Jesus was the source of overflowing grace

JESUS WAS THE SOURCE OF OVERFLOWING GRACE
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
ROMANS 5:15-21
15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how
much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ,
overflow to the many!
16 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed
one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought
justification.
17 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!
18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one
righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.
20 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace
increased all the more,
21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Abounding Life
Romans 5:15-17
T.F. Lockyer It is evident that all are condemned, because death reigns; and it is proved that the
condemnation of all is through the sin of one, because even where no express law is, there is
death. But we have hope in Christ. Is our hope valid? Does the justification through Christ reach
over as wide a range as the condemnation through Adam? And is the consequent life to prevail
coextensively with the death? The argument here is to prove the certainty of each coextension.

I. AN ABOUNDING GRACE.
1. The originating cause of the condemnation was the
(1) severity of God;
(2) working because of trespass - a trespass which was (literally) a fall through weakness;
(3) and working, for one trespass, death to all.
2. The originating cause of the justification is the
(1) grace of God;
(2) working by a gift of grace - viz. Christ; and by the grace of this Christ - a love unto death;
(3) and working because many trespasses call forth compassion. Surely, "not as the trespass, so
also is the free gift."
II. AN INDIVIDUAL APPROPRIATION OF THE ABOUNDING GRACE,
1. The participation in the sentence of condemnation was passive on the part of the many, for the
sin of one - the unchoosing heirs of a sad inheritance.
2. The participation in the decree of life is active on the part of many, for the sacrifice of the One
- they "receive" the grace of righteousness, laying hold of it by the voluntary activity of faith.
Infinite love is the fount of our life; and Jesus Christ, a Man, is he in whom all fulness dwells.
The certainty is irrefragable. Do we make it ours? "As many as received him" (John 1:12). -
T.F.L.
Biblical Illustrator
But not as the offence, so also is the free gift.
Romans 5:15
The offence and the free gift
J. Lyth, D. D.1. The offence originated with man, the free gift in the grace of God.
2. The offence operated necessarily by a just law, the gift is free through Jesus Christ.
3. The offence results in death, the free gift abounds unto everlasting life.
(J. Lyth, D. D.)
Prof. Godet.If from the offense of one — so insignificant in its way — there could go forth an
action which spread over the whole multitude of mankind, will not the conclusion hold a fortiori
that from the grace of God, and the gift through this grace of one man, acting on the opposite

side, so powerful and rich as they are, there must result an action, the extension of which shall
not be less than that of the offence, and shall, consequently, reach the whole of that multitude? If
a very weak spring could inundate a whole meadow, would it not be safe to conclude that a much
more abundant spring, if spread over the same space of ground, would not fail to submerge it
entirely?
(Prof. Godet.)
The first and second Adam compared in reference
J. Lyth, D. D.I. TO THE UNIVERSALITY OF THEIR INFLUENCE. The first Adam destroyed
all, the second has obtained grace for all — with this difference, that in the former case the ruin
came inevitably, but the reception of the grace is suspended upon man's free choice.
II. TO THE INTENSITY OF THEIR INFLUENCE. The first Adam has by one sin given
occasion to all sin; the second has by one act of grace expiated all sin — with this difference, that
Adam's sin in itself was not greater than any other sin, but the grace of Christ outweighs the
aggregate guilt of all sin.
III. TO THE FINAL RESULTS OF THEIR INFLUENCE. The first Adam has subjected
mankind to the bondage of death, the second confers upon all, who will receive it, dominion in
life — with this difference, that the fulness of grace in Christ not only meets the curse in Adam,
but far surpasses the grace originally conferred upon man.
(J. Lyth, D. D.)
Life in Christ contrasted with death in Adam
T. G. Horton.Note —
I. THE INTRINSIC NATURE OF THE THINGS HERE CONTRASTED; and we shall see that
if the one arrangement could be adopted by God, much more likely is it that the other would be
also, as being more strictly congenial with all that we know of His glorious character. God might
permit us to sin and suffer in Adam, with reference to some future good to come out of it: He
might permit it in harmony with His wisdom, holiness, and love; but still He could have no
delight in it for its own sake. Yet we find that He has seen it right to permit these things to
transpire: how much more, then, may we believe in the arrangement of grace, by which salvation
is brought to our ruined race! But how do we know the feelings of the Most High in reference to
this matter? What reason have we for supposing that it pleases Him more to give us life in Christ
than to see us die in Adam? We take our views from His own word (Exodus 34:6, 7; Psalm 86:5,
15; Psalm 145:8, 9; Ezekiel 18:23, 31, 32; Ezekiel 33:11; John 3:16; John 4:16). Say not, then,
complainingly that God has permitted you to die in Adam, but rather believe that He delights to
give you life in Christ.
II. THAT GRACE RELATES TO A LARGER NUMBER OF TRANSGRESSIONS THAN
DID THE FIRST CONDEMNATION (ver. 16). The gift by one is quite unlike the sin by one,
inasmuch as in the sin there was but one offence committed, and instantly judgment upon it;
whereas, in the matter of the gift by grace, there is forgiveness ensured for many offences.
Hitherto, we have been regarding the sin of mankind as one, and in that one sin all men became
guilty before God. Let us, then, look at the nature and the number of our offences, all of which
need to and can be forgiven through the atoning work of Christ. There are the sins of our
ungodly life; there are also our sins since we entered on a godly career. We are daily guilty of
omissions of duty, or grievous shortcomings in the mode of fulfilling our obligations. But

beyond all this, there are positive faults and evils in the best of us. Yet — blessed be God! —
these sins, however numerous, may be all pardoned through the blood of Christ; for the free gift
is of many offences unto justification.
III. THAT GRACE IS ESSENTIALLY A STRONGER PRINCIPLE THAN SIN (ver. 17). Life
is more mighty than death. The range of death is limited; it can only ravage that which already
exists. But life is a creative power to whose possible achievements we can assign no limits.
Death is a negative principle, life a positive one. Death is a condition of the creature, life has its
source and fulness in the infinite Creator. Under the domination of death we are made its
groaning and unwilling victims; but under the reign of life we are caught up to the throne, and
share with gladness in the monarch's might and joy.
(T. G. Horton.)
The grace of God
J. Lyth, D. D.I. TRANSCENDS SIN.
1. In its origin. Sin proceeds from the offence of one man and destroys many; grace proceeds
from God through one man, Jesus Christ, and therefore not only reaches many, but abounds.
2. In its operation. One offence brought condemnation, but grace not only counteracts the effects
of that one offence but of many others.
3. In its results. One offence brought death, but grace wherever received not only gives back life,
but gives it more abundantly.
II. IS COEXTENSIVE WITH SIN.
1. It cannot reach further because it presupposes sin.
2. It does reach as far, because the free gift unto justification of life is unto all men, because the
many made sinners might also be made righteous.
3. If grace anywhere fails it is not through any limitation of its action, but through the wilful
impenitency of man.
(J. Lyth, D. D.)
Honey from a lion
C. H. Spurgeon.This text affords many openings for controversy. It can be made to bristle with
difficulties. It would be easy to set up a thorn hedge and keep the sheep out of the pasture, or to
so pelt each other with the stones as to leave the fruit untasted. I feel more inclined to chime in
with that ancient father against whom a clamorous disputant shouted, "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 Christ has to say." Note —
I. THE APPOINTED WAY OF OUR SALVATION IS BY THE FREE GIFT OF GOD.
Salvation is bestowed —
1. Without regard to any merit, supposed or real. Grace is not a fit gift for the righteous, but for
the undeserving. It is according to the nature of God to pity the miserable and forgive the guilty,
"for He is good, and His mercy endureth forever."

2. Irrespective of any merit which God foresees will be in man. Foresight of the existence of
grace cannot be the cause of grace. God Himself does not foresee that there will be any good
thing in any man, except what He foresees that He will put there.
3. Without reference to conditions which imply any desert. But I hear one murmur, "God will not
give grace to men who do not repent and believe." I answer, "God gives men grace to repent and
believe, and no man does so till first grace is given him." Repentance and faith may be
conditions of receiving, but they are not conditions of purchasing, for salvation is without money
and without price.
4. Over the head of sin and in the teeth of rebellion, "God commendeth His love toward us, in
that, while we were yet sinners," etc. Many of us have been saved by grace of the most
abounding and extraordinary sort.
5. Through the one man Jesus Christ. People talk about a "one man ministry." I was lost by a one
man ministry when father Adam fell in Eden, but I was saved by a one man ministry when Jesus
bore my sin in His own body on the tree.
II. IT IS CERTAIN THAT GREAT EVILS HAVE COME TO US BY THE FALL.
1. We have lost the Garden of Eden and all its delights, privileges, and immunities, its
communion with God, and its freedom from death.
2. We have been born to a heritage of sorrow.
3. We came into the world with a bias towards evil.
4. We are made liable to death, and are sure to bow our heads beneath the fatal stroke.
5. While we live we know that the sweat of our brow must pay the price of our bread.
6. Our children must be born with pangs and travail.
III. FROM THE FALL WE INFER THE MORE ABUNDANT CERTAINTY THAT
SALVATION BY GRACE THROUGH CHRIST JESUS SHALL COME TO BELIEVERS. For
—
1. This appears to be more delightful to the heart of God. I can understand that God, having so
arranged it that the human race should be regarded as one, should 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. 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 all who believe in Jesus should be saved through Him.
2. 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."
3. Look at the difference as to the causes of the two effects. Look at the occasion of our ruin —
"the offence of one" — a finite being, who therefore cannot be compared in power with the grace
of the infinite God; the sin of a moment, and therefore cannot be compared for force and energy
with the everlasting purpose of Divine love. The grace of God is like His nature, omnipotent and

unlimited. 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."
4. 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!(1) Let us not think too
little of the head of the human family. Yet what is the first Adam as compared with the Second?
He is but of the earth, earthy, but the Second Man is the Lord from heaven. Surely, then, if Adam
with that puny hand of his could pull down the house of our humanity, that greater Man, who is
also the Son of God, can fully restore us.(2) Adam commits one fault and spoils us, but Christ's
achievements are many as the stars of heaven.(3) Adam did but eat of the forbidden fruit, but
Christ died. 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?
5. From the text you may derive a great deal of comfort.(1) A babe is born into the world amid
great anxiety because of its mother's pains; but while these prove how the consequences of the
fall are with us ("in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children"), they also assure us that the Second
Adam can abundantly bring us bliss through a second birth.(2) Inasmuch as we have seen the
thorn and the thistle because of one Adam, we may expect to see a blessing on the earth because
of the Second Adam. Therefore with unbounded confidence do I believe the promise: "Instead of
the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree," etc.(3)
Did not the Lord say, "In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread"? Ought not your labour to
be an argument by which your faith shall prove that in Christ Jesus there remaineth a rest for the
people of God.(4) Did the first Adam through his disobedience lift the latch for death? It is surely
so. Therefore I believe with the 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.
IV. 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. Suppose that Adam bad never sinned, and we
were unfallen beings, yet our standing would have remained in jeopardy. We have now lost
everything in Adam, and so the uncertain tenure has come to an end; but we that have believed
have obtained an inheritance which we hold by a title which Satan himself cannot dispute: "All
things are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." By the great transgression of Adam we
lost our life in him; but in Christ we live again with a higher and nobler life. 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, but now we are His sons. 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 bonds which bind
redeemed ones to their God are the strongest which exist.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The love of God
Prof. Godet.is a love which gives another love; it is the grace of a Father giving the love of a
Brother.

(Prof. Godet.)
The advantages accruing to the race from the fall
J. Wesley, M. A.How common and bitter is the outcry against our first parent for the mischief he
entailed on his posterity; and it were well if the complaint ended there, but it glances from Adam
to his Creator. "Did not God foresee that he would abuse his liberty, and know all the baneful
consequences of the act? Why, then, did He permit it?" Because He knew that "not as the
offence, so is the free gift"; that the evil resulting from the former was not as the good resulting
from the latter, not worthy to be compared with it. If Adam had not fallen —
I. CHRIST HAD NOT DIED AND THE WORLD HAD MISSED THE MOST AMAZING
DISPLAY OF GOD'S LOVE. So —
1. There could have been no such thing as faith in God thus loving the world; nor faith in Christ
as "loving us, and giving Himself for us"; nor faith in the Spirit as renewing the image of God in
our hearts.
2. The same blank could have been left in our love. We might have loved God as our Creator and
Preserver, but we could not have loved Him under the nearest and dearest relation. We might
have loved the Son of God as being "the brightness of His Father's glory," but not as having
borne our sins. We could not have loved the Spirit as revealing to us the Father and the Son, as
opening our eyes and turning us from darkness to light, etc.
3. Nor could we have loved our neighbour to the same extent: "If God so loved us we ought to
love one another."
II. WE HAD MISSED THE INNUMERABLE BENEFITS WHICH FLOW THROUGH OUR
SUFFERINGS. Had there been no suffering, a considerable part of religion, and in some respects
the most excellent part, could have had no place.
1. Upon this foundation our passive graces are built; yea, the noblest of them — the love which
endureth all things. Here is the ground for resignation, for confidence in God, for patience,
meekness, gentleness, long suffering, etc.
2. These afford opportunities for doing good which could not otherwise have existed.
III. HEAVEN WOULD HAVE BEEN LESS GLORIOUS.
1. We should have missed the fruit of those graces which could not have flourished but for our
struggle with sin here. Superior nobleness on earth means superior happiness in heaven.
2. We should have missed the reward which will accrue to innumerable good works which could
not otherwise have been wrought, such as relief of distress, etc.
3. We should have missed the "exceeding and eternal weight of glory" which is to be the
recompense of our light affliction.
IV. OUR SALVATION WOULD HAVE BEEN LESS SECURE. Unless in Adam all had died,
every man must have personally answered for himself, and, as a consequence, if he had once
sinned there would have been no possibility of his rising again. Now who would wish to hazard
eternity on one stake? But under the economy of redemption if we fall we may rise again.
Conclusion: See, then, how little reason there is to repine at the fall of our first parents, since
here from we may derive such unspeakable advantages. If God had decreed that millions should
suffer in hell because Adam sinned it would have been a different matter; but on the contrary, He

has decreed that every man may be a gainer by it, and no man can be a loser but through his own
choice.
(J. Wesley, M. A.)
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Adam Clarke Commentary
But not as the offense, so also is the free gift - The same learned writer, quoted above, continues
to observe: -
"It is evident that the apostle, in this and the two following verses, is running a parallel, or
making a comparison between the offense of Adam and its consequence; and the opposite gift of
God and its consequences. And, in these three verses, he shows that the comparison will not hold
good in all respects, because the free gift, χαρισμα, bestows blessings far beyond the
consequences of the offense, and which, therefore, have no relation to it. And this was necessary,
not only to prevent mistakes concerning the consequence of Adam's offense, and the extent of
Gospel grace; but it was also necessary to the apostle's main design, which was not only to prove
that the grace of the Gospel extends to all men, so far as it takes off the consequence of Adam's
offense, (i.e. death, without the promise or probability of a resurrection), but that it likewise
extends to all men, with respect to the surplusage of blessings, in which it stretches far beyond
the consequence of Adam's offense. For, the grace that takes off the consequence of Adam's
offense, and the grace which abounds beyond it, are both included in the same χαρισμα, or free
gift, which should be well observed; for in this, I conceive, lie the connection and sinews of the
argument: the free gift, which stands opposed to Adam's offense, and which, I think, was
bestowed immediately after the offense; Genesis 3:15; : The seed of the woman shall bruise the
serpent's head. This gift, I say, includes both the grace which exactly answers to the offense, and
is that part of the grace which stretches far beyond it. And, if the one part of the gift be freely
bestowed on all mankind, as the Jews allow, why not the other? especially, considering that the
whole gift stands upon a reason and foundation in excellence and worth, vastly surpassing the
malignity and demerit of the offense; and, consequently, capable of producing benefits vastly
beyond the sufferings occasioned by the offense. This is the force of the apostle's argument; and
therefore, supposing that in the 18th and l9th verses, literally understood, he compares the
consequence of Adam's offense and Christ's obedience, only so far as the one is commensurate to
the other, yet his reasoning, Romans 5:15-17, plainly shows that it is his meaning and intention
that we should take into his conclusion the whole of the gift, so far as it can reach, to all
mankind."
For if, through the offense of one, many be dead - That the οἱ πολλοι, the many of the apostle
here means all mankind needs no proof to any but that person who finds himself qualified to
deny that all men are mortal. And if the many, that is, all mankind, have died through the offense
of one; certainly, the gift by grace, which abounds unto τους πολλους, the many, by Christ Jesus,
must have reference to every human being. If the consequences of Christ's incarnation and death
extend only to a few, or a select number of mankind - which, though they may be considered
many in themselves, are few in comparison of the whole human race - then the consequences of
Adam's sin have extended only to a few, or to the same select number: and if only many, and not

all have fallen, only that many had need of a Redeemer. For it is most evident that the same
persons are referred to in both clauses of the verse. If the apostle had believed that the benefits of
the death of Christ had extended only to a select number of mankind, he never could have used
the language he has done here: though, in the first clause, he might have said, without any
qualification of the term, Through the offense of one, Many are dead; in the 2nd clause, to be
consistent with the doctrine of particular redemption, he must have said, The grace of God, and
the gift by grace, hath abounded unto Some. As by the offense of one judgment came upon All
men to condemnation; so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon Some to
justification, Romans 5:18. As, by one man's disobedience, Many were made sinners; so, by the
obedience of one, shall Some be made righteous, Romans 5:19. As in Adam All die; so, in
Christ, shall Some be made alive, 1 Corinthians 15:22. But neither the doctrine nor the thing ever
entered the soul of this divinely inspired man.
Hath abounded unto many - That is, Christ Jesus died for every man; salvation is free for all;
saving grace is tendered to every soul; and a measure of the Divine light is actually
communicated to every heart, John 1:9. And, as the grace is offered, so it may be received; and
hence the apostle says, Romans 5:17; : They which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of
righteousness, shall reign in life by Christ Jesus: and by receiving is undoubtedly meant not only
the act of receiving, but retaining and improving the grace which they receive; and, as all may
receive, so All may improve and retain the grace they do receive; and, consequently, All may be
eternally saved. But of multitudes Christ still may say, They Will not come unto me, that they
might have life.
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Bibliography
Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on Romans 5:15". "The Adam Clarke Commentary".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/romans-5.html. 1832.
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Albert Barnes'Notes onthe Whole Bible
But not as the offence - This is the first point of contrast between the effect of the sin of Adam
and of the work of Christ. The word “offence” means properly a fall, where we stumble over
anything lying in our way It then means sin in general, or crime Matthew 6:14-15; Matthew
18:35. Here it means the fall, or first sin of Adam. We use the word “fall” as applied to Adam, to
denote his first offence, as being that act by which he fell from an elevated state of obedience
and happiness into one of sin and condemnation.
So also - The gift is not in its nature and effects like the offence.
The free gift - The favor, benefit, or good bestowed gratuitously on us. It refers to the favors
bestowed in the gospel by Christ. These are free, that is, without merit on our part, and bestowed
on the undeserving.
For if … - The apostle does not labor to prove that this is so. This is not the point of his
argument, He assumes that as what was seen and known everywhere. His main point is to show
that greater benefits have resulted from the work of the Messiah than evils from the fall of Adam.

Through the offence of one - By the fall of one. This simply concedes the fact that it is so. The
apostle does not attempt an explanation of the mode or manner in which it happened. He neither
says that it is by imputation, nor by inherent depravity, nor by imitation. Whichever of these
modes may be the proper one of accounting for the fact, it is certain that the apostle states
neither. His object was, not to explain the manner in which it was done, but to argue from the
acknowledged existence of the fact. All that is certainly established from this passage is, that as a
certain fact resulting from the transgression of Adam, “many” were “dead.” This simple fact is
all that can be proved from this passage. Whether it is to be explained by the doctrine of
imputation, is to be a subject of inquiry independent of this passage. Nor have we a right to
assume that this teaches the doctrine of the imputation of the sin of Adam to his posterity. For,
(1)The apostle says nothing of it.
(2)that doctrine is nothing but an effort to explain the manner of an event which the apostle Paul
did not think it proper to attempt to explain.
(3)that doctrine is in fact no explanation.
It is introducing all additional difficulty. For to say that I am blameworthy, or ill-deserving for a
sin in which I had no agency, is no explanation, but is involving me in an additional difficulty
still more perplexing, to ascertain how such a doctrine can possibly be just. The way of wisdom
would be, doubtless, to rest satisfied with the simple statement of a fact which the apostle has
assumed, without attempting to explain it by a philosophical theory. Calvin accords with the
above interpretation. “For we do not so perish by his (Adam‘s) crime, as if we were ourselves
innocent; but Paul ascribes our ruin to him because his sin is the cause of our sin.”
(This is not a fair quotation from Calvin. It leaves us to infer, that the Reformer affirmed, that
Adam‘s sin is the cause of actual sin in us, on account of which last only we are condemned.
Now under the twelfth verse Calvin says, “The inference is plain, that the apostle does not treat
of actual sin, for if every person was the cause of his own guilt, why should Paul compare Adam
with Christ?” If our author had not stopt short in his quotation, he would have found immediately
subjoined, as an explanation: “I call that our sin, which is inbred, and with which we are born.”
Our being born with this sin is a proof of our guilt in Adam. But whatever opinion may he
formed of Calvin‘s general views on this subject, nothing is more certain, than that he did not
suppose the apostle treated of actual sin in these passages.
Notwithstanding of the efforts that are made to exclude the doctrine of imputation from this
chapter, the full and varied manner in which the apostle expresses it, cannot be evaded. “Through
the offence of one many be dead” - “the judgment was by one to condemnation” - “By one man‘s
offence death reigned by one” - “By the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to
condemnation” - “By one man‘s disobedience, many were made sinners,” etc.
It is vain to tell us, as our author does” under each of these clauses respectively, that the apostle
simply states the fact, that the sin of Adam has involved the race in condemnation, without
adverting to the manner; for Paul does more than state the fact. He intimates that we are involved
in condemnation in a way that bears a certain analogy to the manner in which we become
righteous. And on this last, he is, without doubt, sufficiently explicited See a former
supplementary note.
In Romans 5:18-19 the apostle seems plainly to affirm the manner of the fact “as by the offence
of one,” etc., “Even so,” etc. “As by one man‘s disobedience,” etc., “so,” etc. There is a
resemblance in the manner of the two things compared. It we wish to know how guilt and

condemnation come by Adam, we have only to inquire, how righteousness and justification
come by Christ. “So,” that is, in this way, not in like manner. It is not in a manner that has
merely some likeness, but it is in the very same manner, for although there is a contrast in the
things, the one being disobedience and the other obedience, yet there is a perfect identity in the
manner. - Haldane.
It is somewhat remarkable, that while our author so frequently affirms, that the apostle states the
fact only, he himself should throughout assume the manner. He will not allow the apostle to
explain the manner, nor any one who has a different view of it from himself. Yet he tells us, it is
not by imputation that we become involved in Adam‘s guilt; that people “sin in their own
persons, and that therefore they die.” This he affirms to be the apostle‘s meaning. And is this not
an explanation of the manner. Are we not left to conclude, that from Adam we simply derive a
corrupt nature, in consequence of which we sin personally, and therefore die?)
Many - Greek, “The many.” Evidently meaning all; the whole race; Jews and Gentiles. That it
means all here is proved in Romans 5:18. If the inquiry be, why the apostle used the word
“many” rather than all, we may reply, that the design was to express an antithesis, or contrast to
the cause - one offence. One stands opposed to many, rather than to all.
Be dead - See the note on the word “death,” Romans 5:12. The race is under the dark and
gloomy reign of death. This is a simple fact which the apostle assumes, and which no man can
deny.
Much more - The reason of this “much more” is to be found in the abounding mercy and
goodness of God. If a wise, merciful, and good Being has suffered such a train of woes to be
introduced by the offence of one, have we not much more reason to expect that his grace will
superabound?
The grace of God - The favor or kindness of God We have reason to expect under the
administration of God more extensive benefits, than we have ills, flowing from a constitution of
things which is the result of his appointment.
And the gift by grace - The gracious gift; the benefits flowing from that grace. This refers to the
blessings of salvation.
Which is by one man - Standing in contrast with Adam. His appointment was the result of grace;
and as he was constituted to bestow favors, we have reason to expect that they will superabound.
Hath abounded - Has been abundant, or ample; will be more than a counterbalance for the ills
which have been introduced by the sin of Adam.
Unto many - Greek, Unto the many. The obvious interpretation of this is, that it is as unlimited as
“the many” who are dead. Some have supposed that Adam represented the whole of the human
race, and Christ a part, and that “the many” in the two members of the verse refer to the whole of
those who were thus represented. But this is to do violence to the passage; and to introduce a
theological doctrine to meet a supposed difficulty in the text. The obvious meaning is - one from
which we cannot depart without doing violence to the proper laws of interpretation - that “the
many” in the two cases are co-extensive; and that as the sin of Adam has involved the race - the
many - in death; so the grace of Christ has abounded in reference to the many, to the race. If
asked how this can be possible, since all have not been, and will not be savingly benefitted by the
work of Christ, we may reply,

(1) That it cannot mean That the benefits of the work of Christ should be literally co-extensive
with the results of Adam‘s sin, since it is a fact that people have suffered, and do suffer, from the
effects of that fall. In order that the Universalist may draw an argument from this, he must show
that it was the design of Christ to destroy all the effects of the sin of Adam. But this has not been
in fact. Though the favors of that work have abounded, yet people have suffered and died. And
though it may still abound to the many, yet some may suffer here, and suffer on the same
principle forever.
(2) though people are indubitably affected by the sin of Adam, as e. g., by being born with a
corrupt disposition; with loss of righteousness, with subjection to pain and woe; and with
exposure to eternal death; yet there is reason to believe that all those who die in infancy are,
through the merits of the Lord Jesus, and by an influence which we cannot explain, changed and
prepared for heaven. As nearly half the race die in infancy, therefore there is reason to think that,
in regard to this large portion of the human family, the work of Christ has more than repaired the
evils of the fall, and introduced them into heaven, and that his grace has thus abounded unto
many. In regard to those who live to the period of moral agency, a scheme has been introduced
by which the offers of salvation may be made to them, and by which they may be renewed, and
pardoned, and saved. The work of Christ, therefore, may have introduced advantages adapted to
meet the evils of the fall as man comes into the world; and the original applicability of the one be
as extensive as the other. In this way the work of Christ was in its nature suited to abound unto
the many.
(3) the intervention of the plan of atonement by the Messiah, prevented the immediate execution
of the penalty of the Law, and produced all the benefits to all the race, resulting from the sparing
mercy of God. In this respect it was co-extensive with the fall.
(4) he died for all the race, Hebrews 2:9; 2 Corinthians 5:14-15; 1 John 2:2. Thus, his death, in
its adaptation to a great and glorious result, was as extensive as the ruins of the fall.
(5) the offer of salvation is made to all, Revelation 22:17; John 7:37; Matthew 11:28-29; Mark
16:15. Thus, his grace has extended unto the many - to all the race. Provision has been made to
meet the evils of the fall; a provision as extensive in its applicability as was the ruin.
(6) more will probably be actually saved by the work of Christ, than will be finally ruined by the
fall of Adam. The number of those who shall be saved from all the human race, it is to be
believed, will yet be many more than those who shall be lost. The gospel is to spread throughout
the world. It is to be evangelized. The millennial glory is to rise upon the earth; and the Saviour
is to reign with undivided empire. Taking the race as a whole, there is no reason to think that the
number of those who shall be lost, compared with the immense multitudes that shall be saved by
the work of Christ, will be more than are the prisoners in a community now, compared with the
number of peaceful and virtuous citizens. A medicine may be discovered that shall be said to
triumph over disease, though it may have been the fact that thousands have died since its
discovery, and thousands yet will not avail themselves of it; yet the medicine shall have the
properties of universal triumph; it is adapted to the many; it might be applied by the many; where
it is applied, it completely answers the end. Vaccination is adapted to meet the evils of the small-
pox everywhere; and when applied, saves people from the ravages of this terrible disease, though
thousands may die to whom it is not applied. It is a triumphant remedy. So of the plan of
salvation. Thus, though all shall not be saved, yet the sin of Adam shall be counteracted; and
grace abounds unto the many. All this fulness of grace the apostle says we have reason to expect
from the abounding mercy of God.

(The “many” in the latter clause of this verse, cannot be regarded as co-extensive with the
“many” that are said to be dead through the offence of Adam. Very much is affirmed of the
“many to whom grace abounds,” that cannot, “without doing violence to the whole passage,” be
applied to all mankind. They are said to “receive the gift of righteousness,” and to “reign in life.”
They are actually “constituted righteous,” Romans 5:19 and these things cannot be said of all
people in any sense whatever. The only way of explaining the passage, therefore, is to adopt that
view which our author has introduced only to condemn, namely, “that Adam represented the
whole of the human race, and Christ a part, and that ‹the many in the two members of the verse,
refers to the whole of those who were thus represented.”
The same principle of interpretation must be adopted in the parallel passage, “As in Adam all
die, so in Christ shall all be made alive.” It would be preposterous to affirm, that “the all” in the
latter clause is co-extensive with “the all” in the former. The sense plainly is, that all whom
Christ represented should be made alive in him. even as all mankind, or all represented by Adam,
had died in him.
It is true indeed that all mankind are in some sense benefitted on account of the atonement of
Christ: and our author has enlarged on several things of this nature, which yet fall short of
“saving benefit.” But will it be maintained, that the apostle in reality affirms no more than that
the many to, whom grace abounds, participate in certain benefits, short of salvation? If so, what
becomes of the comparison between Adam and Christ? If “the many” in the one branch of the
comparison are only benefitted by Christ in a way that falls short of saving benefit, then “the
many” in the other branch must be affected by the fall of Adam only in the same limited way,
whereas the apostle affirms that in consequence of it they are really “dead.”
“The principal thing,” says Mr. Scott, “which renders the expositions generally given of these
verses perplexed and unsatisfactory, arises from an evident misconception of the apostle‘s
reasoning, in supposing that Adam and Christ represented exactly the same company; whereas
Adam was the surety of the whole human species, as his posterity; Christ, only of that chosen
remnant, which has been, or shall be one with him by faith, who alone ‹are counted to him for a
generation.‘ If we exclusively consider the benefits which believers derive from Christ as
compared with the loss sustained in Adam by the human race, we shall then see the passage open
most perspicuously and gloriously to our view.” - Commentary, Romans 5:15, Romans 5:19.
But our author does not interpret this passage upon any consistent principle. For “the many” in
Romans 5:15, to whom “grace abounded” are obviously the same with those in Romans 5:17,
who are said to receive abundance of grace, etc., and yet he interprets the one of all mankind, and
the other of believers only. What is asserted in Romans 5:17, he says, “is particularly true of the
redeemed, of whom the apostle in this verse is speaking.”)
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Barnes, Albert. "Commentary on Romans 5:15". "Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/romans-5.html. 1870.

The Biblical Illustrator
Romans 5:15
But not as the offence, so also is the free gift.
1. The offence originated with man, the free gift in the grace of God.
2. The offence operated necessarily by a just law, the gift is free through Jesus Christ.
3. The offence results in death, the free gift abounds unto everlasting life. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
If from the offense of one--so insignificant in its way--there could go forth an action which
spread over the whole multitude of mankind, will not the conclusion hold a fortiori that from the
grace of God, and the gift through this grace of one man, acting on the opposite side, so powerful
and rich as they are, there must result an action, the extension of which shall not be less than that
of the offence, and shall, consequently, reach the whole of that multitude? If a very weak spring
could inundate a whole meadow, would it not be safe to conclude that a much more abundant
spring, if spread over the same space of ground, would not fail to submerge it entirely? (Prof.
Godet.)
The first and second Adam compared in reference
I. To the universality of their influence. The first Adam destroyed all, the second has obtained
grace for all--with this difference, that in the former case the ruin came inevitably, but the
reception of the grace is suspended upon man’s free choice.
II. To the intensity of their influence. The first Adam has by one sin given occasion to all sin; the
second has by one act of grace expiated all sin--with this difference, that Adam’s sin in itself was
not greater than any other sin, but the grace of Christ outweighs the aggregate guilt of all sin.
III. To the final results of their influence. The first Adam has subjected mankind to the bondage
of death, the second confers upon all, who will receive it, dominion in life--with this difference,
that the fulness of grace in Christ not only meets the curse in Adam, but far surpasses the grace
originally conferred upon man. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Life in Christ contrasted with death in Adam
Note--
I. The intrinsic nature of the things here contrasted; and we shall see that if the one arrangement
could be adopted by God, much more likely is it that the other would be also, as being more
strictly congenial with all that we know of His glorious character. God might permit us to sin and
suffer in Adam, with reference to some future good to come out of it: He might permit it in
harmony with His wisdom, holiness, and love; but still He could have no delight in it for its own
sake. Yet we find that He has seen it right to permit these things to transpire: how much more,
then, may we believe in the arrangement of grace, by which salvation is brought to our ruined
race! But how do we know the feelings of the Most High in reference to this matter? What
reason have we for supposing that it pleases Him more to give us life in Christ than to see us die
in Adam? We take our views from His own word (Exodus 34:6-7; Psalms 86:5; Psalms 86:15;
Psalms 145:8-9; Ezekiel 18:23; Ezekiel 18:31-32; Ezekiel 33:11; John 3:16; Joh_4:16). Say not,

then, complainingly that God has permitted you to die in Adam, but rather believe that He
delights to give you life in Christ.
II. That grace relates to a larger number of transgressions than did the first condemnation
(Romans 5:16). The gift by one is quite unlike the sin by one, inasmuch as in the sin there was
but one offence committed, and instantly judgment upon it; whereas, in the matter of the gift by
grace, there is forgiveness ensured for many offences. Hitherto, we have been regarding the sin
of mankind as one, and in that one sin all men became guilty before God. Let us, then, look at the
nature and the number of our offences, all of which need to and can be forgiven through the
atoning work of Christ. There are the sins of our ungodly life; there are also our sins since we
entered on a godly career. We are daily guilty of omissions of duty, or grievous shortcomings in
the mode of fulfilling our obligations. But beyond all this, there are positive faults and evils in
the best of us. Yet--blessed be God!--these sins, however numerous, may be all pardoned
through the blood of Christ; for the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
III. That grace is essentially a stronger principle than sin (Romans 5:17). Life is more mighty
than death. The range of death is limited; it can only ravage that which already exists. But life is
a creative power to whose possible achievements we can assign no limits. Death is a negative
principle, life a positive one. Death is a condition of the creature, life has its source and fulness
in the infinite Creator. Under the domination of death we are made its groaning and unwilling
victims; but under the reign of life we are caught up to the throne, and share with gladness in the
monarch’s might and joy. (T. G. Horton.)
The grace of God
I. Transcends sin.
1. In its origin. Sin proceeds from the offence of one man and destroys many; grace proceeds
from God through one man, Jesus Christ, and therefore not only reaches many, but abounds.
2. In its operation. One offence brought condemnation, but grace not only counteracts the effects
of that one offence but of many others.
3. In its results. One offence brought death, but grace wherever received not only gives back life,
but gives it more abundantly.
II. Is coextensive with sin.
1. It cannot reach further because it presupposes sin.
2. It does reach as far, because the free gift unto justification of life is unto all men, because the
many made sinners might also be made righteous.
3. If grace anywhere fails it is not through any limitation of its action, but through the wilful
impenitency of man. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Honey from a lion
This text affords many openings for controversy. It can be made to bristle with difficulties. It
would be easy to set up a thorn hedge and keep the sheep out of the pasture, or to so pelt each
other with the stones as to leave the fruit untasted. I feel more inclined to chime in with that
ancient father against whom a clamorous disputant shouted, “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 Christ
has to say.” Note--

I. The appointed way of our salvation is by the free gift of God. Salvation is bestowed--
1. Without regard to any merit, supposed or real. Grace is not a fit gift for the righteous, but for
the undeserving. It is according to the nature of God to pity the miserable and forgive the guilty,
“for He is good, and His mercy endureth forever.”
2. Irrespective of any merit which God foresees will be in man. Foresight of the existence of
grace cannot be the cause of grace. God Himself does not foresee that there will be any good
thing in any man, except what He foresees that He will put there.
3. Without reference to conditions which imply any desert. But I hear one murmur, “God will not
give grace to men who do not repent and believe.” I answer, “God gives men grace to repent and
believe, and no man does so till first grace is given him.” Repentance and faith may be
conditions of receiving, but they are not conditions of purchasing, for salvation is without money
and without price.
4. Over the head of sin and in the teeth of rebellion, “God commendeth His love toward us, in
that, while we were yet sinners,” etc. Many of us have been saved by grace of the most
abounding and extraordinary sort.
5. Through the one man Jesus Christ. People talk about a “one man ministry.” I was lost by a one
man ministry when father Adam fell in Eden, but I was saved by a one man ministry when Jesus
bore my sin in His own body on the tree.
II. It is certain that great evils have come to us by the fall.
1. We have lost the Garden of Eden and all its delights, privileges, and immunities, its
communion with God, and its freedom from death.
2. We have been born to a heritage of sorrow.
3. We came into the world with a bias towards evil.
4. We are made liable to death, and are sure to bow our heads beneath the fatal stroke.
5. While we live we know that the sweat of our brow must pay the price of our bread.
6. Our children must be born with pangs and travail.
III. From the fall we infer the more abundant certainty that salvation by grace through Christ
Jesus shall come to believers. For--
1. This appears to be more delightful to the heart of God. I can understand that God, having so
arranged it that the human race should be regarded as one, should 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. 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 all who believe in Jesus should be saved through Him.
2. 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.”
3. Look at the difference as to the causes of the two effects. Look at the occasion of our ruin--
“the offence of one”--a finite being, who therefore cannot be compared in power with the grace

of the infinite God; the sin of a moment, and therefore cannot be compared for force and energy
with the everlasting purpose of Divine love. The grace of God is like His nature, omnipotent and
unlimited. 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.”
4. 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!
5. From the text you may derive a great deal of comfort.
IV. 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. Suppose that Adam bad never
sinned, and we were unfallen beings, yet our standing would have remained in jeopardy. We
have now lost everything in Adam, and so the uncertain tenure has come to an end; but we that
have believed have obtained an inheritance which we hold by a title which Satan himself cannot
dispute: “All things are yours, and ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” By the great
transgression of Adam we lost our life in him; but in Christ we live again with a higher and
nobler life. 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, but now we are His sons. 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
bonds which bind redeemed ones to their God are the strongest which exist. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The love of God
is a love which gives another love; it is the grace of a Father giving the love of a Brother. (Prof.
Godet.)
The advantages accruing to the race from the fall
How common and bitter is the outcry against our first parent for the mischief he entailed on his
posterity; and it were well if the complaint ended there, but it glances from Adam to his Creator.
“Did not God foresee that he would abuse his liberty, and know all the baneful consequences of
the act? Why, then, did He permit it?” Because He knew that “not as the offence, so is the free
gift”; that the evil resulting from the former was not as the good resulting from the latter, not
worthy to be compared with it. If Adam had not fallen--
I. Christ had not died and the world had missed the most amazing display of God’s love. So--
1. There could have been no such thing as faith in God thus loving the world; nor faith in Christ
as “loving us, and giving Himself for us”; nor faith in the Spirit as renewing the image of God in
our hearts.
2. The same blank could have been left in our love. We might have loved God as our Creator and
Preserver, but we could not have loved Him under the nearest and dearest relation. We might
have loved the Son of God as being “the brightness of His Father’s glory,” but not as having
borne our sins. We could not have loved the Spirit as revealing to us the Father and the Son, as
opening our eyes and turning us from darkness to light, etc.

3. Nor could we have loved our neighbour to the same extent: “If God so loved us we ought to
love one another.”
II. We had missed the innumerable benefits which flow through our sufferings. Had there been
no suffering, a considerable part of religion, and in some respects the most excellent part, could
have had no place.
1. Upon this foundation our passive graces are built; yea, the noblest of them--the love which
endureth all things. Here is the ground for resignation, for confidence in God, for patience,
meekness, gentleness, long suffering, etc.
2. These afford opportunities for doing good which could not otherwise have existed.
III. Heaven would have been less glorious.
1. We should have missed the fruit of those graces which could not have flourished but for our
struggle with sin here. Superior nobleness on earth means superior happiness in heaven.
2. We should have missed the reward which will accrue to innumerable good works which could
not otherwise have been wrought, such as relief of distress, etc.
3. We should have missed the “exceeding and eternal weight of glory” which is to be the
recompense of our light affliction.
IV. Our salvation would have been less secure. Unless in Adam all had died, every man must
have personally answered for himself, and, as a consequence, if he had once sinned there would
have been no possibility of his rising again. Now who would wish to hazard eternity on one
stake? But under the economy of redemption if we fall we may rise again. Conclusion: See, then,
how little reason there is to repine at the fall of our first parents, since here from we may derive
such unspeakable advantages. If God had decreed that millions should suffer in hell because
Adam sinned it would have been a different matter; but on the contrary, He has decreed that
every man may be a gainer by it, and no man can be a loser but through his own choice. (J.
Wesley, M. A.)
Copyright Statement
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Bibliography
Exell, Joseph S. "Commentary on "Romans 5:15". The Biblical Illustrator.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tbi/romans-5.html. 1905-1909. New York.
Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible
But not as the trespass, so also is the free gift. For if by the trespass of the one the many died,
much more did the grace of God, and the gift of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound unto the
many.
Godet's opinion that this and the two following verses are "among the most difficult in the New
Testament"[30] is surely justified; and the opinions of learned scholars as to the exact nature of
the contrast between the two Adams intended by Paul are so diverse as merely to add to the
confusion. As it stands in English, the first clause appears to mark a contrast between "a sad

effect and a happy effect,"[31] or the contrast between "just recompense and free grace."[32] In
the second clause, there is plainly a contrast of numbers, as pointed out by Tholuck,[33] that is, a
contrast in quantity. An objection against the view that a contrast of quantity is intended is
lodged in the fact that death through Adam was universal; how then could Paul's "much more" be
applied to the consequences of Christ's achievement? The problem is resolved in this, that except
for the success of Christ's earthly mission, the human family would long ago have terminated;
and, therefore, it is most fitting to grant a greater quantity to the beneficial work of Christ than to
the destructive work of Adam. Every man ever born on earth since Jesus Christ owes his
physical existence, as well as his spiritual hope, to the Saviour; for if Christ had failed, there
would no longer have existed any righteous basis whatever for the continuation of the race of
people. Regarding the theoretical peccability of Christ, see my Commentary on Hebrews, p. 99.
[30] Ibid., p. 213.
[31] Ibid., p. 214.
[32] Ibid., p. 213.
[33] Tholuck, as quoted by F. Godet, op. cit., p. 213.
Copyright Statement
James Burton Coffman Commentaries reproduced by permission of Abilene Christian University
Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. All other rights reserved.
Bibliography
Coffman, James Burton. "Commentary on Romans 5:15". "Coffman Commentaries on the Old
and New Testament". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bcc/romans-5.html.
Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
But not as the offence, so also is the free gift,.... By "the offence", or "fall", as the word signifies,
is meant the first sin of Adam; by which he offended God, and fell from that estate in which he
was created, and all his posterity with him; and by the "free gift" is meant, the righteousness of
Christ, which justifies from that, and all other offences: now, though there is a great likeness
between Adam and Christ; both are men, the first Adam is called "the one man", and so is the
second Adam Jesus Christ; partly for the sake of the comparison between him and the first, and
also to express the truth of his human nature; and because the Redeemer ought to be a man,
though not a mere man; both are sole authors of what they convey to their respective offspring,
Adam of sin, Christ of righteousness; both convey single things, Adam only one sin, not more,
for when he had committed one sin, he broke the covenant made with him and his posterity, and
so ceased in after acts to be a representative of them; Christ conveys his righteousness, or
obedience to the law, without any additional works of righteousness of ours to complete it; and
both convey what they do, "to all" their respective offspring: yet there is a dissimilitude between
them, as to the manner of conveyance and the effects thereof; the offence or sin of Adam is
conveyed in a natural way, or by natural generation, to all who descend from him in that manner;
the righteousness of Christ is conveyed in a way of grace, to his spiritual seed: hence it is called,
not only the "free gift", but "the grace of God, and the gift by grace", which is "by one man,
Jesus Christ"; because of the grace of the Father, in fixing and settling the method of

justification, by the righteousness of his Son; in sending him to work out one, that would be
satisfying to law and justice; and in his gracious acceptation of it, on the behalf of his people, and
the imputation of it to them; and because of the grace of the Son in becoming man, in being
made under the law, yea, made sin and a curse, in order to bring in an everlasting righteousness;
and because of the grace of the Spirit, in revealing and applying it, and working faith to receive
it; for as the righteousness itself is a free grace gift, bestowed upon unworthy persons, so is faith
likewise, by which it is laid hold on and embraced: and as there is a disagreement in the manner
of conveying these things, so likewise in the effects they have upon the persons to whom they are
conveyed; and the apostle argues from the influence and effect the one has, to the far greater and
better influence and effect the other has:
for if through the offence of one many be dead; as all Adam's posterity are, not only subject to a
corporeal death, but involved in a moral or spiritual, and liable to an eternal one, through the
imputation of guilt, and the derivation of a corrupt nature from him: then
much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath
abounded unto many; that is, the righteousness of Christ, in which the grace of God is so
illustrious, is much more effectual to the giving of life to all his seed and offspring; not barely
such a life as Adam had in innocence, and which he lost by the offence, but a spiritual and an
eternal one; which sheds the exuberance of this grace, which secures and adjudges to a better life
than what was lost by the fall.
Copyright Statement
The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernised and adapted for the computer by
Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rightes Reserved, Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr,
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Bibliography
Gill, John. "Commentary on Romans 5:15". "The New John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/romans-5.html. 1999.
Geneva Study Bible
14 But not as the offence, so also [is] the free gift. For if through the offence of s 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.
(14) Adam and Christ are compared together in this respect, that both of them give and
yield to theirs that which is their own: but the first difference between them is this, that
Adam by nature has spread his fault to the destruction of many, but Christ's obedience
has be grace overflowed to many.
(s) That is, Adam.
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Bibliography
Beza, Theodore. "Commentary on Romans 5:15". "The 1599 Geneva Study Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/gsb/romans-5.html. 1599-1645.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But — “Yet,” “Howbeit.”
not as the offence — “trespass.”
so also is the free gift — or “the gracious gift,” “the gift of grace.” The two cases present points
of contrast as well as resemblance.
For if, etc. — rather, “For if through the offense of the one the many died (that is, in that one
man‘s first sin), much more did the grace of God, and the free gift by grace, even that of the one
man, Jesus Christ, abound unto the many.” By “the many” is meant the mass of mankind
represented respectively by Adam and Christ, as opposed, not to few, but to “the one” who
represented them. By “the free gift” is meant (as in Romans 5:17) the glorious gift of justifying
righteousness; this is expressly distinguished from “the grace of God,” as the effect from the
cause; and both are said to “abound” towards us in Christ - in what sense will appear in Romans
5:16, Romans 5:17. And the “much more,” of the one case than the other, does not mean that we
get much more of good by Christ than of evil by Adam (for it is not a case of quantity at all); but
that we have much more reason to expect, or it is much more agreeable to our ideas of God, that
the many should be benefited by the merit of one, than that they should suffer for the sin of one;
and if the latter has happened, much more may we assure ourselves of the former [Philippi,
Hodge].
Copyright Statement
These files are a derivative of an electronic edition prepared from text scanned by Woodside
Bible Fellowship.
This expanded edition of the Jameison-Faussett-Brown Commentary is in the public domain and
may be freely used and distributed.
Bibliography
Jamieson, Robert, D.D.; Fausset, A. R.; Brown, David. "Commentary on Romans 5:15".
"Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jfb/romans-5.html. 1871-8.
Robertson's WordPictures in the New Testament
But not as the trespass (αλλ ουχ ως — all' ouch hōs). It is more contrast than parallel: “the
trespass” (το παραπτωμα — to paraptōma the slip, fall to one side) over against the free gift (το
χαρισμα — to charisma of grace χαρις — charis).
Much more (πολλωι μαλλον — pollōi mallon). 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. It is not necessary to Paul‘s argument to make “the many”
in each case correspond, one relates to Adam, the other to Christ.

Copyright Statement
The Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament. Copyright Broadman Press 1932,33,
Renewal 1960. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Broadman Press (Southern Baptist
Sunday School Board)
Bibliography
Robertson, A.T. "Commentary on Romans 5:15". "Robertson's Word Pictures of the New
Testament". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/rwp/romans-5.html. Broadman Press
1932,33. Renewal 1960.
Vincent's Word Studies
Of one ( τοῦ ἑνὸς )
Rev., correctly, the one - Adam. So the many.
Much more
Some explain of the quality of the cause and effect: that as the fall of Adam caused vast evil, the
work of the far greater Christ shall much more cause great results of good. This is true; but the
argument seems to turn rather on the question of certainty. “The character of God is such, from a
christian point of view, that the comparison gives a much more certain basis for belief, in what is
gained through the second Adam, than in the certainties of sin and death through the first Adam”
(Schaff and Riddle).
Copyright Statement
The text of this work is public domain.
Bibliography
Vincent, Marvin R. DD. "Commentary on Romans 5:15". "Vincent's Word Studies in the New
Testament". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/vnt/romans-5.html. Charles
Schribner's Sons. New York, USA. 1887.
Wesley's ExplanatoryNotes
But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead,
abounded unto many.
Yet not — St. Paul now describes the difference between Adam and Christ; and that much more
directly and expressly than the agreement between them. Now the fall and the free gift differ, 1.
In amplitude, Romans 5:152. He from whom sin came, and He from whom the free gift came,
termed also "the gift of righteousness," differ in power, Romans 5:163. The reason of both is
subjoined, Romans 5:174. This premised, the offence and the free gift are compared, with regard
to their effect, Romans 5:18, and with regard to their cause, Romans 5:19.

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These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that is available on the
Christian Classics Ethereal Library Website.
Bibliography
Wesley, John. "Commentary on Romans 5:15". "John Wesley's Explanatory Notes on the Whole
Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/wen/romans-5.html. 1765.
Calvin's Commentary on the Bible
15.But not as the offense, etc. Now follows the rectifying or the completion of the comparison
already introduced. The Apostle does not, however, very minutely state the points of difference
between Christ and Adam, but he obviates errors into which we might otherwise easily fall, and
what is needful for an explanation we shall add. Though he mentions oftentimes a difference, yet
there are none of these repetitions in which there is not a want of a corresponding clause, or in
which there is not at least an ellipsis. Such instances are indeed defects in a discourse; but they
are not prejudicial to the majesty of that celestial wisdom which is taught us by the Apostle; it
has, on the contrary, so happened through the providence of God, that the highest mysteries have
been delivered to us in the garb of an humble style, (168) in order that our faith may not depend
on the potency of human eloquence, but on the efficacious working of the Spirit alone.
He does not indeed even now expressly supply the deficiency of the former sentence, but simply
teaches us, that there is a greater measure of grace procured by Christ, than of condemnation
introduced by the first man. What some think, that the Apostle carries on here a chain of
reasoning, I know not whether it will be deemed by all sufficiently evident. It may indeed be
justly inferred, that since the fall of Adam had such an effect as to produce the 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. But as they cannot be
disproved, who wish to take the passage without this inference, I am willing that they should
choose either of these views; though what next follows cannot be deemed an inference, yet it is
of the same meaning. It is hence probable, that Paul rectifies, or by way of exception modifies,
what he had said of the likeness between Christ and Adam.
But observe, that a larger number (plures ) are not here contrasted with many (multis ,) for he
speaks not of the number of men: but as the sin of Adam has destroyed many, he draws this
conclusion, — that the righteousness of Christ will be no less efficacious to save many. (169)
When he says, by the offense of one, etc., understand him as meaning this, — that corruption has
from him descended to us: for we perish not through his fault, as though we were blameless; but
as his sin is the cause of our sin, Paul ascribes to him our ruin: our sin I call that which is
implanted in us, and with which we are born.
The grace of God and the gift of God through grace, etc. Grace is properly set in opposition to
offense; the gift which proceeds from grace, to death. Hence grace means the free goodness of
God or gratuitous love, of which he has given us a proof in Christ, that he might relieve our
misery: and gift is the fruit of this mercy, and hath come to us, even the reconciliation by which
we have obtained life and salvation, righteousness, newness of life, and every other blessing. We
hence see how absurdly the schoolmen have defined grace, who have taught that it is nothing
else but a quality infused into the hearts of men: for grace, properly speaking, is in God; and

what is in us is the effect of grace. And he says, that it is by one man; for the Father has made
him the fountain out of whose fullness all must draw. And thus he teaches us, that not even the
least drop of life can be found out of Christ, — that there is no other remedy for our poverty and
want, than what he conveys to us from his own abundance.
The whole of this passage, 12-19, is constructed according to the model of the Hebrew style; and
when rightly understood, it will appear to contain none of those defects ascribed to it. — Ed.
“The many” are termed “all” in verse Romans 5:18, and again, “the many,” in Romans 5:19.
They are called “the many” and “all” alike with regard both to Adam and to Christ. Some
maintain that the terms are coextensive in the two instances. That the whole race of man is meant
in the one instances cannot be doubted: and is there any reason why the whole race of man
should not be included in the second? Most clearly there is. The Apostle speaks of Adam and his
posterity, and also of Christ and his people, or those “who receive abundance of grace,” or, “are
made righteous;” and “the many” and the “all” are evidently those who belong to each
separately. In no other way can the words with any consistency be understood. All who fell in
Adam do not certainly “receive abundance of grace,” and are not “made righteous.” And it is not
possible, as Professor [Hodge ] observes, “so to eviscerate such declarations as these, as to make
them to contain nothing more than that the chance of salvation is offered to all men.” This is
indeed contrary to evident facts. Nor can they mean, that a way of acceptance has been opened,
which is suitable to all; for though this is true, it yet cannot be the meaning here. Hence “the
many” and the “all,” as to Adam, are all his descendants; and “the many” and the “all,” as to
Christ, are those who believe. — Ed.
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Bibliography
Calvin, John. "Commentary on Romans 5:15". "Calvin's Commentary on the Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cal/romans-5.html. 1840-57.
Scofield's ReferenceNotes
one many
the one the many died.
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These files are considered public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that is
available in the Online Bible Software Library.
Bibliography
Scofield, C. I. "Scofield Reference Notes on Romans 5:15". "Scofield Reference Notes (1917
Edition)". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/srn/romans-5.html. 1917.

John Trapp Complete Commentary
15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead,
abounded unto many.
Ver. 15. Many be dead] Many is here put for all, as all for many, 1 Timothy 2:3.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Trapp, John. "Commentary on Romans 5:15". John Trapp Complete Commentary.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jtc/romans-5.html. 1865-1868.
Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible
Romans 5:15. But not as the offence— This evidently shews that the Apostle in this paragraph is
running a parallel, or making a comparison between the offence of Adam and its consequence,
and the opposite free gift of God and its consequences; and in these three verses he shews, that
the comparison will not hold in all respects, because the free gift bestows blessings far beyond
the consequences of the offence, and which therefore have no relation to it; and this was
necessary, not only to prevent mistakes, concerning the consequence of Adam's offence, and the
extent of Gospel grace; but it was also necessary to the Apostle's main design; which was, not
only to prove that the grace of the Gospel extends to all men, so far as it takes off the
consequence of Adam's offence; but that it likewise extends to all men with respect to the
surplusage of blessings, in which it stretches vastly beyond the consequence of Adam's offence;
for both the grace which takes off the consequence of Adam's offence, and the grace which
abounds beyond it, are included in the same χαρισμα, free gift, which should be well observed;
for in this I conceive lies the connection and force of his argument. The free gift, which stands
opposed to Adam's offence, and which appears to have been bestowed immediately after his
offence (Genesis 3:15.), includes both the grace which answers exactly to the offence, and also
that part of the grace which stretches far beyond it. And if the one part of the gift be freely
bestowed upon all mankind, as the Jews allow, why not the other? especially considering that the
whole gift stands upon a reason and foundation, in excellence and worth vastly surpassing the
malignity and demerit of the offence; and consequently capable of producingbenefits vastly
beyond the sufferings occasioned by the offence? This is the force of the Apostle's argument; and
therefore supposing that in the letter of Romans 5:18-19 he compares the consequences of
Adam's offence and Christ's obedience, only so far as the one is commensurate to the other; yet
his reasoning, Romans 5:15-17 plainly shews, it is his meaning and intention that we should take
into his conclusion the whole of the gift, so far as it can reach to all mankind.
Many be dead—unto many— The many died—unto the many. I suppose, says Mr. Locke, that the
phrase οι πολλοι, and the other τους πολλους, may stand here for the multitude or collective body
of mankind: for the Apostle in express words assures us, 1 Corinthians 15:22 that in Adam all
died, and in Christ all shall be made alive; and so here Romans 5:18 all men fell under the
condemnation of death, and all men were restored unto justification of life: which all men, in the

very next words, Romans 5:19 are called οι πολλοι, the many. So that the many in the former part
of this verse, and the many at the end of it, comprehending all mankind, must be equal. The
comparison, therefore, and the inequality of the things compared, lie not here between the
number of those who died, and the number of those who shall be restored to life; but the
comparison lies between the persons by whom this general death and this general restoration to
life came;—Adam the type, and Jesus Christ the antitype: and it seem to lie in this, that Adam's
lapse came barely for the satisfaction of his own appetite and desire of good to himself; but the
restoration was from the exuberant bountyand good-will of Christ towards men; who at thecost
of his own painful death purchased life for them. I may add to what Mr. Locke has advanced,
that since all mankind were made mortal for Adam's sin, the Apostle by οι πολλοι, the many,
certainly means all mankind. Besides, Christ, in speaking of this very subject, used the word in
that extensive sense (Matthew 26:28.); This is my blood of the new covenant which is shed ( περι
πολλαν ) for many; that is, for the collective body of mankind. And as the many who died, are all
mankind; so the many in the end of the verse, to whom the gift by grace is said to have
abounded, are all mankind. For the abounding of the gift by grace, as is plain from Romans 5:19
means only that, by the gracious gift of God, all mankind, for the sake of Christ's obedience, are
allowed a short life on earth, and a trial under a better covenant than that under which Adam fell;
and that all are to be raised from the dead at the last day, to receive according to their deeds.
Hence we are told, 1 Corinthians 15:22. As by Adam all die; so by Christ all shall be made alive.
See also the following, Romans 5:16 where many offences signifies all offences.
By one man Jesus Christ— The Apostle calls the Lord Jesus Christ a man, to shew that in
comparing him with Adam, his actions in the human nature chiefly are considered.
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Bibliography
Coke, Thomas. "Commentary on Romans 5:15". Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tcc/romans-5.html. 1801-1803.
Expository Notes with PracticalObservations onthe New Testament
The apostle having noted the parity and resemblance between Christ and Adam in the foregoing
verses; here he observes the disparity and difference betwixt them, and that in several
advantageous particulars:
1. He compares the sin of Adam with the obedience of Christ, and shews that the sin of the one
was not so pernicious, as the obedience of the other was beneficial; Christ's obedience being
more powerful to justification and salvation, than Adam's sin was to death and condemnation:
For if the transgression of Adam, who was but a mere man, was able to pull down death and
wrath upon all his natural seed; then the obedience of Christ who is God as well as man, will be
much more available to procure pardon and life to all his spiritual seed.
2. There is a further observable difference betwixt Adam and Christ, as in respect of their person,
so in respect of their acts, and extent of their acts. Thus Adam by one act of sin brought death,
that is, the sentence of death upon the whole world (all mankind becoming subject to mortality

for that one sin of his;) but it is many sins of many men, which Christ doth deliver from, in the
free gift of our justification; absolving us, not only from that one fault, but from all other faults
and offences whatsoever.
Learn hence, That the obedience of Christ extends itself not only to the pardon of original sin in
Adam, but to all personal and actual sins whatsoever.
3. The apostle shews the difference betwixt them two, that is, the first and second Adam, as in
respect of the effects and consequences of their acts; if by means of one man, and by one offence
of that man, the whole race of mankind became subject to death, then much more shall reign
with him in glory.
From the whole, note, The infinite wisdom, transcendant grace, and rich mercy of God to a
miserable world, in providing a salve as large as the sore, a remedy as extensive as the malady, a
sovereign antidote in the blood of the second Adam, to expel the poison and malignity of the sin
of the first Adam.
Oh happy they! who having received from the first Adam corruption for corruption, have
received from the second Adam grace for grace.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Burkitt, William. "Commentary on Romans 5:15". Expository Notes with Practical Observations
on the New Testament. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/wbc/romans-5.html.
1700-1703.
Greek TestamentCriticalExegeticalCommentary
15. εἰ γὰρ κ. τ. λ.] Distinction the first, in DEGREE:—and in the form of a hypothetical inference
‘a minori ad majus.’ For if by the transgression of the one (man) the many (have) died, much
more did the grace of God, and the gift abound in (by means of) the grace of the one man Jesus
Christ towards the many. (1) The first question regards πολλῷ μᾶλλον. Is it the ‘a fortiori’ of
logical inference, or is it to be joined with ἐπερίσσευσεν as quantitative, describing the degree of
abounding? Chrys. ( πολλῷ γὰρ τοῦτο εὐλογώτερον), Grot., Fritz., Thol., adopt the former, and
provided only the same thing is said here as in Romans 5:17, the usage there would decide it to
be so: for there it cannot be quantitative. But I believe that not to be so. Here, the question is of
abounding, a matter of degree, there, of reigning, a matter of fact. Here (Romans 5:16) the
contrast is between the judgment, coming of one sinner, to condemnation, and the free gift, of
(see note below) many offences, to justification. So that I think the quantitative sense the better,
and join πολλῷ μᾶλλον with ἐπερίσσευσεν, in the sense of much more abundant (rich in
diffusion) was the gift, &c. (2) χάρις, not the grace working in men, here, but the grace which is
in, and flows from, God. (3) ἐν χάριτι τῇ τοῦ …, not to be joined (Thol.) with ἡ δωρεά, as if it
were ἡ ἐνχάρ. (which would be allowable), but with ἐπερίσς. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
(His self-offering love, see 2 Corinthians 8:9) is the medium by which the free gift is imparted to
men. (4) The aorist ἐπερίσς. should here be kept to its indefinite historical sense, and not

rendered as a perfect, however true the fact expressed may be: both are treated of here as events,
their time of happening and present reference not being regarded.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Alford, Henry. "Commentary on Romans 5:15". Greek Testament Critical Exegetical
Commentary. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hac/romans-5.html. 1863-1878.
Heinrich Meyer's Critical and ExegeticalCommentaryon the New Testament
Romans 5:15. But not as is the trespass, so also is the gift of grace. Although Adam and Christ
as the heads of the old and new humanity are typical parallels, how different nevertheless are the
two facts, by which the former and the latter stand to one another in the relation of type and
antitype (on the one side the παράπτωμα, on the other the χάρισμα)—different, namely ( εἰ γὰρ
κ. τ. λτ. λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά." class="bible_footnote alt_foreground_dark bold" id="1304"
style="display: inline; "(1304)), by the opposite effectsἀλλʼ οὐκ.… χάρισμα interrogatively
(Mehring and earlier expositors), and so getting rid of the negation." class="bible_footnote
alt_foreground_dark bold" id="1305" style="display: inline; "(1305) issuing from those two
facts, on which that typical character is based. The question is not as to the different measure of
efficacious power, for this extends alike in both cases from one to all; but as to the different
specific kind of effect; there death, here the rich grace of God—the latter the more undoubted
and certain ( πολλῷ μᾶλλον), as coming after that deadly effect, which the παράπτωμα had. “For
if ( εἰ purely hypothetical) through the trespass of one the many died, much more has the grace
of God and the gift by grace of the one man Jesus Christ become abundant to the many.” On τὸ
παράπτωμα comp Wisdom of Solomon 10:1. The contrast is τὸ χάρισμα, the work of grace, i.e.
the atoning and justifying act of the divine grace in Christ,consequences respectively of the
παράπτωμα and the χάρισμα are not included in these conceptions themselves (in opposition to
Dietzsch). Nor is παράπτωμα to be so distinguished from παράβασις, that the former connotes
the unhappy consequences (Grotius, Dietzsch). On the contrary, the expressions are popular
synonyms, only according to different figures, like fall (not falling away) and trespass. Comp. on
παράπτ. Ezekiel 14:13; Ezekiel 15:8; Ezekiel 18:24; Ezekiel 18:26; Ezekiel 3:20; Romans 4:25;
Romans 11:11; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:1 et al." class="bible_footnote
alt_foreground_dark bold" id="1307" style="display: inline; "(1307) comp Romans 5:17 ff.
οἱ πολλοί] the many, namely, according to Romans 5:12 (comp Romans 5:18), the collective
posterity of Adam. It is in substance certainly identical with πάντες, to which Mehring reverts;
but the contrast to the εἷς becomes more palpable and stronger by the designation of the
collective mass as οἱ πολλοί. Grotius erroneously says: “fere omnes, excepto Enocho,” which is
against Romans 5:12; Romans 5:18. Such a unique, miraculous exception is not taken into
consideration at all in this mode of looking at humanity as such on a great scale. Erroneous also
is the view of Dietzsch, following Beck, that οἱ πολλοί and then τοὺς πολλούς divide mankind
into two classes, of which the one continues in Adamite corruption (?) while the other is in Christ
raised above sin and death. This theory breaks down even on the historical aorist ἀπέθανον and
its, according to Romans 5:12, necessary reference to the physical death which was given with

Adam’s death-bringing fall for all, so that they collectively (including also the subsequent
believers) became liable to death through this παράπτωμα. See on Romans 5:12. It is moreover
clear from our passage that for the explanation of the death of men Paul did not regard their
individual sin as the causa efficiens, or even as merely medians; and it is a meaning gratuitously
introduced, when it is explained: “the many sinned and found death, like the one Adam,” (Ewald,
Jahrb. II., van Hengel and others).
πολλῷ μᾶλλον] as in Romans 5:9, of the logical plus, i.e. of the degree of the evidence as
enhanced through the contents of the protasis, multo potius. “If Adam’s fall has had so bad an
universal consequence, much less can it be doubted that,” etc. For God far rather allows His
goodness to prevail than His severity; this is the presupposition on which the conclusion rests.
Chrysostom has correctly interpreted π. μᾶλλ. in the logical sense ( πολλῷ γὰρ τοῦτο
εὐλογώτερον), as does also Theodoret, and recently Fritzsche, Philippi, Tholuck (who however
takes in the quantitative plus as well), van Hengel, Mangold, and Klöpper. The quantitative view
(Theophylact: οὐ τοσοῦτον μόνον, φησὶν, ὠφέλησεν ὁ χριστὸς, ὅσον ἔβλαψεν ὁ ἀδά΄; also
Erasmus, Calvin, Beza, Calovius and others; and in modern times Rückert, Reiche, Köllner,
Rothe, Nielsen, Baumgarten-Crusius, Maier, Hofmann, and Dietzsch) is opposed to the analogy
of Romans 5:17-18; and has also against it the consideration, that the measure of punishment of
the παράπτωμα (viz. the death of all) was already quantitatively the greatest possible, was
absolute, and therefore the measure of the grace, while just as absolute ( εἰς τοὺς πολλούς), is not
greater still than that measure of punishment, but only stands out against the dark background of
the latter all the more evidently in its rich fulness.quantitative plus by the hypothetical protasis
only in the event of that which was predicated being in the two clauses of a similar (not opposite)
kind; in the event therefore of its having been possible to affirm a salutariness of the παράπτωμα
in the protasis. Comp. Romans 11:12; 2 Corinthians 3:9; 2 Corinthians 3:11; Hebrews 9:13 f.,
Hebrews 12:9; Hebrews 12:25. The main objection which Dietzsch (following Rothe) raises
against the interpretation of the logical plus, on the ground that we have here two historical
realities before us, is by no means tenable. For even in the case of two facts which have taken
place, the one may be corroborated and inferred from the other, namely, as respects its certainty
and necessity. If the one has taken place, it is by so much the more evident that the other also has
taken place. The historical reality of the one leaves all the less room for doubt as to that of the
other. The second does not in this case require to be something still future, especially if it be an
occurrence, which does not fall within the range of sensuous perception." class="bible_footnote
alt_foreground_dark bold" id="1310" style="display: inline; "(1310)
ἡ χάρις τ. θεοῦ κ. ἡ δωρεά] the former, the grace of God, richly turned towards the many, is the
principle of the latter ( ἡ δωρεά = τό χάρισμα in Romans 5:15, the gift of justification). The
δωρεά is to be understood κατʼ ἐξοχήν, without supplying τοῦ θεοῦ; but the discourse keeps
apart with solemn emphasis what is cause and what is effect.
ἐν χάριτι.… χριστοῦ is not with many expositors (including Rothe, Tholuck, Baumgarten-
Crusius, Philippi, Mehring, Hofmann, and Dietzsch) to be joined with ἡ δωρεά (the gift, which is
procured through the grace of Christ), but with Fritzsche, Rückert, Ewald, van Hengel, and
others, to be connected with ἐπερίσσευσε (has become abundant through the grace of Christ)—a
construction which is decisively supported, not indeed by the absence of the article, since ἡ
δωρεά ἐν χάριτι might be conjoined so as to form one idea, but by the reason, that only with this
connection the τῷ.… παραπτώματι in the protasis has its necessary, strictly correspondent,
correlative in the apodosis. The divine grace and the gift have abounded to the many through the

grace of Christ, just as the many died through the fall of Adam. The χάρις ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ is—as
the genitive-relation naturally suggests of itself, and as is rendered obviously certain by the
analogy of ἡ χάρις τ. θεοῦ—the grace of Jesus Christ, in virtue of which He found Himself
moved to accomplish the ἱλαστήριον, in accordance with the Father’s decree, and thereby to
procure for men the divine grace and the δωρεά. It is not therefore the favour in which Christ
stood with God (Luther, 1545); nor the grace of God received in the fellowship of Christ (van
Hengel); nor is it the steadily continued, earthly and heavenly, redeeming efficacy of Christ’s
grace (Rothe, Dietzsch). Comp Acts 15:11, 2 Corinthians 8:9; Galatians 1:6; Titus 3:6; 2
Corinthians 12:8; 2 Corinthians 13:13. The designation of Christ: τοῦ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου ʼι. χ., is
occasioned by the contrast with the one man Adam. Comp 1 Corinthians 15:21; 1 Timothy 2:5.
To describe the divine glory of this One man (Colossians 1:19) did not fall within the Apostle’s
present purpose; but it was known to the reader, and is presupposed in His χάρις (John 1:14).
τῇ τοῦ] “articuli nervosissimi,” Bengel
εἰς τοὺς πολλούς] belongs to ἐπερίσσ. The πολλοί are likewise here, just as previously, all
mankind (comp πάντας ἀνθρώπους, Romans 5:18). To this multitude has the grace of God, etc.,
been plentifully imparted ( εἰς τ. π. ἐπερίσσευσε, comp 2 Corinthians 1:5), namely, from the
objective point of view, in so far as Christ’s act of redemption has acquired for all the divine
grace and gift, although the subjective reception of it is conditioned by faith. See on Romans
5:18. The expression ἐπερίσσευσε (he does not say merely ἐγένετο, or some such word) is the
echo of his own blessed experience.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Meyer, Heinrich. "Commentary on Romans 5:15". Heinrich Meyer's Critical and Exegetical
Commentary on the New Testament.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hmc/romans-5.html. 1832.
Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament
Romans 5:15. ἀλλʼ οὐχ, but not) Adam and Christ, according to contrary aspects [regarded from
contrary points of view], agree in the positive [absolutely], differ in the comparative [in the
degree]. Paul first intimates their agreement, Romans 5:12-14, expressing the protasis, whilst
leaving the apodosis, meanwhile, to be understood. Then next, he much more directly and
expressly describes the difference: moreover, the offence and the gift differ; 1. In extent, Romans
5:15; Romans 2. That self-same man from whom sin was derived, and this self-same Person,
from whom the gift was derived, differ in power, Romans 5:16; and those two members are
connected by anaphora [i.e., repeating at the beginning, the same words] not as, [at the beginning
of both] Romans 5:15-16, and the aetiology in Romans 5:17 [cause assigned; on aetiology, and
anaphora, endix] comprehends both. Finally, when he has previously stated this difference, in the
way of προθεραπεία [endix; Anticipatory, precaution against misunderstanding], he introduces
and follows up by protasis and apodosis the comparison itself, viewed in the relation of effect,
Romans 5:18, and in the relation of cause, Romans 5:19.— τὸ παραπτώμα— τὸ χάρισμα, the

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