“Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous..” Romans 5:18-19 NIV

Footsteps 303 In v15 Paul had said, “the gift is not like the trespass”. The gift of grace is greater than all the effects of sin. Grace deals with the sin problem. (V16.) Sin is not the last word, because, claims Paul, the gift changes the sinner’s entire situation. The gift provides a way of escape. The gift opens up an avenue that releases the sinner from the penalty of judgment. And the gift provides for the justification of the sinner full and free. 

The word “gift” is significant. It appears 5 times in verses 15-17 and Paul picks it up again in Romans 6:23, in which he tells us that eternal life is the gift of God. 

“Gift” not only points to the freeness of salvation but also to the fact that those who accept the gift do not have to struggle against Adam’s legacy of sin as the price of acceptance. Acceptance does not come through effort. Rather we receive it as a gift from God through Christ, who paid the redemption price. 

Greater by far than sin and all its effects is God’s gift to those willing to accept it. Our God isn’t a halfway measure God. He has provided for our needs in every way. The good news is that the gift is greater than the curse!  

With vs18 and 19, Paul is ready to conclude his argument that he began in Romans 5:12. The word “so then”(NASB) signals that he is about to sharpen the point of what has gone before. He has not the slightest doubt in v18 that just as condemnation came upon all humanity because of Adam, so justification reaches all through Christ. 

“All” does not mean that everyone will be saved. Only those who are justified by faith in Christ will be saved, but provision was made at the cross for the entire human race. Unfortunately, the Bible teaches that the majority will reap eternal destruction because they do not accept the offer. 

In Rom.3:22-26 and 5:1, he plainly teaches that only those who have faith in Christ are justified, reconciled, and have peace with God. All others remain at enmity with Him and are dead in their trespasses and sins