Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned – (13) (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.  (14) Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.  (15) But the free gift is not like the offense.  For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.  (16) And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned.  For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.  (17)  For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

(18) Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.  (19) For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

The Apostle Paul was hoping to visit the Christian community in Rome and wrote this letter in advance of his arrival.  In the first part of the letter Paul has established how God has provided (and now revealed)  how man has been made right with God throu the sacrificial death of Christ Jesus and His resurrection and victory over death.  In the verses we study today, Paul draws a contrast and parallel between the redemptive work of Christ Jesus and the work of another man, Adam.  Through the disobedience of one man, Adam, sin entered the world.  As a result of sin,  both physical and spiritual death entered in accordance with God’s warning.  All men sinned through Adam.

In these verses Paul pretty much touches on the foundational doctrine of Christianity:  the imputation or the placing something on another’s account – of Adam’s sin and God’s judgment on his posterity.  Man did evil thereafter because man was evil.  Man was under condemnation and death because of Adam’s sin.  Sin entering through the one act of Adam made a constitutional change in a man’s nature.  Man now possessed the nature or propensity to sin from the sin of Adam.  Mankind is considered a single entity – the entire human race is descended from Adam.  Therefore when Adam sinned all mankind sinned.

In contrast to this thought, Paul write that God’s grace, the gift of righteousness, came to the entire human race by the one man, Jesus Christ, and abounded to many.  By this Paul means that the gift of God’s grace is available to all people but not necessarily appropriated by all.  Jesus Christ became sin and bore sin’s penalty on the cross as the perfect sacrifice.  The new man was bought at a price.  But man has to say yes to the gospel.  At that moment man’s responsibility as a child of Adam under the judgment of God is over – but also at that moment, man’s responsibility as a child of God begins.  Justified man has a new nature that craves the divine – he is part of the new creation of which Christ is the head.