The Meaning of Christ’s Economy in Human History: Grace Abounding Over Sin (Romans 5:13–17)

Rom 5:13–14. For before the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no Law. Yet death reigned from Adam even until Moses, even over those who had not sinned after the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one to come.

Here is a paraphrase of this passage, made by blessed Theophylact, in accord with all our interpreters! “The Apostle wishes to demonstrate that even those who did not eat of the forbidden tree, and those who did not sin like Adam, on account of his sin were also reckoned as sinners and died. He demonstrates this thus: sin reigned before the giving of the Law, that is, even before the Law itself. What sin was this? Was it sin from the transgression of the Law? But how could there be such a sin when there was no Law? Sin is imputed when there is a Law, and people who transgress the Law are necessarily called sinners. But: ‘death reigned even until Moses,’ that is, until the giving of the Law. Therefore, there was a sin through which death reigned: if there had not been some sin that established death, it would not have reigned. Yet since it is proven that sin from the transgression of the Law did not yet exist, it follows that it was the sin of Adam, through which death reigned even over those who did not sin directly (for those who did not receive the Law and did not transgress it are not called sinners), but sinned in likeness to the transgression of Adam and became partakers of his fall, as the forefather who is a type of Christ. For as the old Adam made all liable to his fall, although they did not fall (as he did), so Christ justified all, although they did nothing for which they should have been justified. This is why he is ‘a type of the one to come,’ that is, of Christ.”

So all is clear, although one cannot deny that after this there may still arise perplexities in reading this passage. To remove them, one must keep in mind that the Apostle did not intend to present a completely sufficient proof that all sinned in Adam, but only to point to certain evident facts which could lead to this truth. And he pointed to them, as blessed Theophylact explains.

But how can one say that sin was not imputed before the Law? It was imputed to Cain; it was imputed to those before the flood; it was imputed to the tower-builders; and to the Sodomites, the Egyptians; and all of them suffered corresponding judgments from God. — To this, thus:—The Apostle means such an imputation by which death would be adjudged for sin, and death, common to all. For he seeks the source of death in people after Adam, and, since death stands for him as the consequence of sin, he seeks such a sin that would be the cause of the death of all by God’s determination. But no such sin existed; there were sins, but not sin in this sense. There were none sinning in likeness to the transgression of Adam. People sinned already being under the sentence of death, condemned to death. And some were condemned to death, as those before the flood, the Sodomites, Egyptians; but this was not the first, not the primordial adjudgment of death, but only an acceleration of the term of death, already adjudged to all.

Furthermore: “when there is no Law,”—when even before the Mosaic Law there was law,—the law of conscience, Noah’s law, the law of circumcision? But the Apostle requires as it were: show me such a law where God Himself personally said: do thus and so; if you will not do, you shall die. But no such law existed, as is known. There were laws, but with other threats, not with such a one. And there were deaths adjudged for sins, as by the flood in Noah’s time, by fire in Sodom and the like. But this was not for the violation of any law given with the threat of death for its violation, but for lawlessness in general, grown to such a degree that the lawless became unworthy of life. This was the application of judgment to the case, on the basis of laws given before, without threat of death. Death was not coupled with these matters from the beginning, but was afterward adjudged to the lawless by the free determination of God’s justice.

But why does the Apostle have in view only the period from Adam to Moses, as though after the Mosaic Law other orders of God’s judgment were to follow, and death could be explained as the consequence of its transgression? One can suppose that the Apostle does this conditionally. Whence comes death? From sin. From what sin, when, for example, before Moses there was no solemn legislation, and certainly not with the threat of universal death, as with Adam? Let someone say that death came for the transgression of the Law given through Moses; but whence came death before Moses? There is no source for it except the sin of Adam. Wherein the Apostle had no intention whatever to determine what was, how, and why it was after Moses. For his purpose it was sufficient to stop at this pre-Mosaic period, to indicate: you see death; and whence comes it, when there was no Law? From Adam’s sin. And Holy Chrysostom says in general: “If death had its root in sin, and sin, while there was no Law, was not imputed; then why did death prevail over those living before the Law? From this it is evident that it was not this sin, not the sin of transgression of the Law, but another, namely the sin of transgression of Adam, that was the cause of universal corruption. And how is this proved? By the fact that all living before the Law died.”

Adam is called a type of the future, that is, of Jesus Christ,—in what respect? In this: “as Adam for his descendants, though they did not eat of the tree’s fruit, became the cause of death, which was brought into the world by Adam’s ‘eating,’ so Christ for those who believe in Him, though they possessed no righteous works, became the source of righteousness, which He bestowed upon us all through the cross. The Apostle, as above, so below, supports this thought and repeats it many times; but he dwells especially on this thought so that to the objection of a Jew: how is it that mankind is saved by the merits of one Christ? — you too might object to him: how is it that the entire human race is condemned for the transgression of one Adam? — all the more so since there is no comparison between sin and grace; rather, there is an infinite distance between the two. When the very nature of the matter, the power of the one who accomplished it, and the very propriety—since for God it is more proper to save than to punish—all show that the superiority and victory are on Christ’s side; tell me, what ground do you have for disbelief? So the Apostle proves that in the matter of salvation there is nothing contrary to reason” (Holy Chrysostom).

The last words of Holy Chrysostom clarify the meaning and significance of the following verses (verses 15–17), in which the Apostle says that “the gift is not as the transgression.” They are not independent propositions, but contain subordinate and clarifying thoughts to strengthen the position stated before, that as through one sin and death, so through one also righteousness and life. Having proved such a position, one could proceed directly to present its content more fully in the form of a conclusion, as is done in verses 18 and 19. But since the Apostle’s goal in this section (verses 12–19) is to deepen the conviction that all can be saved through one, so as to remove all hesitation of mind in recognizing this truth, then, having proved before that as sin and death come through one, so there is no ground to doubt that righteousness and life also come through one, that is, that the certainty of the first position is strong enough to assure of the certainty of the second—he now sets forth that for a sound mind the last position must have greater certainty and must be accepted with greater conviction in its truth. Why is this so? Because not “as the transgression, so also the gift.” If sin subjected all to condemnation and death through one, then much more grace and gift through one are able to justify and save all. This superabundance of blessings in grace over the abundance of evils from sin Holy Paul sets forth in various ways in verses 15–17; and although some of the terms in them and the relations of concepts are difficult to grasp, this main thought is nevertheless clear.

Rom 5:15. But it is not as the transgression, so also the gift. For if by the transgression of the one, the many died, much more the grace of God and the gift in grace of the one Man Jesus Christ abounded to the many.

From Christ the Lord you must expect far greater good than the amount of evil that came from Adam. If the latter you recognize as true, how can you doubt the former? “If sin was so powerful, and that the sin of one man, then will not grace produce a more powerful effect—the grace of God, and not only of God the Father, but of God the Son? This is far more in accord with reason than the former. It seems not entirely just that one should be punished for another; but that one should be saved through another is far more becoming and in accord with reason. If then the first is confirmed by experience—then much more should the latter be possible” (Holy Chrysostom). “Christ brought benefit not merely to the extent in which Adam caused harm. If sin was so powerful that in consequence of the fall of one all his descendants were condemned, though they did not fall (as he did); then a much greater and more abundant effect will be produced on many by grace. The gift of God cannot be equal to condemnation through one who sinned” (blessed Theophylact).

The grounds on which the conviction must rest that grace and gift surpass the transgression are to be seen expressed in the conditional propositions of verses 15–17; but what they are, this is difficult to grasp in the words of Holy Paul and to express clearly, without departing from these words. Holy Chrysostom, as we saw above, points to such grounds: “the nature of the matter, the power of the one who accomplished it, and the very propriety.” — And perhaps he saw the first expressed in verse 15, the second in verse 16, the third in verse 17. The nature of the matter: there, sin—the pernicious consequences of it are adjudged by God’s justice, and, of course in measure and in full correspondence with sin, the destructiveness of sin is limited by the measure of sin; but here—grace—grace and gift have no measure; their measure is the goodness of the Giver, and, when He is infinite by nature, naturally His goodness is infinite. The power of the one who accomplished it: there, a man; here, the God-man, God in human nature, whose work—justification—cannot fail to abound far more than the work of man—sin; the gracious restoration of the fallen, by the very nature of the Restorer, could not fail to raise the restored one higher than he stood before the fall, could not fail to introduce him into the enjoyment of far more abundant blessings compared with before. — Propriety—does not give a separate thought, but combines the two preceding grounds in the form of a concluding position.

Therefore, let us see the first ground expressed in verse 15: “for if by the transgression of the one, the many died, much more the grace of God and the gift in grace of the one Man Jesus Christ abounded to the many.” There is sin, here is grace. If sin had enough malice to subject the many to death: “shall not much more” with abundance upon the many suffice with grace combined blessings? The words: “the many, to the many”—stand for: “all—and: to all. Abounded”—points to grace already revealed and the gift given, signifying that they with abundance contain blessings, in the sense: it is superabundant. — Blessed Theodoret writes: “in punishment the Master God preserved the law of justice, and when Adam sinned and was given over to death, the whole race followed after him; then certainly it is more just for justice to be preserved in God’s mercy and for all men to become partakers of the Resurrection of the Master Christ… The mercy of grace surpasses the law of justice.”

Rom 5:16. And the gift is not as through the one who sinned: for the judgment came from one transgression to condemnation; but the gift came from many transgressions to justification.

This passage is very difficult: it is hard to translate it, and even harder to grasp the thought moving within it. The words: “not as through the one who sinned”—suggest that Holy Paul, having explained before the superabundance of grace over sin from the concepts of grace and sin, now intends to explain the same thing from the concepts of the person who sinned and of the person who gives justification. He says as it were: look at the one who sinned and introduced sin and death, and at the One who introduces justification and life, and you will see the superabundance of grace over sin. The gift coming from the latter in no way can be set in comparison with the harm that entered through the former. Why such a conclusion precisely follows from the concepts of the persons acting here, the Apostle does not unfold. One can conjecture: because the introducer of sin and death was a man, while their destroyer is God in human nature,—and the power of God even in human nature extends over all ages and all the works of these ages. Such a supposition will not be far-fetched; on the contrary, it seems required by the following words of the holy Apostle.

Our forefather sinned. This one sin alone was sufficient to subject all of us to condemnation, just as with us it happens that when a patriarch loses nobility, then all who come after him will no longer be noble. — But we, coming from the first who sinned, bear condemnation not only because that one sinned as our patriarch, but also because we ourselves began to sin and committed many sins. Therefore, in order to remove from us the condemnation, one needs not only to blot out the sin of our single patriarch, but also the sins of all of us—from Adam to the end of the ages. If now grace, manifested in Lord Jesus Christ, accomplishes this latter, is it not evident that the gift from the one Saviour is not as the deprivation through one who sinned? But whence comes such power in Christ Jesus? From the fact, we may add, that He is not merely a man, but God-man. Such a thought appears in the words: “for the judgment came from one transgression to condemnation: but the gift came from many transgressions to justification.” Holy Chrysostom says after these words: “What does this mean? That one sin could bring death and condemnation; but grace not only blotted out this one sin, but also the other sins that followed it. So that by the use of comparative particles ‘as’ and ‘so’—no thought may arise that an equal measure is taken for evil and good—and so that you, hearing of Adam, may not conclude that only the sin transmitted to men from Adam was blotted out—the Apostle says that many transgressions were blotted out. How is this evident? From the fact that after countless sins following the transgression committed in paradise, all ended in justification.”

If Lord Jesus Christ provided only the removal of condemnation for sins, even then it would follow that: “the gift is not as through the one who sinned.” Is not this conclusion even more necessary when it is known that the gift from Lord Jesus Christ is not limited to the removal of condemnation alone, but also imparts righteousness itself? “The gift came from many transgressions—” not only to acquittal, but also: “to justification,”—or to righteousness. Whence then comes such power in Jesus Christ? From the fact, we may add again, that He is not merely a man, but God in human nature, and in God is the source of all goods, sufficient for all people and for all ages. Holy Chrysostom says: “First (in the preceding, fifteenth verse) the Apostle said that if the sin of one killed all, then much more can the grace of one save all. Then (in this, sixteenth verse) he unfolded such a thought, that by grace not only the original sin was destroyed, but also all other sins; indeed, not only were sins destroyed, but righteousness was also given to us; and Christ not only corrected all that was corrupted by Adam, but restored all this to a greater measure and to a higher degree.”

Rom 5:17. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned by the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life by the one, Jesus Christ.

These words confirm what was said above, explaining at the same time how it comes about that from one people receive deprivations, and from another, abundance of gifts. How is this? Through communion with one and the other. There, naturally, coming from one man, they inherit from him sin, and through sin also death, so that death appears to be reigning in our race through one. Here, uniting oneself by faith with Lord Jesus Christ and receiving from Him new life through mysterious rebirth, they receive at the same time all the treasures of graces hidden in Him, so that not only life in them appears to be reigning, but they themselves are clothed in a royal state in life: life of all abounds through the one Lord Jesus Christ, because He, as God, is the source of life and the giver of all goods. The superabundance of graces in Him, being received by believers, not only removes all the deprivations that passed to us from the first who sinned, but fills instead all with goods. This itself follows from what was proven before, namely that: “the gift is not as through the one who sinned.” Holy Chrysostom says to this: “What armed death against all people? That one of them tasted of the tree. If death acquired such strength through the transgression of one, how, as soon as there are found people who have received grace and righteousness incomparably surpassing that sin, can they remain subject to death? Therefore the Apostle did not say here: grace,—but: ‘the abundance of grace.’ The gifts of grace communicated to us are not so much as to destroy only sin, but far more. We are freed from punishment, we have put off all evil deeds, we are reborn from above, we have risen after the burial of the old man, we are redeemed, we are sanctified, we are brought into adoption, we are justified, we have become brothers of the Only-begotten, we have become His co-heirs, we are joined with Him into one body, we have become His members, we are united with Him, as a body with its head. All this Paul called the abundance of grace, thereby proving that we have received not only medicine that heals our wound, but health, beauty, honour, glory and such dignities far above our nature. Each of these gifts by itself could destroy death; when all of them flow together, then death is destroyed at its root, then not even a trace or shadow of it can appear. — Imagine that someone owed a money-lender ten kopecks, and he throws into prison not only the debtor himself, but even his wife, children and servants; but another comes and not only pays those ten kopecks, but also gives ten thousand talents of gold, leads the prisoner to the royal palace, seats him at the most honourable place, showers him with honours and distinctions. Exactly this happened to us! Christ paid far more than we owed; His payment compared to the debt is like an immeasurable sea compared to a tiny drop. — And so do not doubt, O man, seeing such wealth of goods; do not be curious to know how the spark of death and sin was extinguished, when a whole sea of gracious gifts has been poured upon it. This is precisely what Paul understood when he said that those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life.”