Romans Chapter 5 Vs. 15

 

Death in Adam, Life in Christ

But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence 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. Rom 5:15

For if through... Twelve Contrasts between Adam and Christ:

1. Adam was head of the old creation (Gen. 1:26); Christ is head of the new creation (2Cor. 5:17-18; Eph. 2:10).

2. Adam sinned (Gen. 2:17; 3:6; Rom. 5:12-21); Christ did not (1Pet. 2:22).

3. Adam by one sin made many sinners (Rom. 5:15); Christ by the act of obedience made many righteous (Rom. 5:19; 2Cor. 5:21; Heb. 10:10-14; 1Pet. 2:24).

4. Adam was made a living soul; Christ was made a quickening Spirit (1Cor. 15:45).

5. Adam was of the earth; Christ was the Lord from heaven (1Cor. 15:47).

6. Adam brought death (Rom. 5:12, 5:17; 1Cor. 15:21); Christ brings life (Rom. 5:17-18; John 10:10; 1Cor. 15:21-22).

7. Adam passed a sinful nature to his offspring (Rom. 5:12, 5:19; Eph. 2:3; Psm. 51:5); Christ imparts a sinless nature (Rom. 5:19; 2Cor. 5:17-18; 2Pet. 1:4).

8. Adam brought condemnation (Rom. 5:16-18); Christ justifies (Rom. 5:18; 3:24; 4:25).

9. Adam lost the grace or favor of God (Rom. 5:15; Gen. 2:17; 3:6-24); Christ restored grace to people (Rom. 5:15-17; 3:24; John 1:17).

10. Adam offended God (Rom. 5:15, 5:17-18; Gen. 3:6, 3:17-24); Christ pleased God (Rom. 5:18; Mat. 3:17; 7:5; 2Pet. 1:17).

11. Death reigned through Adam (Rom. 5:12, 5:14, 5:17); life reigns through Christ (Rom. 5:17-18, 5:21; John 3:16; 10:10).

12. Adam caused sin to abound (Rom. 5:20); Christ causes grace to abound (Rom. 5:20).

much more the... The parallel does not hold true in every detail, for the free gift exceeds the consequences of sin (Rom. 5:15, 5:17, 5:20).

Paul uses the word “many” with two distinct meanings, just as he will use the word “all” (in verse 18). He has already established that all men, without exception, bear the guilt of sin and are therefore subject to death. So, the “many” who die must refer to all Adam’s descendants.

Death reigned from Adam until Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ defeated death when He rose from the grave. We see this statement above how much greater Jesus’ act of mercy than Adam’s act of sin. By one man’s transgression sin entered. Jesus Christ actually took the sin of the whole world upon His body and sin for the Christians died on the cross.

2Cor. 5:21 “For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

In 1Pet. 2:24 “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”

The real story is that Jesus paid our debt for us. We are bought and paid for with the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

He provides our righteousness. Jesus made us righteous. We can’t make ourselves righteous in God’s sight. Jesus made us righteous in God’s sight.

The details of the parallelism between Adam and Christ (begun by Paul in Rom. 5:12 with the words “just as”) are given in Rom. 5:15-17. The apostle made clear the contrastive nature of the parallelism by stating, But the gift (charisma, “grace-gift”) is not like the trespass. What Christ “gives” contrasts with what Adam did, his “trespass” (paraptōma, “false step”; also mentioned in Rom. 4:25; 5:16-18, 5:20). The point of the first contrasting parallel is the degree — how much more. The trespass of the one man brought physical death to the many, in this case the entire human race to date with two exceptions — Enoch and Elijah. By contrast, God’s grace — and the gift (viz., righteousness, as stated in Rom. 5:17; cf. Rom. 5:16) that came by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ — abounded to the many! If this latter “many” is identical with the first (the many who died, which is possible, but is not required by the text) and constitutes the entire human race, then “God’s grace and the gift” by means of “grace” abound in the sense of reaching and being available to all people, but not necessarily being appropriated by all.