Romans 5:16-17 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Adam’s sin and all who follow in his footsteps, which is all humans, faced judgment and condemnation because of sin. Verse 16 is support for the idea of depravity and how that leads people to sin against God. This verse returns to Paul’s idea from Romans 3:23, that all have sinned and fallen short from being in God’s holy presence and have lost what God created humanity to have. There is no hope for people without the gift of grace from God. Adam’s one sin brought death into the world. All death and suffering can be traced back to that one act of rebellion. Death has reigned since then. Paul compares this seemingly insurmountable problem to God gift of grace in Jesus Christ. Adam is the representative of sin and death. Jesus is the representative of sacrificial death and resurrection power. The result for those who receive the gift of grace by believing in Jesus is righteousness. Righteousness is more than ethical behavior, which is the secondary outcome of the core idea of being who God created us to be. Being made righteous does the following: 1) Allows us to be in relationship with God and someday stand before him in judgment in reconciliation, 2) Marks the forgiveness of our past and we are not condemned for our sins, 3) Restores us into the image and likeness of God for which we were created, 4) and affects every aspect of our lives now: our relationships are healed, and our behavior will model Jesus by living in love.
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