Sin and Death Versus Righteousness and Life
Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgement followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Romans 5:16,17
This is the second contrast between the act of Adam and the act of Christ in 5:16a which Paul explains in 5:16b and 17. The first sentence is quite complex and begins literally “and the gift is not like the one who sinned.” Because “the one who sinned” does not seem to parallel “the gift,” the contrast has to be worked out from the context. The word ‘condemnation’ from the next sentence seems to best fit. This would take Paul’s meaning to be “and the gift is not like the condemnation that came through the one who sinned.”
As he did in 5:15, Paul goes on to elaborate the contrast. ‘The judgement followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification’ (5:16). The judicial verdict that resulted in condemnation was from one sin, but the gift that leads to justification came after many transgressions. Paul has two contrasts in mind (1) the contrast between the results of Adam’s act and Christ’s – condemnation versus justification – and (2) the number of sins taken into account – the judicial verdict associated with Adam was based on one sin while the decree of justification that came through Christ came after an untold number of sins. Not only then are the results of the actions of Adam and Christ diametrically opposed, but the graciousness of God’s work in Christ becomes all the more evident when one considers the number of sins taken into consideration in each respective action.
‘For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!’ (5:17). Paul now elaborates the contrast between the ‘condemnation’ and the ‘justification’ of 5:16b in a verse that is both the summary and climax of Paul’s contrast between the effects of the parallel acts of the two men. In each case a critical spiritual condition has been introduced into human history ‘through’ the act of ‘one man.’ The ‘one man’ Adam and his sin is the instrument through which death exercises its rule but the second man brings consequences even more glorious than those of the first man were devastating. There is on Christ’s side an “abundance” that leads Paul to put the two sides of the sentence not in a simple relationship of comparison (“as … so also”) but in a relationship of degree – “how much more.” The “abundance” comes from God’s grace and His gift (the result of that grace). The gift is ‘righteousness’ – the status of a new relationship with God. Because God is acting freely in the act of Christ, that act possesses the power to more than reverse the effects of Adam’s human decision.
Paul now breaks the parallel in another significant way. The result of Adam’s act was: death reigned through the one. But it is people who ‘reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!’ – ‘those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness.’ This change brings out another important difference between the reigns of death and life. Death is not a consciously chosen destiny but the reigning in life is. It is a choice and personal decision for those who receive ‘the gift.’ Righteousness and life are for those who respond to God’s grace in Christ and only for them.
Because Paul uses a future verb for ‘reigning,’ the reference must be to the eschatological future. But while this is Paul’s primary emphasis, this ‘reigning in life’ is inextricably linked to our having received the gift of righteousness. Because we receive this gift now, our reigning begins now. Death was formerly our king and we were slaves under its tyranny. But now Christ has delivered us from the rule of death so radically that we rule over what has replaced it, life. We ‘reign in life’ (5:17). We are royalty, reigning under Christ, with death under our feet now and one day to be completely destroyed.