Romans Chapter 5 Vs. 16

Death in Adam, Life in Christ

And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. Rom 5:16

God tells Adam (in Genesis 3:19), that he is dust and to dust he will return. This is the fate of all flesh. Flesh and blood do not inherit heaven.

Adam brought upon all men the condemnation for only one offense, his willful act of disobedience. Christ however, delivers the elect from the condemnation of many offenses.

1Cor. 15:50 “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.”

The death that Adam brought was of the flesh. Jesus did not just pick out some sins and die for that, but in fact died for all sin.

Here Paul presented a second contrasting parallelism; this one is different in kind. He began by emphasizing the contrast: Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin. Literally, the Greek is, “Also not as through the one who sinned is the gift.” Obviously here a noun paralleling “the gift” is missing in the text. Some suggest “the judgment” from what follows; others the transgression, or the death, or the condemnation. It seems best to leave it indefinite as does the Greek text and to translate it by “the result” (as does the NIV) of that which happened.

Paul continued, The judgment followed (“was out of”) one sin (lit., “one,” i.e., Adam) and brought condemnation. God passed judgment (krima) on Adam and he (and the entire human race) received condemnation (katakrima, “punishment”; katakrima occurs elsewhere only in Rom. 5:18 and 8:1). But, by contrast, the gift (charisma, “grace-gift,” i.e., righteousness, Rom. 5:17; cf. 5:15) followed (“was out of”) many trespasses and brought justification (dikaiōma, “a declaration of righteousness,” also used in Rom. 1:32, 2:26; 5:18; 8:4). God’s grace, as Paul stated repeatedly, beginning in Rom. 3:24, is the basis of a person’s being justified, declared righteous. And this was in the face of “many trespasses” (paraptōmatōn; cf. Rom. 5:15, 5:17-18, 5:20). One man (Adam) trespassed (Rom. 5:15) God’s command, and everyone since has repeatedly overstepped God’s instructions.