation and guilt. In Christ we have received much more of what we do not deserve, mercy and grace.

Spurgeon observes that...

It Is Certain That Great Evils Have Come To Us By The Fall. Paul speaks in this text of ours of the “offense,” which word may be read the “Fall,” which was caused by the stumbling of our father Adam.

Our fall in Adam is a type of the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, but the type is not able completely to set forth all the work of Christ: hence the apostle says,

“But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.”

It is certain, then, that we were heavy losers by the offense of the first father and head of our race. I am not going into details and particulars (Ro 5:12-note), but it is clear that we have lost the garden of Eden and all its delights, privileges, and immunities, its communion with God, and its freedom from death. We have lost our first honor and health, and we have become the subjects of pain and weakness, suffering and death: this is the effect of the Fall. A desert now howls where otherwise a garden would have smiled. Through the sin of Adam we have been born under conditions which are far from being desirable, heirs to a heritage of sorrow. Our griefs have been alleviated by the bounty of God, but still we are not born under such conditions as might have been ours had Adam remained in his integrity and kept his first estate.

We came into the world with a bias towards evil. Those of us who have any knowledge of our own nature must confess that there is in us a strong tendency towards sin, which is mixed up with our very being. This is not derived solely from faults of education, or from the imitation of others; but there is a bent within us in the wrong direction, and this has been there from our birth. Alas! that it should be so; but so it is.

In addition to having this tendency to sin, we are made liable to death — nay, not liable alone, but we are sure in due time to bow our heads beneath the fatal stroke. Two only of the human race have escaped death (Enoch and Elijah), but the rest have left their bodies here to moulder back into mother earth, and unless the Lord cometh speedily, we expect that the same thing will happen to these bodies of ours. While we live we know that the sweat of our brow must pay the price of our bread; we know that our children must be born with pangs and travail; we know that we ourselves must return to the dust from whence we are taken; for dust we are, and unto dust must we return.

O Adam, thou didst a sad day’s work for us when thou didst hearken to the voice of thy wife and eat of the forbidden tree. The world has no more a Paradise anywhere, but everywhere it has the place of wailing and the field of the dead. Where can you go and not find traces of the first transgression in the sepulcher and its mouldering bones? Every field is fattened with the dust of the departed: every wave of the sea is tainted with atoms of the dead. Scarcely blows a March wind down our streets but it sweeps aloft the dust either of Caesar or his slave, of ancient Briton, or modern Saxon; for the globe is worm-eaten by death. Sin has scarred, and marred, and spoiled this creation by making it subject to vanity through its offense.

Thus terrible evils have come to us by an act in which we had no hand: we were not in the Garden of Eden, we did not incite Adam to rebellion, and yet we have become sufferers through no deed of ours. Say what you will about it, the fact remains, and cannot be escaped from. ("Honey from a Lion" Romans 5:16)

MUCH MORE DID THE GRACE OF GOD AND THE GIFT BY THE GRACE OF THE ONE MAN JESUS CHRIST ABOUND TO THE MANY: pollo mallon e charis tou theou kai e dorea en chariti te tou enos anthropou iesou christou eis tous pollous eperisseusen (3SAAI): (Eph 2:8) (Ro 6:23; 2Cor 9:15; Heb 2:9; 1Jn 4:9,10; 5:11) (Ro 5:20; Is 53:11; 55:7; 1Jn 2:2; Rev 7:9,10,14, 15, 16, 17)

THE MUCH MORES
OF ROMANS 5

Romans 5:9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

Romans 5:10 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.

Romans 5:15 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

Romans 5:17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:20 And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more (KJV "did much more abound")

Much more - This introduces Christ's work. His one act of obedience was immeasurably greater than Adam’s one act of condemnation. God's grace is infinitely greater for good than is Adam's sin for evil.

J Vernon McGee comments on much more in Romans 5:12-21 writing that...

what Paul is (saying is) that we have much more in Christ than we lost in Adam...Today we are looking forward to something more wonderful than the Garden of Eden.

The force of this much more seems to be bound up with the recurring use of "grace" and "gift," suggesting that the work of Christ not only cancelled the effects of Adam's transgression so as to put man back into a state of innocence under a probation such as their progenitor faced, but gives to man far more than he lost in Adam, more indeed than Adam ever had.

John MacArthur writes that...

Christ’s one act of redemption was immeasurably greater than Adam’s one act of condemnation.

Constable adds that...

Much more here shows that Jesus Christ did not just cancel the effects of Adam’s sin, but he provided more than Adam lost or even possessed, namely the righteousness of God! (Expository Notes)

Calvin explained the more more this way...

Since the fall of Adam had such an effect as to produce ruin of many, much more efficacious is the grace of God to the benefit of many; inasmuch as it is admitted, that Christ is much more powerful to save, than Adam was to destroy

A T Robertson writes that much more introduces...

Another a fortiori argument. Why so? As a God of love He delights much more in showing mercy and pardon than in giving just punishment (Lightfoot). The gift surpasses the sin.

Hodge has an interesting thought writing that in regard to much more...

the idea is, “If the one dispensation has occurred, much more may the other; if we die for one, much more may we live by another.” The much more does not express a higher degree of efficacy but of certainty: “If the one thing has happened, much more certainly may the other be relied upon.” (Hodge, Charles: Commentary on Romans. Ages Classic Commentaries  or Logos)

Denny writes that regarding much more that...

the idea underlying the inference is that God delights in mercy; if under His administration one man's offence could have such far-reaching consequences, much more reasonably may we feel sure of the universal influence of one Man's righteous achievement. This idea is the keynote of the whole chapter: see Ro 5:9, 10, 17. (Ibid)

Spurgeon comments on much more (this is a long note but is well worth reading slowly and meditatively)...

 If all this mischief has happened to us through the fall of Adam why should not immense blessing flow to us by the work of Christ? Through Adam’s transgression we lost Paradise, that is certain; but if anything can be more certain we may with greater positiveness declare that the second Adam will restore the ruin of the first.

If through the offense of one man many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, shall abound and has abounded unto many.

Settle in your minds, then, that the fall of Adam has wrought us great damage, and then be as much assured that the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, in which we had no hand whatever, must do us great service. Believing in Christ Jesus, it becomes beyond all measure sure to us that we are blessed in Him, seeing that it is already certain that through the fall of Adam we have become subject to sorrow and death.

For, first, this appears to be more delightful to the heart of God. It must be fully according to his gracious nature that salvation should come to us through his Son. I can understand that God, having so arranged it that the human race should be regarded as one, and should stand or fall before Him in one man, should carry out the arrangement to its righteous end, and allow the consequences of sin to fall upon succeeding generations of men: but yet I know that He takes no pleasure in the death of any, and finds no delight in afflicting mankind.

When the first Adam transgressed it was inevitable that the consequences of his transgression should descend to his posterity, and yet I can imagine a perfectly holy mind questioning whether the arrangement would be carried out. I can conceive of angels saying one to another, “Will all men die through this entrance of sin into the world? Can it be that the innumerable sons of Adam will all suffer from his disobedience?”

But I cannot imagine any question being raised about the other point, namely, the result of the work of our Lord Jesus. If God has so arranged it that in the second Adam men rise and live, it seems to me most gloriously consistent with his gracious nature and infinite love that it should come to pass that all who believe in Jesus should be saved through Him.

I cannot imagine angels hesitating and saying, “Christ has been born; Christ has lived; Christ has died; these men have had nothing to do with that: will God save them for the sake of his Son?” Oh, no, they must have felt, as they saw the Babe born at Bethlehem, as they saw Him living His perfect life and dying His atoning death, “God will bless those who are in Christ; God will save Christ’s people for Christ’s sake.”

As for ourselves, we are sure that if the Lord executes judgment, which is His strange work, He will certainly carry out mercy, which is His delight. If He kept to the representative principle when it involved consequences which gave Him no pleasure, we may be abundantly assured that He will keep to it now that it will involve nothing but good to those concerned in it. Here, then, is the argument, —

“For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.”

This assurance becomes stronger still when we think that it seems more inevitable that men should be saved by the death of Christ than that men should be lost by the sin of Adam. It might seem possible that, after Adam had sinned, God might have said, “Notwithstanding this covenant of works, I will not lay this burden upon the children of Adam”; but it is not possible that after the eternal Son of God has become man, and has bowed His head to death, God should say, “Yet after all I will not save men for Christ’s sake.”

Stand and look at the Christ upon the cross, and mark those wounds of His, and you will become absolutely certain that sin can be pardoned, nay, must be pardoned to those who are in Christ Jesus. Those flowing drops of blood demand with a voice that cannot be gainsaid that iniquity should be put away. If the voice of Abel crying from the ground was prevalent, how much more the blood of the Only-begotten Son of God, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot? It cannot be, O God, that thou shouldest despise or forget the sacrifice on Calvary. Grace must flow to sinners through the bleeding Savior, seeing that death came to men through their transgressing progenitor.

I do not know whether I shall get into the very soul of this argument as I desire, but to me it is very sweet to look at the difference as to the causes of the two effects.

Look now at the occasion of our ruin, — “the offense of one.” The one man transgresses, and you and I and all of us come under sin, sorrow, and death. What are we told is the fountain of these streams of woe? The one action of our first parents. Far be it from me to say a word to depreciate the greatness of their crime, or to raise a question as to the justice of its consequences. I think no one can have a more decided opinion upon that point than I have; for the offense was very great, and the principle which led to our participation in its results is a just one, and, what is more, is fraught with the most blessed after-consequences to fallen men, since it has left them a door of hope of their rising by the same method which led to their fall.

Yet the sin which destroyed us was the transgression of a finite being, and cannot be compared in power with the grace of the infinite God; it was the sin of a moment, and therefore cannot be compared for force and energy with the everlasting purpose of divine love.

If, then, the comparatively feeble fount of Adam’s sin sends forth a flood which drowns the world in sorrow and death, what must be the boundless blessing poured forth from the infinite source of divine grace?

The grace of God is like His nature, omnipotent and unlimited. God hath not a measure of love, but He is love; love to the uttermost dwells in Him. God is not only gracious to this degree or to that, but He is gracious beyond measure; we read of “the exceeding riches of His grace.” He is “the God of all grace,” and His mercy is great above the heavens. Our largest conceptions fall far short of the lovingkindness and pity of God, for “His merciful kindness is great towards us.” As high as the heavens are above the earth, so are His thoughts above our thoughts in the direction of grace.

If, then, my brethren, the narrow fount which yielded bitter and poisonous waters has sufficed to slay the myriads of the human race, how much more shall the river of God which is fall of water, even the river of the water of life, which proceedeth out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, supply life and bliss to every man that believeth in Christ Jesus?

Thus saith Paul,

“For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.” (see note Romans 5:17)

That is the argument of the text, and to me it seems to be a very powerful one, sufficient to dash out the very life of unbelief and enable every penitent man to say,

“I see what I have lost in Adam, but I also see how much I obtain through Christ Jesus, my Lord, when I humbly yield myself to Him.”

Furthermore, I would have you note the difference of the channels by which the evil and the good were severally communicated to us.

In each case it was “by one,” but what a difference in the persons! We fell through Adam, a name not to be pronounced without reverence, seeing he is the chief patriarch of the race, and the children should honor the parent: let us not think too little of the head of the human family.

Yet what is the first Adam as compared with the second Adam? He is but of the earth earthy, but the second man is the Lord from heaven. He was at best a mere man, but our Redeemer counts it not robbery to be equal with God. Surely, then, if Adam with that puny hand of his could pull down the house of our humanity, and hurl this ruin on our first estate, that greater man, Who is also the Son of God, can fully restore us and bring back to our race the golden age. If one man could ruin by his fault, surely an infinitely greater Man in Whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily can restore us by the abounding grace of God.

And look, my brethren, what this man did. Adam commits one fault and spoils us; but Christ’s works and achievements are not one, but many as the stars of heaven. Look at that life of obedience: it is like a crown set with all manner of priceless jewels: all the virtues are in it, and it is without flaw in any point. If one sinful action of our first covenant head destroys, shall not a whole life of holiness, on the part of our second covenant representative be accepted for us?

But what is more, Adam did but eat of the forbidden fruit, but our Lord Jesus died, pouring out his soul unto death, bearing the sin of his people upon Himself. Such a death must have more force in it than the sad deed of Adam. Shall it not save as? Is there any comparison between the one act of rebellion in the garden and the matchless deed of superlative obedience upon the cross of Calvary which crowned a life of service? Am I sure that the act of disobedience has done me damage? Then I am much more certain that the glorious act of self-sacrifice must be able to save me, and I cast myself upon it without question or misgiving.

The passion of God’s Only-begotten must have in it infallible virtue for the remission of sin. Upon the perfect work of Jesus my soul hangs at this moment, without a suspicion of possible failure, and without the addition of the shadow of a confidence anywhere else. The good which may be supposed to be in man, his best words and holiest actions, are all to me as the small dust of the balance as to any title to the favor of God. My sole claim for salvation lies in that one Man, the gift of God, Who by His life and death has made atonement for my sin, but that one Man, Christ Jesus, is a sure foundation, and a nail upon which we may hang all the weight of our eternal interests. I feel the more confidence in the certainty of salvation by Christ because of my firm persuasion of the dreadful efficacy of Adam’s fall.

Think awhile and it will seem strange, yet strangely true, that the hope of Paradise regained should be argued and justified by the fact of Paradise lost, that the absolute certainty that one man ruined us should give us an abounding guarantee that one glorious Man has in very deed effectually saved all those who by faith accept the efficacy of His work.

Now, if you have grasped my thought, and have drunk into the truth of the text, you may derive a great deal of comfort from it, and it may suggest to you many painful things which will henceforth yield you pleasure. A babe is born into the world amid great anxiety because of its mother’s pains, but while these go to prove how the consequences of the Fall are still with us, according to the word of the Lord to Eve, “in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children,” they also assure us that the second Adam can abundantly bring us bliss through a second birth, by which we are begotten again unto a lively hope.

You go into the arable field and mark the thistle, and tear your garments with a thorn: these prove the curse, but also preach the gospel. Did not the Lord God say, “Cursed is the ground for thy sake; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.” Through no fault of ours, for we were not present when the first man offended, our fields reluctantly yield their harvests. Well, inasmuch as we have seen the thorn and the thistle produced by the ground because of one Adam, we may expect to see a blessing on the earth because of the second and greater Adam.

Therefore with unbounded confidence do I believe the promise —

“Ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their bands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for all everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Do you wipe the sweat from your brow as you toil for your livelihood? Did not the Lord say, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread”? Ought not your labor to be an argument by which your faith shall prove that in Christ Jesus there remaineth a rest for the people of God. In toiling unto weariness you feel that Adam’s fall is at work upon you; he has turned you into a tiller of the ground, or a keeper of sheep, or a worker in metals, but in any case he has made you wear a yoke; say you then to the Lord Jesus,

“Blessed second Adam, as I see and feel what the first man did, I am abundantly certified as to what thou canst accomplish. I will therefore rest in thee with all my heart.”

When you observe a funeral passing slowly along the street, or enter the churchyard, and notice hillock after hillock above the lowly beds of the departed, you see set forth evidently before your eyes the result of the Fall. You ask, — Who slew all these? and at what gate did the fell destroyer enter this world? Did the first Adam through his disobedience lift the latch for death? It is surely so.

Therefore I believe with tile greater assurance that the second Adam can give life to these dry bones, can awake all these sleepers, and raise them in newness of life. If so weak a man as Adam by one sin has brought in death, to pile the carcases of men heaps upon heaps, and make the earth reek with corruption, much more shall the glorious Son of God at His coming call them again to life and immortality, and renew them in the image of God. How blessed are those words, —

“Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept, For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”

Is not this killing a lion, and finding honey in its carcass? “Out of the eater cometh forth meat, and out of the strong cometh forth sweetness,” when from the fact of the Fall we derive a strong assurance of our restoration by Christ Jesus.

 It seems certain that if from the fall of Adam such great results flow, Greater Results Must Flow From The Grace Of God, And The Gift By Grace, Which Is By One Man, Jesus Christ.

Brethren, suppose that Adam had never sinned, and we were at this moment unfallen beings, yet our standing would have remained in jeopardy, seeing that at any moment he might have transgressed and so have pulled us down. Thousands of years of obedience might not have ended the probation, seeing there is no such stipulation in the original covenant. You and I therefore would be holding our happiness by a very precarious tenure; we could never glory in absolute security and eternal life as we now do in Christ Jesus.

We have now lost everything in Adam, and so the uncertain tenure has come to an end, our lease of Eden and its joys has altogether expired; but we that have believed, have obtained an inheritance which we hold by an indisputable and never-failing title which Satan himself cannot dispute;

“All things are yours, and ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.”

The Lord Jesus Christ has finished the work, by which His people are saved, and that work has been certified by His resurrection from the dead. There are no “ifs” in the covenant now; there is not a “peradventure” in it from beginning to end, no chances of failure caused by unfinished conditions can be found in it. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Do you say” I believe he shall be saved if he — “? Do not dare to add an “if” where God has placed none. Remember what will happen to you if you add anything to the book of God’s testimony. No, it is written, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved:” “He that believeth in Him hath everlasting life.” “There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.”

Thus we have obtained a surer standing than we could have had under the first Adam, and our hymn is true to the letter when it sings-

“He raised me from the deeps of sin,
The gates of gaping hell,
And fixed my standing more secure
Than ’twas before I fell.”

Our Lord has not only undone the mischief of the Fall, but He has given us more than we have lost: even as the Psalmist saith,

“Then I restored that which I took not away.”

By the great transgression of Adam we lost our life in him, for so ran the threatening — “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”; but in Christ Jesus we live again with a higher and nobler life, for the new life being the direct work of the Spirit, and being sustained by feeding upon the person of the Lord Jesus, is higher than the life of innocence in the garden of Eden. It is of a higher kind in many respects, of which we cannot now speak particularly, but this much we may say,

The first Adam was made a living soul, the second Adam is a quickening Spirit.

The Lord Jesus has also brought us into a nearer relationship to God than we could have possessed by any other means. We were God’s creatures by creation, but now we are His sons by adoption; in a certain narrow sense we were the offspring of God, but now by the exaltation of the Man Christ Jesus, the representative of us all, we are brought into the nearest possible relationship to God. Jesus sits upon the throne of God, and Manhood is thus uplifted next to Deity: the nearest akin to the Eternal is a Man, Christ Jesus, the Son of the Highest. We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones, and therefore we share His honors and participate in His triumphs. In Christ Jesus man is made to have dominion over all the works of God’s hands, and the redeemed are raised up together with Christ and made to sit in the heavenly places with Him, above all principalities and powers, and all things else that be; for these are the favourites of heaven, the beloved of the great King. No creatures can equal perfected men; they rise superior even to the angels who have never sinned; for in them the riches of the glory of God’s grace is more fully seen than in pure, unfallen spirits.

O beloved, hath not the Lord Jesus Christ done much for us, and ought we not to expect that it should be so, for the grace of God, and the gift by grace by the man Christ Jesus, are infinitely stronger forces than Adam’s sin.

There must be much more sap in the Man, the Branch, than in that poor plant, the one man who was made from the dust of the earth.

Oh the bliss which opens up before us now. We have lost Paradise, but we shall possess that of which the earthly garden was but a lowly type: we might have eaten of the luscious fruits of Eden, but now we eat of the Bread which came down from heaven; we might have heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, but now, like Enoch, we may walk with God after a nobler and closer fashion.

We are now capable of a joy which unfallen spirits could not have known: the bliss of pardoned sin, the heaven of deep conscious obligation to eternal mercy. The bonds which bind redeemed ones to their God are the strongest which exist.

What a joy it will be to love the Lord more than any other of His creatures, and assuredly we shall do so. Do not think that this is an unwarrantable assertion, for I feel sure that it is the truth. Do you not read in the gospels of a woman who washed the Savior’s feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and anointed them with ointment? Did not the Savior say that she loved much because she had much forgiven. I take it that the same general principle will apply to all places, to eternity as well as to time, and therefore I believe that forgiven sinners will have a love to God and to His Christ such as cherubim and seraphim never felt; Gabriel cannot love Jesus as a forgiven man will do.

Those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb will be nearer and dearer to Him, and He will be nearer and dearer to them, than all the ministering spirits before the throne, for He took upon Him our nature and not theirs.

Glory be unto Thee, O Christ! As I look into the awful deeps of Adam’s fall, I tremble, but when I lift up my eyes again to the eternal heights whither Thou hast raised me by Thy passion and Thy resurrection I feel strengthened by the former vision. I magnify the infinite grace of God, and believe in it unstaggeringly. Oh, that I had power to magnify it with fit words and proper speech, but these are not with me. Accept the feeling of the heart when the language of the lip confesses its failure. Accept it, Lord, through the Well-beloved. Amen.

The transgression of Adam brought death whereas grace brought life a far more dynamic power. Grace not only did away with death, but restored what had been destroyed. Moreover

“the trespass of Adam brought death once, the sacrifice and death of Jesus brings life a thousand times.”

Grace (5485) (charis) (Click word study of charis) stresses the unmerited favor of God and our inability to earn or deserve it.

Grace, grace. God's grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin.

The Grace of God (click the 20 uses of this beautiful phrase) expresses the Source of the Grace, God Himself, "the God of all grace" (1Pe 5:10-note) Who reigns as sovereign on "the throne of grace" (Heb 4:16-note), and Who Alone "gives grace and glory" (Psalm 84:11 - Spurgeon's note).

Gift  (1431) (dorea from didomi = to give) refers to a free gift and emphasizes the gratuitous character of the gift. Dorea describes that which is given or transferred freely by one person to another, without price or compensation.  Whereas dorea  (gift) emphasizes freeness, charisma  (free gift) highlights the gracious aspect of what God has done.

By the grace of the one Man Jesus Christ - "One Man" emphasizes that the saving work was accomplished by Christ alone.

Abound (4052) (perisseuo from perissós = abundant from peri = in sense of beyond) means to exceed a fixed number or measure, to exist in superfluity and so to  superabound, to have an abundance, or to abound richly. The idea is to have enough and to spare in the needs of daily life.

Denny writes that abound is a word...

Prompted by Paul's own experience: the blessedness of the Christian life far out went the misery of the life under condemnation. (Ibid)

Barnes writes that it...

will be more than a counterbalance for the ills which have been introduced by the sin of Adam.

John MacArthur writes that...

the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, did more than simply provide the way for fallen mankind to be restored to the state of Adam’s original innocence. Jesus Christ not only reversed the curse of death by forgiving and cleansing from sin but provided the way for redeemed men to share in the full righteousness and glory of God... God’s grace is greater than man’s sin. Not only is it greater than the one original sin of Adam that brought death to all men but it is greater than all the accumulated sins that men have ever or will ever commit. It might be said that Adam’s sinful act, devastating as it was, had but a one-dimensional effect-it brought death to everyone. But the effect of Christ’s redemptive act has facets beyond measure, because He not only restores man to spiritual life but gives him the very life of God. Death by nature is static and empty, whereas life by nature is active and full. Only life can abound.

Jesus Christ broke the power of sin and death, but the converse is not true. Sin and death cannot break the power of Jesus Christ. The condemnation of Adam’s sin is reversible, the redemption of Jesus Christ is not. The effect of Adam’s act is permanent only if not nullified by Christ. The effect of Christ’s act, however, is permanent for believing individuals and not subject to reversal or nullification. We have the great assurance that once we are in Jesus Christ, we are in Him forever. (Ibid)

The many - The use of the many twice in this verse has the advantage of underscoring the distinct differences of Adam and Christ respectively. What one did, in each case, affected not one but many. Notice that that the many speaks of two distinct groups (Paul uses the term all with similarly distinct meanings in Ro 5:18-note.) In the case of Adam, the many means all mankind, but in the case of Christ, the many means only to those who by grace through faith have received the gift of God's righteousness (see Ro 3:24, 25-note, note v25) in Christ Jesus. In short, Paul is not teaching universal salvation for the many.

EBC makes the point that...

The use of the many has this advantage, that it underscores the importance of Adam and Christ respectively. What one did, in each case, affected not one but many. (Gaebelein, F, Editor: Expositor's Bible Commentary 6-Volume New Testament. Zondervan Publishing)

The many may be an allusion to Isaiah 53 where we read...

As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:11, 12)

Compare Jesus' words as He inaugurated the New Covenant...

For this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. (Mt 26:28)