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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 5:20

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Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

20. Moreover ] More simply, But, or (better) Now. In this verse and 21 a new consideration comes in, almost independent of the chain of reasoning, but meant to illustrate the surpassing “abundance” of grace (Rom 5:15-17).

the law ] Lit. Law; but probably the reference is definite, as implied by the mention of Moses in Rom 5:14. See note on Rom 5:13, on the peculiar position of the Mosaic law.

entered ] Lit. entered by the side; as if an afterthought in the great plan. Cp. Gal 3:19.

that the offence might abound ] Q. d., “that the disease might be brought to the surface.” This bringing out of latent sinfulness was a real mercy. Cp. Rom 7:13. Obviously St Paul does not mean that this was the only, or chief, aim of the holy Law; but that in view of the question in hand (justification of sinners for Another’s sake,) such was its function. It was to bring out the fact that men were not only guilty “ in Adam,” but personally sinful.

the offence ] Man’s offences, regarded as a single whole. Just below we have “the sin; ” the principle of which “the offence ” was the expression.

sin ] Lit. the sin. So just below, the grace. The reference is to sin and grace in their special aspects here.

much more abound ] These words represent one compound verb in the Gr., and that verb is strengthened by the compounded preposition, and is itself a stronger word than that just used for “the abundance” of sin: where the sin multiplied, there the grace superabounded. On the thought here, see notes on Rom 5:16.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Moreover – But. What is said in this verse and the following, seems designed to meet the Jew, who might pretend that the Law of Moses was intended to meet the evils of sin introduced by Adam, and therefore that the scheme defended by the apostle was unnecessary. He therefore shows them that the effect of the Law of Moses was to increase rather than to diminish the sins which had been introduced into the world. And if such was the fact, it could not be pled that it was adapted to overcome the acknowledged evils of the apostasy.

The law – The Mosaic laws and institutions. The word seems to be used here to denote all the laws which were given in the Old Testament.

Entered – This word usually means to enter secretly or surreptitiously. But it appears to be used here simply in the sense that the Law came in, or was given. It came in addition to, or it supervened the state before Moses, when people were living without a revelation.

That sin … – The word that hina in this place does not mean that it was the design of giving the Law that sin might abound or be increased, but that such was in fact the effect. It had this tendency, not to restrain or subdue sin, but to excite and increase it. That the word has this sense may be seen in the lexicons. The way in which the Law produces this effect is stated more fully by the apostle in Rom 7:7-11. The Law expresses the duty of man; it is spiritual and holy; it is opposed to the guilty passions and pleasures of the world; and it thus excites opposition, provokes to anger, and is the occasion by which sin is called into exercise, and shows itself in the heart. All law, where there is a disposition to do wrong, has this tendency. A command given to a child that is disposed to indulge his passions, only tends to excite anger and opposition. If the heart was holy, and there was a disposition to do right, law would have no such tendency. See this subject further illustrated in the notes at Rom 7:7-11.

The offence – The offence which had been introduced by Adam, that is, sin. Compare Rom 5:15.

Might abound – Might increase; that is, would be more apparent, more violent, more extensive. The introduction of the Mosaic Law, instead of diminishing the sins of people, only increases them.

But where sin abounded – Alike in all dispensations – before the Law, and under the Law. In all conditions of the human family before the gospel, it was the characteristic that sin was prevalent.

Grace – Favor; mercy.

Did much more abound – Superabounded. The word is used no where else in the New Testament, except in 2Co 7:4. It means that the pardoning mercy of the gospel greatly triumphed over sin, even over the sins of the Jews, though those sins were greatly aggravated by the light which they enjoyed under the advantages of divine revelation.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Rom 5:20-21

The law entered that the offence might abound.

But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

The offence abounding through the law

The wise physician often gives medicine to bring the disease from within to the surface, and make it abound, so to speak, with the view of driving away the disorder, and so enabling health to reign in the system of his patient. The skilful surgeon, by diet and hot water fomentations, develops the abscess in order that he may be able to effectually remove it. In like manner God in His infinite love and wisdom allowed the law to enter that the offence might abound, with the ultimate purpose that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Law developing sin

1. The apostle begins the present argument in Rom 5:12, breaking off for the time; and instead of completing the comparison, turning aside to show the universal and lamentable effects of sin. St. Paul was sufficiently acquainted with the continent of Divine truth to be able to wander without losing sight of the cardinal points. To put a man unacquainted with a country half a mile from the main road would make his safe return somewhat doubtful. Many are in this state in respect of gospel truths. But Paul could venture to take a by-road to reach a by-purpose, and then return safely to the place whence he started.

2. At the close of Rom 5:14 he comes again in contact with his main purpose, that the reader might not lose sight of it, and to show that he knew exactly his whereabouts–who is the figure of Him that was to come. But instead of going on to prove their resemblance, he again digresses to show first their unlikeness.

3. In Rom 5:18 he again returns to his chief purpose, namely, to show that the first Adam and the second were in one respect similar. The offence stands alone. There was but one offence from Adam to Moses, for there was no law to be transgressed, i.e., no covenant. God made a covenant with Adam as the representative of mankind; but that covenant was broken. Man, therefore, had no covenant to break in the period indicated. God gave His law to the sea, to the birds, etc., without saying a word to them: they were too small for Him to enter into covenant with them. But man was created on so large a scale that God could not legislate for him without covenanting with him. The offence, in the apostles sense here, was not possible to man in the absence of a covenant. Mankind from Adam to Moses were daily adding to the mass of their corruption, but the offence continued to remain one and the same all through. However, in the time of Moses we find mankind again brought under a covenant–the law entered that the offence might abound.

I. The giving of the law occasioned the development of sin.

1. Sin always revives in the presence of law (Rom 7:9). The pure and fiery light of the commandment awakes it, excites it, and draws out its energies.

(1) Sin in Israel had been sleeping during the Egyptian bondage and deliverance; and the trials encountered during the journey to Sinai only made sin dream fitfully and say an occasional angry word between wakefulness and sleep, just enough to show that it only wanted opportunity to rouse itself. But when the nation arrived at Sinai they received the most marvellous exhibition of the Divine glory. It might have been thought that sin had received such a deep wound that it would never again be able to raise its head. But no; they made a calf in those days. Wonderful! But it was only the necessary consequence of the giving of the law.

(2) Sin is still the same. Man is not conscious of his enmity to God when the commandment does not shine upon his conscience. His enmity is like the match in his waistcoat pocket. There is fire in it, but it is asleep. It only needs to be brought into contact with something harder than itself to become a flame. So the young mans guilty heart is full of the fire of enmity, but it is asleep. When he comes to rub against Gods law, sin takes occasion by the commandment to develop itself.

2. The entrance of the law occasioned the development of sin, because man cannot be developed without developing his sin. This principle manifests itself everywhere. When tares have been sown mixed with wheat, all the influences which promote the increase of the wheat promote the growth of the tares. Look at the young babe. Well, if the little one is to be developed, his sin must be developed with him. As true as he will be a three-feet man, he will be a three-feet sinner at the same time. The internal enemies of many a country would not be nearly as formidable were it not for the educational advantages they have enjoyed. The danger and the horribleness of their deeds increase in the same proportion as their knowledge. In the face of that, were it not better to keep all knowledge from them? No! that is not the method of the Divine government. The voices of nature, providence, and inspiration teach the contrary. Humanity must be developed, though that be impossible without developing its sin. And inasmuch as the law entered to develop man, it of necessity therefore occasioned the development of his sin likewise.

II. The law entered for the purpose of developing sin. It entered in order–

1. To develop sin in its heinousness and frightfulness, so that the evil of its nature as it strikes against God and militates against man might be made patent to all. There is deceitfulness in sin. It wears a garment so attractive that no creature is free from the danger of being bewitched by it. It deceived even the angels. It captivated our first parents. Sin was having fair weather before the law entered. The earth was sitting quietly under its heavy and torpid authority. But at last there dawned the day of its visitation. In the presence of Gods holy law the splendour of its raiment begins to fade; its horrible look makes many refuse it their loyalty any longer. The entrance of sin supposes the entrance of all the dispensation of the Old Testament, which terminated in the advent and death of Christ. And there, on the Cross, was finished the work of stripping sin of all its robes. Thenceforth it stood in all the nakedness of its shame before an astonished universe.

2. To develop its strength, and accomplish its destruction. God is not afraid of sin. By the time of the Incarnation sin had been completely developed. Corrupt religion could not before, and can never again, produce such a court as that of the high priest in Jerusalem. There is no hope that paganism will ever again produce such a faithful representative of itself as Pontius Pilate. Hell will never again see the day when it can steel and whet a tool so dangerous as Iscariot. All the hosts of sin are on the field in the memorable struggle with the Prince of Life, so that the foe can never complain that all his forces were not on the spot (Col 2:14-15). Sin still continues the war, but it only shoots like a coward; shoots and runs at the same time. Let us therefore take heart; let us arm ourselves with all the armour of God that we may pursue and help to drive it out of the world; There is a complete victory over sin to everyone that believeth in Christ. (Evan Phillips.)

Law and grace

I. The design of the law.

1. Not to occasion sin.

2. But to develop–

(1) Its extent.

(2) Its guilt.

(3) Its misery.

II. The relation of the law to grace.

1. It prepares the way for its manifestation.

2. It sets forth its transcendent excellency.

3. It disposes the sinner to receive it by making him conscious of his need.

III. The superabounding of grace.

1. It surpasses the extent of human guilt.

2. Relieves its misery.

3. Secures more happiness to man and more glory to God. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Law and grace

There is no point upon which men make greater mistakes than upon the relation between the law and the gospel. Some men put the law instead of the gospel; others put the gospel instead of the law; some modify both, and preach neither; and others entirely abrogate the law, by bringing in the gospel. Many think that the law is the gospel, and who teach that men by good works may be saved. On the other hand, many teach that the gospel is a law, by obedience to which men are meritoriously saved. A certain class maintain that the law and the gospel are mixed, and that partly by the law, and partly by grace, men are saved. Consider the text–

I. As concerning the world.

1. The object of God in sending the law was that the offence might abound. There was sin in the world long before; and where that law has never been heard, there is sin,–because, though men cannot sin against the law which they have never seen, yet they can all rebel against the light of nature, against the dictates of conscience, and against that traditional remembrance of right and wrong (Rom 1:20). The law makes offences abound, because–

(1) It tells us that many things are sins which we should never have thought to be so if it had not been for the additional light. What man by the light of conscience would keep holy the Sabbath day? Moreover, if in the term law we comprehend the ceremonial ritual, we can plainly see that many things, in appearance quite indifferent, were by it constituted sins–the eating of animals that do not chew the cud and divide the hoof, the wearing of linsey woolsey, and all seem to have no sin in them, but the law made them into sins, and so maple the offence to abound.

(2) Law has a tendency to make men rebel. Human nature rises against restraint. I had not known lust except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. So evil are we, that we conceive at once the desire to commit an act, simply because it is forbidden (Rom 7:7-8; Rom 7:11). The law is not faulty, but sin uses it as an occasion of offence, and rebels when it ought to obey. Augustine says, The law is not in fault, but our evil and wicked nature; even as a heap of lime is still and quiet, until water be poured thereon, but then it begins to smoke and burn, not from the fault of the water, but from the nature and kind of the lime which will not endure it.

(3) The law increases the sinfulness of sin, by removing all excuse of ignorance. Until men know the law, their crimes have at least a palliation of partial ignorance, but when the code is spread before them, their offences become greater, since they are committed against light and knowledge. The more light the greater guilt–the law affords that light, and so causes us to become double offenders. But does it not seem very harsh that God should give us a law which will not justify, but indirectly cause our condemnation to be greater? But there is a gracious purpose even here. Natural men dream that by a strict performance of duty they shall obtain favour; but the law never came to save men. It came on purpose to make the evidence complete that salvation by works is impossible, and thus to drive the elect of God to rely wholly on the finished salvation of the gospel.

2. The superabundance of grace.

(1) Grace excels sin in the numbers it brings beneath its sway. It is written that in all things Jesus shall have the preeminence: and why is this to be left out? Can we think that Satan will have more followers than Jesus? Oh, no; for while it is written that the redeemed are a multitude that no man can number; it is not recorded that the lost are beyond numeration. Think for a moment of the army of infant souls who are now in heaven.

(2) Grace doth much more abound, because a time shall come when the world shall be all full of grace; whereas there has never been a period when it was wholly given up to sin.

(3) Hath the world lost its possessions by sin, it has gained far more by grace? True, we have been expelled from Eden, but we have through Jesus a fairer habitation. Did we lose natural life and subject ourselves to painful death by sin? Has not grace revealed an immortality for the sake of which we are too glad to die? Jesus has clothed us with a Divine righteousness, far exceeding the robes of created innocence.

II. As Concerning the human heart.

1. The law causes the offence to abound–

(1) By discovering sin to the soul. When once the Holy Ghost applies the law to the conscience, secret sins are dragged to light, little sins are magnified to their true size, and things apparently harmless become exceedingly sinful. John Bunyan says that the Interpreter took Christian by the hand and led him into a very large parlour that was full of dust, because never swept; in which after he had reviewed it a little while, the Interpreter called for a man to sweep. Now, when he began to sweep, the dust began so abundantly to fly about, that Christian had almost therewith been choked. Then said the Interpreter to a damsel that stood by, Bring hither water, and sprinkle the room; the which when she had done, it was swept and cleansed with pleasure. Then said Christian, What means this? The Interpreter answered, This parlour is the heart of man. The dust is his original sin and inward corruptions. He that began to sweep at first, is the law; but she that brought the water, and did sprinkle it, is the gospel. Now whereas thou sawest, that as soon as the first began to sweep, the dust did so fly about, that the room could not by him be cleansed, but that thou wast almost choked therewith; this is to show thee that the law, instead of cleansing the heart (by its working) from sin, doth revive (Rom 7:9), put strength into (1Co 15:56) and increase it in the soul (verse 20), even as it doth discover and forbid it, for it doth not give power to subdue. Again, as thou sawest the damsel sprinkle the room with water, upon which it was cleansed with pleasure; this is to show thee that when the gospel comes in the sweet and precious influences thereof to the heart, so is sin vanquished, and the soul made clean, through the faith of it, and consequently fit for the King of glory to inhabit.

(2) By showing us how very black we are. Some of us know that we are sinners. It is very easy to say it, but it does not appear exceedingly sinful till the law comes. How many do we find who are saying, There may be a little amiss at the top, but I am very good-hearted at bottom. If you saw some fruit on the top of a basket that was not quite good, would you buy the basket because they told you, Aye, but they are good at the bottom? No; you would say, They are sure to be the best at the top, and if they are bad there, they are sure to be rotten below.

(3) By discovering to us the depravity of our nature. We are all prepared to charge the serpent with our guilt, or to insinuate that we go astray, from the force of ill example–but the Holy Spirit dissipates these dreams by bringing the law into the heart. Then the fountains of the great deep are broken up, the chambers of imagery are opened, the innate evil of the very essence of fallen man is discovered.

(4) By bringing home the sentence of condemnation. It mounts the judgment seat, puts on the black cap, and pronounces the sentence of death.

(5) By discovering the powerlessness occasioned by sin. It not only condemns but it actually kills. He who once thought that he could repent and believe at pleasure, finds in himself no power to do either the one or the other.

2. Grace excels sin–

(1) In its measure and efficacy. Though your sins are many, mercy hath many pardons.

(2) Sin shows us its parent, and tells us our heart is the father of it, but grace surpasseth sin there, and shows the Author of grace–the King of kings.

(3) Just as sin makes us sick, and downcast, and sad, so does grace make us far more joyful and free. Sin unfits us for heaven. Grace makes us fit companions for seraphs and the just made perfect. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The triumphs of sin and of grace

1. The triumphs of sin.

1. As they regard the material world. Sin has altered its character–defaced its beauty–tarnished its splendour. Disorder has been introduced, and various evils have been realised.

2. As they regard the moral nature of man. If the evil were merely external, it would be comparatively immaterial, but it is internal. The whole man is infected with the leprosy of sin. His members are not consecrated to God, but to iniquity. His understanding is enveloped in dense darkness. His reason is proud, and unyielding to God. His affections are perverted, cold, and sensual. His will is stubborn and intractable. All his powers, passions, capacities, and emotions, have been affected by sin.

3. As they regard death and the grave. What fearful desolations they effect! They dim the lustre of the eye, extinguish the light of genius, tarnish the bloom of beauty, wither the arm of vigour, and reduce the frame of man to dust.

4. As they regard the remote and awful consequences of iniquity. The loss of the soul, banishment from God, the utter withdrawal of His favour, the agony of conscience, the society of devils and wicked spirits, and the consciousness that this degradation, ruin, and misery, will endure unmitigated forever.

II. The superior and more. Splendid triumphs of Divine grace.

1. In the full and spontaneous forgiveness which it bestows. It removes the oppressive burden of sin–it speaks peace to the conscience; and whatever might have been his offences, it assures the justified individual that his sins have been all forgiven.

2. In the character of those operations which it secures. It not merely justifies the person, but renovates the nature, implants new principles, induces new feelings, inspires love to prayer, and communicates that strength and consolation which we require while residents in this world.

3. In the inheritance which it assigns. Rest from labour, tranquillity after agitation and alarm, freedom from temptation, advancement to ineffable dignity–the possession of a glorious and an enduring kingdom, and the promise of an unfading and immortal crown.

4. In the complete and glorious resurrection of the body for which it provides.

5. In the eventual number of the redeemed. They shall embrace every age, country, condition, class. A number, which no man can enumerate, shall be rescued from sin, delivered from the grave, and advanced to the bliss and glory of heaven.

Conclusion: This subject should–

1. Tend to correct many errors with regard to the doctrine of election: the fact of the fall, the extent of Divine mercy, the number of the saved.

2. Induce us to institute art inquiry whether we have ever realised the power of that grace which so gloriously triumphs.

3. Inspire us as regards the future, and induce us to make greater exertions to secure and extend the triumphs of Divine mercy. (J. Leifchild, D. D.)

Sin abounding, and grace superabounding

These glowing words fitly crown the parallel the apostle traces. From its triumphal climax he surveys the expanded triumphs of grace and sin in a reign, or conquered dominion, on which the common sun never sets, and which the Sun of Righteousness ever floods with glory; an empire which, like the mystic ladder, first establishes its footing on earth, and finally loses itself in the glories of heaven. We will range our exposition under the following heads:

I. Historical.

1. The curtain is uplifted, and the background scenery represents visions of paradisial beauty. And now for the characters; for all the worlds a stage. First eaters primeval man, fresh from his Makers hand; and then woman, his ministering angel. Slinking stealthily from behind, next enters the serpent. The lights pale, and visions grow dark and dim, as the next actor, Sin, enters like a disastrous eclipse; and it entered not alone–it entered trailing its grim shadow after it, Death entered by sin. The plot thickens. Moreover, the law entered, that men might know their duty, and in the light of that their guilt, and in the light of both their doom, and in the light of all seek the remedy. As the result–Sin is seen to abound: it enters and re-enters, rolling its thunderous clouds across the stage; for in the fierce light of the law its magnitude and intensity are clearly seen, and sin takes occasion from that very law to riot and multiply itself the more. But by this time another actor has entered on the stage; the seed of the woman appears, with the ransom flowing from his side, the serpent squirming under his heel.

2. In the second long act, covering the Old Testament period, the shadows seem to deepen, and the confusion to become more confounded.

3. In the third brief, but grand act, the Deliverer steps on the stage, takes the room of the sinner, and sublimely dies, rises, ascends to glory, and sends forth His twelve champions for the spiritual conquest of the world.

4. During the next, or fourth act, the mingling elements of light and darkness, good and evil, life and death, have been in fierce, hot strife; life and light evermore rising triumphant over sin and death.

5. In the fifth, and last, grand act, Satan shall fall from his usurped dominion, and the kingdoms of this world shall have become the kingdoms of our God, etc.

II. Doctrinal. The text is the culminating point of a passage which, like all that precedes, has for its objects the vindication and illustration of justification by faith. If this Divine method of salvation can be shown to have primeval precedent in the Edenic Dispensation, and to root and ramify its fundamental principles in the Divine administration of our world and in the moral and social constitution of man, no stronger argument for the great doctrine could well be adduced. This is just what our apostle does. He traces a parallel between the First Adam and the Second. Both being representative, each is shown to stand out in his unity as the one, in relation to the many. The two Adams present strong points of parallelism. By one we fell, and by one we rise. The points of contrast are these: Adams sin brought temporal death; but Christ brings eternal life. Again, Adam had nothing directly to do with our actual sins, but Christs atonement, besides neutralising the effects of Adams sin, neutralises also the effects of our innumerable actual transgressions, in the cases of all who believe. Finally, those who do believe, not only rise to the position they would have had under a sinless Adam, but to one immeasurably higher, even to a very royalty of bliss.

III. Expositional. Taking the causes as they occur, consider:–

1. Moreover the law entered,–a term triply compound–means to enter in by, or alongside of, or immediately upon; and thus conveys the idea that if sin entered, if death entered here comes another entrance upon the back of these–that of immutable Moral Law. Adam, from the moment he sinned, ceased to be our representative; and at that same moment, therefore, the paradisial dispensation ceased. But not so Eternal Law. It therefore stepped prominently into view, after the special paradisial arrangements had passed away. And it was highly desirable that it should, that men might see their own portrait, and read their own ruin, and be thereby led, as by a schoolmaster, to seek for the remedy. Being now a broken law, it had to be arrayed in its terrors, as well as expanded in its intrinsic loveliness, Hence its successive promulgations, which culminated at Sinai, and ran on through the Mosaic Economy in parallel lines of wrath and love, till He came who has reconciled all these contrarieties, and put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

2. The result of this exhibition was that the offence did abound. In the pure mirror of the law sin was first seen to abound; and then, by kicking against the laws restraints, sin rebelliously took occasion more and more to abound. With what fearful rapidity it did, may be read in the awful fact that human crime sprung to its climactic stage in the first generation. The first human birth in our world was that of a murderer, the second that of his victim. What then? Was the law to blame for that? Far be it! The law must be proclaimed; and in numberless instances it did put an arrest on sin, and guided primeval men into its ways of pleasantness, and its paths of peace. But those who would not be guided, wrested it to their ruin. Our apostle meets that objection in Rom 7:12-13.

3. Mark the sin-neutralising energy of Divine grace:–Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

(1) It is an undoubted fact, for Paul here declares it without qualification, limitation, or reserve.

(2) It is a continuous fact; for it belongs to the present as truly and fully as ever it did to the past.

(3) It is an evangelical fact; for it implies that the only cure for sin is grace. It is not the fear of hell that will make a bad man good.

(4) It is a worldwide fact. Confront me with a sinner. In agony he asks, Is there any mercy for me? I tell you yes, for does not Paul say, where sin abounds, grace superabounds?

4. Sin is said to reign, and that unto death. It not only abounds, it tyrannises. Was there ever despot like sin? Was there ever taskmaster like Satan, plying his drudges with a whip of scorpions, and ever saying to them, as Pharaoh did to the Hebrews, get you to your burdens? Was there ever bondage like that of the drunkard, like that of the sensualist? And sin reigns unto death,–or as in a previous verse, death reigns. The fear of death, we read, keeps many all their life long subject to bondage. Well is he described as the king of terrors, the most universal and relentless of all devastating conquerors. One stronger than he has grappled with him; and the last enemy, death, shall be destroyed.

5. In direct antagonism to sins usurped dominion, grace reigns; and unto eternal life. The antithesis is perfect. We may not say that grace tyrannises, for its reign is essential liberty; but it dominates and is destined to final triumph. Love shall be the conqueror, as sure as God is love.

6. Observe on what principle grace reigns: not through mere arbitrary choice, as if God could act in caprice; not through mere absolute sovereignty, as if God were personified despotism; not through mere blind indulgence, as if God were too facile to be firm, too fond to be inflexibly wise and good; but through righteousness; or on some wise, safe, and righteous ground on which mercy might flow freely, but not licentiously and destructively. And how is this secured?

7. By Jesus Christ our Lord, by His merits and world-embracing propitiation, on the ground of which God can be just, while the justifier of the ungodly who believe in Jesus.

IV. Practical. Too many, alas, who need no proof that sin abounds, still urge. But has God any superabounding grace for me? Let Jesus reply: Look unto Me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth. He gave Himself a ransom for all; then He is a ransom for thee. A propitiation for the sins of the whole world, He has expiated thine. But I have sinned grievously. What! too grievously for the blood of Jesus Christ, Gods Son, which cleanseth from all sin? You never did a worse sin than to vent an insinuation like that. Do you still want more witness? Pray what sort do you desiderate? A voice from heaven? Here are voices without number. Turn to Rev 22:17. Or is it earthly testimony you want? Think of the once scoffing and profligate Rochester, of the once God-defiant adventurer, John Newton, of the once profanely boisterous Bunyan. Or is it the testimony of the redeemed in heaven you want to hear? Open the Apocalypse at random, and thereby turn aside the heavenly veil, and your eyes will see them casting their crowns at the Deliverers feet, and your ear will catch the refrain–Unto Him that loveth us! Worthy the Lamb! etc. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)

Abounding sin; overabounding grace

1. The law entered that the offence might abound. The sin was already there. Deep in the constitution of humanity the poison was already working, and God would have it developed in full manifestation. The driving of evil out to the surface, where all can see it in the broad daylight, is, as in some deadly forms of fever, the first step towards the cure. But Paul had not ventured to entertain the thought unless he had known, as no man, save perhaps Luther, has ever known, the superabounding, the overmastering power of grace.

2. The problem of problems is, how can a righteous and loving God endure and perpetuate a world like this while a breath would abolish its sin and misery forever. But it lives on. The life of a human spirit is an awful endowment. By no act of ours it comes to us. And the influences which mould it are but partially under our control. There is a man who was educated to be a jail bird from his infancy. He never had his eye upon the form of a nobler life. You cannot say that there are no seeds of great thoughts and virtues in him. He would be torn limb from limb before he would betray his comrade. But his chance in life has been a poor one. His whole life is a battle with society. Society masters him, chains him, and will infallibly crush him at last. And yet that man must drag on his burden; and passionately as he may long to die, it is Gods will that he shall bear the burden of that life through eternity. He may mend his life; Gods mercy puts that within his reach; but if he will not mend it, he shall bear it forever.

3. How many myriads are there who, were the choice offered to them, would answer, Let me die and have done with it forever. Annihilation has been the supreme hope of many a creed. And why? Because Sin reigneth unto death everywhere. Life is good: the world is fair. The storms, deserts, and earthquakes, would have no terror for man if there were not wilder storms and barer deserts within. But self haunts him as a spectre. The things that I would, those I do not; the things that I would not, those I do; and the doing these things is death. Here, then, are men by millions, living by no will of their own, fighting a losing battle through life; or refusing to fight it, and giving it up in despair, grovelling with the beasts, cursing with the fiends, filling the world with woe. Doubtless there are lights as well as shadows in the picture. But looking at the broad world, the shadow masters the sunlight. Take one days honest service with a city missionary, and judge for yourselves. There is the struggle for life everywhere; but Death, if want, disease, and misery are his lictors, everywhere wins. Death is the broad term which covers the whole work of sin. Death is but the culmination of a process. The sinner carries his torment with him–a life poisoned at the springs, a life which God will not suffer him to lay down.

4. And Paul has the daring sentence, The law, sent of God, entered that the offence might abound. Many, startled, try to soften the words. God hath sent the law to correct, but its result was the increase of sin, is the sense to which they would modify it. But the words will not bear it, and the argument refuses to adopt it. God sent the law that the offence might abound. Not sin–that is, the sinful thought and purpose–but the offence, the act and manifestation of sin. The poison there, it should not lurk there; it should be pressed into full development. The Mosaic law, say cautious commentators, with all its minute regulations, difficult and impossible to fulfil, which made men despair of legal obedience, and prepared them to receive the righteousness which is by faith. I think the larger view the true one. All law, in a sin-loving, God-hating world, has for its first fruit the insurrection of human passion and self-will. Every declaration of the character and the will of God to sinners seems at first but to madden the spirit and blacken the tone of their transgression. Sin by the commandment becomes exceeding sinful. It is true of all dispensations, even the highest. When men saw the Father in the Son they hated Him; and the hatred of the generation to which the revelation was made, broke out in the most damning crime in the history of the universe. The revelation reproved, and by reproving maddened the sinner. Only when the grace with which the revelation was charged penetrated the hard crust of their natures could men begin to understand the counsel developed in our text. Every manifestation of light at first seems but to reveal darkness. Every manifestation of God at first seems but to deepen and darken sin. The great revelation developed the great transgression, and through that, grace has reigned, through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord. Let us consider as follows:–

I. Grace. Grace is love in a certain relation–the love of a Redeemer working to its ends. It represents the whole sum of the forces by which the love that would redeem aims at the accomplishment of its hope. Its incarnation is Christ. Christ is the gift of grace. Grace is the manifestation and action of that fatherly love which could not rest in its native glory and blessedness, while one prodigal was wandering, while one tear was wept, one groan uttered in the universe, which its suffering and sacrifice might spare. Ye know the grace of the Lord Jesus, but the measure of it One only knows. That grace is the reigning conqueror of sin. That triumphs where law fails.

II. The relation between grace and sin.

1. Sin is the condition of its manifestation. No sin, no grace. Through a lost world Christ is to win His most glorious Crown. Grace and sin are the twin antagonists; opposed as light and darkness. If one reigns the other is destroyed; and God suffers sin to be born because He knows that grace can conquer it.

2. There is a glory which no fiat of Omnipotence even can create, which grace, by the conquest of sin, can win and wear through eternity. No sin, no grace, and, in the highest sense, no glory. The joy of the prodigal come home, the joy of the father in his return; these are the glorious joys of earth, of heaven.

III. The relation between grace and righteousness. Grace must reign through righteousness, if it reign at all. Imputed righteousness, some cry; inherent righteousness, others. Neither the one nor the other, I venture to think. The apostle has a broader meaning, which covers both. Inherent righteousness is a vain show, if it be not rooted in the perfect righteousness; while imputed righteousness is a mere fiction, if no image of itself be generated in the soul. The broad principle here may be thus expressed:–

1. The righteous soul alone is blessed. To some, grace may suggest a kindly remission of penalty. That were feasible enough if a mans worse torment and curse were not himself. The problem to be solved is within; there the fountain of bitter waters has to be healed. And it is there that grace reigns through righteousness. An inward harmony, healing, quickening is its promise; it presents to him a righteousness which is a mans righteousness, and yet is Gods; a righteousness not awfully, hopelessly above him; a righteousness which, while his sad worn heart drinks in, the love which streams from Calvary enters and enshrines itself in his heart.

2. The righteousness which is by grace has a glory and blessedness all its own. Grace reigns through righteousness; it is a joyous, glorious reign. The work of grace is to shrine righteousness in mans heart of hearts; to teach him not to obey it only, not to honour it only, but to love it. Loving Christ, it is Gods own righteousness which man loves and holds. Through love, he has a joy in all righteous thoughts and righteous deeds, which is part of his joy in Christ his Saviour.

IV. The complete and final end of God. Unto eternal life. Death is simply isolation. The cutting the body off from free communion with its world. And what is life? The opposite of isolation. It is the faculty of communion with all things. The souls death is the paralysis of its faculty to all that a soul was made to commune with, till it becomes without truth, righteousness, and holiness, without God and without hope, because without life. The souls quickening is the rekindling of the energy of its powers, the reoccupation of the glorious range of its faculty to commune with, to possess, and to enjoy all that God has made a soul to live for, all whereby a soul may live eternally. The work of grace is as the baptism of a new life for man. Conclusion: Lord, are there few that be saved? The Lord gives no answer but the text. This we know, that the end which God foresees shall repair all the waste, and repay all the sorrow with which sin has filled the world. How wide, how vast, how glorious this work of overabounding grace, which of us may dare to guess? But strive thou to enter in at the straight gate. The end for which the Redeemer is waiting, the issue for which heaven is hoping, depend in their measure upon you. You can frustrate, you can forward the great consummation. (J. Baldwin Brown, B. A.)

Abounding sin and superabounding grace

I. Sin abounds. This appears–

1. From its extensive prevalence. It is not a local evil, like many natural evils; but it is an universal mischief. This the apostle has shown in chaps, 1 and

2. However men may differ in their customs, wherever you go, sin reigns.

2. From the immense number of sins that are constantly committed. If we include, as we ought, our sins of omission, and our sins of thought, who can enumerate his errors (Gen 6:5). From the first dawn of reason, through infancy, childhood, youth, and riper years, even to the end of human life, we are offending against God (Psa 40:12).

3. From the eagerness with which men sin. How are our iniquities cultivated by art! they become, as it were, a trade. Men sin as with a cart rope, with both hands earnestly, and what plans are formed for the execution of it.

4. In some seasons and places iniquity unusually abounds; and persons arrive at a certain pitch of wickedness, beyond which God will not suffer them to go. Thus it was with Sodom and Gomorrah, etc.

5. Consider all the aboundings of sin in the aggravations of it. Thus, no doubt, Judas, with the knowledge he possessed, was far more criminal than Pilate. Religious education tends greatly to aggravate the sins of those who continue in them; and when sins are committed against the special goodness and mercy of God, they are also greatly aggravated.

6. Sin will appear to abound, if you advert to the calamitous effects which it has produced. God would not suffer His creatures to endure so much misery if He were not greatly displeased with their sins. The earth is cursed for mans sake.

7. The prudence of man in framing human laws is another proof of the same truth. Why are bonds and oaths necessary in our affairs? Why must we have locks, and bolts, and bars, to our habitations? Why must we have judges and magistrates, prisons and gibbets? The reason is, that sin so much abounds.

8. Recollect also the numerous and painful diseases which invade the human frame.

II. Grace superabounds. Grace signifies the free favour of God towards sinful and undeserving creatures; and it stands opposed in Scripture to the merit or wages of works performed (Eph 2:8-9; Rom 6:23). Grace abounds–

1. In the whole business of salvation, from first to last. It originated in the heart of God, who, pitied us in our low estate; and devised a plan of salvation; to us perfectly easy, to Himself highly honourable. It was God who, unasked, presented to the world that unspeakable gift. Grace is admirably displayed in the glorious person and the perfect work of the Son of God. Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, etc.

2. In the gospel of Christ, which, on that account, is itself called The grace of God (Tit 2:11-12).

3. In the free and full justification of the sinner who believes (1Ti 1:14). But it is not only said that grace abounds, but that it much more abounds. We derive more from Christ than we lost in Adam.

Conclusion:

1. Let us diligently study the doctrine Of grace.

2. Let us be concerned, above all things, to be partakers of this grace.

3. What a source is here of consolation, even for the chief of sinners.

4. What abundant cause is here for praise–ardent, constant praise!

5. This subject furnishes us with a mighty incentive to holiness. (G. Burder.)

Good triumphing over evil

In the widest sense sin always implies: law; opportunity of knowing law; capacity to obey or transgress law; and an actual deviation from law. The last is the idea to be attached to it here. Grace means the religion of Christ in the heart as the life of heavenly love; and the system of Christ in the world as a system of Divine mercy. I attach the latter idea to it here.

I. In this chapter there are several things stated about sin and grace.

1. That they are actually in our world. Sin is a dark fact everywhere seen–a force turning men in the wrong direction. Grace is here too, as a corrective and restoring force. Human actions here result from two opposite principles. You cannot trace all history to sin, nor can you trace all to grace. In both you find a solution of all its phenomena. It is a fact that sin is in this world–sin is not in heaven. It is a fact that grace is in this world–grace is not in hell.

2. That they come into our world through the agency of man. Sin came by Adam; grace by the second Adam. There was a time when sin was not. All was holy. There was a time when there was no grace–the world needed none.

3. That they exercise an immense influence upon the race.

(1) The sin of Adam made many sinners, the grace of Christ made many righteous.

(2) The sin of Adam brought condemnation upon the race; the grace of Christ has brought justification to many.

(3) The sin of Adam leads to death; the grace of Christ to eternal life.

(4) The influence of grace far transcends that of sin.

II. Where sin abounded, grace did and will much more abound.

1. In relation to the individual. Take the case of one of the most corrupt sons of Adam, a Manasseh, or a Saul; and if grace take possession of his mind, you may say grace will much more abound there.

(1) The influence of grace there will be of a higher kind.

(a) Life-giving. Anything can destroy.

(b) Justifying. One sin condemns.

(2) The influence of grace there will be of a mightier kind. Sin can never attain a mastery over every part of human nature. It can never carry with it the conscience. The conscience will be ever against it. But grace carries with it conscience. Take Paul as an illustration.

2. In relation to the aggregate race. It must be confessed that up to the present moment sin has had the sway. But consider–that it is highly probable that the generations of those that have appeared on earth, will be far outnumbered by those that are yet to come. The following things suggest this.

(1) The gradual method of Gods procedure–creation, civilisation, redemption, are all gradual.

(2) The state of past generations.

(3) The representations of Scripture.

(4) The omnipotency that is on the side of grace.

3. Throughout the universe of God.

(1) It will spread new and brighter views of Gods character through the universe.

(2) Enhance the moral force that binds to holiness in the universe. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Grace abounding

During the Indian mutiny, a number of British soldiers with their wives and children were besieged in Lucknow by thirty thousand rebels under Nana Sabib. The food and ammunition were nearly exhausted. General Havelock was their only hope, but he had to march through fifty miles of the enemys country in order to reach them. Death stared upon them on every hand. Jessie Brown, the wife of a Scotch corporal, lay on the ground weak and famishing; but suddenly she sprang up, and cried, Hark! there is the Scotch battle cry; thank God! No one heard that cry but Jessie Brown, and many of the garrison thought she was suffering from brain fever. In a short time, she again cried, Hear it now, then; the Campbells are coming! They listened, and at last the shrill music of the bagpipes fell on their ears. The whole garrison fell on their faces before God, and never before was there such a thanksgiving service in Lucknow. Ere long, the plumes of the Scotchmen were seen playing in the breeze, Havelock and Outram reached the city gates, their gallant heroes marched in to rescue their countrymen, and in less than ten minutes Lucknow was a-ring with Hallelujahs. But, friends, what was the relief of Lucknow compared with the relief of humanity? Nothing, and less than nothing. We were rescued, not from Lucknow, but from the city of condemnation. We were rescued, not by Havelock, but by the only-begotten Son of God. We were rescued, not from the fangs of Nana Sahib and his monsters, but from the fangs of Satan and his black phalanx. We were rescued, not from physical bondage, but from the most terrible soul bondage. The ancient prophets, like the Scotchwoman in Lucknow, testified that they could hear the approaching footsteps of a Deliverer, but the world was slow to believe them. These poor prophets have fevered brains–they are deceived by hallucinations, said the silly world. But when every star of hope was about to die–Hark! the sound of music was heard from afar. Whence did the sound proceed? It was the music of angel choristers over the fair fields of Ephratah. And one night, the great Deliverer reached our world, He broke the iron band of the besiegers, He opened the massive gates, and He re-opened the way from the city of condemnation to the city of eternal glory. Let us fall on our faces, like the garrison of Lucknow before us, to thank God for His wondrous grace. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. (J. Ossian Davies.)

The reign of grace

The righteous Lord sits upon that throne, but His face has no frown upon it–His voice has no terror in it. On whatever part of that throne you cast your eye, you see it inscribed with grace in all its variety of application to your circumstances. There is grace to blot out your trespasses, though they be red like crimson. There is grace to purify your hearts, though they be full of all uncleanness. There is grace to subdue your enemies, though they come upon you as a flood. There is grace to console you amidst all your sorrows, though they be great, and multiplied, and protracted. There is grace to guide you through life, to cheer you at death, and to carry you to heaven; and as surely as God sits upon that throne of grace, so surely will He listen to the prayers that you proffer at His footstool, and uphold the character which He Himself has enstamped upon it, by freely tendering and imparting to you whatsoever you ask in sincerity and faith. (A. Thomson, D. D.)

That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign.

Observe–

I. How the apostle collects in one picture the subjects of his argument.

1. Sin.

2. Death.

3. Grace.

4. Righteousness.

5. Life.

II. How he groups them.

1. Grace exalted in the midst.

2. Sin and death hath conquered foes on the left.

3. Righteousness and life, the trophies of victory, on the right.

III. How the name of Adam is forgotten and buried, but the name of Jesus shall flourish forever. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

The reign of sin and of grace

I. The reign of sin.

1. Its origin.

2. Extent.

3. Terror.

4. Consummation in death.

II. The reign of grace.

1. Its nature.

2. Means.

3. Consummation in eternal life. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

The reign of sin and of grace

I. Sins reign is–

1. An usurpation–God is the only rightful ruler.

2. Rebellion–opposition to God and His authority.

3. Unnatural–contrary to mens better judgment and sense of right.

4. Despotic–compelling men even unwillingly to obey it.

5. Tyrannical and oppressive–the source of present suffering.

6. Cruel and destructive–ends in eternal death.

7. Deceitful and seductive–promises ease and gratification.

8. Resistless–all human attempts to terminate it in vain.

9. Powerfully supported–justice and a broken law its strength (1Co 15:56).

II. The reign of grace.

1. Grace exercises a power corresponding with that of sin.

(1) Mighty.

(2) Extensive.

(3) Supported by law.

2. It not merely acts, but reigns.

(1) In the world, therefore, men are salvable.

(2) In each believer, therefore, a believer is actually saved. (T. Robinson, D. D.)

Reigning grace

Consider–

I. Grace in its reigning acts.

1. Come with me to the valley of vision. See, strewn there, the dried bones of the house of Israel. O death! we come this day to see thee cast from thy throne. But who shall do it? Come forth, ye ministers of Christ, and see what ye can do. Here are souls spiritually dead. Behold, Chrysostom speaks, and now Whitfield, Esaias, Jeremy, Ezekiel, Daniel. Alas! eloquence, and wisdom, and zeal, cannot wake the soul of the spiritually dead. But hearken, the voice Divine exclaims, Grace, arise and quicken these dead souls, and behold, grace stands before you in the form of incarnate God, and I hear Him say, Thus saith the Lord, ye dry bones live. It is done, and in the place of a charnel house now stands a great host full of life, and who shall soon be clothed with glory. Grace reigns unto eternal life.

2. Behold another scene. The man is alive; but no sooner is he quickened than he feels the terrible bondage of sin. He has been a drunkard, a swearer, and all else that is vile; but now he feels that this mode of life will surely end in eternal death, and he therefore longs to escape. But see how he is bound with chains, and held in bondage by seven devils. Ye who understand how to reform mankind, come and ply your arts upon him and see what ye can do. But grace speaks the word, and says, Get thee hence, Satan, let the man be free; and free he is, no more to be a slave. Now he hates the things which once he loved. His nature is changed. Grace reigns unto eternal life.

3. Come with me to another scene. There in the prison house of conviction sits a miserable wretch. Ask him why, and his answer is, I have sinned; within me there is an accusing conscience, the foretaste of the wrath to come. Come, ye sons of mirth, and see what ye can do for this poor prisoner. Come, ye that are masters of the art of consolation, see what ye can do. In vain even the minister himself, knowing the blessings of the gospel, sets before the man the riches of Christs love. But now grace comes bearing in his hand the Cross, crying, Look hither, and when the prisoner lifts his eyes he sees a Saviour bleeding on the tree, and in a moment a smile takes the place of his sorrow. Rise, saith grace, thou art free; shake thyself from the dust. Oh! grace Divine, thou art indeed triumphant, where despair itself had triumphed.

4. And now the sinner, set free both from the chains of his old lusts and of his old despairings, journeys to the palace of justice, and there, enthroned on light, he beholds a glorious King. He trembles; when lo, reigning grace who sits smiling upon a throne of love, stretcheth out its sceptre and says, Live, live. At that sound the sinner revives; he looks up, and ere he has fully seen the wondrous vision, he hears another voice–Thy sins which are many are all forgiven thee. And now the sinner, bowing low before the throne of mercy, begins to kiss its feet with rapture, and mercy cries, Go and rejoice, for thou art my son who was lost, but art found; who was dead, but is alive again.

5. The man has now become a forgiven one–a saint; but grace has not ceased to reign, nor has he ceased to need its reign. Tis after sin is forgiven that the battle begins. There has never such a fight been seen on earth as that man must wage who hopes to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Young Christian, dost thou tremble? Remember Elijah and his servant. More are they that are for us than all they that be against us. The soldier of Christ shalt stand, for underneath him are the everlasting arms; he shall tread upon his enemies and shall destroy them.

6. The man, being kept in temptation, has a work to do for his Lord, and there is no case where grace reigns more powerfully than in the use which God makes of such infirm creatures as His servants are. Do you see Peter afraid of a little maid? Wait awhile. Some six or seven weeks have passed, and there is a great crowd in the streets. Who is to preach to them? Grace–to thine honour let it be told–thou didst not select John who stood at the foot of the Cross, nor Zelotes–no, Peter who denied his Master, must come forth to own Him afresh. Perhaps his heart whispers to him, Simon, son of Jonas, what doest thou here? The cock crows, Simon; what doest thou here? But that day, three thousand baptisms tell how grace can reign in the feeblest instrumentality.

7. Come to another spot, and see how grace can reign where you little think it would ever live at all. The sea is agitated with a great storm, and Jonah has just been thrown into the sea. A fish has swallowed him; and yet he lives. Grace is there preserving his life; she speaks to Leviathan–he comes up upon the dry land, and vomits forth the prophet. Have you ever been in a strait and a trouble so difficult that you imagined there was no deliverance? If you ever have, I turn you to your own history as an illustration of how grace can reign in redeeming you out of the most terrible trials. I shall need to give you but one other picture, grace reigning in the hour of death, and triumphing in the moment of our entrance into heaven. When you come to die, grace shall bear you up in the midst of Jordan, and you shall say, I feel the bottom, and it is good. When the cold waters shall chill your blood, grace shall warm your heart. When the light of earth is being shut out from you forever, grace shall lift the curtains of heaven, and give you visions of eternity; and when at last the spirit leaps from time into eternal space, then grace shall be with you to conduct you to your Fathers house.

II. Grace sitting on its throne.

1. The throne is placed on the eternal hills of Gods immutable purpose and decree. The throne itself, standing upon those lofty hills, has for its pedestal Divine fidelity. The thrones of monarchs rock and reel, but this is settled and abideth forever. The throne of many a dynasty has been cemented by blood, and so is this, but with the precious blood of the Son of God. Nay, as if this did not suffice, this throne is settled by the eternal oath. God swears by Himself because He can swear by no greater, that by two immutable things wherein it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to Christ.

2. And now look upward. The steps are the Divine openings of Providence as He gradually develops His mighty scheme. And see on either side two lions ready to guard and protect it. That very justice which once seemed to stand in the way of grace is one of the lions which guard the throne; and that very holiness which seemed once to put a barrier between thy soul and bliss, now stands there as a mighty one to guard the throne of sovereign grace.

3. Now look upward. I see upon that throne a Lamb that has been slain. The eyes of grace are the suns of the spiritual universe; the hands of grace scatter lavish bounties throughout all the Church of the firstborn.

4. See above the throne, and above Him that sits thereon, the crown. Was ever such a crown? Nay, tis not one, tis many; there are many crowns and many jewels in each of the many crowns. And whence came these crowns of grace? They have been won in fields of fight, and been given by grateful hearts. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Life instead of death

Sometimes the condition of a Church and community is like that of famine-stricken Leyden, when it was besieged by Philips popish army. Within the beleaguered town death reigned. Its brave defenders were starving by thousands. Succour was waiting for them in the Dutch fleet, which could not reach the city. But the heroic Hollanders sluiced the dykes and let in the sea, and as the rescuing fleet swept in, they flung the loaves of bread to the overjoyed crowds which thronged the canals of Leyden. Then pouring into the great Protestant cathedral, they made its arches ring with thanksgiving unto God, their Deliverer. Brethren, let us sluice the dykes of pride, and selfishness, and unbelief. The waters of salvation will flow in. Where death reigned life shall enter. (T. L. Cuyler, D. D.)

Jesus Christ our Lord

I. Jesus. Hoshea is, in Hebrew, a Saviour. To this word the Jews added the first syllable of the name Jehovah, making the whole Kenosha, or Joshua, or, in its Greek form, Jesus; and by this addition the name came to mean a Saviour appointed, given, sent by God.

1. Now what does Jesus save us from?

(1) From hell. Now hell is chiefly the condition of those who have come to hate God. It is not merely a place–though, no doubt, all bad people meet together at last in one particular locality; but it is more especially a condition of heart and mind. But, you say, who is it that hates God? Let us consider. Christ is the representative and exact likeness of God. Now, when He was on earth, He went about doing good. But for all that did men, as a rule, like Him? No! and in hating Christ, they hated God. It is possible then to come into that most terrible condition of hating God. But the Lord Jesus Christ saves us from such a fate, for He wins our hearts for God, and makes us love what God loves, and hate what God hates.

(2) From sin. Picture to yourselves a boy who has broken one of his fathers commands, and is expecting to be severely punished. Suppose the boy to say, All that I care about is to escape the punishment. I dont mind grieving my father nor setting a bad example. You would not have a very high opinion of such a boy. A good son would be grieved at having done wrong, and would desire to be kept from doing wrong again. And so it is with the Christian. He is chiefly anxious about being kept from sinning.

(3) From death. Though death triumphs for a time, Jesus at last wrests the prey from his grasp, by raising the dead out of their graves.

2. Consider what it cost Jesus to become the Saviour. I have heard of a soldier who saw that an arrow was being aimed at the heart of his friend, and that his friend could be saved only if he threw himself in the way. Well, he did throw himself in the way; he shielded his friend–but it was at the cost of his own life. It was necessary that Jesus, in order to become the Saviour of His people, should interpose Himself between them and their danger; should receive the shaft in His own breast; and die that they might live.

3. Jesus is able to save to the uttermost. You may have all the will to help your neighbour, and yet not have the power. A man once caught another who was falling over a precipice, and held him; but he was not strong enough to hold him long, so at last he was obliged to let go, and the other was dashed to pieces on the rocks below. He had the will; he had not the power. But Christ has both. He is mighty to save; and you may be sure that He can save you, if only you will let Him.

II. Christ. Jesus refers to the person, Christ to the office. Christ is the Greek word for Messiah, and means anointed. In the old days prophets, priests, and kings were anointed for the purpose of showing that they were set apart for a particular office, and that God would give them fitness for it.

1. Now, Jesus is our Prophet. A prophet is one who not merely foretells future things, but one who forth tells, i.e., explains to man what God and the will of God are. Jesus does this partly by His word, partly by Himself. Jesus is a perfect likeness of His Father. Have you ever stamped a seal upon hot wax? You know how the seal and the impression exactly correspond. So Jesus and God exactly correspond.

2. Priest. In Jewish times the High Priest stood in the place of the whole people. Now these priests were the types or shadows of the great High Priest who was coming; and when Jesus had accomplished His work and entered into heaven, there ever to make intercession for us, their office was done away with–they were no longer wanted. So now there is no one to stand between us and God, but Christ Himself. Nor do we want anyone else. He is sufficient.

3. King, not only of His people, but also of the whole world. And Jesus obtained His kingdom by His obedience unto death, even the death of the Cross. He had to carry the Cross before He received the crown. Time is given to people to obey, but if they persist in refusing to accept His authority, a terrible punishment is in store for them (Psa 2:1-12).

III. Our Lord. The world says, We will not have this man to reign over us: but Christians say, We are glad and thankful to obey His rule. Now, why do Christians say this? Because–

1. He is what He is. Men are proud to serve a great monarch; the more so if he is a good man. But what must it be to serve the King of kings and Lord of lords? and not only to serve Him, but to be admitted to His friendship?

2. He has done so much for them, and they love Him. Some years ago a poor black woman was put up for auction at a slave market. She was very much afraid of being given over into the hands of some cruel master, when a good man who was passing by, and who hated slavery with all his heart, happened to hear her sad story, and purchased her himself. But as soon as he had purchased her he set her free. The woman had not expected this, and she was transported with joy, but she could not be persuaded to leave her benefactor. For she said, He redeemed me! he redeemed me! And after she had served him faithfully for many years, still, when she was spoken to about her loving service, she could only give as the explanation of it, He redeemed me! he redeemed me! Because Christ redeemed us with His blood, we are delighted to be allowed to enter His service, and work for Him. We love Him, because He first loved us.

3. The service of Christ is true happiness. I never yet found a truly happy man who was not a real Christian. Gay, jovial, laughing, joking people, who were not Christians, I have met with in abundance; but I have lived long enough to know that an uneasy and restless heart may lie under a bright face. (G. Calthrop, M. A.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 20. The law entered that () the offence might abound.] After considering various opinions concerning the true meaning of this verse, (see under Ro 5:12,) I am induced to prefer my own, as being the most simple. By law I understand the Mosaic law. By entering in, , or, rather, coming in privily, see Ga 2:4, (the only place where it occurs besides,) I understand the temporary or limited use of that law, which was, as far as its rites and ceremonies are considered, confined to the Jewish people, and to them only till the Messiah should come; but considered as the moral law, or rule of conscience and life, it has in its spirit and power been slipped in-introduced into every conscience, that sin might abound-that the true nature, deformity, and extent of sin might appear; for by the law is the knowledge of sin: for how can the finer deviations from a straight line be ascertained, without the application of a known straight edge? Without this rule of right, sin can only be known in a sort of general way; the innumerable deviations from positive rectitude can only be known by the application of the righteous statutes of which the law is composed. And it was necessary that this law should be given, that the true nature of sin might be seen, and that men might be the better prepared to receive the Gospel; finding that this law worketh only wrath, i.e. denounces punishment, forasmuch as all have sinned. Now, it is wisely ordered of God, that wherever the Gospel goes there the law goes also; entering every where, that sin may be seen to abound, and that men may be led to despair of salvation in any other way or on any terms but those proposed in the Gospel of Christ. Thus the sinner becomes a true penitent, and is glad, seeing the curse of the law hanging over his soul, to flee for refuge to the hope set before him in the Gospel. On the meaning of , in various places, see Chrysost. vol. iii. p. 241. See also Hammond on the word in his notes on the New Testament.

But where sin abounded] Whether in the world, or in the heart of the individual, being discovered by this most pure and righteous law, grace did much more abound: not only pardon for all that is past is offered by the Gospel, so that all the transgressions for which the soul is condemned to death by the law, are freely and fully forgiven; but also the Holy Spirit, in the abundance of his gifts and graces, is communicated, so as to prepare the receiver for an exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Thus the grace of the Gospel not only redeems from death, and restores to life, but brings the soul into such a relationship with God, and into such a participation of eternal glory, as we have no authority to believe ever would have been the portion even of Adam himself, had he even eternally retained his innocence. Thus, where sin abounded, grace doth much more abound.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Here he shows the reason why the law was given; although (as it is in Rom 5:13) before that time sin was in the world, it was

that the offence might abound; either strictly, the offence of that one man, or rather largely, the offence of every man. The particle (rendered that), is to be taken either causally, and so it is interpreted by Gal 3:19, where it is said, the law was added because of transgressions, that thereby the guilt and punishment of sin being more fully discovered, the riches of Gods free grace and mercy might be the more admired; or else eventually, it so falls out by accident, or by reason of mans corruption, that sin is thereby increased or augmented.

The law is holy, just, and good, ,{ as Rom 7:12} how then doth that increase sin? Either as it irritates the sinner, Rom 3:20; and Rom 7:8,11, or makes manifest the sin, Rom 7:7,13; thereby sin is known to be, as indeed it is, out of measure sinful.

But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: this is added by way of correction, to mitigate the former assertion, and it lays down a second end of giving the law; the former was the increase and manifestation of sin, the latter is the abounding or superabounding of Gods grace. There is this difference to be observed; that the first end is universal, for in all men, both good and bad, the law worketh the increase and knowledge of sin; but tho other is particular, and peculiar to the elect: to them only the grace of God is superabundant after that they have abounded in sin, and by how much the greater is their guilt, by so much the greater is the grace of God in the free forgiveness thereof.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

20, 21. Moreover the law“Thelaw, however.” The Jew might say, If the whole purposes of Godtowards men center in Adam and Christ, where does “the law”come in, and what was the use of it? Answer: It

enteredBut the wordexpresses an important idea besides “entering.” Itsignifies, “entered incidentally,” or “parenthetically.”(In Ga 2:4 the same word isrendered, “came in privily.“) The meaning is, thatthe promulgation of the law at Sinai was no primary or essentialfeature of the divine plan, but it was “added” (Ga3:19) for a subordinate purposethe more fully to reveal theevil occasioned by Adam, and the need and glory of the remedy byChrist.

that the offence mightaboundor, “be multiplied.” But what offense?Throughout all this section “the offense” (four timesrepeated besides here) has one definite meaning, namely, “theone first offense of Adam”; and this, in our judgment, is itsmeaning here also: “All our multitudinous breaches of the laware nothing but that one first offense, lodged mysteriously inthe bosom of every child of Adam as an offending principal,and multiplying itself into myriads of particular offenses inthe life of each.” What was one act of disobedience inthe head has been converted into a vital and virulent principleof disobedience in all the members of the human family, whose everyact of wilful rebellion proclaims itself the child of the originaltransgression.

But where sin aboundedor,”was multiplied.”

grace did much moreaboundrather, “did exceedingly abound,” or”superabound.” The comparison here is between themultiplication of one offense into countless transgressions, and suchan overflow of grace as more than meets that appalling case.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Moreover, the law entered,…. By “the law” is meant, not the law of nature, much less the law of sin; rather the ceremonial law, which came in over and above the moral law; it entered but for a time; by which sin abounded, and appeared very sinful; and through it the grace of God much more abounded, in the sacrifice of Christ prefigured by it: but the moral law, as it came by Moses, is here intended; which entered with great pomp and solemnity on Mount Sinai; and intervened, or came between Adam’s sin and Christ’s sacrifice; and also came in besides, or over and above the promise of life by Christ; and may moreover be said to enter into the conscience of a sinner, with the power and energy of the Spirit of God: and the end of its entrance is,

that the offence might abound; meaning either the sin of Adam, he had been speaking of under that name, that that itself, and the imputation of it to his posterity, and also the pollution of human nature by it, together with all the aggravating circumstances of it, might appear more manifest; or sin in general, any and all actual transgressions, which abound through the law’s discovering the evil nature of them, and so taking away all excuse, or pretext of ignorance: by prohibiting them, whereby the corrupt nature of man becomes more eager after them; and by accusing, threatening, terrifying, and condemning, on account of them: one view of the apostle in this, doubtless, is to show, that there can be no justification by the law:

but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: sin has abounded in human nature, in all the individuals of it; and grace has superabounded in the same nature, being assumed by the Son of God, and united to him, who has appeared in it “full of grace and truth”, Joh 1:14: sin has abounded in all the powers and faculties of the soul, in the understanding, will, and affections, of an unregenerate man; but in regeneration, the grace of God much more abounds in the same powers and faculties, enlightening the understanding, subduing the will, and influencing the affections with love to divine things: sin abounded in the Gentile world, before the preaching of the Gospel in it; but afterwards grace did superabound in the conversion of multitudes in it from idols, to serve the living God; and where sin has abounded in particular persons to a very great height, grace has exceeded it, as in Manasseh, Mary Magdalene, Saul, and others.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Came in beside (). Second aorist active indicative of double compound , late verb, in N.T. only here and Ga 2:4 which see. See also in verse 12. The Mosaic law came into this state of things, in between Adam and Christ.

That the trespass might abound ( ). It is usual to explain here as final, as God’s ultimate purpose. So Denney who refers to Gal 3:19; Rom 7:7. But Chrysostom explains here as (result). This is a proper use of in the Koine as we have seen. If we take it so here, the meaning is “so that the trespass abounded” (aorist active subjunctive of , late verb, see on 2Thess 1:3; 2Cor 8:15). This was the actual effect of the Mosaic law for the Jews, the necessary result of all prohibitions.

Did abound more exceedingly (). First aorist active indicative of . Late verb, in N.T. only here and 2Co 7:4 which see. A strong word. If is comparative () is superlative (Lightfoot) and then goes the superlative one better. See in 1Ti 1:14. The flood of grace surpassed the flood of sin, great as that was (and is).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

The law entered [] Rev., literally, came in beside, giving the force of para beside. Very significant. Now that the parallel between Adam and Christ is closed, the question arises as to the position and office of the law. How did it stand related to Adam and Christ ? Paul replies that it came in alongside of the sin. “It was taken up into the divine plan or arrangement, and made an occasion for the abounding of grace in the opening of the new way to justification and life” [] .

Might abound [] . Not primarily of the greater consciousness and acknowledgment of sin, but of the increase of actual transgression. The other thought, however, may be included. See ch. Rom 7:7, 8, 9, 11.

Did much more abound [] . Lit., abounded over and above. Only here and 2Co 7:4. Compare uJperepleonase abounded exceedingly, 1Ti 1:14; uJperperisswv beyond measure, Mr 7:37; uJperauxanei; groweth exceedingly, 2Th 1:3.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Moreover the law entered,” (nomos de pareiselthen) “But law entered;” the Mosaic law entered human history, by Divine Will, to measure how bad sin was, before an holy God, Exo 20:1-17; Gal 3:19-25; Joh 1:17.

2) “That the offence might abound,” (hina pleonase to paraptoma) “In order that the offence might abound,” that the contagious, incurable, heaven-quarantining disease might be described, better identified, be made to appear obnoxious, putrefying, Isa 1:4-7; Isa 1:18; Rom 3:20; Gal 3:19; Gal 3:22; Gal 3:24; Rev 21:27.

3) “But where sin abounded,” (hou de epleonasen he hamartia) “But where the sin abounded,” stood out on the horizon, on the surface in clear view for the offence that it was to God, 1Ki 8:46; Ecc 7:20; Rom 3:20; Rom 3:23; Rom 6:23.

4) “Grace did much more abound,” (hupereperisseusen) he charis) “Grace abounded even more;” Sin conquered man, but grace conquers sin. One may therefore rightly conclude that grace is greater than sin, greater in power, and greater in moral, ethical, and Spiritual value and worth, Eph 1:7-8; 1Ti 1:14; Tit 3:3-7.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

20. But the law intervened, etc. This subject depends on what he had said before — that there was sin before the law was published. This being the case, then follows immediately this question — For what purpose was the law given? It was therefore necessary to solve this difficulty; but as a longer digression was not suitable, he deferred the subject and handled it in another place: and now by the way he only says, that the law entered, (178) that sin might abound; for he describes not here the whole office and use of the law, but only touches on one part, which served his present purpose. He indeed teaches us, that it was needful that men’s ruin should be more fully discovered to them, in order that a passage might be opened for the favor of God. They were indeed shipwrecked before the law was given; as however they seemed to themselves to swim, while in their destruction, they were thrust down into the deep, that their deliverance might appear more evident, when they thence emerge beyond all human expectation. Nor was it unreasonable, that the law should be partly introduced for this end — that it might again condemn men already condemned; for nothing is more reasonable than that men should, through all means be brought, nay, forced, by being proved guilty, to know their own evils.

That offense might abound, etc. It is well known how some, following [ Augustine ], usually explain this passage, — that lust is irritated the more, while it is checked by the restraints of the law; for it is man’s nature to strive for what is forbidden. But I understand no other increase to be intended here than that of knowledge and of obstinacy; for sin is set by the law before the eyes of man, that he may be continually forced to see that condemnation is prepared for him. Thus sin disturbs the conscience, which, when cast behind them, men forget. And farther, he who before only passed over the bounds of justice, becomes now, when the law is introduced, a despiser of God’s authority, since the will of God is made known to him, which he now wantonly tramples under feet. It hence follows, that sin is increased by the law, since now the authority of the lawgiver is despised and his majesty degraded. (179)

Grace has superabounded. After sin has held men sunk in ruin, grace then comes to their help: for he teaches us, that the abundance of grace becomes for this reason more illustrious. — that while sin is overflowing, it pours itself forth so exuberantly, that it not only overcomes the flood of sin, but wholly absorbs it. (180) And we may hence learn, that our condemnation is not set before us in the law, that we may abide in it; but that having fully known our misery, we may be led to Christ, who is sent to be a physician to the sick, a deliverer to the captives, a comforter to the afflicted, a defender to the oppressed. (Isa 61:1.)

(178) “ Intercessisse legem — that the law came between,” i.e., Adam and Christ; παρεισὢλθεν from παρὰ, with, besides, or between, and εἰσέρχομαι, to enter. It occurs elsewhere only in Gal 2:4, where it is rendered, “came in privily,” as required by the context. But it cannot be so rendered here. [ Schleusner ] says, that it simply means to enter, and that it is so used by [ Philo ]. It is thus rendered by the Syriac and Arabic versions. [ Erasmus ] has “ obiter subiit, vel, irrepsit — came, or, crept in by the by;” [ Hammond ] has the same; but [ Beza ] attaches the idea of besides to παρὰ, — præterea introiit — entered in besides,” i.e. , in addition to the disease under which all men labored, having been contaminated by that of the first sin. “ Intervenit — intervened,” is the rendering of [ Grotius ] ; that is, the law intervened between the beginning of sin and the beginning of new righteousness. “The law,” says [ Hodge ], “was superinduced on a plan already laid. It was not designed for the accomplishment of man’s salvation, that is, either for his justification or sanctification, but for the accomplishment of a very subordinate part in the great scheme of mercy.” — Ed.

(179) [ Chrysostom ] regarded ἵνα here as denoting not the final cause, but the event, and thought the meaning to be, that the law entered, so that the effect or event was, that sin increased. Its rendering would then be, so that: and this seems to be the meaning given to it by Calvin. The law did not create sin, but made it known, and by discovering it, increased its guilt when persisted in, and by discovering it showed the necessity of a Savior.

(180) The superabounding has a reference to the increasing of sin by means of the law. Grace not only abounded so as to be sufficient to remedy the first sin and the sins which followed it; but it abounded still more, so as to be an adequate provision for sin when increased by the law, through the perverseness of human nature. — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

Text

Rom. 5:20-21. And the law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly: Rom. 5:21 that, as sin reigned in death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

REALIZING ROMANS, Rom. 5:20-21

225.

The law made sin abound. In what sense? Isnt it wrong to associate sin with Gods law?

226.

Grace overcame sin by what process? In what sense is grace. super abounding?

227.

Sin reigned through its king. Grace reigned through its king. Name the kings. Explain.

228.

What law is meant by Rom. 5:20 a? Try to be as sure as possible in your answer. This will require thinking through the section. Do it!

Paraphrase

Rom. 5:20-21. But when Adam was allowed to live, law secretly entered into the world as the rule of mans conduct, even the law written on his heart, so that the offence hath abounded. However, where sin hath abounded, through the entrance of law, the goodness of God in the new covenant hath super abounded, through the gift of pardon granted to all penitent believers:

Rom. 5:21 That as sin, both original and actual, hath tyrannized over mankind by introducing and continuing death in the world, with its train of sorrows and miseries; so also the goodness of God might reign, that is effectually exercises its power, through righteousness, (Rom. 5:16.), even the righteousness of faith, followed with eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Summary

The law entered that sin might increase. But the law did not increase sin by creating it. It increased it merely by discovering to men certain acts as sins, which before they had not known to be sins. But the more sin thus increased, the more favor to those committing it abounded. Sin, like a monster, reigned formerly and still reigns unnaturally in death. Favor, on the contrary, now reigns chiefly through or by means of justification. Hereafter it will reign in and through eternal life.

Comment

This whole section has discussed but one thought: the analogy of Christ and Adam. The Jew had ever before his mind the law, so Paul answers the question of the Jewish mind and shows the relation of the law to this circumstance. Sin entered the world and the results of sin immediately followed. Now, in addition to sin and its results, the law came. For what purpose was it given? Well, we have been discussing sin, so what relation does the law have to sin? It came that the trespass might abound. It came, not to cause men to sin, but to emphasize the sinfulness of transgression and to lay before the mind and conscience of man many more prohibitions or laws, the violation of which would be sin. In stepping across Gods law, man did sin, and after the giving of the law sin surely did abound in the number of violations. Thus did the law cause the trespass to abound. But where sin did abound grace did abound more exceedingly. Thus does the apostle point out the answer of God through Christ to mans sin. (In this case it was most especially pointed out to those under the law.) Rom. 5:20

Once more the view of the two kings is brought to our attention. This time it is the personification of sin and grace. Sin could occupy the throne of the world and hold sway over each individual upon the earth, for into his hand had been given the power of death. This sentence had been pronounced upon every man; thus were all his slaves. But there is another king, King Grace. In his scepter he holds the power of righteousness, which means that God has provided to free man from the guilt of Adams sin and to deliver him from physical death; yes, much more, to free man from his personal sins and deliver him from spiritual death into eternal life. This king (King Grace) reigns only because of Jesus Christ our Lord; yes, he reigns through him. Rom. 5:21

120.

What is the alternative to the interpretation that we give?

121.

Explain Rom. 5:20.

122.

Name the two kings of Rom. 5:21 and describe briefly the reign of each.

Rethinking in Outline Form

Results of Justification. Rom. 5:1-5

Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Rom. 5:1 b

Access into the covenant of grace. Rom. 5:2 a

Rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God. Rom. 5:2 b

Rejoicing in tribulations, since they will result in steadfastness, approvedness and hope. Rom. 5:3-4. This hope will be fulfilled because:

God loves us. This love of God for us is shown by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Rom. 5:5

A Review of our state before justification. Rom. 5:6-11

We were weak and ungodly, yet Christ died for us. Rom. 5:6

While yet sinners Christ expressed the love of God in dying for those for whom no man would think of risking his life. Rom. 5:7-8

We were under the guilt and punishment of sin. Through the death of Christ we are released both from the guilt and punishment. Rom. 5:9-10

We were desperately in need of reconciliation. Now that we have received it, our hearts are full of rejoicing. Rom. 5:11

Adam and Christ Compared and Contrasted. Rom. 5:12-21

A description of Adam and his work. Rom. 5:12-14

(1)

Sin entered the world through Adam. Rom. 5:12 a

(2)

Death came as a result of his sin. Rom. 5:12 b

(3)

Death spread to all men, for all were in Adam when he sinned.

(4)

Sin was in the world before the law, but no penalty of death was attached to sin. Rom. 5:13

(5)

Even so, death did reign from Adam to Moses, not because of the sinfulness of individual persons, but because of Adams sin. Rom. 5:14

The Comparison and Contrast. Rom. 5:15-19

ADAM

CHRIST

Brought the trespass. Rom. 5:15 a

Brought the free gift.

Through the trespass the many died Rom. 5:15 b

Through the free gift much more givenlife physical and eternal.

One sinned and brought the judgment of condemnation upon himself. Rom. 5:16

Through the free gift of Christ justification was provided for the many who trespassed.

Death reigned through the trespass. Rom. 5:17

Much more was given through Christs abundant grace.

Through one came the judgment to condemnationi.e., physical death, for all men. Rom. 5:18

Through the free gift came justification to physical life for all men.

Through one act of disobedience the many were made sinners; i.e., they had to pay the physical death penalty for Adams sin. Rom. 5:19

Through the obedience of the one the many were made righteous, i.e., were freed from the penalty of death and given an opportunity for justification.

The purpose of the law in its relation to the above comparison and contrast. Rom. 5:20-21

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(20) Entered.A graphic metaphorical expression: Came in to the side of the sin already existing; took its place, as it were, by the side of sin, and joined forces with it, thus greatly adding to its extent and power.

Abound.This word should be reserved for the last of the three places in this verse in which it appears in the Authorised version. The original in the other two places is different, and has the force of Might be multiplied, or increasedi.e., made more and made worse.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

(20, 21) The Apostle had already (Rom. 5:13-14) alluded to the intervention of the Law. Now he returns to the topic, and in order to complete his historical view of the origin of sin through Adam, and its atonement through Christ, he considers what was its effect upon the former, and how that effect was met and neutralised by the latter. Mankind had already been led into sin by Adam. The Law came in to make matters still worse. It substituted conscious sin for unconscious, and so heightened its guilt. But all this is more than retrieved by grace.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

20. The law entered Subordinately, yet indispensably, to impose upon the evil deeds of men their guilt and responsibility as sins, so as to render Christ and grace necessary.

Abound Multiply in number. The more the law took the shape of special enactments, as in the Mosaic covenant, the more offences multiplied.

Sin abounded Sin multiplied, but grace abounded.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And the law came in besides, that the trespass might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly,’
The emphasis here is on the fact that the Law could not save, it could only condemn, and indeed on the fact that it ‘multiplied sin’, partly because its detailed requirements, by their very nature, increased the number of indefensible sins, and partly because it even provided an incentive to sin. For the more men are told not to do something, the more they tend to do it. Thus the consequence of the coming of the Law was that ‘the trespass’, which resulted in all men’s trespasses, abounded.
But fortunately for mankind God did not leave them in that situation. Where sin abounded, God’s grace abounded even more, so much so that He provided a remedy for the situation. He provided for man a righteousness which would cover his trespasses, and could enable him to be presented as ‘not guilty’ in the eyes of the eternal Judge, thus making him fully acceptable to God.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Effect Of The Law And The Consequence Of Christ’s Obedience (5:20-21).

In case anyone may question how the giving of the Law came into the equation Paul now explains. All that the Law accomplished was to make the trespass abound. By laying down God’s requirements in great detail it increased the number of deliberate offences against the Law. And, because of man’s perverse nature, it actually also encouraged him to sin more. It caused sin to ‘abound’. While its purpose was good in seeking to guide men, and enlighten them, it did in the end simply result in sin abounding. And after that it could do nothing. But however that might be, the grace of God has abounded ‘more exceedingly’. And as a consequence, in contrast with the reign of sin which brought death, the grace of God reigns through His gift of righteousness unto eternal life, and that through Jesus Christ our LORD.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Rom 5:20. Moreover, the law, &c. But the law, &c. There can be nothing plainer than that St. Paul, in this and the next verse, makes a comparison between the state of the Jews, and that of the Gentiles, as it stands described in the eight preceding verses; to shew wherein they differed or agreed, so far as was necessary to his present purpose, of satisfying the convert Romans, that in reference to their interest in the Gospel, the Jews had no advantage over them by the law. With what reference to those eight verses he wrote this and the following, appears by the very choice of the words. He tells them, Rom 5:12 that death by sin entered ( ) into the world; and here he tells them, that the law, (for sin and death were entered already,) , entered a little; a word which set in opposition to , gives a distinguishing idea of the extent of the law, such as it really was; little and narrow as were the people of Israel whom alone it reached in respect of all the other nations of the earth, with whom it had nothing to do; for the law of Moses was given to Israel alone, and not to all mankind. The Vulgate, therefore, rightly translates the word subintravit; it entered, but not far: that is to say, the death which followed upon the account of the Mosaical law, reigned over but a small part of mankind, viz. the children of Israel, who alone were under that law; whereas, by Adam’s transgression of the positive law given him in Paradise, death passed upon all men. The Apostle, as we have observed, uses the word law in various senses; sometimes for a rule in general, chap. Rom 3:27.; sometimes for the whole Jewish code, or the Old Testament, chap. Rom 3:19.; sometimes for a rule of action, chap. Rom 3:20.; sometimes for a rule of action with a penalty of death annexed, as here and chap. Rom 6:15 Rom 7:4, &c. Such a law Adam was under;On the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die: and such a constitution the law of Moses was, subjecting those whowere under it to death for every transgression. For observe, it is the very nature of law, whether divine or human, (for law in its nature and properties is the same, whether enacted by God or man,) never to remit the penalty or forfeiture. The law of England makes felonydeath. The criminal, when convicted, is dead in law; and when executed, should he come to life again, the law slays him again that very moment; and orders him again to execution, and so on for ever. The everlasting language of law to every one that breaks it, and consequently for every breach and transgression of it, is, Thou shalt die, or thou shalt be punished. Law never does, nor can pardon; but all the world knows and allows that it is the prerogative of every law-giver to pardon or remit the penalty, as he sees fit: and therefore the language of law, dying thou shalt die, though it may also be considered as the language of the lawgiver, yet it is not to be understood of the event, as if thethreatening must and would certainly and eventually be executed, but of the demerit of transgression; reserving to the wisdom of the governor liberty to execute, mitigate, or totally remit the penalty, as he shall judge proper. Shall die, in the language of lawgivers enacting laws, must be understood not as the language of private persons, but as implying and including a reserve in favour of the governor’s prerogative to mitigate or remit the penalty. Were it not so, all mankind must have perished in Adam, and all the Jews under the law had been lost for ever; and every felon in England must have been actually executed. Now, when the lawgiver or governor mitigates the penalty, or suspends the execution,granting the sinner the benefit of repentance, and promising pardon and life; this is Gospel; then he is not under law but under grace or favour; not under law, subjecting to death for every transgression, but yet under law as a rule of action which he is as much as ever obliged to obey, though every act of disobedience does not bring him under unpardonable wrath and condemnation. This is the dispensation, in greater or lesser degrees of light, under which all mankind have been, from the time of the promise (Gen 3:15.) to this day; excepting that the law in its rigour was introduced among the Jews. To us Christians the grace of God is clearly displayed: yet so, that we are at the same time expressly assured, that if it is perseveringly rejected and abused, we must expect no farther efforts of the divine goodness for our salvation; Heb 6:4-8; Heb 10:26-27. If, despising God’s present patience and forbearance, we live after the flesh, the law at the last day will take place, or be executed, and we shall die, chap. Rom 8:13.; for the law is so holy, and good, and just, that it can be relaxed only in favour of the sinner’s repentance. But in the case of impenitents and incurables, it must and will take place; that is to say, in other words, it is perfectly right and fitting that they, being the corruption and nuisance of God’s creation, should be destroyed as tares and chaff in the fire.
The Apostle says, the law entered that the offence might abound, or rather so that the offence might abound. See chap. Rom 3:19. The meaning is not, that the law was brought in among the Jews to make them more wicked, or guilty of more sins than they were before; but the meaning is, that by the entrance of the law every sin which the Jew committed made him liable to death; and so the offence of the same nature with Adam’s was multiplied. Mr. Locke is of opinion, that the last clause of this verse is spoken with special relation to the Jews, and denotes all that surplusage of grace which God vouchsafed to them above the rest of the world. But though this may be true, there is no necessity for excluding the grace which extends to all mankind; and the following verse, as it is the concluding stroke of the Apostle’s argument, naturallyleads our thoughts to take in the whole compass of sin, and its effects upon all the world, as well as the whole of God’s grace, not only to the Jews, but to all mankind. See Locke, Doddridge, and Whitby.
Inferences.As the fall of man happened in a higher and very different order of nature from the present, it is not possible for us to have a clear and adequate knowledge of it. But there are numberless degrees between a perfect knowledge and a total ignorance. We are told all that it concerns us to know; and that we should attend to as an important part of our own history. In forming our notion concerning it from the account given in Scripture, we must make due allowance for the imperfection of human language, which cannot express spiritual things otherwise than by figures founded in that analogy which subsists between the visible and the invisible world.
But it may be asked, Whence came evil into the world? This has been deemed a question of great intricacy; but it may be solved by considering only whence moral good proceeds. Does it not arise from the right use which a free agent makes of his liberty, when he chooses that which is proper for him, and rejects the contrary? whether the power so to do, refers to man in his original state of innocence; or to man in his fallen state, unable as of himself to do any thing good, but able to do all things through Christ strengthening him? Evil therefore flows from the abuse of moral liberty; and it is needless to attempt to account for its existence from any other source. Take away moral liberty, that is, the power of choosing what is good, and avoiding what is evil, and there can be no moral good in man.
Adam by the abuse of his free-will pulled down destruction upon himself. He disobeyed his Creator, and he had in part the punishment he deserved. So far, I think, there is no ground for objection. But the consequence of his fall involving all his race, and making infirmity permanent, as Esdras speaks; this is a great offence to many. We are apt to say with him, That it had been better not to have given the earth to Adam; (not to have trusted him with the fate of his posterity;) or else when it was given him, to have restrained him from falling. This sentiment, though a rash one, is very natural to our frailty and ignorance; as is also the exclamation which follows: O Adam, what hast thou done! for though it was thou that sinnedst, thou art not fallen alone, but we all that come of thee. Such complaints and such expostulations have been common among men; but it is common to complain without reason; and if we saw the whole plan of Providence with relation to mankind, I am fully persuaded that we should find this complaint very unreasonable, and even most ungrateful to our Redeemer; who has provided an ample remedy for all damages arising from Adam’s transgression, by atoning not only for original sin, but also for the many actual offences of penitent sinners, as is shewed at large in the chapter before us.
I would only observe in this place, that the reason why we are so prone to complain and lament ourselves, is, because we now feel the inconveniences of our present state, and are not sufficiently apprised of many of its advantages, nor of the greater disadvantages which other initiating states may be liable to. It is very probable, that every intelligent being has a time of trial or probation. Some of the angels are fallen irreparably. Our father Adam was placed in a lower station than they: his fall consequently was less, and by the mercy of our great Mediator, he and Eve, the companion of his fall, are now fully restored. We find ourselves, not originally by our own fault, at the bottom. But a ray of light reaches down to us, and a way is opened for our ascent. That light and that way is our dear Redeemer, who is ever present with and in the believer, to enlighten, guide, and assist him in his passage.
But why (it may be said) did not God make us happy at once? Why should he suffer his creatures to run any hazard of being miserable? He might have made justice as natural and necessary as respiration; and thereby spared us all the pains which we must now be at before we can be happy upon the terms which he has set us?
To this we might answer in the words of the Apostle: Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say unto him who formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay?&c. Thus we might answer, and thereby satisfy a pious mind: although these words were spoken only concerning God’s electing a peculiar people, called to the distinguished privileges of the Gospel dispensation; and were not intended to be applied, as they have since been, to the bulk of mankind, whose sentence, as well as ours, at the last day, will be according to their works: which I remark here, because this way of arguing, which resolves difficulties by vouching divine supremacy, has been so abused. To those therefore who move this question, “Why did not God make us happy at once, without our passing through any state of probation?” it will be more satisfactory, if we can intelligibly unfold this knot, instead of cutting it by dint of sovereign power.
The objectors would be dispensed from all probationary states; they would take no trouble, and run no hazard: they would have nothing to do, but to enjoy; they would be immutably, eternally, infinitely, happy. They want no more of God; they have no other cares or desires.
Let it now be considered, whether such desires are reasonable. Are they not, on the contrary, most ungenerous and base; arguing a frame of mind quite unworthy of the favour to which it makes pretension? We are all children of the Almighty Father, and consequently under such obligations as that relation infers. Suppose then a son quite averse to giving himself any trouble about pleasing his father,one who thinks it a hardship to be bid do any thing but what he himself inclines to: who grudges that any service should be required of him; yet wants an inheritance,wants that his father should do all he can for him. Such are they who make the objection; and God, who bids us not to cast pearls before swine, will not squander his blessings upon such unworthy selfish spirits.
Even in this state of confusion, we think it wrong when a worthless man is possessed of great wealth or, preferment. Though there are, far from being any real good, yet, as men value them, they judge them misplaced in the hands of a fool. In the kingdom of heaven there will be no such preposterous distribution; but excellence shall be the measure of bliss; and none shall be crowned, but those who have conquered.
And this may serve for an answer to those, who are inclined to charge God foolishly, for permitting the influence of the first man’s transgression to infect all his race. This infection we commonly call original sin, which has been denied by some, and misrepresented by others, with such gross aggravations, as render it offensive to common sense, and inconsistent with the revealed doctrines, particularly those of this Epistle.
As for those who deny it, I shall not dispute with them; for who would debate with a blind man about darkness? And they must be blind indeed, who perceive not evil in their natures. The truth here is to the felt, and needs no foreign proof.
I shall here just take notice of the account of original sin given in the articles of faith of the church of England: which was made to render us the more sensible of our obligations to the Redeemer, and is expressed in terms which are literally true in a certain sense, yet may easily be mistaken. As where it is said [the IXth article] that original sin is not only the corruption, but the fault of the nature of every man, and deserves condemnation. When we call it a fault, we must remember to distinguish it from our own actual faults, and remark, that the article calls it the fault of our nature. Fault is used here, as we apply it to inanimate beings, and in the same sense, as when we say of a vessel, that it is faulty, that is to say, defective, useless, deserving to be rejected and cast away. However, for the present, it has spoiled us, it makes us abominable: for a fault is a fault, and corruption is corruption, whichever way it came, or whatever use may be made of it. It has happened without our crime, and it may have an issue unspeakably to our advantage. But neither of these are here considered. Regard is had only to the present nature of man in his fallen and unregenerate state, which is notoriously unjust, and as such deserves condemnation, as a dead tree cumbering the ground, if there were no reviving power, if there were no Redeemer. But this is putting a case, which never was, nor could have been. For the Almighty, who inhabiteth eternity, and whose all-seeing eye reaches through the whole extent of it, foreknowing the lapse of the first Adam, had, before the foundation of the world, provided a second head of human nature, through whom to derive his blessings to the whole race, when the first channel was polluted and spoiled. And as by the first channel death came into the world, so resurrection proceeds from the second: for as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. And those who have done good, shall come forth to the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of condemnation.
The present life is our time of trial, during which our gracious Redeemer administers proper assistances to each man particularly according to his capacity. For as he has tasted death for every man; so he is the Saviour of all men, and the light of all men, having written the law in their hearts, and offering grace to fulfil it.
As for us, who have the light of revelation, we have so much more to answer for. Let us not then waste our time in vain complaints, or absurd cavils at the divine dispensation. We see indeed but little of God’s ways, yet what we see is sufficient for our conduct, and to silence all reasonable objections; since we are assured that the merits of Christ are co-extended with the demerits of Adam, and that every man at the last day shall be judged only according to his own deeds. Then the mercy, as well as the justice of God, will be exerted in a manner which far transcends all notions that we can now form of them; the clouds, which now cover the ways of Providence, will be dissipated; wisdom will be justified of her children; and even those who shall be then reprobated, will be forced to acknowledge the equity of their condemnation.
REFLECTIONS.1st, The sinner’s justification before God through faith being set forth, the blessed effects of it are here described.Not that faith is the meritorious cause of our justification, but the alone and infinite merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Being now justified,
1. We have peace with God. The dreadful breach which sin had made is repaired, the enmity between God and us is removed, and being restored to a state of favour and reconciliation with him, we have that peace of God in our souls which passeth all understanding, and which none can know or taste till they have, through Jesus Christ our Lord, received the atonement.
2. We have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand; have freedom and liberty to approach a throne of grace, as in a state of acceptance before God; and are assured that all our requests which are agreeable to his will, shall through our great High-priest be heard and answered.
3. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God, that glory which shall be revealed at the day of the appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, and which we can now antedate by faith.
4. Even our severest trials now have in them matter of abundant joy. And we can not only rejoice in the prospect before us, but we glory in tribulations also, in all our afflictions, persecutions, sufferings, and reproaches for Christ, knowing that, however grievous to flesh and blood these things at present may be, in the issue they shall prove that they have been blessings in disguise; while tribulation worketh patience, and gives us an opportunity to exercise God’s holy will; and, without repining, cheerfully to resign ourselves into his hands, neither angry at the instruments of our troubles, nor resenting their indignities. And patience brings experience of God’s power, grace, and faithfulness, supporting us under our trials, and extricating us out of them; and of our own frailty and fidelity, while we feel how weak we are in ourselves, yet that we can do all things through Christ strengthening us. And experience begets hope; every support which the Lord ministers, every deliverance which he gives, confirms and encourages our hope in him; and hope maketh not ashamed, gives us a holy but humble boldness to approach the throne of grace, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us; and our hope rests not on any goodness or strength in ourselves, but on him whose free and boundless love has, in the most copious streams, poured forth the Holy Ghost into our hearts in the richest manifestations, and produces these blessed and happy effects.
2nd, The Apostle, having mentioned that delightful theme, the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, cannot but expatiate thereon. It is amazing love, if we consider the persons to whom it is shewn, the manner in which it is expressed, and the blessings thence derived. (1.) The persons were ungodly wretches, apostates from God, desperately wicked, sunk in the lowest abyss of misery, sinners in nature and in practice, and exposed to all the terrible wrath of an offended God, without strength to afford themselves the least relief, in order to escape the just and inevitable destruction which was before them; yea, enemies, determinately set on evil, and rebels open and avowed against God’s crown and dignity. (2.) In this state of deadly guilt and hopeless misery, in due time, according to the divine appointment, Christ died for the ungodly; an instance of such transcendent grace and love as never had appeared on earth before. Were we to search the world throughout, scarcely could we find a man who, for the most righteous, excellent, and amiable person, would lay down his own life to ransom him: though per-adventure for a good man, whose public usefulness was eminent, or to whom he owed the deepest obligations, one might be found so generous and grateful, as even to dare to die in his stead. And with what astonishment would such an heroic action be heard, and preserved in the records of fame, for the admiration of all succeeding ages. But lo! with infinitely transcending glory does God commend the surpassing excellence of his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us, took our nature, stood in our place, endured the curse which we had deserved, and by the ransom of his own blood redeems every believer from his state of guilt, misery, and despair. Hear it, ye angels, with admiration and astonishment! Hear it, ye sinful sons of men, with wonder and love; and henceforth let heaven echo and earth resound with the praises of redeeming love! (3.) Inestimable are the blessings derived to all the faithful through this love of God in Jesus Christ.
1. We are now justified through his blood, and reconciled to God by his death. All the enmity between us is done away, his favour is restored, and we are accepted in the beloved.
2. Much more then may we depend upon it, as a most assured truth, that if we are now justified before God, and cleave to Jesus to the end, (which must be implied according to the whole analogy of faith,) we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being now in a state of reconciliation, and having an advocate in our ascended Jesus, to whom all power is given in heaven and in earth, and cleaving perseveringly to him, shall we be saved by his life.
3. Such a prospect ministers the most enlivening delight to the soul. Not only are we reconciled, and raised superior to all tribulations, but having through Jesus Christ now received the atonement, and being actually made partakers of justification and acceptance, which, by his obedience to the death of the cross, he purchased for us; we joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, as our God, our portion, and exceeding great reward. Blessed and happy the people that are in such a case!
3rdly, From the 12th verse to the end of the chapter, the Apostle draws a parallel between the two covenant heads, Adam and Christ; between the guilt and misery derived from the one, and the blessedness obtained by the other: where it appears how men came into the wretched state of sin in which at present they appear, and how rich is that love of God which draws the faithful out of it.
By one man sin entered into the world; one sin opened the flood-gates of ungodliness, and deluged the world, overwhelming it with miseries unutterable; and death by sin, in every tremendous form, seized on the human nature; and so death, the wages of sin, passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Adam was the common parent and covenant-head of mankind, and at that time possessed the whole human nature; so that all his posterity, being in his loins, (Heb 7:9-10.) fell with him. So that it appears hereby that Jews as well as Gentiles are in the same state of depravity. For until the law, before the revelation of God’s will on mount Sinai was made, sin was in the world, with death and all its attendant miseries; but this supposes some law in force, before that which was given by Moses; for sin is not imputed when there is no law, nor would any punishment have been inflicted where there was no offence committed. But though the law of Moses was not in being, nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, not only over actual transgressors grown up to the knowledge of good and evil, but even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, multitudes of infants suffering in the deluge and in the desolations of Sodom and Gomorrah; and daily their dying groans and agonies testify that sin is in them, because the wages of it is exacted from them, and evidently proves, that they are implicated in the curse inflicted for that one man’s disobedience by which sin and death entered into the world; and who is the figure of him that was to come, the type of our second covenant-head and representative, Jesus Christ, who in the fulness of time should become incarnate; that as sin and death are communicated to us by the one, so should righteousness and life be obtained for us by the other. But, though the parallel between them is striking, yet in comparing them the latter far excelleth: for not as the offence, so also is the free gift; the benefit accruing from the infinite merit of Christ’s obedience to the death of the cross, does not barely answer the dire effects of the first man’s sin; it does much more. For if through the offence of one, many be dead, the dreadful sentence being passed upon them; much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, who has made that perfect atonement, by which the most unsearchable riches of divine grace are procured for his faithful saints, hath abounded unto many, securing to all persevering believers, not merely such a life as Adam had in innocence, but one far surpassing in glory, and eternal in its endurance. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift; the dissimilitude is considerable with regard to the efficacious influence of the transactions of the two great covenant-heads: for the judgment was by one sin, of one man, to the condemnation of all his posterity whom he represented; but the free gift of God, through the Redeemer’s obedience to death, reaches not to the pardon of one sin, but of many offences unto justification; and it is through faith in him, that all true believers are freely and fully delivered from all condemnation, and accepted as righteous before God. For if by one man’s offence, or by one offence, death reigned by one, and set up the pillars of his throne, bringing the whole human race under his mortal power, much more they which receive abundance of grace, even all that fulness which is laid up for them in Jesus Christ, and of the gift of righteousness, living up to the privileges of their high and holy dispensation through grace, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ, triumphant over sin, its guilt and power, quickened to spiritual life here, and looking for that life of glory hereafter, when they shall reign with Jesus in heaven, and see sin and death and hell for ever destroyed. Therefore as by the offence of one, or by one offence, judgment came (or sin entered, as it may be supplied) upon all men to condemnation, and they were exposed to death thereby; even so by the righteousness of one, the second man, the Lord from heaven, the free gift came upon all men to justification of life. For where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; God taking occasion, even from the creature’s vileness, to magnify the more transcendently the riches of his own free mercy, in pardoning, justifying, and saving lost souls, and raising the faithful to higher glory than that which they had lost by the first man’s disobedience. So that as sin hath reigned unto death, and, usurping the throne, spreads its dire dominion over the fallen sons of men; even so might victorious grace erect her throne on the ruins of these vanquished foes, and reign through righteousness, by Jesus Christ our Lord, over all the faithful saints of God unto eternal life; rescuing them from the power of sin and death, bringing them into a state of favour with God, which is better than life itself, quickening them to spiritual life here, and to eternal life hereafter. Thou God of all grace, set up this blessed kingdom in my heart, and reign for ever there!
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Rom 5:20-21 . The comparison between Adam and Christ is closed. But in the middle between the two stood the law! How therefore could Paul leave unnoticed the relation of the law to both , the relation of this essential intervening element in the divine plan of salvation, the continuity of which was not to be hindered by the law, but, on the contrary, advanced to its blissful goal? The mention of it presented itself necessarily to him, especially after the utterance already contained in Rom 5:13 , even without our thinking of an opponent’s objection, [1350] or, at least, of persons who fancied that they must themselves furnish something in order to secure for themselves eternal life (Hofmann); but it cannot be regarded as the proper goal of the entire discussion (Th. Schott), which would not at all correspond to so succinct an indication.
] there came in alongside (of the , which had already come in, Rom 5:12 ) into the world. See Vigerus, ed. Herm. p. 651; and van Hengel in loc [1351] Comp Philo in Loesner, p. 252, especially de temul. p. 263 C, where means juxta se intrare sinens . On the idea comp Gal 3:19 . The notion of secrecy (Vulgate: subintravit , comp Erasmus, Annot. , Send.) is not implied in in itself , but would require to be suggested by the context , as in Gal 2:4 ; Pol. i. 7, 3; i. 8, 4; ii. 55, 3 (where stands along with it); comp , , . . [1356] , which likewise receive the idea of secrecy only from the context. But this is not at all the case here, because this idea would be at variance with the solemn giving of the law (Gal 3:19 ; Act 7:33 ), and the reverence of the Apostle for it (Rom 7:12 ff.) Reiche, Rothe, Tholuck, Rckert, and Philippi import the idea that the law is designated as an accessory institution, or its coming in as of subordinate importance in comparison with that of sin (Hofmann), as an element not making an epoch (Weiss, Dietzsch). It was not such, Gal 4:24 , nor is this sense implied in the word itself. Linguistically incorrect (for . does not mean coming in between , but coming in alongside ) is the view of others: that it came in the middle between Adam (according to Theodoret and Reithmayr, Abraham) and Christ (Calvin, Grotius, Estius, Baumgarten-Crusius, Usteri, Ewald, Bisping and others). Nor does mean: it came in in opposition thereto, i.e. in opposition to sin (Mehring). Such a reference must necessarily have been implied, as in Gal 2:4 , in the context, but would be out of place here on account of the following . . [1357] , which Mehring inappropriately takes as painful irony . Finally that means obiter, ad tempus (Chrysostom, Theophylact, Cornelius Lapide) is a pure fancy.
.] in order that the transgression might be increased . The can only be intended in the sense in which the reader must have understood it in virtue of the preceding text, Rom 5:15 ff., therefore of the Adamite transgression. This was the concrete destructive evil, which existed in the world as the beginning of sin and the cause of universal death. By the law, however, it was not to be abolished or annulled, but on the contrary (observe the prefixing of ) it was to be increased, i.e. to obtain accession in more and more . If therefore is not to be taken collectively (Fritzsche, de Wette, van Hengel and others) just as little is to be rationalised so that it may be interpreted logice , of greater acknowledgment of sin (Grotius, Wolf, Nielsen, Baur), or of the consciousness of sin (J. Mller), since the corresponding . cannot be so taken; nor so, that is to be explained as ecbatic (Chrysostom, and several Fathers quoted by Suicer, Thes. I. p. 1454, Koppe, Reiche), which is never correct, and is not justified by the groundless fear of a blasphemous and un-Pauline idea (Reiche). Comp Gal 3:19 ; 1Co 15:56 ; and generally on Rom 1:24 . Augustine (in Ps. cii. c. 15) rightly says by way of describing the intervening aim referred to: “non crudeliter hoc fecit Deus, sed consilio medicinae;. augetur morbus, crescit malitia, quaeritur medicus et totum sanatur.”
and are not certainly distinguished as Tittmann, Synon. p. 47, defines; nor yet, as Reiche thinks, simply thus, that both words indicate the same idea only under different figures (this would be true of and ); but in this way, that invariably indicates only the concrete sin, the sinful deed; while may have as well the concrete (as always when it stands in the plural, comp on Eph 2:1 ) as the abstract sense. It has the latter sense in our passage, and it appears purposely chosen . For if the Adamite transgression, which was present in the world of men as a fact and with its baneful effect, received accession through the law, so that this evil actually existing in humanity since the fall increased, the sum total of sin in abstracto , which was among men, was thereby enlarged; the dominion of sin became greater, both extensively and intensively (comp Lipsius, Rechtfertigungsl . p. 73). Therefore the discourse progresses thus: , and then . .
] where , local, of the domain, where etc. This field is generally the world of men , in which, however, the increase in sin here meant came from the people of the law, from Israel; but without the sphere of the being limited to the latter, since immediately, in Rom 5:21 , he brings forward the universal point of view as it prevails throughout the section (in opposition to Hofmann). The temporal rendering: when (Grotius, de Wette, Fritzsche, Stlting) is likewise linguistically correct (time being represented under the aspect of space , comp and the like), but less in harmony with the analogous passages, Rom 4:15 ; 2Co 3:17 ( . ).
.] it became over-great , supra modum redundavit. The had to be surpassed . Comp 2Co 7:4 ; 1Ti 1:14 ; Mar 7:37 ; 2Th 1:3 . But that it had surpassed itself (Hofmann), is a definite reference gratuitously introduced. The two correlative verbs are related simply as comparative and superlative .
. . [1363] ] in order that, just as (formerly) sin reigned in virtue of death, so also (divine) grace should reign by means of righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord . This is the whole blessed aim of the . . Rothe incorrectly desires to treat . as a parenthesis. This proposition is in fact so essential, that it is the necessary premiss for the opening up of that most blessed prospect. See moreover Dietzsch.
] not unto death (Luther, Beza, Calvin, and many others), nor yet in death as the sphere of its rule (Tholuck, Philippi), but instrumentally , corresponding to the antithesis (which belong together). Sin has brought death into the world with it, and subjected all to death (Rom 5:12 ), ; thus sin exercised its dominion in virtue of death . This dominion however has given way to the dominion of grace, whose rule does not indeed abolish death, which having once entered into the world with sin has become the common lot of all, in itself, but accomplishes its object all the more blissfully, in that it confers a righteousness redounding to everlasting life . [1364] And grace exercises this bliss-bringing rule through the merit of its personal Mediator ( , Chrysostom) Christ , who has earned it for men through His expiatory death. The full triumphant conclusion , (Comp Rom 7:25 ; 1Co 15:57 al [1366] ) belongs to the entire thought . . , upon which it impresses the seal . Here, also, the is the righteousness of faith (not of life).
[1350] So even Cyril and Grotius; compare Mangold. The latter finds here a proof of the preponderantly Jewish-Christian character of the readers. But with as little right as it might be found in Gal 3 .
[1351] n loc. refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.
[1356] . . . .
[1357] . . . .
[1363] . . . .
[1364] The pregnant sense, which Hofmann, on ver. 14, attributes to the , and seeks to apply analogically here also (comp. Dietzsch), is here least of all appropriate.
[1366] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 1844
THE ABUNDANT GRACE OF GOD
Rom 5:20-21. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
FROM eternity God determined to glorify his grace: for this end he permitted sin to enter into the world. The publication of his law also promoted the same end: it served to shew how awfully sin had abounded, and consequently to magnify that grace which destroyed sin. To this effect the Apostle speaks in the text and the words preceding it.
We shall endeavour to shew,
I.
How sin has abounded
The transgression of Adam was of a very malignant nature.
[In the whole preceding context that sin in particular is referred to, and it may well be considered as of a crimson dye. It argued a contempt of Gods goodness, which had bestowed so much upon him [Note: Gen 2:8-9.]: it argued a doubt of his veracity, which was engaged to inflict the penalty [Note: Gen 3:4.]: it argued a rejection of his authority, which forbad the eating of that fruit [Note: Gen 2:17.]: It argued an attempt to invade the peculiar prerogatives of God [Note: Gen 3:5.]. Surely in this single transgression sin greatly abounded.]
But sin spread also over the whole world
[Adam begat sons in his own fallen likeness. All his descendents inherited his corruption [Note: Job 14:4.], and cast off the yoke which their Maker had imposed upon them: there was not so much as one single exception to be found [Note: Psa 14:2-3.]. On this very account God once destroyed all but one family.]
It had moreover prevailed in every heart to an awful degree
[Every faculty of mens souls was debased by it. The understanding was blinded, the will made obstinate, the conscience seared: all the members of their bodies also were made instruments of unrighteousness. There was not an imagination of their thoughts that was not evil [Note: Gen 6:5.].]
It even took occasion from the holy law of God to rage the more.
[God gave his law to discover and repress sin: but sin would not endure any restraint: it rose like water against the dam that obstructs its progress [Note: Rom 7:8.], and inflamed men both against the law, and against him who gave it. Thus, in using so good a law to so vile a purpose, it displayed its own exceeding sinfulness [Note: Rom 7:13.].]
But God did not altogether abandon our wretched world
II.
How grace has much more abounded
God determined that his grace should be victorious and that it should establish its throne on the ruins of the empire which sin had erected. For this purpose he gave us his Son to be a second Adam [Note: Rom 5:14. 1Co 15:22; 1Co 15:45.]. He laid on him the curse due to our iniquities: he enabled him to bring in an everlasting righteousness: he accepted us in him as our new Covenant-Head: he restores us through him to eternal life. Thus the superabundance of his grace is manifest,
1.
In the object attained
[The destruction of man for sin was certainly tremendous: yet was it no more than what was to be expected. The fallen angels had already been banished from heaven. No wonder then if man was made a partaker of their misery. But how beyond all expectation was the recovery of man! How wonderful that he should be restored, whilst a superior order of beings were left to perish; and be exalted to a throne of glory from whence they had been cast down! This was indeed a manifestation of most abundant grace.]
2.
In the method of attaining it
[Sin had reigned unto death by means of Adam, and certainly the destruction of the whole world for one sin argued a dreadful malignity in sin. Yet was there nothing in this unjust or unreasonable [Note: If, instead of being represented by Adam, we had all undergone the same probation for ourselves, we have no reason to think that we should not have fallen, like him: if we had possessed exactly the same grace as he, and been subjected to the same temptation, we should have acted as he did. The constituting of him our representative was a great advantage to us, because he had much stronger inducements to fidelity than we could have: we should have been concerned only about ourselves; whereas he had the interests of all his posterity depending on him. Besides, he met his temptation when all his powers were in a state of maturity, and when there was no evil example before him; whereas we should be tempted from our earliest infancy, and with the additional influence of bad examples.]. But who could have thought that God should send us his own Son? That he should constitute him our new Covenant-Head and representative? That he should remove the curse of sin by His death? That he should accept sinners through his righteousness? That he should remedy by a second Adam what had been brought upon us by the first? This was a discovery of grace that infinitely transcends the comprehension of men or angels.]
3.
In the peculiar advantage with which it was attained
[If Adam had retained his innocence, we also should have stood in him as our representative. We should however have possessed only a creatures righteousness; but in Christ we possess the righteousness of God himself [Note: 2Co 5:21.]. Our reward therefore may well be augmented in proportion to the excellence of that, for which we are accepted: besides, the glory of God is infinitely more displayed in Christ, than ever it would have been if Adam had not fallen. Our happiness therefore, in beholding it, must be greatly increased. Thus our restoration through Christ will bring us to the enjoyment of far greater happiness than ever we lost in Adam [Note: Rom 5:15. This point is insisted on from ver. 15 to 19.]. What can more fully manifest the superabounding grace of God?]
Improvement
1.
For caution
[This doctrine seems liable to the imputation of licentiousness. St. Paul foresaw the objection, and answered it [Note: Rom 6:1-2.]: his answer should satisfy every objector: but the reign of grace consists in destroying every effect of sin; therefore to indulge sin would be to counteract, and not to promote, the grace of God. Let the professors of religion however be careful to give no room for this objection: let them put to silence the ignorance of foolish men by well-doing.]
2.
For encouragement
[How strange is it that any should despair of mercy! The infinite grace of God has been exhibited in many striking instances [Note: Luk 7:47. 1Ti 1:14; 1Ti 1:16.]. Let us seek to become monuments of this mercy: let us not indeed sin, that grace may abound; but let us freely acknowledge how much sin has abounded in us, and yet expect through Christ abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

Ver. 20. But where sin abounded ] But then where sin that abounded in the life, it abounds in the conscience in grief and detestation of it, as the greatest evil. Bonner objected to Mr Philpot, martyr, that he found written in his book, In me Ioanne Philpotto ubi abundavit peccatum, superabundavit et gratia. In me John Philpot, where sin abounds, even grace superabounds. This he said was an arrogant speech. Novum crimen, C. Caesar. Fresh sin, Gaius Caesar. (Acts and Mon.)
That the offence might abound ] Either by accident, through man’s corruption, and not of God’s intention, Rom 7:13 . Or if be taken causally, it must be interpreted byGal 3:19Gal 3:19 . God gave the law after the promise, to advance the promise. The law was added because of transgression, sc. that hereby guilt and danger being discovered, we might acknowledge the riches of free grace and mercy.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

20 .] How the law (of Moses) came in, in the divine economy . But (i.e. the two things spoken of Rom 5:19 did not simply and immediately happen) the law (of Moses: not law , in the abstract, nor ‘ the law of nature ,’ as Dr. Peile, nor even the law of God in its general sense, as often in ch. 1 2; but here strictly THE LAW OF MOSES, as necessitated by Rom 5:13-14 in this same argument) came in besides (besides the fact of the many being made sinners, and as a transition point to the other result: formed a third term , besides these two, in the summary of God’s dealings with man: compare , Gal 3:19 ; not , Theophyl.: not, came in between Christ and Adam (the fact , but not the interpretation ) as Theodoret and Calv.: not = merely), in order that ( , its design , not merely , its result, as Chrys., al.; here, and every where else. So of Rom 5:21 ) the trespass ( created by the law; for where no law, no transgression, ch. Rom 4:15 : not merely the knowledge of sin , but actual transgression) might be multiplied (in actual fact : not ‘be abundantly exhibited,’ or any such evasive sense). No possible objection can be taken to this statement by those who view the Law as a preparation for Christ. If it was so, then the effect of the Law, the creating and multiplying transgression, was an end in the divine purposes , to bring out the necessity of One who should deliver from sin and bring in righteousness. “Those who weaken this telic into ‘so that,’ in order to guard the Apostle from what seems to them a doctrine unworthy of God, overlook equally his firm standing on the acknowledged ground of historic fact and actuality, as the humility with which here, as ever (ch. Rom 11:33-34 ), he bows before the mystery of the .” Umbreit. But (this terrible end, the multiplying of transgression, was not, however, God’s ultimate end: He had a further and gracious one) where (‘ when ,’ De Wette, after Grot., al.: but Tholuck justly remarks that instances of this meaning of in prose are wanting. In verse it seems to occur, Eur. Iph. Aul. 96, but even there may be rendered ‘ in the case where ’) sin (the generic of the specific ) was multiplied , (God’s) grace did beyond measure abound (not ‘ did much more abound ,’ as E. V.: for words compounded with have a superlative, not a comparative signification, e.g. ref. , . . ., and Paul often uses these compounds. The E. V. has likewise destroyed the force of the comparison by rendering the different words and both by one word ‘ abound ’).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Rom 5:20 f. “The comparison between Adam and Christ is closed. But in the middle, between the two, stood the law” (Meyer). Paul must refer to it in such a way as to indicate the place it holds in the order of Providence, and especially to show that it does not frustrate, but further, the end contemplated in, the work of Christ. : see Rom 5:12 above. Sin entered into the world; the Law entered into the situation thus created as an accessory or subordinate thing; it has not the decisive signficance in history which the objective power of sin has. Words in which the same prepositions have a similar force are , 2Pe 2:1 ; , Jud 1:4 ; , 2Pe 1:5 : cf. Gal 2:4 . There is often in such words, though not necessarily, the idea of stealth or secrecy: we might render “the law slipped in”. : the purpose expressed by is God’s: Winer, p. 575. The offence is multiplied because the law, encountering the flesh, evokes its natural antagonism to God, and so stimulates it into disobedience. Cf. Gal 3:19 ff., and the development of this idea in chap. Rom 7:7 ff. As the offence multiplied, the need of redemption, and the sense of that need were intensified. : seems used here, not , because more proper to express the sum total of evil, made up of repeated acts of disobedience to the law. “Sin” bulked larger, as “offence” was added to “offence”. might seem to refer to Israel only, for it was there that the law had its seat; but there is something analogous to this law and its effects everywhere; and everywhere as the need of redemption becomes more pressing grace rises in higher power to meet it. : “the had to be surpassed” (Meyer). Cf. 2Co 7:4 . Paul is excessively fond of compounds with . The purpose of this abounding manifestation of grace is, “that as sin reigned in death, so also should grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”. : it is more natural to oppose this to , and regard death as “a province which sin had won, and in which it exercised its dominion” (Gifford), than to make it parallel (with Meyer) to , and render “in virtue of death” ( dat instr. ). Grace has not yet attained to its full sovereignty; it comes to this sovereignty as it imparts to men the gift of God’s righteousness ( ); its goal, its limit which is yet no limit, is eternal life. Some, however, construe with : through a righteousness which ends in eternal life: cf. , Rom 5:18 . . . : this full rhetorical close has almost the value of a doxology.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

entered. Literally came in beside. Greek. pareiserchomai, Only here and Gal 1:2, Gal 1:4.
that = in order that. Greek. hina.
abound = multiply. Greek. pleonazo. Here, Rom 6:1. 2Co 4:15; 2Co 8:15. Php 1:4, Php 1:17. 1Th 3:12. 2Th 1:3. 2Pe 1:8.
did much more abound = superabounded. Greek. huperperisseuo. Only here and 2Co 7:4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

20.] How the law (of Moses) came in, in the divine economy. But (i.e. the two things spoken of Rom 5:19 did not simply and immediately happen) the law (of Moses: not law, in the abstract, nor the law of nature, as Dr. Peile,-nor even the law of God in its general sense, as often in ch. 1 2;-but here strictly THE LAW OF MOSES, as necessitated by Rom 5:13-14 in this same argument) came in besides (besides the fact of the many being made sinners, and as a transition point to the other result: formed a third term, besides these two, in the summary of Gods dealings with man: compare , Gal 3:19; not , Theophyl.: not, came in between Christ and Adam (the fact, but not the interpretation) as Theodoret and Calv.:-not = merely),-in order that (, its design,-not merely , its result, as Chrys., al.; here, and every where else. So of Rom 5:21) the trespass (created by the law; for where no law, no transgression, ch. Rom 4:15 :-not merely the knowledge of sin, but actual transgression) might be multiplied (in actual fact: not be abundantly exhibited, or any such evasive sense). No possible objection can be taken to this statement by those who view the Law as a preparation for Christ. If it was so, then the effect of the Law, the creating and multiplying transgression, was an end in the divine purposes, to bring out the necessity of One who should deliver from sin and bring in righteousness. Those who weaken this telic into so that, in order to guard the Apostle from what seems to them a doctrine unworthy of God, overlook equally his firm standing on the acknowledged ground of historic fact and actuality, as the humility with which here, as ever (ch. Rom 11:33-34), he bows before the mystery of the . Umbreit. But (this terrible end, the multiplying of transgression, was not, however, Gods ultimate end: He had a further and gracious one) where (when, De Wette, after Grot., al.: but Tholuck justly remarks that instances of this meaning of in prose are wanting. In verse it seems to occur, Eur. Iph. Aul. 96, but even there may be rendered in the case where) sin (the generic of the specific ) was multiplied, (Gods) grace did beyond measure abound (not did much more abound, as E. V.: for words compounded with have a superlative, not a comparative signification, e.g. ref. , …,-and Paul often uses these compounds. The E. V. has likewise destroyed the force of the comparison by rendering the different words and both by one word abound).
Fuente: The Greek Testament

Rom 5:20. , law) the omission of the article tends to increase the sublimity [elevation of tone].-) came in stealthily by Moses, Rom 5:14. The Antithetic word is, entered, Rom 5:12; Sin therefore is more ancient than the law.-, might abound) ch. Rom 7:7, etc. Sin is not reckoned in the absence of the law; but when the law came in stealthily, sin appeared as abounding; but, before the law, the fall of Adam should be held as the cause of death.- , the offence) supply and sin. All the sins of mankind, compared with the sin of Adam, are as it were offshoots; it is the root. , sin, in the singular number, is considered as a plague most widely spread; and it also comprehends all actual , offences, Rom 5:16.- [the] sin) or in other words, the offence and sin; for there is a difference between them;[54] see notes on Rom 5:14; the sin, in the singular number, Joh 1:29.-, superabounded [did much more abound] A third party conquering the conqueror of the conquered is superior to both: sin conquered man: grace conquers sin; therefore the power of grace is greatest.
[54] The latter being the result of the former.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Rom 5:20
Rom 5:20
And the law came in besides,-[Besides sin and death, the law also entered in. Three things entered into the world- sin, death, and the law.] The law of Moses, or the law of works, was added because of transgression. “So that the law is become our tutor to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith is come, we are no longer under a tutor. (Gal 3:24-25).
that the trespass might abound;-The rebellious spirit was in man; the law came to call it out and make it manifest itself.
but where sin abounded,-Sin was the breaking out of the disease within. When it broke out into sin, men could realize that it was sin, and there was a need of a cure.
grace did abound more exceedingly:-When sin showed itself, grace through our Lord Jesus Christ abounded to take it away; or when it abounded, then the provisions for justification in Jesus Christ did more abound to take it away.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

the law: Rom 3:19, Rom 3:20, Rom 4:15, Rom 6:14, Rom 7:5-13, Joh 15:22, 2Co 3:7-9, Gal 3:19-25
But: Rom 6:1, 2Ch 33:9-13, Psa 25:11, Isa 1:18, Isa 43:24, Isa 43:25, Jer 3:8-14, Eze 16:52, Eze 16:60-63, Eze 36:25-32, Mic 7:18, Mic 7:19, Mat 9:13, Luk 7:47, Luk 23:39-43, Joh 10:10, 1Co 6:9-11, Eph 1:6-8, Eph 2:1-5, 1Ti 1:13-16, Tit 3:3-7
Reciprocal: Gen 27:33 – yea Exo 34:6 – abundant Lev 17:4 – blood shall Num 21:9 – he lived Deu 9:6 – a stiffnecked Job 33:24 – Then Job 36:9 – their Psa 5:7 – in the Psa 17:7 – Show Psa 51:1 – O God Psa 86:5 – plenteous Psa 86:15 – But thou Psa 103:8 – merciful Psa 106:1 – for he Psa 111:4 – gracious Psa 116:5 – Gracious Psa 130:7 – for with Psa 145:8 – Lord is gracious Isa 30:18 – therefore Isa 57:18 – have Isa 63:7 – according to his Jer 3:12 – for I am Jer 32:36 – now Joe 2:13 – for Zec 9:17 – how great is his goodness Mat 19:30 – General Mat 20:9 – they received Mat 20:16 – the last Mat 21:31 – the publicans Mar 2:17 – I came Luk 7:41 – the one Luk 15:1 – General Luk 18:13 – a sinner Luk 23:43 – To day Luk 24:47 – beginning Joh 1:16 – and grace Joh 1:17 – the law Joh 4:30 – General Joh 6:37 – I will Joh 8:11 – go Joh 20:27 – Reach hither thy finger Act 9:6 – Arise Act 13:39 – from which Act 15:11 – that Act 20:24 – the gospel Rom 3:8 – Let us Rom 5:8 – commendeth Rom 5:15 – But not Rom 5:17 – abundance Rom 7:8 – sin Rom 7:13 – But sin Rom 9:18 – hath Rom 9:23 – might Rom 11:6 – And if 1Co 15:56 – the strength 2Co 3:11 – if 2Co 7:1 – therefore 2Co 8:9 – the grace Gal 2:19 – through Gal 3:22 – concluded Eph 1:8 – he Eph 2:4 – who 1Ti 1:9 – the law 1Ti 1:16 – for a Tit 2:11 – the grace Tit 3:4 – the kindness 1Pe 5:10 – the God 1Jo 5:17 – and
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE TRIUMPH OF GRACE
Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
Rom 5:20
Grace runs through the epistles of St. Paul like a silver thread. We do not wonder at this when we remember what it did for St. Paul. He was a monument, a miracle of grace.
I. It arrested him.Suddenly it laid its strong and tender hand upon him. Here we see its absolute sovereignty, for Saul of Tarsus was altogether undeserving. I was apprehended, he says, of Christ Jesus (Php 3:12, R.V.). There was no preparation, no sense of sin, as far as we know; there was certainly no fitness.
II. It transformed him.See that young fanatic breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord: is there any power on earth or in heaven which can make that man think and feel and pray like a little child? Yes: there is, and that power is grace. The grace of God can change the lion into the lamb (Act 9:13; Act 9:20-21).
III. It used him.The Lord had need of him. He wrote thirteen epistles, and laboured more abundantly than they all, but he is careful to add, Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. It was through his preaching that the Gospel was published throughout the world. His life was so intensely Christian that he called it Christto me to live is Christ.
IV. It preserved him.Grace is glory in the bud, and glory is grace in flower. Whenever God begins the gracious work He completes it. Therefore grace did not let him go.
The Christ Who met Saul of Tarsus at the gate of Damascus still arrests men on the highways of sin and shows them the heavenly vision. Across the wastes of nearly two thousand years the Voice of Jesus speaks to human hearts. Grace has not spent its power. It can still steal in silence down, and touch the hearts of men.
Rev. F. Harper.
Illustrations
(1) You may have heard of a painted window that is said to be one of the most wonderful in Europe, which was made in this way. There was a young apprentice to one of the great window creators of the older daysfor they did create in those daysand after working time he would pick up from the floor broken fragments of the painted glass that had been rejected, and take them home and put them piece by piece into a frame and design, which he himself had designed in his mothers cottage. So it went on in a quiet way for some two years, until at last it was finished, and the master came in by accident, and said, What is this? There has never been before such a wonderful creation. Who has done this? It was the young apprentice, with the broken and rejected fragments of the painted glass which he found on the floor of his masters studio.
(2) The last words of Mr. Honest were, Grace reigns. So he left the world. As I hear Old Honest shouting, Grace reigns! I always remember what a lady told me about a saying of her poor Irish scullery-girl. The mistress and the servant were reading George Eliots Life together in the kitchen, and when they came to her death-bed, on the pillow of which Thomas Kempis lay open, Mem, said the girl, I used to read that old book in the convent; but it is a better book to live upon than to die upon. Now that was exactly Old Honests mind. He lived upon one book, and then he died upon another. He lived according to the commandments of God, but he died according to the comforts of the Gospel.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

Rom 5:20. But the law. The Mosaic law is meant, although the article is wanting in the original. What of the law then? was the question the Jew, and, indeed, any early Christian would ask. But is therefore preferable to and.
Came in besides. The same phrase is used in a bad sense, Gal 2:4, but here it indicates coming in addition to, not coming in between, though the latter is true.
That the trespass might multiply. This was the immediate, but not the final purpose (see Rom 5:21). The Apostle says trespass not sin, because the design of the law was not to multiply sin as such, but to make it appear, to reveal it to the conscience, as a transgression of the law of God. Yet the presence of the law does provoke to sin, and this thought is not to be ruled out in this passage.
But where sin multiplied. In the very sphere, in the world of men where sin (as a power, tyrant).
Grace exceedingly abounded; over-abounded. The verb is a compound one, differing in form entirely from that previously used; the force of over is superlative, not comparative. Hence we substitute exceedingly for much more. This clause is explained in Rom 5:21. Rom 5:21.
That as sin reigned in death. The ultimate purpose of the exceeding abounding of grace is set forth in this verse, especially in the last clause. The first clause simply takes up the other side of the parallel. In Rom 5:14 death is represented as the tyrant, here sin is presented under the same figure, death being the sphere of its dominion or tyranny, and referring to all the penal consequences of sin. Some would render by death, but this is objectionable.
So also might grace reign. This is the purpose. The design of God in permitting sin, and allowing it to abound was to bring good out of evil; to make it the occasion of the most wonderful display of his glory and grace, so that the benefits of redemption should infinitely transcend the evil of the apostacy (Hodge).
Through righteousness. This refers to imputed righteousness, in conformity with the entire course of thought. Righteousness of life might be included, but cannot be the main idea.
Unto eternal life. Life in contrast with death, and eternal in contrast with temporal. Physical death is not abolished, but grace reigns through righteousness, eternal life as the result.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. This full form is solemnly triumphant. Adam is lost sight of; the personal redeemer, the king, is the One through whom grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life.Sin, death, grace, righteousness, life. These five stand thus: Grace rises highest in the middle; the two conquering giants, sin and death at the left; the double prize of victory, righteousness and life, at the right; and over the buried name of Adam the glory of the name of Jesus blooms (Besser).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

The law entered that sin might abound; That is, before the law was written, we became obnoxious to death by one man’s disobedience, without much sense of it; but after the law was given by Moses, sin did more clearly and conspicuously appear to be sin: Its odiousness and ugliness was more manifest to the conscience of the sinner.
As the sinner has abounded in sin, in a way of commission, so sin doth by the discovery of the law abound in the sinner’s apprehension, in the sight and sense of it, upon the conscience of the sinner.
Nevertheless, As sin abounds, grace doth much more abound. As the exceeding sinfulness of sin is manifested by the law, so the superabounding grace and pardoning mercy of God is rendered gloriously conspicuous in and by the gospel: That as the power of sin appeared in making us liable to temporal and eternal death, so might the power of grace appear in beginning in us a spiritual life here, and bringing us the eternal life in glory hereafter.
In short, when the apostle says that the law entered, that sin might abound, he doth not mean to make it abound, by encouraging the sinner to the commission of it, but by impression the conviction of it upon the conscience of the sinner. A man without the law looks upon himself as a small sinner; but after he has viewed his sins in the glass of the law, he sees himself a great and mountainous sinner: As a star which a child thinks to be no bigger than a spark; but a man that views it through an instrument, computes it to be bigger than the globe of the earth.
Lord, help us to see our sins in the glass of thy law, yea, in the glass of thy Son’s blood; and then we shall be sensible what and infinite and immense evil sin is; namely, the stain and blemish of our natures, the discase and deformity of our minds, the highest infelicity of the creature, and the boldest affront that can be given to the majesty of the great and glorious God.
Learn from the whole, That the riches, the abounding riches, the superabounding riches of God’s pardoning grace do thus shine forth:
1. In the nature of the mercy, which is the richest and sweetest of all mercies. No mercy sweeter than a pardon to a condemned sinner, no pardon like God’s pardon to a sinner condemned at his bar.
2. In the peculiarity of the mercy. Remission is not a common, but a crowning favour; it never was, never shall be extended to fallen angels; and, it is to be feared, that the far greater part of mankind refuse the terms and conditions upon which pardoning grace and mercy is offered and tendered to them.
3. In the method in which pardoning mercy is dispensed; namely, through the blood of Christ, that all-sufficient sacrifice and satisfaction; by which method, God has more commended his love to us, than if he had pardoned us without a satisfaction; for then he had only displayed his mercy: but now he has delcared his justice, yea, caused mercy and justice to meet and kiss each other, to meet and triumph together.
4. The superabounding riches of pardoning mercy appear in the latitude and extent of that act of grace. Lord, who can understand his errors! yet the blood of thy Son cleanseth from all sin, small and great, secret and open, old and new, original and actual; all pardoned, without exception.
Oh how well might the Psalmist say, With the Lord there is mercy, and with him there is plenteous redemption, Psa 130:7
Lastly, the riches of pardoning grace do shine forth, as in the peculiarity, so in the perpetuity of remission. As grace pardons all sin, without exception, so the pardons it bestows are without revocation: The pardoned soul shall never come into conemnation; As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us, Psa 103:12 As the east and west are the two opposite points of heaven, which can never come together; so neither shall the pardoned sinner and his sins ever meet anymore. God is said to cast them behind his back: that is, he will never behold them more, so as to charge them upon the pardoned sinner, in order to his condemnation.
May our faith then, both in life and death, triumph in the assurance of this blessed truth; That where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; and as sin hath reigned unto death, even so hath grace reigned through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives forever in heaven, to apply, by his prevailing intercession, what he impetrated and obtained for us here on earth, by his meritorious satisfaction.
To this Jesus, who is the faithful witness, and first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, who hath loved us and washed us from our sin in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God; unto him be glory and dominion forever and ever.- Amen.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Vv. 20, 21. Now the law was added, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace superabounded more: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. (the) law, undoubtedly denotes the Mosaic law; but as positive law in general (regard being had to the absence of the article), we might almost translate: a law.
The Jews attributed a particularly important part to this institution in the history of mankind; they claim to make it the means of education and salvation of the whole world (Rom 2:17-20). Paul shows that it plays only a secondary part. It was added during the era of sin and death to prepare for the era of justification and life. It is from want of a more exactly corresponding term that we translate by was added. It should be: came alongside of. Compounded of the word , to enter, to appear on the stage (Rom 5:12), and the preposition , by the side of, it applies to an actor who does not occupy the front of the stage, and who appears there only to play an accessory part. It is a mistake, therefore, to ascribe to this verb the notion attached to it by the Vulgate, when it translates subintravit, came in, as it were stealthily, a meaning which, besides, is incompatible with the solemn promulgation of the law. Calvin finds in this verb the notion of an intermediate which took its place between Adam and Christ, and Chrysostom, that of a passing appearance. But signifies neither between nor in passing. The true meaning of the word is: by the side of, and this is also the meaning which best suits the passage. The Mosaic economy was, as it were, a side economy, an institution parallel to the economy of sin; as Philippi says, it is a particular economy by the side of the great general economy. It might be compared to a canal flowing by the side of the river which feeds it.
And why this special economy? That the offence might abound. If, instead of the word , offence, fall, the apostle had said , transgression, the thought would be easily understood. For he has himself said (Rom 4:15): Where no law is, there is no transgression; that is to say, in that case sin does not present itself as the violation of a positive command. The sense would consequently be this: The law was given to Israel that in this particular field of fallen humanity sin might take a graver and more pronounced character; that of transgression, and so manifest completely its malign nature; a process which should be the means of its cure. But this sense would require the use of the term (transgression). The term chosen: , offence, has a wider meaning (see on Rom 5:15). The word, indeed, denotes every particular act of sin committed under the law or without the law. This meaning is, on the other hand, more restricted than that of the word , sin, which comprehends, besides, the external acts, the corrupt inward disposition. The apostle therefore did not mean to say that the law was given to increase sin itself. Not only would the word have been required in this sense, but this thought would also be incompatible with divine holiness. Neither do I think the expression can be explained exactly by the passage, Rom 7:10-13, which refers to the use made of the law by sin; while Paul is here speaking of its providential object. The meaning rather is: that the law by multiplying prescriptions also gives rise to much more frequent occasions of offence. Now, each of these particular offences requiring to be expiated either by a sacrifice or a penalty, human guilt is thus more clearly manifested, and condemnation (apart from the intervention of grace) better founded. Man does not thereby necessarily become worse than he was; he only shows what he is already. Yet, if we went no further, we should still fail to apprehend the full thought of the apostle. Throughout the whole of this passage (Rom 5:15; Rom 5:17-18) the term , the offence, has a sort of technical meaning: the offence of Adam. Is it not natural to take the word here in this definite acceptation? The meaning is therefore as follows: By the law it has come about that the offence of the first man has multiplied, or in a sense reproduced itself among his descendants in a multitude of particular acts of sin, like a seed which reappears in a harvest of fruits like itself. Those acts of sin are the offences of many, spoken of in Rom 5:16, and which are the object of individual justification. And the end of the law in making the manifestation of sin abound in Israel in this concrete form was to prove the inward malady, and to pave the way for its cure. How? The sequel will explain.
In connection with what precedes, the () (but) where, cannot have the general meaning of wherever…, as if the saying which follows were a maxim of universal application. The connection between the first and second part of the verse requires that the word where be taken in a strictly local and limited sense: where, that is to say, in the domain where the law has done its work, and made the offence abound in Israel. Against this view, Meyer urges the general character of the whole passage, and especially that of Rom 5:21, and, like Schott and many others, he refers the words: where…, to the whole world. This objection ignores the fact stated in Rom 5:21, that the experiment made in Israel was intended to profit the whole world. As to the temporal meaning given to the word where by Grotius, De Wette, etc., at the time when, it would suit the idea perhaps. But this use of is without example in the New Testament, and cannot even be demonstrated with certainty in the classics ( is different). The sense is therefore that given by Ablard in the words: in eodem populo quo…
As the law gave more frequent occasion in Israel of proving individual guiltiness, by that very means it gave occasion to grace to manifest itself in a manner more abundant and extraordinary (Rom 2:4). Among the manifestations of mercy referred to by these last words of our verse: grace superabounded, we cannot but suppose that the apostle places foremost the great expiatory act on which all the sins of Israel converged (Heb 9:15). As in the expression: sin abounded, he naturally thinks of the greatest crime of the Jewish people, that in which was concentrated their whole spirit of revolt, the murder of their Messiah, their deicide, the catastrophe of their history; so in the following words there is presented to the rapt view of the apostle the advantage which divine mercy has taken of this crime, by making it immediately the instrument of salvation for Israel themselves and all mankind. The word where might thus receive a yet stricter application than that which we have been giving to it till now. Golgotha, that theatre where human sin displayed itself as nowhere else, was at the same time the place of the most extraordinary manifestation of divine grace. The term , superabounded over, is explained by Hofmann in the sense of: grace abounded beyond itself; it, as it were, surpassed itself. This meaning is far-fetched. It would be better to refer the , over, to the sin which was, as it were, submerged under this flood of pardon. But if Paul had meant to state this relation, he would certainly have repeated the same verb as he had just used in speaking of sin. It seems most natural to me to take this , over, as expressing the superlative of the verbal idea: Grace overflowed beyond all measure, to infinity. Philippi accurately observes that in is a comparative (the more): while (in ) expresses not only a more, but a superlative of abundance.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

And the law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly:
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

20. The law came that sin may abound. The law is perfectly pure and holy and could not have any affinity with sin. Yet when the law is disobeyed it awfully augments the guilt of sin. But where sin did abound, there did grace much more abound. Not only does Christ repair all the evil wrought by the Fall, but to those who are true to Him, He makes all things work together for good. So all of our enemies are transformed into vehicles of blessing. This paragraph is replete with fundamental theology, setting forth the utter and universal ruin of the Fall and the complete, glorious and superabundant restitution of the redemptive scheme.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Verse 20
That the offence might abound. This was the effect of the law, to make sin more evident, and in some cases more aggravated.–Where sin abounded, &c.; that is, under the Mosaic law. The apostle seems here to admit that, after all, the redemption of Christ was specially offered to the Jews, and was to be particularly efficacious for their salvation.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

SECTION 16 THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW
CH. 5:20, 21
But a law entered beside, in order that the trespass might multiply. But where sin multiplied, grace abounded beyond measure; in order that, just as sin became king in death, in this way also grace might become king, through righteousness, for eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In 15, we saw the bearing, each upon the other, of the two greatest events in the spiritual history of mankind, viz. the Fall and the Gospel. But Paul cannot overlook the third greatest event, the giving of the Law. He will now tell us the place and purpose of the Law in its relation to the other two events. This will teach us both its importance and its subordinate position: it was only a means to an end, but a divinely-chosen means to the noblest of all ends.
Rom 5:20. A law: the Mosaic Law, in its abstract character. God gave from Sinai a rule of conduct.
Entered-beside, or along-side: coming in between sin and death, and the Gospel.
In order that etc.: purpose of God in giving a rule of conduct.
The trespass: Adams disobedience, as in Rom 5:15.
Multiply, or become-more: in the many trespasses of Rom 5:16. The express commands given at Sinai, following the one command given in Paradise, were followed by many acts of disobedience. If, as we have just seen, Adams children inherited his fallen nature, these many trespasses were a result, and in this sense a multiplication, of his first trespass. Moreover, this was the only possible result of the gift of a divine law to a race born in sin. Paul therefore speaks of it as the designed result: in order that etc.
But where etc.: another and surpassing event.
Sin: the abstract principle underlying the concrete trespass. It prepares a way for the personification of sin in Rom 5:21.
Grace abounded-beyond-measure: the favour of God produced results far surpassing those of the one trespass. As explained in Rom 5:15-17, they were superabundant in reversing the effects not of one but of many trespasses, and in giving life to many, each of whom deserved death for his own transgression. The one act of disobedience was followed by many such acts: and thus the empire of sin extended its sway. But this multiplication of the trespass, instead of evoking a corresponding outburst of divine anger, called forth Gods goodwill, in the form of saving mercy, in measure greater than the spread of the evil.
Rom 5:21. Purpose of this superabounding grace, and ultimate purpose of the Law.
Sin became-king: so Rom 5:14; Rom 5:17, death became king.
In death: the visible throne from which sin proclaims its tremendous power. Every corpse laid in the grave is a result of sin, and reveals its power. Moreover, sometimes men have committed sin for fear of death: cp. Heb 2:15.
Grace may-reign-as-king: the undeserved favour of God personified; as death and sin have been. Gods purpose is that His own undeserved favour, with royal bounty, may rule and bless those who once were under the sway of sin and death.
Through righteousness: recalling the gift of righteousness, in Rom 5:17. It is a necessary condition of life eternal. This last (see under Rom 2:7) is the ultimate aim of Gods favour towards us. So Rom 6:22-23.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord: the one channel of grace and righteousness and life eternal. It is a conspicuous feature of Romans 5 : see Rom 5:1; Rom 5:11; Rom 5:17 : cp. Rom 1:5; Rom 1:8; Rom 3:24; 1Co 8:6; 2Co 5:18.
The purpose of the Law as here stated supplements and explains that stated in Rom 3:19. The Law commends itself to our moral sense as right; and, by bidding us do something beyond our power, it inevitably produces a consciousness of guilt, and leads up to further disobedience. All this was foreseen and designed by God as a means to a further end, viz. pardon and life. So Gal 3:23-24.
The above teaching about the Law of Moses is in part true of the law written in the heart. Had there been in Adams children no inborn moral sense, his moral fall would not have produced the far-reaching and terrible results we now see. By erecting in every man this barrier against sin, God has revealed the mighty power of sin which breaks down the barrier, and the terrible moral consequences of Adams fall. But to this inner law there is no reference here.
DIVISION II. is now complete. The whole of it is a logical development of two great doctrines asserted in Rom 3:21-26. In Rom 3:27 -Rom 4:25, Paul shows that Doct. I, Justification through Faith, shuts out all self-exultation, but is in harmony with Gods treatment of Abraham: in Romans 5, he develops Doct. 2, Justification through the Death of Christ, and shows that it gives us a well-grounded exultation in hope of glory, and is in harmony with, and is the only conceivable explanation of, Gods dealings with mankind in Adam.
The complete confidence with which Paul accepts the facts and utterances of Genesis and uses them to defend the great doctrines of the Gospel proves that in the days of the apostles the substantial truth of Genesis was admitted by Jews and Christians. See further is Diss. iii. If we accept the great doctrines asserted and assumed in Rom 3:21-26, and the truth of Genesis, Pauls reasoning will compel us to accept the teaching of the whole division.
DIV. II., like DIV. I., concludes with an exposition of the purpose of the Law. The difference between the two expositions marks the progress we have made. DIV. I. left us trembling beneath the shadow of Sinai, silent and guilty. But we have just learnt that the thunders of the Law are a voice of mercy, designed to lead us to Christ and thus to eternal life. DIV. I. made us conscious of our guilt: DIV. II. has reconciled us to God, brought us under His smile, and opened before our eyes a prospect of eternal glory. But as yet we have heard nothing about an inward moral change. This will be the lesson of the great division before whose portal we now stand.
Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament

5:20 {19} Moreover the law {a} entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more {b} abound:
(19) A preventing of an objection: why then did the law of Moses then enter? So that men might be so much more the guilty, and the benefit of God in Christ Jesus be all the more glorious.
(a) In addition to that disease which all men were infected with by being defiled with one man’s sin, the law entered.
(b) Grace was poured so plentifully from heaven that it did not only counterbalance sin, but beyond this it surpassed it.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

One of the purposes of the Mosaic Law was to illuminate the sinfulness of people. It did so at least by exposing behavior that was until then not obviously contrary to God’s will. God did this to prove man’s sinfulness to him.
"The fact and power of ’sin’ introduced into the world by Adam has not been decreased by the law, but given a new dimension as rebellion against the revealed, detailed will of God; sin has become ’transgression’ . . ." [Note: Moo, p. 348. Cf. 7:13; Galatians 3:19.]
Paul’s statement "the Law came in that" can be understood as both a purpose clause and a result clause. [Note: Witmer, p. 460.] However when God provided Jesus Christ, He provided grace (favor) that far exceeded the sin that He exposed when He provided the Law. We could translate "abounded" or "increased" (Rom 5:20) "super-abounded."
"The apostle waxes almost ecstatic as he revels in the superlative excellence of the divine overruling that makes sin serve a gracious purpose." [Note: Harrison, p. 65.]
The contrast in this verse deals with the significances of Adam’s act and Christ’s act. The Law showed the significance of Adam’s sin more clearly, and God’s provision of Christ showed the significance of God’s grace more clearly.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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