Romans 5:15-17

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! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the One Man, Jesus Christ.

V15-16 – The gift is not like the trespass. Paul has asserted that there is something significant about our sin “in Adam” and our forgiveness “in Christ.” He’ll spend v15-17 explaining how being “in Adam” and “in Christ” are not similar; he wants to assert Christ’s superiority to Adam. Paul says, “Here are three contrasts of our conditions in Adam and Christ.” And then in v18-19, which we'll examine tomorrow, Paul will tell us how “in Adam” and “in Christ” are similar. Notice that Paul again divides all people in two groups: “in Adam” and “in Christ.”

The first discontinuity or distinction between Adam and Christ is found in v15, and it’s between God’s justice in condemnation, and God’s grace in redemption. In that way the covenant of works and the covenant of grace are totally different. God’s universal condemnation to hell of men and women who have rebelled against God is not surprising. It is deserved. But salvation, even the salvation of one single, solitary soul is gratuitous; it’s undeserved, unearned, surprising, and amazing. Many people, even Christians, think it’s unfair or surprising that God would condemn people to eternal hell. But Paul says, “That’s not surprising or unfair. It’s clearly deserved. You want surprising or unfair? How about that anyone would be saved? That’s surprising! That’s unfair, and there’s nothing deserving in us to get it.” The contrast made here is between God’s justice (deserved) and God’s grace (undeserved).

The second distinction, found in v16, is that through one man’s (Adam) sin came death for all, whereas, on the other hand, many sins were covered by the righteousness of One man (Christ). Paul says that Adam’s sin had race-wide implications. Everybody in the human race was involved, implicated, corrupted, and deserved justice because of Adam’s sin; in contrast many iniquities were covered by Jesus Christ. Because of one sin, all were judged and condemned. But in spite of billions of sins in the covenant of grace, Christ caused all who were in Him (many) to be acquitted. So Paul’s second contrast focuses on the consequences of Adam’s actions in distinction from the consequences of Christ’s free gift. We’ll see the third distinction in v17.

Adam is the only person in the history of the world who was an appropriate scapegoat in his life. Would you have liked to have been Adam living another 900 years after the fall? It would be pretty nice to live 900+ years. But think about this: everywhere he went, somebody pointed to him and said, “This is all your fault. You messed up. You got us in this mess.” And Paul says, “You know, that’s true, but think of the contrast. 150 generations of inherited sin and corruption reversed by the grace of God in Jesus Christ.” It’s not just that Jesus has put the lid back on Pandora’s Box. It’s better. He’s liquidated our debt. He’s absorbed our penalty. He’s acquitted us in court and transformed our hearts by grace. He has put a stop to the seemingly immutable pattern of sin and judgment and condemnation. And Paul says that’s surprising. You want to find something to be surprised about, don’t be surprised about sin in a fallen world. There’s nothing surprising about that. What’s surprising is the transforming grace of God.

Now in v17, the third contrast between Adam and Christ is that one man’s sin led to the reign of death, but on the other hand, One man’s death led to His people’s reign in life. The reign of death in this world can be traced to one moment: the sin of Adam. But the reign of life for believers is traced, similarly to one moment, but a different kind of moment: the death of Christ.

Why does Paul underscore these 3 distinctions? So we’ll understand how amazing grace is. And so that we’ll understand that Paul is not saying that what was lost in Adam was simply regained in Christ. That’s almost a parallel, and that’s not what this is about. As far as Paul is concerned, the story of redemption, salvation, and God’s grace is better than simply regaining what Adam lost. What God has done in His covenant of grace is beyond all that we could ask or imagine, and it so far outstrips what was lost in the covenant of works as it was broken in Adam that it should blow our minds to consider it. The gift of grace in Christ is incomparably greater than the condemnation which resulted from Adam’s sin.